When The Truth Comes Out

Chapter 9

May 1996; The Macher House

"Again." Billy demanded. He charged at me, and I quickly dodged him. He reached out for me, but I managed to kick the back of his knees, which then buckled. He fell to the ground.

I took this opportunity to pounce on his back and pinned him down on the soft, bright green grass. He grunted in pain, then tapped the ground. I stood proudly as he slowly rose from his position.

"Good job, babe." He smiled.

He's been teaching me how to defend myself for awhile now. He never explained why, only saying that he thought I should know now rather than be absolutely clueless if I ever needed to save my own life.

"Lunch break, then we're gonna do some target practice. Sound good?" I nodded and followed him into the house.

He moved to the refrigerator and pulled out various lunch meats and cheeses as I wiped the sweat off my face. All this practice was making me sweat profusely.

As he put the sandwiches together, I poured some water into glasses for both of us.

Much had changed in his demeanor since my birthday. He was more protective than usual. I figured it was because of the Brent situation, but it was far worse from what I suspected.

He stayed here almost every night, curled up in bed with me. Lucky for me, Sidney had started pushing him away since her mother's death, so I didn't have to watch them as much as before.

Him and I though? Things got way more intense there.

We were together almost all day every day, unless he had to play the perfect boyfriend act. Most mornings we were showering together, most nights we were cuddling right after fucking each other senseless. We never grew tired of it. We never grew tired of each other.

His temper also settled down as time went on. He was still on-edge most days, but he was able to cool himself down now.

"What're you thinking about, princess?" He asked as he sat next to me, handing me a sandwich.

"Just how hot you look when I'm pinning you to the ground." I shrugged, trying to contain my laughter. He chuckled and shook his head before taking a bite of the quick food he had thrown together.

"You can do it again later." He threw a wink my way.

"I may have to take you up on that offer."

We continued joking as we ate, but I knew it'd be back to serious Billy when we finished. Which, I was right about.

"C'mon, next lesson." He waved me towards the door after we finished cleaning up, and left the house.

Pinned to one of the trees was a bull's-eye target. Inside, I was worried as to why he was teaching me all this, but I never pushed it.

He handed me the small pistol he bought for me, and I took it, pointing the barrel downwards.

"Show me what you remember." I obeyed, and held the gun correctly in my hands. After turning the safety off, I lifted it up, and kept my arms straight forward.

I focused in on the target, then breathed out slowly. As I pulled the trigger, the loud 'bang' pierced my eardrums.

As Billy said before, I wouldn't have time for ear protection if there was an intruder.

After pulling the trigger three more times, I lowered the gun and flipped the safety back on. We walked towards the target, and I smiled once I realized I hit dead center.

"That's my girl." He grinned widely. "Now I have something else for you."

He took the gun from me, then handed me a black box. I carefully opened it, and inside was a pocket knife.

On the front, the words 'stay safe, always' were engraved on the handle. I opened it up and noticed the blade said 'love always, Billy' which caused me to tear up.

"I want you to always keep that on you, no matter where you go. That way, if I'm not with you, you can still defend yourself. I'll teach you how to use it too, if you want, but probably with a stick or something so you don't stab me." As he spoke, I looked up at him with nothing but love and adoration.

"I love you." I threw my arms around him after closing the knife back up. He embraced me tightly and sighed into my neck.

"I love you too."