Page 36 of My Crazy Killers
I step back so I can see him without tilting my head way back. “Oh, really? You all have perfect aim?”
“Well, maybe notperfect,but decent enough,” Pete explains.
“I could probably outshoot all of you,” I say with all the confidence I can muster as I raise my chin.
“Oh, you think so, do you?” Sly asks with a raised eyebrow.
Nodding my head, I tell him, “I’m sure I could beat at least half of you.”
“Wanna bet on it?” Pete asks with a grin.
“What are you thinking?”Jagger signs to him in interest.
Pete grins at me as he says, “Well, we will all have similar targets, and the last one to hit theirs loses.”
“What’s the penalty?” Dex asks.
“I dunno. What do you want from the loser, Wren? You know, since you’re so convinced you’re gonna win and all,” Pete asks mockingly.
I know I hit that tree, though, so I’m not worried. I’ll only have to have a better shot than one of these five guys in order not to lose. I like those odds. The question is, what would I want from them?
I try not to grin as I think about several things I’d like from them, but most of it, they would probably do anyway if I asked.
“Wren?” Sly asks when I don’t answer straight away. “What do you want from the loser?”
“What are you guys talking about?” Elias asks as he returns with a bag full of empty drink bottles and cans.
“Wren here has challenged us to a contest,” Pete tells him, looking a little too gleeful.
“She seems to think she can outshoot most of us,” Sly adds, sounding amused.
“Is that so?” Elias says, raising an eyebrow as he looks at me.
“Yep. Now I am deciding on the prize for the loser.”
“Be careful, sweetheart. Don’t pick something you aren’t willing to give out yourself.”
I know Elias won’t be the worst shot, nor Jagger. So who would it be? Maybe Dex? He was used to fighting with his fists more than a weapon. Pete and Sly, too.
My mind flashes back to the date with Dex, when he took me dancing, but clearly felt out of place when the music turned sultry. That has me picturing a porno we saw where the pizza deliveryman did a sexy striptease for the woman.
I try to picture Dex or Sly moving like that, my eyesbouncing between the two of them as I smile. They’d never offer to do it without losing a bet.
“The loser has to do a striptease for me.”
Pete bursts out laughing, and Elias raises his eyebrows in surprise. Sly and Jagger just look at me like they’re already picturing undressing me, and Dex… Dex is the only one who has the balls to look nervous.
“And what if you lose?” Sly asks. “Who gets your striptease then?”
“All of us,” Elias declares before quickly turning away.
I follow him as he moves to a fallen log at the edge of the clearing and starts to place the empty cans and bottles along it.
“Okay, I’ve got six here. Wren, you can take the Coke bottle at the other end. It’s the biggest target, and you are new at this.” I don’t argue, because I’ll take any advantage he gives me so I can get one of them to dance sexy for me. “You guys can pick whichever one you like. I’ll start us off on the other end with the iced tea.”
The guys get in line beside each other, pulling out their own guns and making sure they are loaded before looking down the line at Elias. “Okay, we will each take a shot, one at a time, whoever misses goes to the next round, and so on.”
We all nod in understanding, then he lifts his gun and squeezes the trigger so fast, I’m certain he’ll miss it. Except I don’t even get to finish that thought before his iced tea can is lying on the ground with a hole through the center. “Pete?” he says, turning to the next man in line.
