AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Cara doesn't usually come across as a worrier."
"I know. She comes across as a ball-buster of a woman, in charge of everything. And she is. But when it comes to Bree, she's more like a worried mom. It's obvious that Bree used to be different. I kinda wish I'd known her before."
"Yeah, me too." Before she was hurt. Before her boyfriend tried to kill her. "But maybe it would help her? To get away for a while?"
"I hope so." He pulls out his phone and sends a message, and I'm satisfied for the moment. I'll stop asking about it for an hour, at least.
Done texting, he slaps his hands together and stares back at the wall of NERF guns. "So...NERF battle?"
I look back at the wall, and mentally calculate how much room I have in the back of the truck. Should be just enough.
"Yep. NERF Battle."
"No honey, that one's mine. This is yours." Colton carefully removes the blue, three-foot-long sniper rifle from Mia's hands and gives her the small pink one we picked for her. She glares down at it, her black curls falling over her face. Her shoulders drop, and I'm ready to fight Colton to get her the big one back.
"Okay," she says. "This nice too. It okay." 'This' comes out like 'dis' and I hope she never stops talking like that. It's the cutest thing I've ever heard. She gives him a fake smile, and her lower lip trembles.
Colton's face falls.
He carefully strokes over the big gun, and I see the longing in his eyes. He fought Declan and Ransom to get his hands on that gun. He's a terrifyingly good shot, so I really hoped one of the other guys would win.
Finally, with a big sigh, Colton extends the gun to Mia, holding it out in front of him like a sword. She gasps and drops the pink one on the floor, hugging the sniper rifle to her chest.
"Oh Daddy! Thank you," she says, and Colton melts into a big puddle of goo on the floor.
Maverick, in a white tank top and black athletic shorts bumps my shoulder. "We're fucked."
"I hid five hundred bullets in John's apartment," I whisper. "Aim doesn't matter as much if we can scatter a barrage of shots."
Mav shoots me a grin. "Did you know you're my favorite brother?"
Laughing, we finish gearing up. I snap a pair of swim goggles over my eyes and adjust the fit. They're tighter than I'd like. I also would have picked a different color, but oh well.
Everyone's here, even Cara, who's taking a rare night off of work, and Evie, who's just woken up after a night shift. This is going to be epic. There's a look in both women's eyes as they study their guns that sends a shiver down my spine.
"Okay," Declan says, clapping his hands. "Ground rules are the same as last time. I'll go over them again for all the newbies." He waves his hands toward the women and John. John's eyebrows raise and he folds his arms over his chest. "The game takes place anywhere from the thirty-fourth floor and up. All apartments are fair game except Jonas's."
"Wait, why is Jonas's off limits?" Holly asks from her seat at the dining room table. The woman is less than two months away from giving birth and insists on participating. The scowl on Micah's face makes it clear how he feels about this plan. I'm not worried. No one in the family would even think of shooting at her. She has enough trouble just walking around. I'm amazed that her belly doesn't just make her tip right over.
"I'm working on a new Lego set," Jonas says, helping Janey tighten her goggles, a look of intense concentration on his face as he carefully pulls her hair out of the way. We really should have stopped and gotten some proper eye protection. We used to have a bunch of really expensive goggles, but had to throw them out. It's hard to get dried egg off of plastic.
"Which one?" Kade, Zach and Micah all ask at once.
"Titanic," Jonas mutters, still mostly focused on his wife. "I have at least four thousand pieces to go."
"Oh, cool. Um, you need some help?" Kade asks.
"I was looking at that set last week. Can I come check it out?" Zach asks.
"Me too?" Micah asks.
All three of them look ready to drop their guns and go build Lego. No way will Declan let them miss this, but I guarantee we'll all be checking the set out at the end of the battle.
Jonas, the shit disturber that he is, eyeballs all three of them. "One with the most kills gets to help."
Oh, they are so in this. Nobody's listening to the rest of the rules. We don't need them. We play on all the floors we own. You get hit, you have to count it and stay down for five minutes. Same rules as last time. Though this is the first time we're playing with women. I can't really imagine shooting any of them. And if anyone hits Mia? I'll murder them.
Picking up a purple pair of goggles and another sniper rifle, I head in Cara's direction. "I got Bree a gun and some googles. Do you think she'll be home soon?" She's off limits. Stay cool.
