Page 77 of Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny

Lindsay

I pulled into the parking lot of the paintball field and looked for Whitney’s car. I spotted it up front and maneuvered into the space next to hers.

As I climbed out of my car, my gaze moved to the field where I’d played paintball with Ryder, my friends, and the rest of the hockey team. The same pang that’d gone through me when Whitney told me they’d had a paintball war this afternoon to celebrate last night’s win hit me again, a sharp smack to my heart. As if it wasn’t already beat up enough.

They were all celebrating together while I was home alone, trying not to cry as I studied stupid, confusing math.I’d managed a barely B on my last test, so if I could just get one on the final exam, I’d pass with flying colors—or maybe like dull, floppy colors, but passing was passing.

Whitney had called and said she needed a huge favor. She explained that Hudson left to go to some victory dinner with the guys while she, Lyla, and Megan had stayed behind to gather the gear. Only when they came outside to leave, they discovered the car had a flat tire. None of them could get the lug nuts to so much as budge, so they were going to wait until their boyfriends could come take care of it, but in the meantime, they needed a ride home.

Since I didn’t see them, I called out their names. “Whitney? Megan? Lyla?”

The two tires I could see were fine. I started to circle around the car, but then the door to the gray square building opened and Whitney stepped out.

“Thanks so much for coming to get us.” She grimaced. “I hate to ask another favor, but can you help us lift this box of gear?”

“Sure, no problem.” It wasn’t like I had anything else to do today. Besides catch shade from my roommates while doing that studying I was in no hurry to get back to, even though I probably should be.

Going from outside to inside left my vision dark, and the shapes in front of me were hard to make out. I swore a few of them moved, creeping across the space like shadowed people, and I blinked.

Great, I’ve gone from talking to myself to seeing things.

“Is the indoor arena through there?” I gestured toward the open double doors, where a glowing square of white illuminated the floor and shed a bit of light on the booth with the cash register and row of rentable paintball guns.

“Yeah. It’s a little too small for when everyone on the team plays, but it could work for two people.” Whitney raised her voice super loud when she said the last words, like I’d suddenly become deaf. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

She walked behind me, urging me forward with a hand on my back. I registered the fact that Lyla and Megan were off to the side, but my attention went to the dimly lit arena, and how the black light made the paint glow.

A splattering of neon colors stood out on a tall, gray tower off to the right, and the height and small hole just big enough for a peek and the barrel of a gun near the top made me think it must serve as a lookout post. Junkie, paint-splattered cars with missing windows were situated among big wooden barrels and pallets, and several tires hung suspended from the ceiling with ropes, completing the rainbow, post-apocalyptic look.

“I think that more than two people could play. Maybe not the entire team, but—” I froze when I saw Ryder in the center of the room. A table sat in front of him, but I couldn’t quite make out what was on top of it.

“The target’s in place,” Lyla said from behind me. “Wait. Is that the phrase we decided on? It sounds kind of darker-intentioned than I remembered when we discussed it.”

I turned to my friends, eyes wide.

The three of them wore matching apologetic expressions tinged with a bizarre excitement, and I wondered if I’d accidentally made friends with crazy people—that’d be just my luck.

A few of Ryder’s teammates came out of the woodwork. Beck, Hudson, Dane, and Daniel.

Daniel tossed Ryder the keys, and Ryder gave him a nod before turning back to me.

A tight band formed around my chest and my thoughts whirred, not finding anything logical enough to actually land on. “What the hell’s going on?”

“We’re sorry about this,” Whitney said as she, Megan, and Lyla slowly backed away, “and I hope you don’t hate us afterward, but just remember that we all think you’re awesome, and if you want to leave after he says what he needs to, we’ll be right outside.”

Their boyfriends, along with Daniel, who gave me a shrug, melted back toward the door.

“And if you decide you’d like to be left in here alone for an hour or so, text us and we’ll make sure no one interrupts,” Megan added.

Then they rushed out the doors we’d entered through, pulling them closed.

Way too late, I thought about making a run for the exit. That’d probably require the use of my feet, though, and they didn’t seem to be working.

“You’re not locked in,” Ryder said, holding up his hands. “But you might experience some resistance if you try to leave right now. Those friends of ours are hella meddlesome.” He cracked a nervous smile that made me think he’d tried to make a joke.

Every emotion I’d experienced this past week swirled through me, a tangled mess of sorrow, pain, and anger.

Mobility returned to my limbs and I walked straight for him, not sure what I was going to say or do, but my body was very determined to make some kind of action happen, and I wasn’t entirely sure I was in control of what it’d be.

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