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“Bye, Bye, dead guy,” I teased. The look Foxthrew my way promised retribution.
I hoped Ashton and Charity had luck withtheir two targets—Wren and River. I had faith in Charity’s abilityto distract Wren long enough for Ashton to put a bullet in him, butRiver would be trickier, the element of surprise gone when theykilled Wren. It’d depend on River’s reaction time once Wren wasdown. Henry was our only lose end. He didn’t have a weakness weknew of, so we gave him to Micah.
The final bit of the plan fell to me andKieran.
Moving to the midline where the flags wereerected, I crouched down next to a tree. After observing Kieranthese last few weeks, I knew he was a control freak. He had to benear his flag. We were all given the same type of weapons, so hedidn’t have the advantage of sniping anyone from a distance. Itmeant he had to come out of hiding. It meant close contact melee.The thought made my stomach tighten in anticipation. I wondered ifhe’d stab me in the back, go for my throat like he aways did, orjust shoot me when I wasn’t looking. But no. That wouldn’t be hisstyle. He’d want me to see, to know the moment of my failure. He’dwant to see my reaction when he killed me.
I hunkered down and opened thecommunications link to The Ark Boys. I knew everyone but Fox had tobe listening. I cupped my mouth, made some funky static noise thatsounded kind of cool, and said, “Houston, we have a problem.” Icracked myself up. “I always wanted to say that.” I expectedchatter right away but got nothing for several seconds until Iheard Ashton.
“Wren and River are off the board asplanned,” Ashton said. Giddiness in his voice. “You should’ve seentheir faces. It was epic.”
I chuckled. “Fox is in the henhouse.”
Ashton laughed. “I can’t believe it worked.I owe you a bottle of Grey Goose.”
“Tonight,” I said. “Go to phase two.” Theflag.
The first horn blasted. We had ten minutesleft of gameplay. Kieran was the only threat left, and I had todraw him out.
“Kieran,” I said into the comm link, myheart pumping fast. I was playing with fire. I knew that in mybones. This would change the dynamic of the school and I hadprecipitated it. But fuck it. All gods had to fall one day. “Areyou listening?” I got nothing but silence. “Of course you are.You’re a control freak. How does it feel that a group of nobodystook you down? No, not just nobody.Me. Because this was myidea. Thought you should know that. See, I may not be as smart asyou with your fancy words and fancy clothes, but I know what makesyou tick. I know what haunts your nightmares. I’m right here. Come,get me if you think you have the—” Something hard slammed into me,jolting me forward. I hadn’t anticipated the force of it and lostmy footing. My body was quickly introduced to gravity. I slipped onmy ass, rolled down over brush and roots. Every sharp impactagainst my body drew a grunt out of me.
While my body continued its rapid descent,he sprinted down the slope beside me. A tree trunk abruptly stoppedme. My headgear took the full impact of it. I yanked it off my headin two pieces just as Kieran jumped me.
I was a runner by nature. My fight or flightresponse usually had me clear across a neighborhood before I couldprocess my options. But I fought when I had to, and I couldn’t getaway from this one.
Kieran had lost his headgear too, hisexpression an angry mask of violence. I punched his face. Myknuckles screamed at the contact. His lip split and a splash ofblood pooled down his chin, the only thing I could see in theshadows under the canopy of trees. The red. I did that. I hit him.Up until that moment, nothing had really felt real. Our interactionhad only been threats. The violence just under the surface, notreal. Blood changed things. And Kieran had finally lost hisshit.
He countered with body shots. Blow afterblow forced oxygen out of my lungs. He knew where to hit to makethe most damage. My liver. I pinned my elbows to my side, trying toprotect my body. Instead of going for my face, the blows landed onmy arms. Spittle mixed with blood ran down his chin. His lipspulled tight, revealing his teeth. Then he went for my throat withboth hands, squeezing the life out of me. This wasn’t a gameanymore. This was Kieran in berserker mode, and I was going to die.But fuck him.
Going for my throat had been a big mistake.I lifted my ass off the ground, and he launched forward,unbalanced. I used the same momentum to push him back. My legsfree, I lifted one and wrapped it around his torso, dropping him onhis back. A wrestling move. Hoping he wasn’t a biter or would gofor my nuts as he tried to recover, I slapped his legs and droppedmy heavier body on him while I pinned his wrists above his head. Icouldn’t hit him in this position, but he couldn’t hit me either.We were at a stalemate. His face so close to mine, I saw thevarying shades of green in his eyes. His heavy breath on myface.
“Calm down, asshole. It’s over.”
He snarled like an animal. “This is notover. Getoffme.”
He tried to buck me off, but I had at leastten pounds on him. Thank you, grandpa, for being a big mofo. “Notuntil you promise not to bite.”
His eyes widened, darkened, and then I feltthe barrel of his gun on my thigh. No. He’d lost the gun. I hadboth his hands pinned over his head. So…
“Get off me,” he grunted again.
Maybe I should’ve gotten off him. In thisposition we were joined from chest to feet. Our bodies pressedtogether. It could’ve been an intimate position if we weren’ttrying to kill each other. I’d never force myself upon someone thisway. But if I released him, I knew he’d finish the job he startedand kill me, so I didn’t move. And to be honest, curiosity won outand I rubbed my thigh against that hard prod. His eyes widened. Imoved again just to be sure. Yup. The fucker had a hard-on. Andfrom the feel of it, he had an impressive package. The thought ofthat package sent heat through me. My eyes found his pulse pointalong his neck, and I wanted to nip him right there. Mark him.Bruise him. Suck on the tender skin. The thought rushed blood to mydick and it swelled.
Holy shit. I got harder thinking aboutit.
I jumped off him and caught the dick imprintbehind his pants before he sat up.
What the flying fuck?
I moved back. I hadn’t been shot. He hadn’tbeen shot. I spun around and did what I did best. I ran.
Chapter Twelve
Kieran
The Underdogs won only because Charity hadour flag when Coach called time. Micah had put down Henry. Ashtonhad put down Wren and River. Dasher had taken out Fox. Before Irammed into Tomás, I had taken out Micah, Dasher, and Ashton. Gothim as he was talking shit to Tomás on our mic. But I hadn’t goneafter Charity. I had gone after Tomás instead of saving our flag.Instead of completing our mission. I had fucked up.
I had meant to hurt him. Bad.
