Page 79 of Stripping Bare

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When Jonah wouldn’t openup and immediately spill his guts about the clusterfuck with Mrs. Vanderwinkle, his brothers decided they needed to take this thing to the woods.If we can’t talk it out of you, then we’ll shoot it out ofyou.

But he knew what would come after paintball. His brothers would nag the shit outta him until he spilled everything about what had happened the past fewdays.

Yippee.

Sometimes it really sucked being the youngestbrother.

Good thing he knew he could win this paintball game fast. After checking the traps he’d come out and set up a couple weeks ago, he climbed his cold ass up into an old deerblind.

Andwaited.

He really didn’t have time for this. He should climb down, hoof it back to his house, and try to nail that modder-hacker-bastard. He still hadn’t heard back from the bartender at Tucci’s, and it was making him twitchy. But on the way to his mom’s house, he’d gotten in touch with Steele Trap’s HR director and learned that Carson Grimes had recently taken a job at a Charlotte biotech. He intended to pay Grimes a visitpronto.

The forest around him was alive with the sounds of bird calls and scuffling in the underbrush, which either meant none of his brothers were in the area or they were being so stealthy that even the animals didn’t realize they werearound.

Out of his peripheral vision, he caught a shimmer of movement.Gotcha.

Grif came strolling out from behind a tree as if he were meandering down Rodeo Drive. His coveralls were pristine and his helmet gleamed as if he’d waxed the damn thing. What guy looked that put together to play paintball? Made Jonah want to nail him in the ass just forthat.

“I know you’re up there,” Grif called, his voice muffled by his protective helmet. “Go ahead andshoot.”

Fine. The sooner he took them all out, the sooner he could get back to the business athand.

Jonah’s finger twitched on thetrigger.

“You know you wantto.”

He did. Right now, he wanted to take aim and leave a big red splotch right in the center of Grif’svisor.

“Hurry up, or I might decide to shoot you instead,” Grif taunted. “Britt and Reid are over in the ravine. If you take me down, you can get over there and sneak up on them frombehind.”

When it came to playing games, most people believed they had to work within the rules. But Jonah knew there were always more ways to get what he wanted, was always a back door. He reached into the pocket of his coveralls and fingered the secret weapon he’d stashed there when they’d been suiting up in the barnearlier.

If Grif would just take half a dozen more steps to the west, Jonahcould…

Hands on his hips, Grif strolled over and looked up at the blind Jonah was ducked down in. Damn, his brother was the perfect target. But rather than blast him with a paintball, Jonah pulled the trap he’d rigged for just thisoccasion.

One second, Grif was standing on so-called solid ground, the next he disappeared into a holding pit Jonah had dug when they were excavating for hishouse.

Onedown.

“You cheating son of a bitch,” Grif called from the hole. “This ispaintball.”

Jonah climbed down from the blind and peered into the well-padded ten-feet-deep temporary prison. It wasn’t meant to harm, just hold someone for a little while. “Nuh-uh. This is SteeleSurvivor.”

“Reid and Britt are gonna annihilate yourass.”

“We’ll see about that.” Grinning so hard it strained his cheeks, Jonah loped off toward the ravine. After days of uncertainty and frustration over this hacker, it felt damn good to be at the top of hisgame.

Jonah found Reid and Britt exactly where Grif said they’d be. Apparently, they’d decided to partner up until they took out Grif and Jonah.That’s about to go sideways, youlunkheads.

Good thing Jonah had been secretly preparing for a day like today. He tossed a pine cone off to the right of where his brothers were hunkered down behind a cedar tree. As expected, their heads swiveled in thatdirection.

C’mon. This one’s forBritt.

Sure enough, Reid gave the hand signal for Britt to check it out. Although Britt was the unofficial head of the Steele family, when it came to battle plans, they all deferred toReid.