Chapter 11
REESE
I’m ready to hunt that bitch down.
After paying the fees, having my gun approved for the field, collecting our rental equipment, and signing our life away in waivers, I managed to get Nicki away from the registration area while we wait for Lina. I don’t know if Jared and Caroline are here yet, but I don’t want to cross paths with either of them before I’m fully suited up.
“Good call on the paintball. I needed to de-stress after this week,” Nicki says, stretching out her arms, her rental gun on the ground beside her feet. She’s always loosening her muscles. In full-length black pants and a black turtleneck stretched over her strong frame, she doesn’t really fit my idea of a social worker who helps troubled teens, but I’ll bet she’s better than most at it.
I went with my usual garb—camouflage pants and a matching long-sleeved shirt. It’s loose and I definitely don’t look appealing, but this is paintball. If you come here to look good, you’re an idiot. And you leave with welts. “Where is Lina and this mystery guy of hers?” I mutter. “It’s going to get hot out here if we wait too much longer.” I’m not stepping off these grounds until I’ve unloaded at least one hopper on Caroline.
“Good question. Lina’s never late,” Nicki agrees. “And you’re always late. I can’t believe you were waiting on the doorstep for me when I pulled into your driveway.”
“Just trying to be considerate.” I decided not to ride my bike here today. Too conspicuous. I’d rather Caroline and Jared don’t see me coming until it’s too late. “And I guess I could use some de-stressing, too.”
“Yeah, you’ve had a rough week, with the universe hating you and all,” she says with sympathy in her eyes. I filled Nicki in on the car ride over about the whole Ben thing and about Jared and Caroline being in the city. Of my two best friends, Nicki is probably the easier to talk to. She asks questions while recognizing my unspoken feelings. She’s also a better listener than Lina. Lina just tells you what she thinks, flat out, without tempering it with even a hint of grace.
Of course, no one knows that Caroline and Jared will be here today. That’s just a bit too much honesty.
“Well, look who finally graced us with her presence!” Nicki exclaims, throwing her arms up in mock exasperation. I don’t miss the strained smile and shifty-eyed glance toward me, though I don’t understand why.
The second I turn around, I do.
“Mason?” I feel my face bunch up in a tight scowl. “What are you—”
It suddenly clicks.
“Oh my God!” I gasp out loud as my best friend steps forward to loop her arm through his, almost as if to keep him in place. “Remember, I’m your friend and you love me,” Lina states matter-of-factly. I simply stare as she announces, “Mason and I are dating.”
What? What! I look from her to Mason—who’s eyeing the paintball gun dangling in my fingers—and back to her. “Seriously? You’re having sex with my stepbrother?” I can’t help but cringe.
“I said we’re dating.”
I glare at Mason’s beet-red face. All I see is a gangly kid with thick glasses, who loves Jeopardy and bitches at me about leaving gobs of toothpaste in the sink. If she’s not sleeping with him, then he may still be a virgin. I hope she’s not expecting great sex again for a long time.
Mason and Lina? But . . . But . . . “He wears old-man pajamas!” I cry out, as if Mason’s two-piece striped, collared, button-down sleepwear—with pockets—explains everything.
Lina tucks her short blond bob behind one ear, her face calm and composed, as though she expected this reaction from me. “He’s smart, cute, and nice. Don’t be a bitch.”
I’m fully aware that I am being a bitch, so I don’t take offense. Plus, I’m still in shock. My best friend is dating my childhood nemesis? “But . . . how?”
Lina’s arms fold over her chest. “I was going to tell you over dinner but you bailed on us, too busy working.” Gray eyes dissect me as Lina lays that well-timed guilt trip on me.
“But . . . how?” I ask again.
“Remember when we came by your house to borrow some tools from Jack?”
I nod. It was the weekend Nicki and Lina moved down. They needed a hammer and a drill. I was busy studying for my final exam that following Monday, so I couldn’t help.
“Mason offered to come by and help us.”
“Does Mason even know how to use a drill?”
“Yes, Mason knows how to use a drill,” Mason responds in an annoyed tone at the same time that Lina admits, “No.”
His eyes flash to her as she shrugs. “You really don’t, babe.” As if to temper the blow to his ego, she leans in and kisses his cheek, leaving me gaping like a wide-mouthed bass. Nicki’s too busy muffling her snorting laughter with her hand to say anything.
“Anyway . . . he spent the day trying to help us out”—Mason rolls his eyes at that—“and then I took him out to dinner as a thank you. After that, we started chatting over Facebook, and . . .”
“Fucking Facebook. The enabler of mutiny,” I growl under my breath.
“. . . he asked me out to the movies and dinner,” Lina ends. “We didn’t tell you right away because we wanted to make sure it’d be worth dealing with your inevitable fit, first.”
“And?” I eye the two of them, the resignation clear in my voice because I already know the answer to that, given we’re standing here right now.
“And you can go out there and shoot your best friend and stepbrother to your heart’s content. After that, not a word. Got it?” Lina scolds.
Technically, I can’t because they’ll be on my team, but . . . I lift my gun in the air. “Fine. Can we go? Or are there any other surprises for me today?”
A set of strong arms ropes around my body, pinning mine to my chest as I’m lifted off the ground, a clean, sporty smell filling my nostrils. “So this is what you ditched me for?”