Page 110 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

“Harper... about earlier.”

I stopped beside the island.

She gave an awkward smile. “I'm really sorry about barging in. I heard weird noises and... I forgot you were there.”

“Jackson was growling like a feral animal,” Jason said, laughing.

Jackson flipped him off without looking away from the coffee maker.

She hadn't forgotten. She'd watched him carry me upstairs the night before. But I let the lie stand.

“It's fine,” I said.

Lia let out a small breath. “Still. I'd rather erase that entire memory.”

Jackson set two mugs on the counter before turning to look at her.

“You don't walk into my room, Lia. Ever. We're not doing that again.”

“I know.” She nodded once. “It won't happen again.”

Jackson looked at me. “Cream and sugar, right, baby?”

My cat preened at the endearment.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

He made it exactly the way I liked it, and Lia’s eyes followed every movement.

I noticed.

He set the mug in front of me and leaned back against the counter with his own. I took a careful sip. Perfect.

“So,” he said, nodding toward the gray morning beyond the window, “the thing I wanted to run by you.”

He glanced at Rick. “There’s a paintball place about forty minutes out. Decent course, woods, not just bunkers. Rick’s been wanting to go for a month and won’t shut up about it.”

“You ever played?” Rick asked me.

“Once.”

“How many people did you shoot?”

I considered it. “Most of them.”

Jason pointed at me immediately. “Oh, she’s definitely coming.”

Jackson’s hand settled lightly against my lower back. “You want to go?”

I thought about it. A wooded course, moving targets, reading angles, a legitimate reason to track people through trees and put rounds on them. It was the most relaxing thing anyone had offered me in weeks.

“Yeah,” I said, lifting the mug for another sip. “Okay.”

The coffee was exactly right.

“But I should warn you,” I added, glancing at Jackson over the rim. “I don’t lose.”

Forty minutes later, Jackson pulled off the highway. The three idiots in the back seat were still arguing about something none of us could follow.