Secrets & Lies

Lets Shoot People| 43

I woke up earlier than necessary the next day. I laid in bed most of the morning, however, My peace was disturbed when Sebastian burst into my room frantically. "When did you get here?" He asked.

"Last night around 11:45. You were knocked out on the couch when I got here."

When I'd arrived Sebastian was damn near hanging off the couch. I didn't bother waking him up to go get in the bed. I just tiredly took a shower and went to sleep. "What happened last night? I don't need to put out a hit on anyone do I?"

"No," I said slowly. "So I need to kill him myself is what you're saying?"

"What?! No! Come in, sit." I scooched over and patted the spot on the bed beside me. He eyed it cautiously for a second before hesitantly coming to sit beside me. "You know today's your last day here right?" I asked.

"Sure. But this isn't about me right now. What happened last night?"

I rolled my eyes at his persistence and sunk into my blankets a bit more. "We went to that really fancy lounge, talked, had a drink, and then we got chicken wings."

"Will there be an um, second date?"

"Nah."

For a second a could've sworn I saw the joy in his eyes after I said that. "Oh thank God..." he sighed absentmindedly. He seemed to come to his senses as his eyes widened and he laughed nervously. "I mean, That's so sad Why Not?"

"Eh he and I decided that neither of us really wanted to pursue that kinda relationship, but we enjoyed each other's company so we'll just be friends."

While we were at wing stop, I asked Ambrose what his intentions were. He replied, "you're kind and fun. I'd like to get to know you better. But I'd prefer to be your friend more than anything else."

I agreed with him because I wasn't necessarily looking for a relationship right now and we had easy banter and casual conversation as if we'd known each other for years. He'd reminded me a lot of Aaron. "Well, that's too bad for him."

"Yeah...you wanna watch Netflix with me?" I asked. He hummed a bit as he stood up from the bed. "I have a better idea, get dressed we're going to shoot people!" He replied while walking out of my room.

I blinked a couple of times as I attempted to process what he'd just said. "What?!"

"Get dressed!"

***
About thirty minutes later Sebastian and I ended up at a paintball arena. "You could've just said we were coming here." I huffed. "That takes all the fun out of it."

"Whatever."

After getting everything set up we were placed with a group of strangers to go against another group of strangers. Our team leader set out a plan for us to retrieve the flag we would be fighting for. But of course, Sebastian never follows the rules, so I highly doubt he'd listen to anything the leader said.

"You two can be back up over there." Jackson, our team leader said. Everyone dispersed including Sebastian and I. "Come on we can take cover over here." I whispered.

Sebastian followed me and we sat behind a bush. "Where did you say you met this Ambrose?" He whispered. "At the wedding reception," I whispered back while scanning our surroundings.

"I was with you the majority of the night. I only left you for a few minutes, but I still kept an eye on you."

"Shhh. Can't we talk about this later?"

He only nodded but I could still feel his gaze on me after I'd looked away and continued to watch the team. "Did you meet him when you stepped outside?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"Seriously, Sebastian, it isn't the time."

"And with all the energy you wasted saying that you could've just answered my question." He replied. I sighed heavily and rubbed my forehead. "Yes, I met him when I went outsi-"

My sentence was cut short by the sound of several shots going off. I quickly turned my attention back to the game and several of my teammates eliminated. "Back up my ass," Sebastian mumbled.

I watched him position himself and the next thing I know he's shooting five of the ten opponents in a matter of seconds. "How did you-"

"I spend my free time at the shooting range. I practice on moving targets." He shrugged. His slightly concerning and creepy admission came to me as a shocker but for some reason made me feel all warm and fuzzy. "Come on, follow me. I need you to cover my six."

"I'm sorry—what?"

"Watch my back so we can win please." He sighed. I nodded and followed him out of the bush quietly. He walked forward and I walked backward right behind him. Together we eliminated the rest of the other team and successfully won the game.

"You're a great shot, you surprise me every day, Carter."

"Yeah you too, Romano. You a trained assassin or something?" I joked. "Now that's just preposterous!" He said anxiously with a nervous glint in his eye. "So you tryna tell me that was just skill?"  The nervous glint quickly went away as a smirk settled on his face. "I didn't say that."

He leaned in incredibly close causing the air to get caught in my throat as he pushed my hair behind my ear and whispered, "You have to know how to shoot to run the Romano family mafia."

My shocked face turned into an annoyed one and I jokingly pushed him away from me. "Haha very funny."

"Who said I was joking?"

&&&

"What do you want to eat?"

"Um, you chose," I replied as I continued to type away on my phone while walking towards a table. I sent the text I was composing to Ambrose And sat back in the chair to wait for Sebastian to join me at the table.

After a few more minutes of texting Ambrose, I heard the chair across from me scrape against the floor. I looked up expecting it to be Sebastian but instead, it was Brandon sitting opposite me. "Brandon? Hey!"

"What's up, Princess. We miss you over at the studio. You and your friend."

"Does someone have a little crush on my friend?" I teased. "Nah, she's not my type. I'm more into people with three legs instead of two."

Before I could reply to his innuendo, Sebastian appears beside the table looking angry as always. "Who's this?" He asked as he placed the food into the table. "Brandon from dance class."

"Well, Brandon from dance class, scram."

"Sebastian!" I exclaimed. "Forgive him, he gets cranky when he doesn't get his meal by 5 on the dot." I joked. Brandon chuckled while Sebastian glared at me. "Sit down, Seb."

His expression softened a bit and he sat down beside me. "When can I expect you back?"

"Well, I'm coming to the youth event to volunteer. So I'll be around on Thursday for the meeting with Evangeline." I told him. "Cool. I'll see you then. It was nice meeting you, Sebastian."

I offered Brandon a small smile as he walked away and turned my attention to Sebastian. "What?" I asked when I noticed his intense glare. "Nothing."