Is this destiny?

Melodie and Kyra glared at JoAnna while thinking, what did she do to deserve a man like Jeffrey White to dote on her so much?

Kyra reminded herself to stay neutral and to fix her expression, but Melodie was still giving JoAnna an evil eye when JoAnna turned toward them.

JoAnna innocently smiled while her eyes moved from Melodie to Kyra. "So… what is the wager? Money? Things? I don\'t have much money or things, and I am still not comfortable using my husband\'s… how about loser does something? You know, when I was a kid, I played with my sisters and whenever we competed, the loser had to get on all four and bark like a dog… but we are big girls now, and that will be way too embarrassing. I am afraid that if I end up in such a situation, Jeff will ask for a divorce right away and I can\'t allow that. Do you have any suggestions?"

Kyra shoot a glance at Melodie, but seeing that Melodie is not responding, Kyra spoke: "I think that is interesting. What do you think, Melodie?"

Melodie is not aware at what point she ended up accepting this ridiculous competition which involves loser to go on all four and bark. They even shook hands on it! But she knows that there is no way she will lose.

"Melodie, please, go first. It will help me see how to use this gun.", JoAnna shamelessly lied.

Jeff hid his laugh behind a cough.

Kyra whispered something with Melodie and then acted like an officiator: "Cylinder holds five bullets. So you get five shots. Highest sum of five shots wins the competition. Melodie will go first."

Melodie put the bullets in the magazine, took her position and aimed…

BANG!

"9.5", Kyra read from the electronic board.

Audience cheered.

BANG!

"9.4"

Another round of cheers came.

BANG!

"9.7!", Kyra raised her voice in excitement.

The cheers got louder.

BANG!

"9.3"

BANG!

Melodie turned toward Kyra with a confident smirk on her face.

"9.9", Kyra read the last score and announced: "Melodie Wright has a total score of 47.8"

JoAnna had to admit, considering the pistol Melodie is using, that is a pretty good score. It\'s just her bad luck that she decided to challenge JoAnna.

JoAnna clapped enthusiastically with the rest of the spectators before skipping toward Jeff. "Can I have a good luck kiss?"

Kyra closed her eyes and exhaled in frustration. Why does she need to watch two of them kissing? Again!

Melodie\'s smile faded. She looked away dejectedly. It seemed like that kiss lasted forever.

"Melodie, can you help me put the bullets in the gun?", JoAnna sweetly asked.

Melodie forced a smile while thinking how soon she will get to see this blasted woman barking in front of Jeffrey. Then Jeffrey will see how pitiful she is… and how he made a wrong choice. Who wants to be married to a dog?

JoAnna held the loaded gun and shook her arms carelessly for few seconds.

Jeff smiled. JoAnna might look like she is carelessly shaking her arms, but he saw her shift the gun in her palm… she was getting used to its weight. He was pleased with himself that he noticed that. It seems that all this time with JoAnna and going with her for shooting made him learn few things.

JoAnna took a deep breath and aimed at the target next to the one Melodie used.

BANG!

"9.6", Kyra read from the electronic board. She was unable to hide her surprise by this score. \'How is this possible?\'

The only one more surprised than Kyra was Melodie. Her mouth was slightly open.

Gasps came from the audience and then people started whispering.

BANG!

"9.5"

BANG!

"9.8", Kyra\'s voice was barely audible.

BANG!

"9.4"

BANG!

Audience cheered loudly when score showed on the electronic board above.

"10", Kyra whispered the last score and announced in disbelief: "Mrs. White has a total score of 48.3…"

Kyra blinked few times while looking at two scoreboards side by side.

"Are my eyes deceiving me or did Mrs. White score exactly .1 more than Miss Wright for each round?", someone from the audience observed.

"Impossible!", Melodie screamed. "How can you be so precise with this pistol? This is a setup!"

"Really?", JoAnna lazily looked at Melodie and pointed a gun to her head. "Since you are saying that I\'m doing the impossible… how about another bet? If I get a sixth bullet to come out of this gun, I get to splatter your brain on that wall behind you and no one will dare to say a thing about it…"

Melodie paled. She knows that the cylinder can hold only five bullets, but something about JoAnna\'s icy tone and the way she looks at her made her legs weak. She fell on her knees.

"Good!", JoAnna lowered her hand with a gun and patted Melodie\'s cheek with a still warm barrel. "Now… go down on your hands also… and bark. Three times!"

Melodie looked around, her gaze moved over faces of the silent audience who only stared at her. And then her sight fell on Jeffrey White. The man who she covets… who was not looking at her... like she is nothing. His eyes were on this blasted woman!

Defeated, Melodie got on her hands… with all these people watching, there is no way she can back off now. They all saw her accept the bet. If she refuses to comply, no one will take her seriously in the future. Her only choice is lesser of two evils.

"Woof…", her voice was faint.

"Louder!", JoAnna demanded.

Melodie gritted her teeth. "Woof! Woof! Woof!" She barked through her teeth, but it was still loud enough for people nearby to hear.

"Good!" JoAnna grinned. "I scored higher than you in every round so that you realize that I am better than you in every way… You may rise."

JoAnna kept her gun back on the table with others and hopped toward Jeff. "Can we go and get something to drink? All this playing made me thirsty…"

Kyra was standing next to Melodie with her mouth slightly open while looking after Jeff who was holding JoAnna around her waist as they walked away.

"Get up!", Kyra squeezed through her teeth when almost everyone dispersed. She felt like slapping this useless Melodie. What kind of a \'circle champion\' in shooting she is when some nobody thrashed her this easily?

Kyra panicked internally while remembering how JoAnna pretended to be innocent and inexperienced all up to the point when she had them right where she wanted… She needs to do more research on that woman!

"Don\'t tire yourself with these useless people.", Jeff told JoAnna as they walked away.

"Yeah, I know… but this was fun.", JoAnna smiled. "Melodie is easy to play with… Kyra used her for this." JoAnna looked at Jeff. "What is your history with Kyra?"

Jeff shook his head. "None. Before we watched that video last night, I didn\'t even know that she exists."

"Hmph!" JoAnna was not pleased with his answer. "Knowing you, maybe she was right in front of you, but you didn\'t pay attention. She is a tough cookie… using others to achieve her goals. I believe that she is only testing waters, and until she runs out of pawns, she will not show herself. We are still not clear why Kyra is doing all this, but I saw the way she looks at you… my intuition is telling me that you are her end goal."

Jeff frowned while thinking about JoAnna\'s words. "I will get someone to watch her."

Jeff knows that JoAnna\'s intuition is usually right. And if Kyra is after him, scheming liked this... JoAnna will probably be her target.

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