Page 126 of Wicked Games

“Is anyone else’s Spidey sense tingling?” Jace asks as he scans the area around us.

“Yeah,” I say as the hair on the back of my neck stands up. It feels like we’re being watched, but other than trees and brush, there’s nothing around us.

“Fuck yeah,” Jax says.

“Do you see this?” Felix asks.

He’s bent over at the waist and looking at something on the base of the tree. I’m about to ask what he means when my entire being zeros in on the tiny red dot that appears on the side of his head right over his temple.

I don’t even have time to scream his name before Jace rushes toward him at full speed and closes the distance between them in only a few seconds.

Everything seems to slow down as Jace grabs Felix in a bearhug hold and tackles him. Felix screams, and they tumble to the ground with Jace on top and protecting Felix with his body.

As soon as they hit the ground, everyone moves at once. Jax is running toward them, and Xander pulls the gun he always wears when we’re off campus out of his side holster.

I’m already rushing toward where they fell, and my stomach roils when I see the streaks of bright red blood coating Jace’s arm as he rolls them toward the car, dragging Felix along with him.

A softpop,followed by a gentlesnap,rings out before a bullet hits the ground right where they lay only a second before and ricochets into the brush.

Jax and Xave are right behind me, and the three of us drag both Jace and Felix behind the car to use it as cover as three more bullets hit the ground only inches from us.

“Son of a bitch,” Jace grunts as he falls back against the side of the car, holding his injured arm against his chest. “Motherfucker shot me.”

“How bad is it?” I ask as Jax yanks off his lightweight sweater and hands it to his brother.

“I’ll live.” He crudely wraps Jax’s sweater over his wound and yanks it tight to stop the flow of blood. “Think it’s just a deep graze.”

Felix makes a weird sound, like a squeak mixed with a gasp, as he stares at Jace’s arm in horror. His face is so pale that even his lips are white.

“I’m all good, kid.” Jace shoots Felix a reassuring smile. “But where the fuck are they shooting from?” he asks the rest of us.

“I think it came from our ten o’clock,” Xave says, his gun up and at the ready. “Is anyone else carrying?”

“You know it.” Jace lifts one leg and wiggles his foot. His pant leg shifts, and something dark and metallic flashes in the sunlight.

Jax immediately pulls the gun out of his brother’s ankle holster and flicks off the safety.

Felix looks like he’s about to be sick as he stares at the blood running down Jace’s arm. The flow has stopped, but the stains are dark against his shirt and skin.

I grab him and settle him between my legs, turning him away from Jace and using my body to give him some extra cover.

“Here,” Jace holds one of his butterfly knives out to me.

It’s not nearly as effective as a gun, but I take it with a nod of thanks. I’d rather have a knife than nothing at all.

“How many are there?” Jax asks.

“Can’t be sure, but I think it’s only one,” Xave says.

The unmistakablepopof bullets hitting the side of the car ring out in rapid succession, and we all instinctively flinch.

Cars are solid and give good visual cover, but this one isn’t bulletproof, and it has a shit ton of weak spots that are leaving us vulnerable.

I’m sitting almost directly under the side mirror, and I flip the blade of Jace’s butterfly knife open and jam it between themirror and the plastic casing. I give it a few wiggles, and the mirror pops out and tumbles to the ground.

Jace grabs it and holds it up, using it to see through the windows of the car.

It’s not the best option, but right now it’s all we have.

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