@campbellashes
Ellis no longer had access to the kind of resources he’d been able to tap into in the past, but he’d always liked to improvise. Regardless he didn’t need to train Ashton for actual combat. The forty minute drive to the nearest paintball range wouldn’t do much to prepare him for a real fight. Ellis had only wanted to test what kind of reflexes the younger man possessed, and see if he could manage to aim at a moving target.
“You shouldn’t have taken the helmet off,” he said, a sidelong glace at Ashton bringing another smile to the edge of his lips. The bruise had grown, dark red speckled under Ashton’s fair skin, but at least the welt had faded. “Wasn’t a bad shot either. Though you did just stand there.” With a laugh, he clapped Ashton on the shoulder, pushing the door open to let them outside.
Raising a hand to shield his eyes from the evening glare of the setting sun, he turned a speculative expression to Ashton as they crossed the parking lot. “Do you feel like stopping somewhere for food?”