Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(61)

Krista brought her gun up to shoot when she saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Without thinking, she reached out, grabbed a tree branch, and swung herself around. As she let go, falling into some scratchy bushes, she heard rapid fire hit the tree she had just run by. It was a narrow miss, but she didn’t have time for the replay. After the bone jarring thunk and tumble landing, she popped up like a Prairie Dog and shot at the moving object.

It was Ron from New York. He was flying solo. Well, now he was flying back to base because she got him with all three shots, center mass. And based on how he clutched his chest, it looked like it stung.

Shooting sounded behind her—Sean must have thought her firing was at the group. She bounded up and was off, hoping to get to Sean in time to shoot someone—this game was great for aggression.

When she got there, he was huddled behind a tree as a stocky fellow with an intense comb-over went whole-hog firing at him. It was an easy shot. Right in the back.

Upon impact, the guy arched his back and turned around with his mouth open. Krista was already running by. Sean popped out to join, keeping pace with eyes constantly roving.

They spent the next ten minutes running around, using hand signs, smiling, and looking for people to shoot. As they ran, they became less cautious. If they got shot, it wouldn’t have really put them out. Krista nearly wanted to shoot at Sean just to see if he would dodge in time.

Finally, they heard, “PLEASE REPORT BACK TO BASE,” over the loud speaker.

Sean and Krista both slowed to a stop.

“Is that it?” he panted.

“You need to keep running compadre,” Krista said, hardly out of breath.

“How do you stay in such good shape?” he asked, bending over and putting his hands on his knees.

“My question is, if it wasn’t for us, would anyone have been shot? All the other teams were just sitting around, hiding.”

Sean shrugged. “Good way to keep points.”

“Our way was the better way to win, though.”

“Our way is always better, Geegee, don’t you know that by now?” Sean said with a laugh.

They walked back to base, taking their time. Krista didn’t want to leave the seclusion of the trees. Sean wanted to catch his breath. After a few yards, Sean asked, “Where are you going?”

Krista stopped and blinked at him. “Back to base? Following you? I don’t know…”

Sean smiled and walked in the opposite direction. “Base is this way, Pet.”

She had no idea where she was, having no sense of direction, so she let Sean lead. She hadn’t felt this close to him in so long, it put a lump in her throat. Also, the unique term of endearment. She definitely didn’t want to leave the seclusion of the trees.

But the woods couldn’t last forever. As they walked out of the trees, they were met with all the regions lined up, talking and laughing and wanting to get off of their over-burdened feet. L.A. region had everyone accounted for but Marcus, who either got injured and was on his way to the hospital, or was still out in the trees somewhere sitting very still.

Bob eyed Krista as they walked up, noticing the lack of paint, and looked at Sean with a smirk. What he was thinking was clear. Sean played hero.

Krista wondered if she tripped and accidently shot him in the face, if she would get in trouble…

“There he is.” Janice pointed.

Marcus was walking out of the tree line laughing and joking with one of the guys from Texas. Neither of them had paint on them.

“Everyone that did not get shot, please step forward,” The ref said.

Sean and Krista walked to Marcus. The guy from Texas was it from his region, and there was one guy from New York—Krista was happy to see it wasn’t Blake. Everyone was counted and told they had the rest of the day off. Dinner was at 7, cocktail hour started at 6.

“I could have guessed you two would be unscathed,” Marcus said as they started walking back. Georgie and Donald fell in with them.

“How did you make it?” Krista asked.

“It was great, doll. I climbed a tree. I sat there and shot people as they wandered too close. No one ever thinks to look up.”

“I certainly didn’t,” Sean said as he leisurely reached his arm up to put it around Krista’s shoulders. It wasn’t until the last second that he caught himself and put it back down, slightly embarrassed.

It seemed so natural that it only caught Krista’s attention when he stopped and pulled it back down. No one seemed to notice but the two of them, thankfully.

“What about you guys?” Georgie asked.

“Did you follow the strategy?” Donald added.

“No, actually,” Sean replied. “We went with Geegee’s strategy. We were always on the move. We figured they were used to objects running away if they hunted, so we ran toward them.”

“Except if they were ex-military,” Donald countered.

“Hadn’t thought of that.” Krista pondered.

Sean just shrugged. Didn’t really matter to him.

“How did you know what to do? I mean, together?” Georgie asked. “Dean and me tried to work together, but as soon as we yelled back and forth, we got hit right away.”

“Navy Seal hand signs,” Sean stated as they entered the lobby.

“Where did you learn Navy Seal hand signs?” Donald asked in disbelief.