Page 16 of Beautiful Dark Temptation

Don’t underestimate your opponent. Neverassume the trap will work. Always, always have a plan B.

I showed Fox five fingers. He nodded.

I tapped comms five times and got a two-tapreply.

In five, we’d breach the silence. I got onetap from River.

Then I started the countdown.One.Imoved around Fox taking care not to step on the same floorboard. Itput me near the door.Two.I readied my weapon.Three. I made sure Fox was ready. He nodded.Four. Istood in front of the door.Five.I kicked the door open. Inreal life this would not have worked. Doors are not that easilybroken, but the locking mechanism was fake, and the door was hollowlike the wall.

The door slammed inward, and I knew he wasbehind it. I launched inside in a roll, came up, and shot himcenter mass even before he got me in his sights. If this were reallife, his intestines would’ve been spilling toxic shit into hisbody. The clock ticking away his life.

This was not real life and he launchedhimself at me.

I heard other pop shots outside, and thethought of anything happening to my brothers because of this pieceof shit asshole made my blood rise. I caught him with an elbow tohis chin before he could land a strike. His knee dug into mystomach, and I slapped him away, gave him an upper cut with the airtank of the paintball gun. I heard his teeth gnash together and agrunt. The idiot would feel that in a few hours. I kicked his feetout from under him and kicked him again for good measure.

“You’re dead, asshole,” I grunted.

Apparently not. He squirmed under me. Ifthis were real life, I would’ve knocked his teeth in. This wasn’t.I kicked again, turned him over, and planted my knee on hisback.

“Tap out or you’re going to lose the abilityto walk again,” I warned, pressing my knee deeper into his spine. Icouldn’t kill him within school grounds, but I could disable him,permanently.

He knocked twice on the floor. I waited afew seconds before I got off him and went to check on my team. Mymission was to clear the floor, not to wipe this bitch with myfists. I left him there and swept into the hallway, breathing hard.Wren, River, and Fox were leaning on the wall. Wren was acting likehe was shaving his nails with his blade. River was whistling. AndFox had his eyes closed, snoring.

“Fuckers,” I mumbled.

“Oh, you done with the princess in there,because if you needed help…”

I gave them all my middle finger just as thelights turned on.

I hated this part.

We all descended the stairs back to thefirst level just as the door opened. Mr. Fahey led an entourage ofstudents into the mock living room. He’d once been a SEAL. Aged,like leather, he still could commandeer a room. His left eyetwitched. A consequence of drug use, the reason he’d been termedfrom the military, though honorably discharged. We had dossiers onall the teachers here, and most of the students. Henry was good atdigging shit up.

I respected Fahey, but he still creeped meout. I was sure he’d be just as comfortable praising us as puttinga bullet in our skull. “As always, impressive,” he said. “Now.” Heturned to the students behind him. They had watched the whole thingon camera in a separate room. “The Arcas team is the best we’veseen. I want you to study their formation on video for closedquarters extraction and write up a usable report. And remember,” headded as the noise level started to increase. “The games begin nextweek. If you want to challenge the defenders, add your team by theend of the week.” He clapped some more, and the class started todisperse.

“Why do I always feel like stabbing hiseyeball?” Fox glared at Fahey’s back because he’d never do it tohis face. The man was capable of yanking Fox’s eyeball out with hisfingers.

“It’s that twitch,” Wren said, pointing athis own twitchy eye.

Fox pushed him out of his way as Wrenstarted to laugh. Just then, Ashton walked down the stairs,glowering, rubbing his chin. Pain in his expression and he lookedlike he’d been crying.

“Next time stay dead,” I warned. I kept himin my peripherals. Fuck if I was going to allow him a pop shot.

He sneered, maybe growled. Who cared?

I headed out of the mock house jittery asfuck. My blood sugar shocked to all hell. Fox walked behind me. Thewar games were an important distinction of Arcadia University.There were weapons training, strategy games, team combat training,endurance trainings, anything and everything you can think of inorder to survive an op. We weren’t military, but it was good tolearn their tactics. This semester, the game Fahey was referencingwas capture the flag. And The Ark Boys were the defenders.

I was almost slammed into by someonerounding the corner. It wasn’t until Fox stuck out his leg andtripped him that I realized it’d been Tomás and for the love of allthe bastard gods, I wanted to catch him. Stop his fall. Because hefell hard. Like a cat, he managed to catch himself on his handsbefore he ate floor. I bit back the shit I wanted to tell Fox. Likeleave him the fuck alone. Stop your petty ass bullshit. I was theonly one allowed to mess with Tomás, no one else. I didn’t do anyof those things.

Tomás got to his feet and dusted his handson his hoodie, glaring at Fox. Heat pooled into my lower belly. Itook in every nuance of his expression. His lids lowered at halfmast, nostrils flared, his lips tightened.

“Oops,” Fox said.

“Asshole,” Tomás grunted.

“What you say?”

“I called you a dick. A little dick,” Tomássaid. “Because we all know what bullies have between their legs, orwhat they don’t have.”

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