Page 62 of He is Poison

He watched the targetfor two long breaths and pulled the trigger, hitting the right side of thepainted figure’s face. “I did it,” leapt out of Seth’s mouth in glee, before hecould think. With Dom behind him, he felt as powerful as ever so when thewarmth of his body was gone, it felt like being deprived of half his muscle.

“Good, now try it onyour own.”

Seth turned his headwith his lips parted. He didn’t want to do it on his own anymore. It workedbetter when Dom was there. No torture would force him to admit to that though,so without a word, he turned back to the target, trying to mimic the way he wasstanding before, the way Dom made him hold the gun.

“Breathe,” said Dom andfrom the corner of his eye, Seth could see his dark silhouette. He waswatching, evaluating Seth’s performance.

And it wasn’t that Sethdidn’t want to ‘let him down’, because he couldn’t care less about that, but hedid want to impress him. Have Dom stop considering him a failure. He licked hissalty upper lip and aimed at the target’s chest, hoping he could at least hitthat. Only now, after having his hands held by Dom, he was realizing just howunsteady his grip was. Good that he hadn’t had that morning beer after all.Focus,Seth.

Two breaths, and a shotmanaged to graze the side of the target board. He exhaled deeply, thedisappointment as hard to swallow as when he burnt his first cannoli. It seemedthat the cardboard man was mocking Seth with a Joker-like smile.

“Again.”

Seth groaned andinstantly shot again in anger, not even hitting the board this time. Again. Andagain, without much success. He swore beneath his breath and smashed a nearbytree with his elbow. He put the safety on the gun and slid it in the back ofhis jeans, before walking off into a direction opposite to where Dom wasstanding. Why couldn’t it work? He was so embarrassed his skull was about toexplode.

“Hey, Seth. We’re notdone yet.”

“I know, I need to cooloff,” he hissed and walked off the clearing, hoping to hide within the trees.

A sudden burst to hisleft made him hug the nearby tree. Seth's eyes grew wide at the sight of a holein the bark.

“Don’t be a baby andcome back here,” said Domenico without any emotion in his voice.

Seth’s eyes went wide,and he looked back with his heart thudding furiously against his ribcage. “Stopbeing fucking annoying and give me a break!” he yelled, on the verge ofshooting back. Dom was so impassive, as if he didn’t care that Seth had a gunas well, his face a mask of calm.

“You’re a fucking jokeif that’s what throws you out of balance. You’re at war with everyone but meand your father.”

“Stop pissing me offthen, or I’m gonna be at war with you as well!” Seth pulled out his gun andturned off the safety. He aimed at Dom and took a few steps his way, visionblurring with steaming anger. It got even worse when no emotion appeared onthat handsome face. Domenico stood there like a statue, watching Seth’s eyesinstead of the gun, his gaze so intense, it was getting Seth's skin to burn.

Seth pulled the trigger,though he did try to point it a meter or two away from Dom. He didn’t want toblow the guy’s brains out, just scare him a bit, get a reaction. But there wasnothing coming from his gun. Seth looked down at the weapon. Out of ammo. Ofcourse.

All hair on his bodybristled at the unmistakable clang of the safety being turned off in a gun, andhis stomach plummeted. Seth swallowed and threw his own to the ground, puttinghis hands up and taking steps back as fast as possible.

“I was just kidding. Iknew I didn’t have any ammo left.” He laughed nervously, watching Dom’s every move.He was standing there, his favorite Beretta casually aimed Seth’s way. This waswhat the angel of death had to look like. Burning amber eyes, long black hair,a dead expression on his face. Seth’s heart was up in his throat when Domraised his hand and moved his fingers in an unmistakable gesture of invitation.

Seth was sweating like anewborn piglet and slowly shook his head, taking another step back. This wasdefinitely not part of a rom-com scenario. “No,” he whispered to himself.

“Do as I say. You’vemade me mad enough already,” muttered Domenico.

Seth swallowed andlooked around, but he knew no help would come. He looked up into Dom’s eyes andreluctantly started approaching him. His legs felt as if they were made oflead. Nauseated, he was forcing himself to take each subsequent step towardDomenico, whose veiny forearms were just as deadly as the gun in his hand. Theyreminded Seth of pythons, ready to wrap themselves around Seth’s throat andsqueeze until he choked.

By the time Seth got toDom, he was trembling, unsure of what would happen. He wanted to close his eyesand have it over with, but was too afraid. “I said I didn’t mean it,” he said,but the last syllable came out muffled.

He saw stars whenDomenico punched him in the stomach and followed it with a blow to the head.Seth didn’t even notice how he got to the ground, but when he came to, he wascurling up with his face inches away from Dom’s shoes, a pair of pitch-blackcombat boots he wore since morning.

“What the fuck…” Sethmuttered, not daring to look up. His stomach hurt like a bitch, all of hismuscles still trembling.

“On your knees,” raspedDomenico in a voice as cool as before. Seth slowly looked up, but followed theorder, with his head ringing from the hit.

From this perspective,Dom looked even more intimidating. Tense, strong, tall, a proper killingmachine. With a gun pointed at Seth’s head.

“No, no, no,” Sethwhined and leaned away as much as he could without falling over on his ass. OhGod, did he cross a line he didn’t know was there? He was so scared he couldn’tswallow. Without an idea how to weasel out of the situation, he held up hishands in front of his face.

The cool touch of steelagainst his forehead made his teeth clatter so loudly, they could rival awoodpecker knocking on a tree.

“You little fucker.”

“I said I’m sorry!” Sethmoaned but didn’t dare push the gun away, no matter how much his heart yearnedfor it. His eyes itched with held back tears, which tried to force their wayout. A part of him reassured him that Dom wouldn’t kill him, he had ordersafter all, but another knew Dom was out of his fucking mind! The guy fucked himfor God’s sake. Him, the Don’s son. Why wouldn’t he kill him and claim it wasan accident? It wasn’t like Seth was theonlyson.