With a delayed battle cry, we open fire, pelting them from head to toe with paint. I focus more on the guy’s back, but Reese holds no prisoners, unloading on his ass and her thighs as howls and shrieks of pain compete with the clicking of our guns.
My gun is out long before Reese’s, but she doesn’t look ready to let up. Finally, I grab her by the arm and pull her out. We run down the hill to screams of “You assholes!” carrying through the forest. I keep pulling her along until the valley and the hut are no longer in view and I can’t run anymore because I’m laughing too damn hard.
Leaning back against a tree, I struggle to catch my breath. “I can’t believe we just did that.” We’ll get kicked out of the game and possibly banned from this place if the couple reports us. Then again, they’d have to admit to what they were doing in there and, while there’s no “no sex” rule in the handbook, I’m thinking it’s frowned upon by the referees.
“It’s their own damn fault!” she mutters, her breaths just as ragged as mine. “Did you see her? What if there were kids around? What a twat!”
Another bellow of laughter explodes out of me. “I haven’t heard that word in forever. She has clearly offended you with her sense of adventure.”
“That wasn’t a sense of adventure. That was no sense at all,” she growls between breaths. “What an idiot for coming dressed like that.”
Between the midday heat, the mask, and the running, sweat is pouring off me. I’m dying to take my mask off but I’m not about to risk losing an eye. “Come on. Let’s get going before a real opponent catches us.”
She sighs. “I’m done with playing for today.”
“What? Forget it! I’m not quitting until we find that flag or I’ve been shot.” I’m competitive by nature. I also haven’t had this much fun in a long time.
In answer, Reese points her gun at my crotch.
And fires.
With my arms folded across my chest, I watch Reese duck out of the changing room, her furtive eyes checking this way and that as she makes a beeline for my waiting car, tossing her bag of dirty clothes and gun into the trunk. Tucking a strand of freshly washed hair behind her ear, she cocks her head and looks at me somewhat sheepishly. “Will you survive?”
“Not sure. You’ll need to take it for a test run,” I smirk, pulling her into me, the smell of the soap from her shower catching my nose and proving that, yes, my dick is still able to at least stand.
She offers a small smile as she pulls away. “You should write to the manufacturers and complain.”
“And tell them what, exactly? That their soft cups don’t hold up well when a chick shoots you with a semiautomatic paintball gun at point blank range?” The sting actually went away within a few minutes but, damn, did it hurt. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t already have a raging hard-on and a growing case of blue balls. Still, I’ve hammed it up for Reese’s benefit, hoping I can guilt her into some hand action during the car ride back to the office.
She shrugs. “I don’t know. Come up with something. You’re the lawyer. Come on, let’s go.” She ducks into the passenger seat of my car before I can answer. Honestly, I thought I’d be forcing her into my car to come to Warner. But between the gun to the privates and her friends texting to say they’ve left ahead of us, she’s not fighting me. In fact, she seems to be in a rush to get out of here.
“You okay?” I ask, climbing into the driver’s side, ready to blast the air conditioning. Even with a quick shower in the changing room, I’m already sweating again in this heat. “What’s wrong? Feeling guilty over ruining a magical moment for the happy couple?”
Her lips press together and she pauses. “No. I just thought it’d feel better than it did. It was . . .” She shakes her head. “Nothing. Let’s go before I change my mind about work.”
“Shit, we can’t have that.” I slide my key into the ignition and crank the engine. “I’m starving, though.”
“That makes two of us.”
“Good. We’ll stop and get you some small children to eat on the way, you wicked woman.” I’m about to throw the car into drive when I see a redheaded woman and a tall dark-haired guy walk across the parking lot toward us, talking slow, rigid steps. The woman’s cut-off shorts are free of paint but I can’t say the same for her legs, which are mottled with dry red paint. Welts run up the underside of her thighs.
“Wait a minute.” I squint to get a better look at their faces. “Isn’t that . . .?”
“Drive!” Reese demands, pulling on her sunglasses and hunching over slightly.
As we pass by, Reese turns away at the same time that I get a good look at the big tattoo on the guy’s shoulder that had been covered by long sleeves before. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I explode in laughter. “Did we just pull the ultimate ‘fuck you’ on your ex and his new wife?”
Reese doesn’t answer, helping herself to my radio, tuning in to an alternative station. Chris Cornell’s distinctive voice comes on over the speakers.
“Holy shit,” I mutter with a chuckle. “Remind me never to piss you off.” I let her have her moment of silence as I turn onto the highway, while the pieces start to click. It makes sense. Reese had to know they’d be here. And she had to have figured out who the idiot showing up dressed like that would be. Finally, I ask, “How’d you know?”
I don’t think I’m going to get an answer from her. But then, with a heavy sigh, she admits, “Facebook. He messaged me last night. You were right. He was jealous of you. Then she posted something about coming here and, well . . . I couldn’t help myself.” A small, sheepish smile touches her lips as she ducks her head. “Do me a favor, though, and don’t tell anyone.”
I hazard, “I guess it probably hurt, seeing them like that, didn’t it?” It must have. Here I was, thinking how much fun it was catching two people going at it, but for Reese, it wasn’t just two people. It was someone she loved. By the way her mouth is twisting now, it’s someone I’m pretty sure she’s still hung up on.
After a long moment, she admits softly, “It’s not the first time I’ve seen it, but, yeah, it still hurt.” Though I really like her normal snarky side, I have to say that the forlorn side I’m seeing right now makes me want to pull over to hug her or kiss her or, hell . . . I’m seconds away from reaching across the console to hold her hand. That’s when my Bluetooth starts ringing, cutting into the music. A giant “Mama” displays on the screen.
Shit.
Reese looks from me to the display to me. “Aren’t you going to answer that?”
“I’ll call her when we get to the office.”
As quick as a viper snatching its food, Reese’s hand snaps out and hits the green “Answer” button on my steering wheel.
I groan. “You really are a pain in my—”
“Hello?” My mom’s lax voice sounds out clearly over the speakers.
“Hey, Mama.” I shoot a look of exasperation to my passenger, whose dour mood has suddenly been replaced by a broad smile.
“Who were you just talking to?”
I take a deep breath. This is exactly why I didn’t answer. The only girl Mama has ever met was Brittany Jo, a girl I dated in sophomore year for all of two weeks and got trapped into introducing after one of my football games. And the only reason I remember the girl’s name is because Mama kept asking about her. For at least six months after I ended it by getting caught nailing her twin sister at a party.
Hell, I was drunk and they looked the exact same, except for their clothes, which I probably should have noticed. But her sister never said a damn word when I pulled her into the mudroom.
“Just a friend,” I answer with hesitation.
“Hi, Mrs. Morris!” Reese chirps like an innocent church girl, batting her eyes playfully at me. “My name’s Reese.”
There’s a pause for one, two, three seconds and then, “Why, hello dear.”
Ah, fuck. I hear that inflection. That’s my mom getting excited that some woman may have pinned her baby boy down. She’s going to be searching out china patterns after we hang up, or whatever the hell it is moms do when they think they’re getting a wedding. “Just a friend, Mama,” I reiterate. “We were out at a paintball field with a bunch of other friends and now we’re heading in to work after we grab a bite to eat.” For good measure, I throw in, “She couldn’t drive herself. Her motorcycle wasn’t working properly.” Maybe that’ll turn Mama’s little fantasy upside down.
“Oh, well you two should swing by first! I need you to take a look at the tractor anyway, Ben. It sounds funny and I don’t want to call Bert out here unless I have to. You know how much he charges.”
Swing by? I love my mama, but the grove isn’t exactly down the street. That’s part of its appeal. “Can’t it wait until next Sunday? I have a ton of work to do.”
“I suppose. Though I could have lunch ready for you when you get here . . .” Her voice is thick with disappointment.
“That’s nice, Mom, but—”
Reese cuts me off with, “We’d love to come over, Mrs. Morris. We’ll see you soon.”
“Wonderful!”
Yeah, wonderful. I’m pretty sure I just heard wedding bells in her voice.
Dead Mau5 fills the car as the phone call ends. Reese controls herself for all of five seconds and then bursts out laughing. “You call her Mama? What are you, ten?”
“You know her place is a hundred miles away. You’re now stuck in the car with me for the next two hours.”
Shifting in her seat, she closes her eyes. “Wake me up when we get there.”