“Fruit is done,” Asher announced as Ethan walked into the kitchen.
Isaac wasn’t there. Everyone picked up serving dishes and headed into the living room.
When everyone was sitting with their breakfast and coffee, I finally asked, “Where’s Isaac?”
Ethan shrugged. “He’s at home. He walked into the house this morning when I was coming downstairs.”
“He didn’t want to come?” Asher asked. That was strange, there was food here.
“I guess not.” Ethan took a bite of toast.
“I thought you two talked last night,” Miles said, turning to me.
I finished my bite before answering. “We did. I thought we were okay.”
“Maybe he's getting sick.” Ethan took a drink of his coffee. Probably, it still bothered me that he wasn’t here.
“That’s weird,” I pointed out.
Ethan shrugged. “It happens, though it hasn’t for a long time.”
“Any word from Serena?” Asher asked after finishing his bite.
I shook my head. “Straight to voicemail. I get being busy, but… I think she’s avoiding me.”
“Well, from what you’ve told us,” Miles began, pushing his glasses back up his nose, “that is entirely possible.”
“Great, my only resource is dodging me,” I grumbled. The room grew quiet.
We were halfway done with breakfast when Asher asked, “So, what are we doing today?”
“Well,” Miles grabbed our attention, “I still owe Lexie a day of paintball.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “Yes!” The guys chuckled.
“You’ll need to change out of your shorts and into jeans,” Zeke warned before he clenched his jaw. “Please?”
I stuck my tongue out at him. He shook his head as he went back to his breakfast.
“Did you just say please?” Ethan asked, his eyes wide and mouth gaping.
Zeke's eyes were hard as they went to him. “Shut it,” he growled in his deep gravelly voice.
Ethan shut his mouth and went back to eating.
“If that’s what we’re doing, then I want to stop by and pick up Isaac,” I told them.
“He’ll probably be asleep,” Ethan pointed out.
I smiled. “I can get his ass out of bed. There’s always ice water.” Everyone laughed.
We finished breakfast quickly. Before leaving, I went to ‘my room’ and found a pair of jeans in the dresser. Luckily, I also had a pair of sneakers here. Did I have any clothes still at home?
It wasn’t long before I was driving over to the twins’ house while the others headed for the paintball field. I parked and hurried inside. Maria, the twins’ mom, was in the living room reading a book. Maria was beautiful; she had the same amber eyes and black hair as the twins.
She looked up when I stepped onto the stairs. “Oh, good,” she said with a smile. “Go get his butt out of bed.”
I sent her a thumbs up and moved up the stairs quietly. His door was closed. I moved to it and slowly opened it. Isaac’s room was a mess. Clothes were everywhere. With the curtains closed, the room was dim. Isaac’s twin bed was against the left hall wall. He was only wearing boxers that said ‘got bacon’ with strips of bacon all over them. The white sheets of his bed were tangled around his legs. I took a second to enjoy the lines of his back, before I pounced.
I ran and jumped, landing on his back with my knees on either side of his waist. He grunted. I dropped my upper body onto his back and rested my chin between his shoulder and neck.
“Get the fuck off,” he growled.
“Nope,” I said cheerfully. “We’re going to play paintball. Get up!”
“Lexie...” he grumbled, burying his face in his pillow.
“Come on, I need help kicking Zeke’s ass.” I moved my face next to his neck.
“No, I’m not going.”
“Yes, you are,” I countered. He cursed. I started giving him raspberries on his neck. He managed to twist under me, get his arm around me, and drag me under him. I don’t even know how he did it.
He lay back down, half on top of me, and glared.
I simply smiled up at him.
He shook his head, lowered the rest of his body to mine and nuzzled his face against my neck. “Do you really want to play paintball?” he whispered, his voice warm and rich. My heart picked up, warmth flooded my body. “We could stay here… puedo abrazarte todo lo día.”
Oh…boy… um… I needed to get him to wake up. Like, now! I lifted my head and gave him another raspberry on his cheek without stopping.
“Knock it off.” He tried to grumble, but he was holding back a laugh.
“I’m not gonna stop until you get out of bed.” I pressed my lips against his neck again and continued the raspberries. He started laughing. I kept at it until he was fighting to get away.
“Okay, okay!” He finally gave in. I dropped my head back to the pillow.
“Are you gonna get up?” I asked sweetly.
He was smiling when he said, “Yeah, I’m getting up. Want to get out so I can get dressed?”
“Want to get your ass off of me?” I countered in a funny voice. He lifted himself up into a plank position. I slid out from under him and headed for the door.
“Hurry up! I want to kick Zeke’s ass today,” I told him before closing the door behind me. I took a minute to get my body under control. That voice... shit. I'd never heard him use that voice before. I leaned against the wall, my body humming. It took several more deep breaths before I could even push away from the wall. I headed back downstairs to wait.
“Is he waking up?” Maria asked.
“Yeah, I didn’t give him an option,” I admitted with a smile.
She chuckled. “Good. I’m glad at least one of you can get him out of bed.”
“Well, it’s either get up and go with me, or I annoy the hell out of him until he gets up and goes with me,” I told her. “There’s no real way for him to win.” Maria was laughing when Isaac came downstairs in paint-stained jeans and a green camo shirt.
“Are we going?” he asked. I got up, said goodbye to Maria, and hurried out the door.
“Are you going to be grumpy?” I asked as we reached the Blazer.
He opened the passenger door. “I’m hungry.” That explained it. Isaac got as grumpy as Zeke when he was hungry.
“I’ll buy you lunch if you cheer up,” I offered. He sent me a small half grin. I pulled out onto the street, wondering why he wasn’t sleeping.
Paintball was fun, there was no denying it. You got to shoot your friends and dodge their hits. It was a blast. A splat hit the tree next to me. I dove for cover, rolled, and came up on my knees behind several metal barrels. The barrels dinged as they were hit with paintballs. Where were they? I peeked around the side and spotted Asher. I ducked back behind cover before peeking out again. I fired at him, only to get hit in the back. What the…? I turned. Isaac, the traitor, had shot me in the back. It was on now.
“You shit!” I shouted as I shot at him. He took off running, laughing as he went. I chased him, jumping over logs, moving around trees easily. He pulled ahead and dove for cover. I moved behind a large tree and tried to think about how I’d get to him. I was looking around when an idea sparked. Smiling, I let my paintball gun hang from the sling and started climbing the tree as quietly as I could. When I was hidden in the branches and high enough, I could see Isaac. And Zeke. And Miles. Fighting back a giggle, I got into a good spot and brought the gun up. I fired. Bright purple paint hit Isaac’s shoulder. He dropped back behind cover. Zeke and Miles moved up through cover quietly, getting closer to Isaac.
Smiling, I took aim. I nailed Zeke in the shoulder. He cursed and dropped back behind cover. I was struggling not to laugh as I aimed for Miles. Miles was hunched behind a low log and moving to Zeke’s side. I got him in the side. I had to put my hand over my mouth to stop my giggling.
“Where the hell is she?” Zeke snapped.
“She was behind me,” Isaac yelled. I shot him in the back again for good measure. “Damn it, Red!” Now I really started giggling.
“Anyone see Lexie?” Zeke bellowed.