Hooked on love

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Red team, go!" The next 15 minutes were a disaster. Not only did I have a crap team, or I got shouted at every time I ran or ducked out of sight, I also had Jackson revealing he is wrath, the guy who beat the 16 year old me. What did I do 4 years ago to win?
I take a seat to collect my thoughts, the alcohol has emptied my body leaving me feeling groggy. Okay, I'm a bit rusty, how frustrating! I see Jackson strolling towards me basking in his easy win, he's irritating, how does he always look good?
"See, semi-good. You wasn't that bad." He puts the gun over his shoulder. I stare daggers at him, "so you are the boy who beat my record? Was this your plan all along?" I fold my arms feeling somewhat hurt. He sighs and sits next to me.
"I am, yeah, and it wasn't at first, no. I was stuck for ideas on where to take you and Cassie talks about you to Kyle a lot, so I got him to ask her about the stuff you like and he didn't come back empty handed. Who knew you was the Gumi-Bear I spent weeks trying to beat." I didn’t know he went to such an extent for me, I guess it was thoughtful in a way.
"You spent weeks? You was 19 when you beat it, didn't you have any friends or a life back then?" Anguish overcomes his face, have I hit a nerve?
"Sorry if I said something out of line, I'm just being a sore loser."
"There's still another game to make it 3 loses." He gets up and makes his way to the blue side. Did he even acknowledge my apology? I guess it's something he really doesn't want to discuss. A voice booms into the speakers filling the room, "great job blue team, maybe next time reds! Now you've tested, we're going to have you play laser tag - every guy for themselves. As usual, we will send you all out at the same time, but with a guy who's 'it', once we send you out, the person we chose as 'it', your badge will light up red. When it does, come to us and we will provide you with a gun which will be used to catch the other guys out. Got it?"
"Yeah!"
"On your marks," This game is pretty easy for me, my anxiety levels increased so much all I did was run.
"Get set!" I want this game to be over so I can get back to my date with Jackson. We all line up waiting for the speaker to tell us to go, Jackson is behind me pushing his knees into the back of mine causing me to loose balance, I'd stop him but his laugh is so infectious so I let him have his fun.
"Go!" We all run through the doors, some run left, some run right, I go down the middle. I turn round to see no Jackson behind me, which way did he run? A voice fill the room again, "check your badges, if it's red you know what to do, the rest of you only have one life so use it well.
I check, it isn't me. I hear no noise either, who is it? I tip toe to each end of the corridors and see no one. Nothing. That's weird, as soon as I turn round to go back to where I came from I hear one kid after the other yelling, "run!", "you cheat!", "he's hiding!", I need to hide. I see a small crevasse and squeeze my body into it, I should be alright here.
I hear the commotion getting closer and closer, until I see a group of boys run past me, phew! I wait a few minutes before leaving my little hideout, the tagger could be lurking.

I wiggle myself out, struggling. God damn you boobs, you’re always in my way! I take a deep breath and slide out, my body can't handle this much tension. I bolt the opposite way to the other kids and I hear something, "psst!" I stop and listen. Where is that coming from? I see no one around. My breathing quickens, and then I see a huge hand appear in front of my face, and before I can escape it's covered my eyes and yanked me backwards. Who is the hell? Hold on, I know this husky smell.
"Jackson?" I can't see a thing, but I can feel his face inches from mine. My heart lurches into my chest.
"Shhh," he strokes his nose against mine sending shivers down my spine.
"What are you doing?" Is it warm in here or is it just me?
"Something I should have done days ago.” He hooks his free hand around my waist, pulling me up against his body so I'm on my tiptoes and plans a soft kiss on my lips.
The warmth of his mouth sends a current running through my body, I open my mouth letting his tongue explore mine for the first time. It feels so foreign yet I feel like I've been kissing him for years, he finally lets go of my eyes and curls his hand around my neck tilting it to the side to deepen the kiss. I feel his heart hammering against his chest as my hands rest on it, it really is firm, just like I imagined. All I want to do is wrap my arms around his neck, but they are wedged between us.
He slows the pace down and slowly pulls away leaving me panting, wanting more. Wow. He wipes the saliva from my lips with his thumb and finally lets me go causing me to walk backwards.
"So that's what you was doing." I can still feel the blood pumping through my lips.
"I like you Ava, I really want to call you mine and I hope you will consider it, but for now..." My head is spinning from all the emotion and the kiss that I don't see the gun he's been concealing behind him the entire time, he points it and me and shoots me in the chest.
"You're out.” His voice is ragged and the darkness in his eyes has returned, follows by a wicked grin causing something in my belly to tighten. What?
"Are you kidding me?!" He lightly pecks my forehead and runs off after the remaining kids, leaving me here in a quivering mess.