Page 39 of Watch Your Back (Devil’s Backbone #2)

Both Royce and I tried to bribe the door attendants when we arrived, to hand Ashley a matching token for either of us.

The fuckers took our money and apparently went right ahead with their prior arrangement to line her up with Carter.

Except Nate beat him at his own game, which was funny, but at the same time, what the fuck is Nate playing at?

He’s been acting so suspicious for the last few weeks.

Now I’m worried he’s got something awful planned for Ashes.

Not deliberately. I don’t for a second think he would ever harm her knowingly. But I can’t help wondering if someone is messing with his head. It would explain all his weird behavior lately.

Fuck, I hope not. But the only other explanation is that he’s developed a massive crush on my girl, and that’s too insane to be true.

T hank fuck I had some prior experience with a paintball gun and wasn’t a terrible shot to begin with because some of the players were just downright terrible.

Screams and laughter rang out all through the vineyard as people dashed between vines and dove behind the man-made barricades that’d been set up purely for this game.

To my shock, Nate and I seemed to make a good team. The two of us picked our way through the vineyard obstacles with coordinated precision as we searched out the silver team’s base to steal their egg.

“On my count,” he said as the two of us crouched low behind a barricade about half an hour into the battle, “make a run for it across to that tower. I think I see a silver flag and no one guarding it. I’ll lay cover fire if I see anyone pop out, okay?”

I jerked a nod, checking my ammo. We’d used a lot of paintballs already, but every team could reload if they wanted to lose five points. We weren’t that desperate just yet. “Got it,” I confirmed.

“Three…two…go!” Nate gave me a little shove, and I tucked low as I sprinted across the open space, holding my breath as I ran.

Several shots sounded, but nothing hit me as I dove for cover behind the next obstacle and came face-to-face with bitchy and bitchier.

“Paige, what the fuck are you doing here? You’re supposed to be guarding our team’s tower!” I exclaimed, shifting my gaze between her and Jade, who was dressed in glittering black gold.

Paige’s pretty face twisted in a sneer. “And you’re supposed to be back in Panner City, whoring yourself out to sleazy businessmen for happy endings, and yet here you are.

What the fuck do you think you’re playing at, telling everyone you’re engaged to Nate?

No one is dumb enough to believe that. He doesn’t even like you. ”

Ah. I should have known that stupid lie would find its way back to her. And although it was on the tip of my tongue to correct her… Nah, fuck that.

“Oh, honey, jealousy is such an unattractive look on you,” I said sweetly and with a heavy dose of condescending bitch. “I can assure you, it wasn’t me who told everyone that we’re engaged”—technically true—“but I can see how this is hard for you to swallow. Although I’m sure not many things are.”

She blinked a couple of times with confusion, then glanced to Jade, who squinted at me with disdain. “Whatever, trailer trash. You don’t even have a ring on.”

I held up my gloved hands, turning them to inspect. “Are you sure?”

Paige snarled an angry sound, then grabbed Jade’s paintball gun and shot me right in the stomach with a sparkly-black paint bullet. It hit me like an actual punch in the gut, and I almost doubled over from the force of it and the shock that she was willing to sacrifice the game over her jealousy.

Just then, Carly came skidding around the corner with her silver gown fluttering in the breeze. “Whoa, what the hell?” she exclaimed, looking from me to Paige and Jade, and then the gun in Paige’s hand. “Oh, hell no, you did not.”

Then, without waiting for explanations or excuses, Carly fired two shots, one at each of them.

The first hit Jade in the chest and she cried out like it was lead, not paint, and the second…

well, I wasn’t totally sure if Carly had terrible aim or fantastic.

It hit Paige square in the face, and along with silver paint splattering all over her face, so too did a burst of blood from her nose.

The scream she let out drew more attention than just nearby players—and Nate, who came sprinting breathlessly around the corner with a panicked look on his face; it also drew a masked, robed referee.

“Carly…fucking hell,” the masked man groaned. “Disqualified. You too, Paige. We saw you shoot your own team member. Jade, you’re out as well for letting her use your gun.”

Paige, sobbing and wailing about her supposedly broken nose, was all too happy to leave the game.

Jade scowled and pouted but went with her friend without any protest. Carly looked like she was ready to throw punches, though, until the referee grabbed her arm, jerked her close, and muttered something in her ear.

Instantly, all the fight disappeared out of her, and she gave a meek smile up at him. “Okay,” she simpered, batting her lashes. “I’ll go. See you at the party, Ash!”

I gaped after her, then turned to Nate in confusion as the referee disappeared once more. “Was that Edmund in the robe and mask?”

Nate quirked a brow, then gave a short laugh. “No. It was actually his older brother, Spencer. He graduated from Nevaeh last year.”

I nodded slowly, taking that information on board. Interesting reaction Carly just had to her new boyfriend’s brother, but shit, who was I to judge right now?

“Oh, look!” I brushed past Nate and stretched up on my toes to snatch the silver flag from the little tower. “I guess Carly was their defender. Crap, now I feel bad…”

Nate scoffed, taking the flag from me and stuffing it inside his pocket. “Don’t. It’s still Royce’s team too, remember? Surely you want to beat him?”

I grinned because…yes. Yes, I did.

“Fucking hell,” he sighed, staring at the wide patch of sparkly black staining the middle of my stomach. “That dress is probably ruined now. Carter’s mom would have an actual aneurysm if she saw.”

I wrinkled my nose. “What’s it got to do with her?”

Nate huffed a laugh, shaking his head. “Do you and Carter ever talk, or is this whole thing just about sex? Actually, don’t answer that.

It’s a Portia Levigne Couture dress, Ashley.

Portia is Carter’s mother. He changed all the sample size specs to your measurements last semester, so literally all her new concept gowns are perfectly made to measure for you. ”

My jaw dropped. “Are you joking? That’s?—”

“Kinda creepy? I know. Watch out!” he barked at the same time he grabbed me, spinning us around so the paintball, fired from some distance away, hit him in the back rather than me in the head.

“Go!” He shoved me, and we both took off running for shelter while the next paintball flew wide and hit a tree to our left.

I dove behind the closest structure, feeling the skirt of my dress rip as I did so, but Nate was right behind me.

“Copper?” he asked, trying to look over his shoulder to see who’d hit him.

“I think so?” I replied. “Copper or bronze maybe?”

“Bastards,” he growled, then glanced back the way we’d just come from. “Shit, we didn’t check if the silver team left their egg undefended, and now either bronze or copper could be moving in on it.”

“So let’s go back and check,” I told him with a shrug. “Winning eggs is the best way to win the game, right? So we don’t want to let that one slip through our hands.”

Nate poked his head out from our barricade, then immediately jerked it back as more paintballs splattered to our left.

“Copper,” he said with a chuckle. “Their base must be close, and they’ve possibly left it undefended to see what all that screaming was about from Paige.

” He pursed his lips, thinking for a moment.

“Okay, let’s double back to check the silver tower very quickly, then go find copper. Ready? Go.”

In unison, we took off running at a crouch, guns at the ready as we went. Satisfaction rippled through me as I heard a yelp when one of my shots landed. Then all of a sudden, Nate tripped over something and went tumbling with a grunt of pain, and I hesitated.

“Go!” he ordered when a shot splattered the vines behind us. Whoever was shooting had shitty aim but that might not last long if we were sitting ducks. “Keep going!”

His inability to immediately get back to his feet suggested he was either caught on something or injured, but at the same time, he was a big boy, and it was only paintball. So after the next copper splat landed so close it splattered my glove, I did as I was told and ran for cover.

The next barricade I went to duck behind was already occupied by a pair of pewter team players who were way more interested in trying to eat each other’s faces than actively playing the game.

So I shot them both with a white-gold paintball and laughed as I sprinted out through the vines once more, searching for the silver tower.

Somehow, I’d become all turned around and lost sight of it.

Ducking around the end of a vine row, I slowed my pace as I approached a big old oak tree. Maybe I could climb up and get my bearings from a higher viewpoint?

“Well, well, fancy meeting you here,” a deliciously familiar voice purred as I rounded the trunk looking for a foothold.

A grin curved my lips as Heath appeared from the other side of the wide trunk, looking like some kind of fashion model in his copper suit with his paintball gun strapped across his chest.

“Have you been following me, Heathcliff?” I accused, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. My gun also hung from its strap at my back, and I briefly considered taking a dirty shot at close range.

It’d hurt, though, so I quickly decided against it—especially considering I knew Heath would never do that to me just to win. Royce or Nate? Different story. But Heath was too honorable, so I couldn’t resort to sneaky tactics now.

“Where’s Nate?” he asked, sliding a hand around my black-gold splattered bodice and pulling me close. “I saw you two were working well together…”

I shrugged. “We’re adults and on the same team.”

Heath swiveled us, pressing my back to the tree trunk as he leaned his elbow on the bark. “But we’re alone now, right?”

“Mmm, isn’t it against the rules to fraternize with opposing teams this weekend?” I teased, already tilting my head back and silently begging him to kiss me. Somehow my fingers had found their way under the leather of his belt and I was pulling him closer with magnetic desperation.

“Aren’t rules meant to be broken, Ashes?

” he replied, his smile pure evil as he dipped down to deliver the kiss I wanted.

Instantly I wanted more, moaning into his kisses as I slipped my hands under his shirt to touch hot skin.

What was probably only ever meant to be a quick make-out started to turn hot and heavy when I grasped his hard shaft through the designer suit pants and he ground against my palm.

Then a shot sounded, and Heath jerked.

“Thanks for the distraction, Layne,” Nate drawled, shooting Heath a second time as he limped closer. “But we have a game to win. Come on.” He held out his hand to me, and I bit back my laughter as I offered Heath a sympathetic smile.

“Sorry, babe,” I giggled, smacking a quick kiss on his cheek. “Rain check.”

Then I took Nate’s hand and let him pull me away from my white-gold-spattered lover, laughing as we ran back into the maze of the vineyard. Nate was right—we had a game to win. And neither one of us was a gracious loser.

Fucking Nathaniel Essex and I were scary alike in some ways.