Chapter 2 - You Ok?

"Holy..." Bradley muttered.

Carson looked at the door, noticing it was slightly open.

"Give me that," Bradley said, taking the gun from his brother. "What?"

"It's loaded," Carson said.

Caleb tried taking the rifle from his brother. "Easy, easy," Bradley said.

"Give me it!" Caleb said, grabbing it from Bradley's grasp.

"Guys..." Carson said with a warning tone.

The girl slowly took the rifle from the younger boy's hands. He reluctantly let go, and she started examining the gun.

"How do you, like, put the bullets in and stuff?" Bradley asked, looking at the object from in front of him.

Carson was about to answer him, but she was cut off by Elliot bursting into the room. "What the fuck are you doing?!" He yelled, startling the three.

"B- Bradley..." Caleb started to say.

"No I didn't, shut up." The older brother said defensively.

"You cannot play with this."

"Well, you shouldn't have left it out then," Bradley tried defending.

"I didn't! It was under the bed!" Elliot's gaze turned towards the girl standing to his right. She could see the rage in his eyes, but she held her head high and her arms crossed over her chest.

"Carson, you should know better than to mess around like this, what the hell were you thinking?!" He yelled at her, hoping she would shrink like his sons did, but, as usual, she didn't.

"I wasn't 'messing around', mister 'I'm gonna leave the rifle under the kids's bed and hope they won't find it.' Don't you fucking dare pin this on me."

The three males in the room looked at the blonde. Two of them were looking at her in complete shock. They had no idea how she had just managed to snap at their father without being terrified. Elliot, on the other hand, was looking at her with a strange mix of emotions. Anger was the main one, but their was also a hint of amusement in his gaze. He looked back at his sons, both of them looking down at the ground. A few moments of silence passed before the man spoke up.

"I- I'm sorry I yelled."

There was another moment of silence before Caleb spoke up. "You said 'fuck'."

"Caleb," Bradley said in annoyance.

Carson suppressed a small smile. The kid's innocence almost covered up how annoying he could be, and she'd known him for about fifteen minutes.

Caleb sat on the bed next to his brother, and more awkward silence filled the room, nearly suffocating Carson.

"Either of you ever... ever shot one of these before?" Elliot asked.

Carson's ears perked up, praying Elliot wasn't about to do what she was thinking.

Both boys shook their heads, curiosity filling their eyes.

"I was about your age when my dad taught me, and Carson here," he turned towards her, "she's gone out shooting since she was fourteen."

The boys looked at her and the girl shrugged. "Just a couple birds here and there."

Caleb nodded and turned his gaze back towards his dad, but Bradley kept looking at Carson. There was something about the girl that made him curious, and maybe, just maybe, a little attracted to her. The girl caught his gaze and gave him a small smile, which he returned, lingering his gaze on her golden eyes.

"How about I took you guys out?" Elliot suggested, and Carson's heart sunk. Yeah, she could hunt, but that didn't mean she liked it. Besides, she knew Elliot. He would do something right, but then to something extremely wrong. She didn't want either of the boys to go through something they didn't want or should go through.

"Really?" Caleb asked.

"Every man should know how to safely use and respect a gun," Elliot said.

Carson let out a light cough and Elliot gave her a look. "Every man and woman." The girl gave the man a satisfied smile.

"Mom would freak out," Bradley said, but Carson could hear it in his voice he was only saying that because he didn't want to give into Elliot so quickly. She had already understood that the boy wasn't fond of his father.

"No she won't," Elliot said, "'cause she'll never know."

That last part made Carson's blood run cold in her veins. She remembered her father saying that to every woman that would walk into their house when she was a child, a different female every week.

Bradley noticed the way the girl in front of him stiffen up at his father's words, her face turning pale. He wondered why she had reacted like this, but the effect was gone as fast as it came.

"Right?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah," Caleb answered, smiling.

"Yeah, we could go up North." Elliot nudged Carson's shoulder. "To our old logging site."