The Bully

Chapter Sixteen

For just a moment we stared at each other and then he removed the hand that had been holding my shoulder. I immediately took a step back and felt a mixture of emotions; I couldn't deny the happiness I felt at seeing him again or the love that bubbled up through me. But there was unmistakable fear as well because the ranting man of the night before wasn't a stranger to me either; I'd been on the receiving end of his temper too many times as a teenager. He saw the flicker of fear on my face and I saw him bow his head briefly, hiding his expression from me.

"Miss Summers, we should get started," Ed suddenly said. "We've only got the range for the next couple of hours." I swallowed hard and then nodded. Steeling myself I forced a professional smile on my face.

"I'm sorry about the mixup yesterday. If we get started straight away we can have this done and you can go back to your day off," I said, managing to keep my tone even. Bret stared at me as if I'd grow a second head.

"Angel..." he started to say again but I turned away from him, picking up the rifle.

"There are no bullets so you won't need goggles or ear defenders. I'm hoping you've a good enough imagination to make it all look real though. I'll give you a bit of time to explore the area here, to  think about your character and get into the role and then I'll start photographing you. Try to ignore me and Ed as much as you can and definitely ignore the camera. That way the shots will be more natural."

"Don't you think we should at least talk?" he asked and I shook my head.

"We've both got a job to do and I wouldn't want to hold you up," I said and for the first time the tremor in my voice was clear to hear. Ed glanced across at me, anxiously and then turned to Bret.

"The targets are just over here, sir," he said, encouragingly. Bret shook his head but then followed him, giving me one last lingering look. I gave it a few minutes, just as I had with my other subjects to give him time to settle into the scene, but also to give me time to stop shaking so much. Bret had arrived dressed in jeans and a Hitman t-shirt with a black leather biker's jacket. He had a pair of bright pink wrap round shades on too now which made it a bit easier  to start taking pictures. The shades hid his eyes and meant that I couldn't see his true emotions quite so clearly. But he removed them about half way through the shoot and I got some pictures of him holding the rifle up to his face. At one point I moved directly in front of him while he held the shot gun out towards the target and just before a startled expression had time to form on his face I got a shot of the barrel of the gun with him behind it, concentrating on the target. I finished up the shoot with half an hour to spare because I just wanted to get it done.

"We're all done here," I said to Ed, who just nodded and started to gather our equipment. He grabbed the rifle and shotgun and headed down to the building to hand them back in. As soon as he was gone Bret walked across to me.

"I didn't know it was you," he said immediately. "I wouldn't have said all that stuff if I'd known. Look I was just tired and full of piss and vinegar. I'd had a long day with a lot of travel. The media event was a wash out and the fan event was hard going too; there were some real assholes there but you've to keep the smile on your face...  I was exhausted and then I trekked up here to find it had been cancelled. I was just pissed off. Angel please look at me."

I glanced up at him and then looked away again. My stomach dropped every time I met his eyes and his apology wasn't altogether reassuring. I knew full well he would have said the exact same thing even if he knew it was me; he'd been very clear that he intended to kick the ass of the photographer regardless if it was a man or a woman.

"Angel will you talk to me? You haven't said a word other than to direct me for the damn shoot. Have you nothing to say to me at all?" There was a hint of frustration in his voice now and I took a deep breath.