Page 71 of Breakaway

Everything continued to go our way, which made my paranoia increase more.

“Come on, Henshaw. Turn that frown upside down. It’s party time!” Scar exclaimed as she bounced over to me. The woman was the human version of the Energizer Bunny.

“Sorry, just got stuck in my head. Where to next?” I asked, looking around the sea of girls in pink and accessorized in sashes, tiaras, and glitter.

So. Much. Glitter.

Sera had been so surprised by our old teammates coming in to celebrate her. I worried the campaign would affect the festivities with people bombarding us. But thankfully, Salt Lake City was large enough that not many people recognized us, and we’d been able to skate under the radar.

We’d already been to the spa and had one more activity before dinner, where Reese and Briana would leave us as we headed to the club. But no one outside Scarlet knew what we were doing next, which made me nervous. I’d been trying to get it out of her all day, but she’d been Fort Knox.

“Nope. You’ll have to wait until we’re there, hot stuff.”

“You’re no fun.”

“Ha. How wrong you are, my friend. I’m the most fun.” She giggled, planting a kiss on my cheek. She exuded so much happiness that it was hard to be mad at her.

“Fine. Lead the way, bossy pants.”

“If you only knew how right that was.” She winked, and I shook my head, laughing at my friend. Arm in arm, we walked down one more block before Scar directed us around a corner. The large brick building gave nothing away on the front, so we all headed in as clueless as we were on the street.

The room we entered was dark, with neon lights everywhere. A man in tactical gear walked out, and I immediately turned around, assuming we’d entered the wrong place.

“Welcome, Hanover bridal party. In order to reach your next destination, you must first make it through the maze. While inside, you’ll encounter others trying to stop you. You’ll need to take them out first to succeed.”

“What in the world…”

“It’s paintball!” Sera screamed, jumping up and down and far more excited than I’d seen her for anything else today. Damn. I guess Scar knew Sera better than I did.

“Yes, ma’am.” The man smiled. “And to make it more fun, your friend has set up some surprises. For you, our lovely bride, your groom-to-be has been tied up, waiting for you to rescue him.”

“Oh, no!” Sera squealed, making the rest of us laugh. The girl loved her man so much. The man gave her a soft smile before looking at the rest of us.

“In fact, someone has been tied up for all of you. You’ll be given a GPS tracker for your hostage that you’ll need to rescue while avoiding being hit and captured yourself. The other gentlemen are your enemies.”

Gulp. Why did I have a bad feeling about this? Just which one of my guys would I be rescuing?

“Briana and Reese, you’ll be rescuing Cam and Braden. They’re together, and you can work together.” They both exhaled as they took the gear and GPS tracker he held out for them and pulled out the map to review.

I listened as the other girls were paired up with people and wasn’t surprised that Scar had to find Keaton and Susie, Maks. When he turned to me, I swallowed again, unsure which ones I’d be running from. They all would make it difficult, but I had a feeling Fletcher would be the easiest. The man smirked at me as he held out the device, a mischievous look on his face.

“Your guys decided not to tell you who was hidden, wanting you to be properly motivated to find them. They even have a message for you.”

He handed me a card along with the map and gear. With my cheeks flaming, I moved over to the side to put on the vest and painter’s overalls, then replaced the tiara with a helmet. Taking a deep breath, I opened the card.

Come and hunt us, Hen. Depending on what order you find us, there are accompanying rewards for you. But if we shoot first, there will be consequences.

Here’s your hint at what awaits you at the end.

STFUATTDLAGG.

What in the world? Blinking, I tried to work out what that meant, but it all ran together as gibberish in my head. Tucking it into my pocket, I activated the tracker and spotted three dots. Well, shit. I had to figure out which one to go to first, or I lost before I started. Of course, they would make me hunt them instead of the other way around.

Why did they have to make this so hard?

“Good luck. Your journey has now begun!” the man exclaimed, stepping out of the way as a door opened into a dark room.

The other girls giggled as they ran off, clearly enjoying this far more than me. I just wanted to be pampered and drink some wine. I didn’t want to have to search through the dark and avoid getting hit with paint. Ugh.

---