“Just keep those sunglasses on.” Adam pressed on the gas pedal and he took off, slowly, passing police who were looking into cars.
“You think they’ll catch on since it’s cloudy as hell and we all have sunglasses on?” Steve snorted, but his voice had a nervous edge.
Once they passed, each of them sighed in relief, but Jill turned, staring at the building as it faded from view. “Halfway house my ass,” she muttered.
The rest of the ride was silent until they pulled into the Battlefield Paintball Compound parking lot. Jill followed Adam and Steve out of the car, and looked around. She spotted the Warriors’ bikes, but Slade’s was missing. Relief washed over her as did irritation. Relief that she didn’t have to face him after their mind blowing sex and irritation that he was a pussy for not facing her.
“Uh, I don’t think we are going to be the only ones here.” Steve looked around as they headed through the parking lot. “I thought they’d shut it down for us.”
Making their way through the gate after telling the guy behind the counter who they were, they spotted Damon, Duncan, Sid, Jax, Jared and Sloan waiting impatiently.
“Glad to see you decided to show the fuck up.” Sloan frowned at them.
“Yeah, well we got caught up in traffic in front of the Halfway House,” Adam replied.
“How can they get away with calling it a halfway house?” Jill asked, still cranky about the fact. “It’s not like half-breeds are walking up to the doors for help. I saw a woman on her knees begging a cop. Doesn’t look like any halfway house I’ve ever seen. Cops were everywhere.”
“You don’t like the name, I take it?” Jared eyed her. “It’s just a way for them to calm panic among the community. We know what it really is and will shut them down.”
Sloan nodded, but didn’t add anything to what Jared said. Instead he looked around. “Where’s Buchanan?”
Jill looked anywhere but at Sloan. When her eyes met Sid’s, he was staring at her; she looked away, but not before shooting him a glare.
“Don’t know, but let’s get this going.” Jax stepped up, glancing at Jill before grabbing paintball guns and handing them to Adam, Steve and then Jill. “You four…”
“Four?” Steve frowned, pointing at Jill, Adam and then himself. “Three.”
“Sorry I’m late.” Dillon stepped up, surprising Jill and Adam.
“Dillon?” Jill’s shocked expression made him grin.
“In the flesh.’ Dillon opened his arms.
Jill rushed him and had to stretch to give him a hug. Dillon had been the smallest of any of them. “You grew!” she laughed, hugging him tightly. At that moment, her eyes met Slade’s, who stood just behind Dillon. Looking away from Slade, she screamed at herself to chill out and be cool as she looked up at Dillon.
“And I haven’t stopped,” Dillon laughed, looking at Jared with a grin. “I think that’s why the Warrior branch in Kentucky sent me back here. They can’t afford buying me new clothes.”
“Well, I’m glad, no matter what the reason is.” Jill smiled, and then watched as Adam and Dillon did a bro hug. He looked so different. His blond hair had darkened and was longer, instead of the summer buzz cut he always wore. His body and face had filled out, forming a damn good-looking man. Adam introduced Dillon to Steve and Jax, and then Slade who took Dillon’s hand in a shake. Jill watched as their handshake lasted a little longer than the others, and the confused look on Dillon’s face when he turned from Slade made her frown, but before she could think any more on it, Jax explained their training for the day.
“We are breaking up into teams.” Jax handed them each safety glasses. “Us against you.”
“Well, that seems a little unfair.” Steve removed his sunglasses to put the safety glasses on.
“Tough shit.” Jax picked up a paintball gun that looked like a damn Uzi. “You are only out on a kill shot. For you guys, a kill shot is the heart or head and for us, it’s the head. There’s five acres of land, woods and buildings. You have an hour to survive without having been hit with a kill shot. Within the hour, a horn will blow indicating the exercise is over and you have passed this portion of your testing. We will give you fifteen minutes to set a plan and get a head start.”
“But what about all of these other people here?” Adam looked around at groups of people heading out with paintball guns.
“They are off-limits to you, but you are not off-limits to them,” Jax replied.
“Are you serious?” Steve looked around. “Not only do we have you badasses hunting us down, we can be taken out by a mom out on a family outing?”
“Yeah, awesome, isn’t it?” Jared grinned.
Jill was still looking at all the Warriors’ guns with a frown. “Can’t we at least choose our own weapons?”
Jax cocked an eyebrow at her, and then waved his hand. “Be my guest.”
Looking at the guns displayed behind the counter, Jill instantly found the one she wanted. “Give me the sniper rifle.” She told the guy behind the counter.
“Ah, you sure?” The guy looked at the gun then at her. “That’s a pretty…”
“Give me the fucking gun,” Jill growled, not in the mood for male bullshit. Once she was handed the gun, she opened the hopper of the gun she discarded to remove the paintballs. “Pink? Really?” She glared up at Jax, doing her best to ignore Slade who she knew was watching her every move.
“We have black.” Jax didn’t even hide his smile. “Those three have different colors than you or anyone else out here today so we can tell who gets the kill shot, and you got pink. Deal with it.”
“Yeah, you’re going to look pretty in pink, asshole,” Jill whispered to herself as she loaded her hopper, and then slammed it shut. When she straightened up, she noticed everyone staring at her with large grins, except for Steve who looked ready to bolt. “Said that out loud, didn’t I?”
“Pretty much a butt-pucker moment.” Steve nodded, looking at Jill like she’d lost her mind.
Jill glanced at Jax, who didn’t even look pissed, which surprised her. “Sorry, just have a competitive mentality going on right now. No disrespect.”
“Good. I’m glad you have that because you are all going to need it.” Jax nodded at her. “You got fifteen minutes before we hunt.”
“Say hello to my little friend.” Jared re-enacted the scene from Scarface .
“We’re fucked.” Steve turned, walking away, his head already dropped in defeat.
“Stop talking about your dick, Jared.” Sid loaded his hopper with a grin.
“If I whipped that out, we’d all be dead,” Jared shot back.
Jill rolled her eyes, their gross manly banter not even getting to her as she followed Steve and Adam, totally ignoring Slade as she passed him by inches. Dillon waited for her and she was surprised when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, then messed her hair with his hand. “Where in the hell did little, quiet-as-a-mouse Jill go?”
Wrapping her empty arm around Dillon, she finally grinned a genuine smile. “Dead and buried.”
Once they arrived at an area far enough away that the Warriors couldn’t hear them, they stopped. “Okay, is it just me or is everyone freaked out about getting shot in the fucking head with a paintball?”
Dillon laughed. “Not on my top ten list of things I look forward to, but the key is not to get shot.”
“We’re fucked,” Steve repeated again.
“Will you stop saying that?” Adam growled. “We’re not fucked. We’re highly outnumbered, but I have a plan.”
Jill listened, but her eyes stayed on the Warriors who she could still see. Her frown deepened and her attitude became dangerous the more she watched them, one in particular.
“Awesome,” Steve nodded, looking relieved. “What’s the plan?”
“We need to split up,” Adam instructed, but stopped when Steve snorted.
“That’s a stupid-ass plan.” Steve shook his head. “Haven’t you watched any movies? When they split up, people die and we get shot in the freakin’ head with paintballs. I vote for a new plan.”
Stomach churning with anger, she watched as Slade laughed with ease with the other Warriors. She couldn’t shake the hurt his carefree laughter caused her. Just hours before, they had what she felt was the most amazing sex, which she freely and with all her heart went into with eyes wide open. What she didn’t expect was being treated like nothing after it was over. As if she was just another whore he had fucked and regretted. As if compelled, her arms lifted bringing the gun up, and one eye looked through the scope at her target…the Warrior who tore her heart out.
“Then what do you think we should do, Steve?” Adam shot back, no one watching Jill. “What awesome plan do you have?”
Closing her one eye, she moved the gun from his head, knowing their time hadn’t started so she couldn’t take him out…yet, then to his back. No, that wasn’t good either. She moved the gun lower, her aim directly dead center his ass. With a large smile of a woman scorned, she pulled the trigger and a feeling of vengeful release spread throughout her body as pink exploded across his ass. Slade didn’t even jump, but his head snapped around, his eyes finding her instantly as she still looked at him through the scope. “You’re mine,” he mouthed, his eyes promising things that didn’t go in her favor.
“What the fuck did you do?” Steve shrieked, looking from Jill to the Warriors, then spotted the pink on Slade’s ass. “Oh, shit!!”
“Dammit, Jill.” Adam threw his head back in disbelief. “What the fuck is wrong with you? We don’t have a plan.”
Jill went to answer, but dropped the gun quickly. “Yeah, we do.” She turned to take off. “Run!”
Okay, so now as she ran for her life, shooting Slade in the ass didn’t seem like such a good idea. Oh, who was she kidding; she’d do it again in a heartbeat, she just hated that it might have hurt her team. Running into the woods, Jill zig-zagged through trees and brush. Seeing a large tree, she stopped behind it to listen. What sounded like an elephant busting through the woods was Steve tripping, falling and rolling past her. Grabbing him, she pulled him up beside her. Putting her finger to her mouth, she then peeked around the tree. Seeing nothing, she let her breath ease out.
Hearing a branch snap had them both sucking in their breath. Peeking again, she saw Jared going from tree to tree, cocking his ear to listen. Glancing at Steve, she gave him a look. “Do you trust me?”
“Why?” He looked at her without any trust at all.
“I want you to take off running and don’t look back,” she whispered as low as possible.
“Ah, no.” Steve shook his head. “I got a better idea. You fucking take off running.”
She looked again to see Jared getting closer. “Dammit, Steve, trust me.” She nodded toward the woods. “I swear I won’t let him shoot you.”
Steve just looked at her, then gritted his teeth. “If I get shot in my fucking head, you will be my slave for life.”
“Just run, Steve, and don’t look back.” Jill pushed him away from the tree. She watched as Steve took off in a blur of movement. Jared spotted him and with a grin lifted his gun. Jill stepped out from behind the tree raising her hand and prayed that this would work. With everything she had, she took control of Jared’s gun and thankfully it was a surprise attack because his grip wasn’t tight. The gun flew out of his hands heading toward Jill. Once their eyes met, Jill threw her arm back before swinging it hard, sending the gun through the woods.
Proud of herself, she smiled, but it disappeared as soon as she heard the deep growl coming from Jared. “You’ll pay for that, cheater.”
“Not cheating if I wasn’t told I couldn’t do it,” she defended herself before she took a shot at Jared’s head, but he was too quick, knowing the shot was coming.
“Nice try, breed.” Jared smirked then gave a loud whistle before yelling, “Pinky is using her powers. Hold onto your guns.”
Whistles answered him back and they were close. Jill took off as Jared laughed and then headed for his gun. Not really knowing where Steve went, Jill headed in the direction he initially ran. A noise coming from her right had her crouching down in tall brush. Her eyes focused to see two men heading her way. She lowered herself and took aim. With two clear shots, she hit them both within seconds of each other, and then realized it was two civilian men. Oh, she was going to catch crap on this one, maybe no one would notice.
“Sorry, guys.” She grimaced, looking at the bright-pink paint spattered across their chest. Yeah, she was busted big time. She turned, looking around for Warriors before taking off.
“Son of a bitch,” one of them cursed. “Where in the hell did she come from?”
“Hell if I know.” The other one tried to wipe the paint off his chest but it just smeared.
Jill could still hear them as she found a large tree. With expert ease, she managed her way up to the top and concealed herself. It gave her a great cover, but didn’t obstruct her view. She could see all around. Spotting Sid and Jared, Jill held her breath. They stopped the two men she shot.
“Where did she go?” Jared asked, pointing to the pink on the man’s vest.