The Detective and Her Bachelor

Chapter 21

"How good are you at climbing trees," I murmured, scanning the treeline as Em and I ducked behind a set of thick trees. The forest had fallen silent in the last few moments, making it impossible to find our targets, Mary Gray and Shay. 

Em nodded, eyes closed, listening to the sounds of the woods from where she sat leaning against the base of a tree. One eye opened as she turned her head to give me a look. "You want me to climb a tree and be our lookout don't you?" 

I shrugged. "Mary and Shay have been hiding for a while. We need to smoke them out or we will be sitting here all day." 

Em chuckled quietly. "Itching to get rid of me?" she asked with a mischievous grin. 

"Pretty much." 

She held a hand to her chest, looking dramatically wounded. "Threaten to blackmail someone one time and it suddenly ruins all potential foundation for friendship." She shook her head. "Shame," she said with a sigh. 

I rolled my eyes. "We aren't friends. I'm not friends with con artists."

"Says the girl running her own con. Trying to steal some poor guy's heart. How do you think this will end? That hardly seems fair to him." 

My mind fluttered to Ace. To his teasing smile. To the greenish-blue eyes that soaked me in with open sincerity. His long fingers that carved across wood. I wrestled the image of him out of my mind, refusing to think of Ace as more than a potential murder suspect that I also apparently wanted to kiss... a lot.

Stay focused, Delle. 

"He'll survive," I muttered. "There's plenty of girls for him to pick. Pretty sure I—" I snapped my mouth shut, surprised that Em had so quickly gotten me to nearly spill my plans.

"Damn. I got close," she said with a proud grin. Then she bounced up onto the balls of her feet, as I leveled my paintball gun toward her chest. 

She held up her hands relenting. "Whoa, okay. I get the message. I'll be lookout. I'll whistle once when I spot 'em. Then one whistle for North, two for East, three for South, four for West." She dashed away before I could shoot her with a paintball. 

Em quickly scrambled up a tree, leaving me alone to settle back into the silence. Despite what a pain Em was, I liked her. Or at least I admired how clever she was. She was right. Under different circumstances, we could have been friends. And I hated and liked that thought in equal measure.

A lone whistle filled the forest. Then Em let out four whistles sending me west. Crouching, I bolted off, itching to finish this game fast. I spotted Mary Gray first. She was knelt behind a shrub, sticking out like a sore thumb in her bright yellow blouse. She saw me and lost all sense of calm, screaming wildly as she dropped to the ground, avoiding my first shot. 

Rolling to the side, she jumped up to her feet awkwardly and took off running further into the woods, still screaming. I heard two sudden whistles, bringing me up short. Turning, I had just enough time to spot Shay stepping out from behind a tree before she fired. 

I dropped and rolled before springing to my feet again, unable to keep myself from grinning. Mary Gray was the bait and I had fallen right for it. Shay shot again, almost clipping me in the arm. She didn't stop to gloat or offer a cocky smile. She fired again, showcasing that this wasn't the first time she had held a weapon. 

I dropped to the ground behind a tree, swearing as I hit the ground, hard. The tree cover was sparse, leaving Shay with far more cover to work with than me. I heard Mary scrambling back in our direction and made a decision that left me grinding my teeth.

I ran, blasting through the trees, weaving my way back the way I came, zigzagging back and forth, ducking behind trees and any other cover I could find. Shay's shots splattered color around me, each shot inching closer and closer to its prime target.