Unhinged

Chapter 16

"Murder?" Alexis scrambled for her phone, her eyes on her date.

Chace grinned and sped forward to an old building. There were a few cars parked out front.

"Where are we?" Alexis asked.

"This place belongs to a friend of mine." Chace parked and ordered Alexis to get out. When she didn't move, he asked, "What are you waiting for?"

"I don't want to be here," Alexis whispered.

"What?"

"I don't want to be here," she said in a stronger voice. "I want to go home."

Chace frowned and looked away, shaking his head. "I'm sorry but we need to do this."

"No, we don't. We really don't," Alexis pleaded

"Are you scared?" Chace asked before getting out and walking to her side of the car. She locked her door and he laughed, pressing the button on his keys that unlocked the car. He opened her door and she struggled against him as he tried helping her out.

"What's the matter with you, Alexis?" Chace asked, laughing.

"Get away from me!"

Chace suddenly let go and stepped back. "What's going on Alexis?"

"You tell me, Chace? Why are you all of a sudden talking about murdering people?"

Chace stared at Alexis in disbelief. A large truck came up the road with several teens in the back, disturbing their solitude.

"I love paintball. Get ready to die, Frank!" one of the teens shouted to the driver. They all ran through the entrance of the old looking building.

"Do you know where we're at?" Chace asked Alexis.

She shook her head in confusion.

Chace pointed to the faded paint on the side of the wooden building. It was barely noticeable but the purple letters caught Alexis' attention.

Killer Paintball

"Paintball?" Alexis whispered.

"Paintball," Chace answered. He shook his head in disappointment. "I brought you here because I know you've been stressed lately and I thought shooting people full of paint would make you feel better. Relieve some stress."

"Oh my God. I'm sorry, Chace...I just-"

Chace turned to face her. "You just what? Thought I really wanted to murder people? Why would you think that? Have I ever done anything to make you believe I'm some kind of psychopath?"

Alexis immediately became defensive. "Well, why did you say we were going to murder people? Sane people don't say things like that!"

"This place is called Killer Paintball. The slogan is murder by paintballs. It was a joke!"

"Well it wasn't funny!" Alexis fidgeted in her seat. She was embarrassed. "I guess we should just go home."

"You really don't want to try it?" Chace asked.

"The paintball? I don't know how. I've never played paintball before."

Chace sighed. "I'm not going to lie...I'm still offended that you thought I was a murderer but I can't let you live the rest of your life without experiencing a good round of paintball. Rule number one, it's just paintball. We don't say play paintball. Got it?"

Alexis giggled, causing Chace to ask, "What's so funny?"

"Lots of things. How dumb I was a few minutes ago, that you're way too into this paintball stuff, and that I almost called the cops on you."