* * *
Drew shook his head in denial before smiling at me, "I meant at my home, with the entire family."
I stood still, blinking a few times before I started to chuckle while shaking my head, "Not gonna happen."
"Why, you scared?" He asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"No, I already said I would try."
"This is different."
"How so?!" I responded.
"This makes it more real. No more dancing around the situation. I win, I pick you guys up tomorrow."
The idea of having lunch with my father tomorrow sounded almost unbearable. Drew knew me too well, we both knew that I was probably never going to give it a chance. He knew I would constantly find excuses to avoid meeting up with him again. It made me nervous that there was a chance of me losing this game. It had nothing to do with fitness because you could see that Drew and I were quite fit but it all came down to who would be a better shooter.
"What if I win?" I asked.
Drew shrugged his shoulders before responding, "What do you want?"
I thought about what he had said just then and the fact that we never expanded further about him meeting mum. He didn't seem to keen about the idea but put on a show for me. I smiled as I made the decision on what I wanted from this deal. I heard Lucas chuckle as he walked over towards Isaac, "It's never a good thing when a girl smiles after that question."
I looked at Lucas as I chuckled before turning my attention to my brother.
"If I win, we go see mum next weekend."
My smile widened as his disappeared from his face, starring at me in disbelief.
"Seriously?" He said as his hands raised just before they hit the sides of his thighs. I let out a chuckle as I nodded.
"You. are. so. on." He said as he grabbed his gun to wrap it around his back.
"Bring it on, big brother." I said, patting his shoulder before walking towards the rest of the guys in my team.
"Battle of the siblings! Who wants to put a bet in on who will win." Lucas said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
"Bets on Avery."
"Drew all the way."
"I think it will be a tie."
We all stopped to look at Isaac as his words came out.
"A tie?" I asked.
He licked his lips as he nodded innocently.
"Do you have no faith in me?" I asked jokingly.
He chuckled before shaking his head, "No, I do. But you know I never back down from a good bet."
"So, we doing this or what?" Drew asked.
I turned around to look at him before I smiled, raising my hand, "I'm in. Shake on it."
He stepped forward before raising his hand shaking mine, "It's hunting season."
"And you're on the menu." I added before walking away just as Drew chuckled. I was going to win this game even if it took the life out of me.
* * *
My heart was beating so fast ever since we started the game. We had split into two teams. Jaxon, Drew, Peter, Michelle and Laura were one team and Lucas, Isaac, Mason, Nikki and I were another team. Somehow, all the girls from both teams got caught in the crossfire. Leaving me to fend for myself amongst the boys. According to Isaac and Lucas though, I was protected. It felt good knowing two of those "kills" belonged to me.
"You ain't losing this bet, girl." Lucas said through the walky-talky.
Just before we began the game the instructor had given us walky-talkies but they were all synced to the one station so both teams could talk to each other. It was rather interesting because it kept us on our toes to make sure we didn't say anything through it, exposing our location to the other team. The instructor had previously mentioned that each walky-talky had a direct line, if you wanted to speak privately to someone. All you had to do was press the number for the walky-talky you wanted to talk to. Considering there were only ten of us, the numbers ranged from one through to ten. I have no idea why but I instantly memorised Jaxon's number, three. However, we were all happy talking on one line, it made for some funny conversations.
"I can hear you, Lucas." Drew's voice came through.
"Did I stutter?" Lucas spoke louder which only made me laugh.
"Thanks Lukey!" I spoke through the radio as I laughed.
"I even get a nickname. Checkmate bitches."
"Games not over." Jaxon's voice came through the radio. His voice almost made my heart immediately beat faster, I think it was how he sounded that got me. You could hear the deep husky tone as his voice echoed through. I let out a shaky breath as I tried to refocus on the task at hand.
I looked around to take in my surroundings, I hid behind a tall crate as I peeped through the tiny holes to try and catch movement. My head slowly moved to look further out, when I saw that I was in the clear, I snuck to the next hide out. I managed to get a glimpse at Peter before quickly ducting as he was about to shoot, merely missing me. Instantly, I shot back but missed as he dove for cover. I had to play my cards right, I was not going to lose this game! I lifted my head once more while aiming my gun, Peter seemed to have the same idea but he didn't have his gun aimed. Quick thinking, I took the shot but just as my shot hit Peter, I noticed two other shots come straight after. It was then that I felt someone else's presence appear to the left of me.
"Oh, man!" Peter whined out.
My head whipped around until Isaac came into view. I smiled as he winked at me before running off into hiding. I looked around and noticed how quiet it was, I was completely alone in this huge arena. I had to be strategic in how I moved and where I went. I heard a crack in a branch which only made my head whip around, but when I looked around I saw nothing and no one. I let out a sigh as I got up and began moving. I was making progress as I moved through the arena, occasionally going into hiding in between crates, sandpits and the walls until I turned and I came to a complete stop. I must have reached the end of the arena because I was faced with a really large wall.
"Don't run too far because I'm coming for you. That I promise."
I turned to look around me and find the location of his voice.
"Avery. Your walky-talky." He added.
My head leaned back as I chuckled lightly to myself for being a moron. I lifted the walky-talky, smirking at it when I recognised that it was my direct line. He was talking to me on a private line because there were now two lights flashing, one for the group chat and then this one.
"Don't make promises you can't keep." I whispered through the walky-talky.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Where do I start?!" I responded as I chuckled.
"Please, explain." He said.
F L A S H B A C K
"I'm not like the other guys you've dated Avery" he whispered
F L A S H B A C K
Jaxon shifted his gaze and stared directly in my direction and I met his gaze head on.
He gave me his flirtatious smirk and then winking at me which caused my cheeks to flush red.
E N D F L A S H B A C K S
His husky chuckle echoed through the radio, "I meant what I said. Besides, I knew it was you from the moment you walked onto the scene."
"Bullshit!" I said as I laughed.
"Then why get angry that I never told you, if you already knew?" I added.
"Because you didn't tell me. I felt like I couldn't earn your trust, no matter what I did." He whispered through the radio. There was something raw and honest about our conversation right now. We were finally laying it all on the table nowadays.
"I knew it was you from the get go." He added.
"How?" I asked as I bit on my bottom lip nervously.
"First of all, you can try and hide behind the cute get-up but you can't hide your eyes, no amount of contacts can hide those eyes from me, plus-"
"Plus?" I urged
"Plus, no other girl in the entire area has curves like you." He added.
I could feel my face getting red and I was so glad that it was only him and I on this radio line, I would have died from embarrassment if he said that in front of everyone.
"I can hear you!" Drew's voice echoed through the radio which only made me laugh.
"Get off my feed, Drew" Jaxon responded almost instantly.
"I'm so giving you the smack down later." Drew muttered.
"The what?!" Jaxon asked.
Drew chuckled, "You'll find out soon."
"Let's make it interesting." Drew added but this time in the main chat
"How so?" I asked.
"Every man for themselves?" Isaac responded
"Figuratively speaking of course, Avery."He added.
"Exactly." Drew confirmed with confidence
"Shit just got serious!" Mason added.
I looked around and noticed that I was still in the same spot, I was so fixated on this conversation that I jus left myself out in the open. Placing the radio back into its pocket I turned to move to another location but instantly ran into Jaxon. I quickly went to grab my gun but he grabbed both of my hands and pinned them above my head.
"Got yourself in a corner?" He asked as he tilted his head.
I let out a laugh as I tried to wriggle out of his hold, "As cute as this is, I have a bet to win against my brother."
"I always get what I want and my eyes are set on one thing" he said as his head lowered slightly to reach my level. I stopped wiggling as I took his words in.
"And what's that?" I asked as I looked up at him.
"My eyes are set on you" he whispered as his lips lingered on the side of my jawline, making me sigh out.
"I promised I wouldn't hurt you and I promised I wasn't like him." He said.
From the corner of my eye I could see Lucas sneaking up on us, he was aiming his gun but I had no idea if it was aimed at me or at Jaxon. My eyes moved back to Jaxon but before I could say anything, while maintaining eye contact with me he raised his gun and shot at Lucas.
I tiled my head to look at Lucas and sure enough, the paint bullet hit Lucas right in the middle of his chest.
"You suck, dude." Lucas whined.
Jaxon turned his head to look at Lucas, "Checkmate."
Lucas chuckled as he gave Jaxon the bird before walking away. Jaxon smiled at Lucas before turning his attention back onto me,
"I would never hurt you the way he did" he added.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, "I know that now." I forced the words out.
"I always keep my promises" he said before kissing my right cheek. I wasn't stunned about that, I was more stunned about the fact that after he said that, he just walked away.
"Why aren't you going to shoot?" I asked in confusion.
Jaxon stopped and turned to look at me, "I want to heal your bruises, not give you new ones" he said before winking at me. Just as he walked away Drew came into view but Drew had his eyes on Jaxon. I watched on as Jaxon chuckled before shaking his head at a smiling Drew.
"Just get it over with."
Jaxon let out a sigh before adding, "This is going to hurt like a bitch."
Drew let out a laugh before raising his gun to shoot Jaxon, "That's for your comment before."
"Are you jealous cause I wasn't talking about you?" Jaxon asked.
Drew chuckled before he wrapped an arm around Jaxon's throat and began wrestling with him. Drew took one look at me before pushing Jaxon away,
"Don't distract me." He said as he pushed Jaxon away.
I watched as he grabbed his gun but I was just as fast quickly drawing my gun to face him. We both had our guns aimed at each other neither one moving or shooting.
"You are hard to track down." Drew said.
"Well, you finally found me." I said as my finger gripped at the trigger.
"What if we both get shot?" Drew asked
"We both live up to our end of the agreement." I said.
"Not something I particularly want to see happen, I'd rather win." I added
Drew tightened his grip before counting,
"One."
"Two." I said, joining in.
"Three" he said as we both took a shot.
* * *
A/N: Who won? Who do you think got the shot first? As always my little bears, don't forget to hit that vote button for the chapter if you liked it.
Next Chapter: Find out who wins the bet.