Page 38 of Watch Your Back (Devil’s Backbone #2)

A nticipating a fierce competition day, I opted to skip the after-dinner party and make it an early night. My forearms ached from my long massage shift, and my eyelids had been dropping even as I tried to eat my dinner. The boys had all straight-face promised to stay in their own bedrooms too.

Needless to say, I was not shocked to wake up in Royce’s arms with my face buried in the crook of his neck sometime just after dawn. I’d forgotten to black out the giant window, but it was kind of nice to see the sun glowing on the horizon.

“What time is it?” I mumbled, knowing full well he’d already be awake. Since he’d confessed to destroying our pillow walls, I realized he woke up every morning at five thirty on the damn dot without an alarm. It was weird as hell.

“Early,” he replied, stroking my hair. “Sleep a little more, Squirrel baby.”

“Mmmkay,” I agreed, relaxing against his chest and enjoying the way his fingers teased through the lengths of my hair and brushed my bare back. Despite the boys telling me they’d let me sleep alone, I’d gone to bed naked. It was just a hunch.

The soft click of the door opening woke me up again sometime later, but Royce didn’t tense under me, so I could guess it was one of two people.

“Well, well, well,” Heath murmured, “this is against the rules, I’m sure of it. Consorting with rival teams? What would the judging panel have to say?”

“They can shove their opinions up their asses,” Royce whispered back, his chest vibrating with a laugh. “What are you doing creeping in here, Heathcliff? Last I checked, you’re also not on Ashley’s team this weekend.”

Heath huffed a soft chuckle. “Came to see if you broke the rules, obviously. Those boxers aren’t silver, by the way.”

“Shut up,” I grumbled, not opening my eyes. “Ashley’s still sleeping.”

Heath took that as an invitation to slide into bed on my other side, snaking his arms around my waist and pulling me into his embrace. “Are you sure? You look awake to me.” His hands roamed over my body, then he sucked a breath. “Ah, loophole in the rules. Not wearing team colors at all.”

Humming happily, I snuggled into his bare chest and relaxed back into sleep while the two of them spoke very softly about the game we were set to play today.

I was sort of paying attention but mostly just letting the deep rumble of their familiar voices wash over me like some sort of weirdly niche meditation music.

For once, we weren’t clamoring to fuck as many times as possible before the sun fully rose. We were all just content to lie there comfortably, enjoying one another’s company. All that was missing was Carter.

I wondered if maybe he just needed the right motivation—much like Heath walking in on Royce balls deep in my ass that first night. Maybe he just needed to try it on for size before deciding group scenes weren’t his thing?

It was something to think about, anyway.

Eventually, we all got up and joined Carter and Nate for breakfast in our shared living space. Whoever had bribed the organizers to give us the pool house deserved a crisp high five. The number of unfamiliar faces at dinner last night had been overwhelming, but even worse were the familiar ones.

Like my white-gold team member—Paige.

So I was immensely grateful that we could eat breakfast and fully caffeinate in the privacy of our little crew before needing to join everyone else for the day’s activity.

“This seems…wrong,” I admitted after emerging from my room fully dressed for the activity. “Doesn’t it?”

Carter’s deep blue eyes sparkled as he took me in from head to toe, shaking his head slightly. “Fucking hell, Spark. How do you always look so…incredible?”

I rolled my eyes, feeling self-conscious. “It’s the dresses, not me. This one is gorgeous, by the way. Same designer?”

He grimaced. “Yeah. You’re stunning, babe. But you still look better in red.”

Royce scoffed, coming out to join us while messing with his silver bow tie. “You mean she looks better in bed? One hundred percent agree. Damn, Squirrel, you look positively?—”

“Bridal,” Nate finished for him, eyeing me with a scowl. “You look like you’re dressed for a wedding. What the fuck, Bass?”

Carter just shrugged. “I was working with white gold. What did you expect?”

“At least you gave me practical shoes,” I added, lifting the skirt of my floor-length ball gown to show the pair of white-gold-and-crystal-embellished sneakers he’d set out with my dress.

Looking around at the guys in their metallic-hued tuxedos and stiff leather dress shoes, I was thinking I’d gotten the better option, even if my full skirts would hamper my ability to run.

White-gold opera gloves covered the majority of my arms and the dress had a high neckline, but Carter had also provided a gorgeous cashmere coat in the same color, in case I was cold.

“You’re a walking target with all that fabric,” Nate grumbled, swatting a hand at my huge ball-gown skirt.

I rolled my eyes. “As if you’re not. Have you looked in the mirror, Essex?” Because his white-gold suit was awfully close to white-white and would show every speck of dirt just as easily as my dress would.

“You wanted that team—quit complaining,” Carter said with a smirk. “Spark, babe, we’ll try to take it easy on you.”

Royce grinned, casually wrapping my hair around his fist and tugging it to tilt my head back for a kiss. “I won’t. But you’ll love it anyway.”

I groaned, kissing him back, until Nate gave Royce a shove. “Let’s go before you horny bastards distract my teammate.” He grabbed my gloved hand in his strong grip and all but dragged me out of the pool house behind him.

Other attendees were already gathering out on the lawn behind the estate, all richly attired in evening wear within the eight metallic shades chosen for the teams. It was an absurd sight, but considering there were no dinosaur bones in sight, I supposed it could always be worse.

The officiants and judging panel all wore the anonymous metallic masks and black robes that I recognized from previous Devil’s Backbone events, and I shivered when I looked at them. All I could picture were the ones who’d abducted me from Nevaeh and dropped me half-naked in the forest to die.

I had to remind myself multiple times that these masked, robed people were not those ones. It was a hard reality to wrap my head around, though.

It took ages for all the teams to assemble and become fully equipped for the event itself. Safety goggles were handed out to everyone, and rules were read twice over before anyone was handed their loaded gun.

Paige—also dressed, shockingly, in a bridal gown—glared daggers at me through her safety goggles, but Nate shifted his position to block her line of sight while speaking with another of our white-attired teammates.

Whether it was accidental or not, I was relieved for the physical barrier between us.

“Okay, we have five minutes to talk strategy before the starting bell,” Nate said a moment later, gathering the rest of our team around so he didn’t have to speak loudly.

The bronze team was right beside us, and we didn’t need to go giving away our plan.

“Gregory, you’re in charge of getting our egg to one of the defendable towers.

Everyone will be going for the closest, so I want us to aim for the farthest at the westernmost point of the vineyards. Kara, you have our flag, yes?”

The girl in question, who wore a fully sequined gown with a dramatic split up her thigh, nodded. “Sure do.” She patted her chest, where she’d stuffed our team flag for safe keeping.

Nate nodded. “Excellent. You stick to Gregory like glue and lay claim to that tower the moment you get there. Paige and Russell will flank you as guards, while you make your way across. Clear?”

Paige gave a frustrated sound. “What about you?”

“Layne and I are on attack. We’re targeting the silver team first, then copper, then black gold.” I snorted a laugh, and he jabbed me with his elbow. “You four are tasked with defending our egg. Am I clear?”

“That’s a terrible plan,” Paige argued. “Just the two of you on attack against the other teams? You don’t stand a chance. One person should be able to defend our tower, and everyone else can spread out for?—”

“Paige,” Nate snapped, “shut up.”

“Listen to Nate,” Russell, a tall, dark-skinned guy, muttered to her. “He knows this game better than the rest of us.”

Paige’s cheeks pinked, clearly hating being overruled, but her furious glare snapped to me like this was all somehow my fault.

“The second that bell tolls, it’s a free-for-all,” Nate told us in a serious tone, ignoring his ex-girlfriend’s hurt feelings entirely.

“I want you four to sprint. Am I clear? Don’t try to shoot the other teams straight up.

Just go. We will lay cover fire. Got it?

” The four he spoke to all nodded, even Paige eventually.

Then Nate quirked a brow at me. “You understand, Layne?”

I nodded as well. “Yep. Got it, boss.”

An odd expression skated across his face, then he shook it away. “Just don’t get hit. They may just be paintballs, but they still hurt like a motherfucker without armor. There are going to be some nasty bruises tomorrow.”

“Understood,” I replied, checking that my gun was loaded and ready to fire.

I hadn’t played paintball in years but still vividly remembered how much getting hit at close range could hurt, so I’d be doing everything possible to avoid that.

One shot did not automatically disqualify players, but they would count as points for the other team.

And with the paint in our matching metallic colors, it would be easy to tally.

The part that made me most nervous was the egg that each team had been given to protect. It was heavily jeweled and looked a whole hell of a lot like a Fabergé egg. I didn’t want to know whether they were real, so I hadn’t asked. In this case—especially if any were damaged—ignorance was bliss.

Then, we were out of time. The bell rang, and chaos erupted.