Five Ways to Fall (Ten Tiny Breaths #4)(31)

He stops and turns, a questioning look on his face.

“Do you believe in fighting for something you want?”

“I’m a lawyer, Reese. All I do is fight,” he acknowledges with a grin, but then frowns. “Why?”

“No reason. Just curious.”

With a hand on my doorknob, he studies me for a moment. “You’re staying out of trouble, right?”

I rest my head down against my pillow. “So far.”

There’s a pause and then a sigh of exasperation. “Good night, Reese.”

“Good night, Jack.”

As soon as the door clicks, I roll over and grab my laptop to do something I haven’t done in months.

“Good ol’ Facebook. Helping people stalk since two thousand and . . .” I mutter, pulling up Jared’s profile page, gritting my teeth in preparation.

Just as I had expected. Picture after picture of flowers and bows and a giant f**king white dress plaster his wall. All posted by Caroline. Really? A church wedding? Jared’s an atheist. There must be five hundred people filling this place to watch the atheist get married. Jared hates crowds.

He’s smiling in every single picture; I can’t deny that. And he looks just as knee-buckling handsome in a tux. Still . . .

A new post pops up as I creep his profile. Surprise, surprise. She strikes again!

My big sexy man is going to protect me here, tomorrow morning! What should I wear?

There’s a link attached to an extreme paintball park north of Miami.

My stomach tightens. I love paintball. Jared and I used to go all the time, usually dragging Lina and Nicki along. I even have my own camouflage outfit and a semiautomatic paintball gun.

I click on the link to read about the establishment—family-owned and operated for twenty-five years. That’s always a plus. It means they know how to run things and they’ll have enough referees. It’s a huge field north of the city, with a wooded area. I much prefer those to the inner-city ones, where you’re crammed into a warehouse building. This also means that there will probably be a lot of players. With all the protective gear and masks on, it’s hard to identify a person . . .

I can’t go alone. I mean, I’m not above crazy, but that’s a little bit too much. No, I need to go with my people. I quickly text Lina and Nicki:

Paintball. Tomorrow. Nine a.m. You bitches are with me, right?

I’m not going to tell them why. It doesn’t matter. We’ll have fun either way.

Nicki responds immediately with a simple “in.” Lina takes a few minutes longer, even though I know she has read it.

In, as long as I can bring the guy I’m seeing.

After I agree to that, because I really don’t care who she brings as long as I have a chance to nail Caroline in the head with a splatter of red paint, we figure out logistics and sign off of our group chat. I lie back in my bed and sigh.

Shit.

I forgot about Ben. By the time we get out there and back, shower, eat, and all that . . . I’m not going to want sit in an office all freaking afternoon.

I scroll to find Ben’s number, thankful that we exchanged contact information before heading our separate ways today:

Sorry, can’t help you tomorrow. Something came up.

And then I shut my phone off.

Chapter 10

BEN

“Something came up”? What the f**k does that mean! No way am I letting her ditch me. We got so much accomplished today.

Hell no.

I’m lying in bed as I quickly type out:

You can’t bail. You still owe me for today and I need your help.

No response. She hasn’t even received it. She must have shut her phone off. Scanning my contacts, I dial Mason. He picks up on the second ring.

“Go tell Reese to check her damn phone,” I demand, a rare hint of irritation in my voice.

“Uh . . .” I picture him fiddling with his glasses. “I’m not at home at the moment.”

“Shit,” I mutter to myself. “Where are you? The library?” Mason’s a predictable guy. It’s either Warner, home, or the library.

“Why do you need Reese?”

“Just . . . she’s supposed to help me at the office tomorrow and she’s trying to ditch me.”

A hiss sounds into the receiver, followed by a low female giggle in the background, making me double-check the display to make sure I actually dialed Mason Warner. I did.

This can’t be right. I recognize a sated female giggle when I hear one. “Dude, are you getting laid?”

With a heavy throat clearing, he says, “I don’t know where she is right now but I know where she’ll be tomorrow.”

“All right, lay it on me.”

“I’m sending a link through now. Meet us there at ten.”

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.