While Matt was distracted, Todd began making his way over to the 24 year old. He hadn't seen him in a while but seeing him in this building felt incredibly weird. Todd had always seen Matt as a little out of place for this world considering the way he was brought up, but Hunter looked even more like a fish out of water.
"Hey man." Todd said, capturing not only Hunter's attention but a few others too.
They would have known his name and probably been shocked to see his face. He wasn't unknown to the current gang world, little lone the aspiring ones too.
"Hey." Hunter paused what he was doing to turn around and look at Todd.
"How's it going then? You finding it alright?"
Looking to the weapon in his hand and then up to his uncle, Hunter then began nodding his head. There was a determination in his eyes, that was for sure but the whole thing still felt very odd.
"It's going good. We haven't done much training yet but it's still good."
"Your aim is a bit off." Todd came right out and said it how it was, while holding his hand out towards him. "Can I show you something?"
Hunter naturally glimpsed over to his dad, who was still distracted and completely unaware to what was going on. He knew Matt wouldn't like it, yet he really didn't want to say no.
"Go on then." He replied while handing Todd the gun.
Positing himself ahead of the target, Todd held the gun up in line with what he saw to be a perfect shot.
"You've gotta hold it like this, or you won't be in control." He began to explain, while a few of the others close by began listening in. "You line it up perfectly but then you're letting it drop as you take the shot. That's why you're missing."
Pulling back the trigger, Todd took the shot and as he expected it landed perfectly in the target. Although he had stood here and portrayed a whole lot of confidence, he would be lying if he said he wasn't even surprised at himself. It had been years yet he still performed like it was only yesterday.
"Shit. That was spot on." Hunter looked over in amazement to where Todd had hit it directly in the middle.
"That is years of practice, so don't expect to get that first time. But if you just hold it right, you'll get there in no time."
Handing the gun back over to Hunter, Todd watched on as he re-positioned himself, taking on board what his uncle had said.
"Now hold it tighter."
"Like this?"
"Yeah, you got it."
Pausing for a moment to prep himself mentally, Hunter then took the shot. Although it wasn't perfect, it had hit the board and was only half a ruler's length away from the actual target.
"Fuck, I did it!" He gasped, suddenly jumping up in excitement causing Todd to laugh at his un-gang-like response. "That was awesome, thank you!"
"No problem man..." Todd began to say before the voice of his brother was heard shouting in the background.
"What the fuck are you doing?!"
He knew it wouldn't be long until Matt saw what was happening yet Todd had still had slight hope that he could had sneaked away before he did.
"Chill, I was just giving him a little tip." Todd held his hands up in surrender yet Matt still looked fuming.
"Well don't. He doesn't need you telling him shit, we're training him already... we're training them all."
"I kept missing but he made me hit the target, dad. It's alright. That's all he did." Hunter jumped in to try and calm his dad down yet it wasn't going to work. No amount of persuading would ease the tension out of Matt now.
He was angry because Todd had got involved with something that was not his business. This gang had set the rules and stages of how the training was going to go and they didn't need someone interfering. However, he was even more angry that it was Todd in particular who had got involved. He was fuming that he was standing there telling his son how to do things. Although the brothers had tried to push their competitiveness aside, times like this made it come screeching through with very little warning.
"You don't listen to anyone but us, Hunter. Alright? You can't get trained by any old idiot. It has to be done our way." Matt bit as he gestured around the gang, before turning his attention to Todd. "Don't get involved again."
"Any old idiot, hey?" Todd grinned, trying to not take the whole thing as seriously. "I know I've been out of it for a while but I'm still pretty clued up on it all, you know?"
Shaking his head, Matt began heading back over to where the gang was waiting to hold this first meeting. Before following after him though, Todd briefly turned back around to look at Hunter.
"You've got some good people training you, man. Listen to them." Todd began, causing Hunter to nod his head. "But most of all, use Jazmine Montague as much as you can."
"What do you mean?" Hunter looked at Todd with a frown on his face.
"Take whatever training or tips you can get from her."
"But... dad always said not to trust her, even though she's working with us, she's still not all that loyal."
"Your dad is right, she's not loyal and don't trust her. But she's also incredibly good at what she does. The fact that she isn't loyal means that she has been in a lot of gangs. She doesn't stick around for long..."
"...how is that a good thing?"
"Because you can learn a lot off her. She knows everyone's tricks and secrets. She knows how to take each and everyone down in this business. Learn off her and you'll have no problem." Todd said with a serious look across his face and for the first time, Hunter could see the darkness behind them.
Todd knew what he was talking about and he was passionate about it too. Hunter had always been told by so many people what a threat Todd had been to this whole business when he was involved but he had never seen a glimpse of it with his own eyes until now.
"Okay, yeah, I'll do that." Hunter began nodding his head as the darkness quickly faded from Todd's eyes and he exchanged the intense expression for a smile.
"Now I better go before your dad tries to kick me out of here." He teased, before patting Hunter on the back and then headed back over to the group.
...
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