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“We’ve got this.” Jessa glanced over to where the boys were also huddled, down the side of a strategically placed Jeep. “They think they can beat us, but they underestimate how good we are.”
Winter grinned at me. “How’re you feeling? Ready?”
“I’m ready.” Despite having zero experience in aiming and shooting guns, their excitement was contagious, and I was more than ready to get started. We were at the Battle Fields, a new outdoor laser tag section of Skirmish, the place Creed owned, which offered various activities, including knife throwing, archery, and paintball. He’d asked Z if we were interested in testing it before it was made available to the general public, and the Four had jumped at the chance.
“I’ve been wanting to plan a girls’ day with you for a while. As soon as it was clear how important Z was to you, I knew that we needed this.” Winter squeezed my arm, glancing over to Lena, who nodded.
“Yep. You’re one of us now. There’s no escape.”
“You’re moving into the house with us at Christmas, right?” Jessa gave me a bright smile as she stretched out her hamstrings. Both of us were officially moving in with the Four around the same time, and after a long debate with myself about whether I should continue to pursue independent living, Zayde had pointed out that I could still be as independent as I wanted, but living in his house meant that we got to wake up next to each other every morning. How could I say no to that?
I nodded. “I am. I felt bad about leaving Kinslee, but that worked out well.”
Jessa straightened back up, her glossy, straight ponytail flipping over her shoulder. “Yeah, me too. But she said she’d always wanted to live in one of the apartments in my building, so it all worked out.”
It felt like fate, in a way. After so many things had gone wrong, everything had fallen into place. Kinslee insisted that she liked her own space, and with Jessa moving in with the Four, her apartment was free, and thanks to her connections, she was able to sign the rental agreement over to Kinslee. It also meant that Kinslee was a little closer to our house, too. I’d enrolled on a business course—not at Alstone College but via distance learning, and together with James, we were learning the ropes of what remained of Hyde Consultings. That was no longer its name, of course. Most of the business was in the process of being absorbed into Alstone Holdings, but a small branch remained, focused only on local property. We had an interim manager while we studied for our qualifications, but eventually, the two of us would run TL Properties, aka Tim Lewis Properties, named after my brother. We’d signed a partnership deal with Alstone Holdings, and the terms had been very generous. There was a no-competition clause, and as long as James and I managed to get our heads around the ins and outs of the business, it would be a success, bringing us both a decent, guaranteed income.
As for Joseph and my mum…Zayde had taken care of everything, just as I’d trusted him to do. He’d arranged for the Hyde mansion to be sold, and as I wanted nothing to do with it, he generously arranged for my mother and my brother to keep the proceeds of the sale, provided they moved away from Alstone and agreed not to speak to me unless I initiated contact. The last I’d heard, Joseph had been looking at properties in Oxfordshire, and there had been rumours swirling around that my mum had latched onto some widowed minor royal in the home counties. She’d shown no interest in changing her habits, but I had to remind myself that it wasn’t my place to interfere. It had to be her decision to want to change, if she wanted to change. And as far as I was concerned, she had no interest in my life—in fact, she held me responsible for everything that had happened with my dad, and so, that was the end of our relationship, at least for the foreseeable future. Things didn’t always work out perfectly.
But that was life. Messy. Imperfect. Precious.
“Where is Kinslee, anyway? I thought she’d be here.” Lena glanced around like she was expecting Kinslee to pop up suddenly.
Winter smirked. “She’s inside with Creed and Austin.”
“And Mack,” Jessa added. “It’s all very secretive, but I think Creed might be trying to recruit her.”
One of Lena’s brows arched. “Recruit her for what?”
“Who knows what goes on at Pope Industries?” Winter shrugged, her eyes sparkling. “But if he does recruit her, maybe we can find out.”
A klaxon sounded, making us all jump, and Lena swore under her breath. “We didn’t get to discuss strategy.”
I hoisted up my laser gun, looking down the scope like I’d seen people do on TV. In the distance, I caught sight of the top of someone’s head, the rest of them hidden behind an oil barrel. It looked like Cassius. “Hmmm. Don’t get shot?”
Lena laughed. “Yeah, I think that’s probably the best strategy. Stay low, stay covered, avoid the boys.”
With that, we all dispersed, aiming for separate hiding places where we could hopefully pick off the boys one by one.
I ducked down behind a large crate, one of the many hiding places scattered around the hilly fields, along with dips and rises, tunnels and walls. Steadying my gun on the top of the crate, I carefully lifted my head to peer through the scope. There was no sign of anyone. In fact, it was almost too quiet. I couldn’t even hear any birds.
Glancing around me, I decided to make a run for the low wall made of stacked sandbags that lay around twenty metres to my right. There was a tunnel to the left of the wall, burrowed into the side of a small hillock, that I could probably crawl inside and pick someone off.
My heart pounded as I sprinted for cover, adrenaline fuelling me with extra speed. I threw myself down behind the wall, and then all the breath was knocked from my lungs as a hard body pinned me in place.
“Got you.”
I twisted, and Zayde let me turn so that my back was against the ground, but he kept me pinned beneath him.
“Did you really think you could escape me?” He raised a brow, amusement dancing in his eyes, and I loved him so much.
“Zayde.” Sliding my left hand up the tense muscles of his thigh, I slowly, deliberately licked my lips. As his eyes darkened, I curled my right hand around my gun, my finger slipping into place over the trigger.
Then in a movement that I thought Lena would’ve been proud of, I swung the gun up, aiming the red dot of the laser and shooting his chest at point-blank range.
His mouth fell open, his eyes wide with shock, and I was helpless to stop the huge grin that was spreading across my face.
“Fallon,” he growled.
