Page 19 of Line of Resistance

He could get close enough to experience it. To pretend he might be a part of it. But no matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to grip. To hang onto. To keep.

He rapped his knuckles against the door, waiting for Tyson to let him in.

A few seconds later the front door flew open and Naomi stared out at him. Her eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”

“Uhhh.” He’d expected Tyson to call Naomi on their way over. To let her know she was about to be invaded by a handful of grumpy mercenaries who planned to take over her couch and television while they bitched about their pointless day. “Tyson invited me.”

Naomi rolled her eyes to the ceiling and whispered a swear under her breath. “Of course he did.”

Nate expected her to step back so he could come inside, but instead, Naomi came toward him, bumping him back as she closed the door and lifted a finger to his face. “You better be on your best fucking behavior, got it?”

He should have expected this. Should have known Naomi wouldn’t let what happened last night slide.

He’d hoped it would just blow over. That he hadn’t fucked everything up yet again. That maybe this time would be different than the last, and one wrong move wouldn’t be enough to end up back out on his ass in the cold.

“I overreacted.” He spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully, desperate to fix this. “I was just—”

Naomi held up a hand between them, her expression stern. “I’m pretty sure I know exactly what was going on there, and you need to either pop your head out of your ass or leave her the hell alone.” Naomi crossed both arms over her chest. “I know Eloise seems unbreakable, but you don’t know her like I do. She’s way more fragile than she seems.”

Naomi’s assessment almost brought a smirk to his lips because she clearly didn’t know Eloise as well as she thought. Eloise absolutely put on a front. She was a people pleaser through and through. She liked telling people what they wanted to hear and being thought of as the bubbly, happy-go-lucky one of the gang.

But she was not fragile.

He saw it when she warned him about making promises to Bryson. When he bore the brunt of the wrath she kept well-hidden last night after losing his cool. But there was no way he would argue with Naomi now—or ever—so he nodded his head. “Understood.”

Naomi eyed him a second longer before finally nodding back. “Good.” She turned and flung open the door. “Because tonight she’s armed.”

Nate stepped in behind her, opening his mouth to ask what in the hell she meant by that, but the question was cut off by something small bouncing off the center of his forehead. The impact wasn’t exactly painful, but it was shocking and left a lingering sting that brought his palm to his skin as he searched for the source of the assault.

It took him all of two seconds to find the assailant. Eloise sat on the large sectional, looking sexy as shit in oversized sweats and a messy ponytail as she lined up the sight on her Nerf gun for a second time. He didn’t have the chance to sidestep or lift his hands in defense before another foam ball bounced off his throat, hitting his windpipe hard enough to make him cough.

“Good shot, Miss Rivers.” Emmett bounced beside her, laughing with unrestrained glee as Eloise pumped the plastic pistol yet again and took aim, this time lower.

Was she really going to—

Eloise’s finger twitched on the trigger, hesitating just long enough to give him a chance to block the next hit.

The Nerf ball bounced off his knuckles instead of his nuts, ricocheting across the room as Emmett hit the floor laughing.

Nate lifted a brow at her.

Eloise’s full lips pulled into a smirk and then the woman started pumping air into the gun again.

He’d like to claim it was training that moved him in her direction, but it was something much more complicated that had him standing in front of her, expertly disarming the school principal with wicked aim, before she could get off her next shot.

Eloise’s eyes widened as he relieved her of her weapon, saving both his balls and his sanity.

But the reprieve was short-lived.

A second weapon was shoved into her hands, passed off by the woman most likely responsible for her ridiculously accurate aim.

Nate glanced to where Sadie, Jamison’s girlfriend, grinned at him. “Are you kidding me?” He immediately took the backup, managing to have it in his possession before Eloise could fire off another shot.

Eloise scowled, glare holding as she stood up, proving she was absolutely not the delicate flower Naomi seemed to believe. “I thought you were going to leave me alone.”

Nate held her stare but refused to match her mood. “I’m not the one who just considered firing a kill shot at point-blank range.”

Her eyes flashed, like she was surprised he knew what she was planning. “It’s a Nerf gun. I would hardly call it a kill shot.”

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