Ghost

Chapter Forty Two

Nats POV

  Getting shot by a paintball gun hurts like a bitch. I should know, Spencer has only shot me about 15 times. She is surprisingly good at this. Then again there's not much to do around here and she happened to find this place so I'm sure it's not her first time.

  I'm sure she's kicked Yelena's ass too. Not jealous, just hoping I'm not the only one she has pelted with paintballs. Okay. Yup. That was kind of weird to think. I heard it.

  At this point when I'm lost in my thoughts, I feel a few more sharp bursts of pain on my torso. I look around and barely find her hiding behind a stack of hay.

  She walks out quite confidently and takes off her mask. "Are you going easy on me? Or do you not want to play?"

  "No! I'm having fun. You're just surprisingly good at this."

  She smirks at my compliment, "oh, you may find I'm full of surprises, love." She had kept walking closer as she spoke so we were only inches away.

  I shouldn't have done this, but I was kind of freaking out internally. And I realize this was a great moment to bring her in for a kiss or something but I'm a dumbass and shot her in the foot..

  "Oh, damn. Those really do hurt." She hobbles over to the hay to take a seat on it. "I guess good shot? Got me to put my guard down, I'll give you that."

   She's a good sport but I feel terrible so I can't help the slur of apologies that come out of my mouth, "shit, I am so sorry I did not mean to do that! Fuck. I'll get you some ice or something. I really am sorry, I didn't expect you to stop so I guess I didn't put the safety on.."

   She thankfully stops my rambling with her laughter which helps put me at ease. "It's okay. It's just a little sting, I'll live. Though, again, if you didn't want to play, you could have just said so."

   She's still laughing at me which brings a smile to my face. "No, I really am having fun. I guess I just had to take a shot when I could." I had walked over and plopped myself next to her on the hay, nudging her should as I did.

  "I'll give it to you, you needed the point." Mm. That cheeky grin she's wearing right now is making it hard for me to keep my distance.

  "Maybe I was letting you win."

  "Sure, we'll go with that." She winks at me and my heart does flips. Shit.

  "Fine. You won."

  "No shit," she laughs again and I swear I could listen to it all day. "But, we should probably get going so we can get started on dinner."

  "We?"

  "Oh yeah, after that cheap shot, you're definitely helping me cook."

  Again, I'm not complaining.

———————

  We made it back to the house rather quickly and we both got dressed into comfier clothes since we'd be in for the night.

  Spencer had poured us each a glass of wine as that's how 'Athena' taught her. I wasn't sure who that was but I was a little jealous. When I asked about Athena further, she kind of tensed up. So we didn't talk about her.

  We are having fun though. She's teaching me how to make some traditional dish that I can't remember nor pronounce the name of and it already smells delicious.

  "No, you have to knead the dough," she laughs as she looks over to me.

  "What?" Why would I need the dough?