Chasing Sin

26

"Who keeps turning my seat heater on?? My ass is on fire!"

I laugh as I bump the seat warmer down a couple notches, keeping my eyes on the road. "You did, Skylar! I told you the warmer is the top button and the cooler is the bottom one! Nobody listens to me."

She laughs and turns her seat cooler on. "I can't help it. I just have the attention span of a gnat before my caffeine kicks in." She sips her green tea from Jeanie's as she says this, making me smile.

"Believe me, I know that feeling," I agree. "I can't believe you weren't awake until noon."

"I can't believe you worked a five hour shift before noon. That's psychotic. How you can wake up at seven AM is beyond me."

My shift at Lumière's was definitely weird.

It was the first shift I've worked since discovering the illegal casino in the basement, and I have no idea how to act. I didn't work with Zara, unfortunately. I was stuck with Van, who is probably the most annoying person I could have spent my morning with.

Zara at least could have given me some answers. I've tried calling her a couple times, but always get her voicemail. Today, I worked the breakfast shift, which is always slow and dull. It left me with too much time to think about the mystery casino. And how I could be so oblivious as to not know about it sooner.

"I agree, you're way too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to have gotten up at seven in the morning," Aubrey agrees. She's been in a sour mood all morning, and I'm not sure why.

"Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?" I question with amused smile. "Who are you, my grandpa?"

She glares and snaps at me, "Sorry we all can't be as witty as you this early in the day."

Skylar and I go silent in the front seat, and I glance over at her. We both share a look, unsure if we should ask her what's wrong.

She sighs and apologizes nearly immediately. "Sorry, Ave. I'm just in a mood. Beckett and I kind of had a fight last night... a major one."

"I'm sorry, Aubrey," I tell her, giving her a sympathetic look through my rearview mirror. "Don't let that put a damper on today, though! We're going to have loads of fun. Later, we're going to hunker down at Taylor's house with pizza and popcorn and all the junk food you could dream of. Plus, we're going to binge all five Twilight movies and vote on Team Edward or Team Jacob."

"If any of you bitches vote for Team Edward, I will unfriend you immediately. Go ahead and try me." She shoots another hard glare at me through the mirror, and I roll my eyes.

"Well... how about we go shoot some people?"

"That, I'm down for."

We get to the paintball course and see Taylor, Peyton, and Kace there already. I hug Taylor, excited for our girls' night tonight.

Ever since coming clean about my past with Taylor, she's been the best friend I could have imagined. I never dreamed of having a girlfriend that is so cool with everything, but also doesn't pry. I love that about her.

"Where's Beck and Sin?" Skylar asks.

"They're on the way," Kace replies. "I think they're coming together."

I am not looking forward to seeing Sin. Ever since we got into that fight, we've been avoiding each other. I still can't believe he lied to me. He told me he wasn't going to fight Archer, and immediately ran to find him. I don't know why he can't let anything go, why he always wants to fight everyone else's battles.

He's infuriating, and even hearing his name reminds me how angry I am at him.

"Let's just go in," I suggest. "We can get our gear on and decide on teams. They'll catch up."