The Devil's Candy

Chapter 19

This has had to be the weirdest lunch we have had as a group ever. The whole time Jinnie would not stop glaring at Dom and I was silent, avoiding all eye contact. 

The rest of the day I took different routes to my class and only saw the guys when they happened to be in a few of my classes. Oliver had tried asking me what was wrong, but I told him it was nothing.

My mind has been spinning with the idea of Dominic and Tiffany.

Was this all a joke to him?

Did he just use me because Tiffany wasn't available at the time?

Throughout the day my emotions began to fade from hurt and sadness to anger.

"Hey short stack you ready?" Noah appears next to my locker.

"Short stack?" Amused at the new nickname.

"Well, yeah. Look at you." He uses his hand to measure my height. He's not wrong, I'm 5'5 and Noah's at least 6 feet tall. I smack his hand away and continue loading my bookbag. "Are you ready for training?"

Right, I forgot he mentioned that earlier. I ask him what I should expect from this training. He goes on to explain that today we will start off small by running small simulations that will test how well we can communicate and escape any hostile situation. 

Apparently, Oliver created a system that allows us to use a virtual reality game that is designed as different scenarios the guys have been exposed to. This will not only be training for Jinnie and I but for the guys as well. 

They are used to just helping each other and escaping, now they have to worry about two more people. Eventually the training will develop into actual hand to hand combat and the proper way to shoot a gun.

"You really want to trust Jinnie with a gun?" Arching an eyebrow when I notice my best friend coming down the hallway holding a finger gun to Elijah's head. Noah turns around to see and rolls his eyes at her, but I can see a slight smile creep onto his face.

The time we've spent with the guys I've noticed how close Noah and Jinnie have become. Their playful banter and indiscreet glances at one another make it obvious. I think it's sweet to see Noah's serious demeanor crash when he's around her.

"Give me what I want, and no one gets hurt." Jinnie says when she's in close distance, Eli is still on the end of her finger gun.

"And what would that be?" Noah smirks.

"You know what I want." She smiles bright. He shakes his head at her childish antics and steps towards her. Grabbing her face, he gives her a kiss.

What the hell?

"When did that happen?" Shocked at what I just witnessed.

"Yesterday." Jinnie shrugs. I narrow my eyes at her, she has a lot of explaining to do. As if reading my mind, she nods and mouths, "later".

"Alright, lets go. Dom's already waiting at my car." The mention of his name causes something in me twitch. Great, I have to spend the next few hours with him.

We get to the car and I immediately get in the backseat not saying a word to him. We head towards a warehouse that is about 30 minutes out of town. The Liberated have several warehouses scattered around the area to store their weapons and cars. 

Some are training facilities or safe houses. We make it to the warehouse and head inside to find a giant warehouse equipped with everything you can imagine. 

On one end there's a huge obstacle course and a matted area with computer screens on the walls, the other side has a full weight room and a boxing ring. 

Oliver leads us to the matted area with screens to explain how the virtual simulation will work. We all put on our VR headsets and do a few practice scenarios. 

Let's just say we all died in the first one. After several tries, we started to get the hang of it. However, it got to the point where Dominic started spitting orders that started to tick me off.

I get it, he's the leader but who does he think he is telling me what to do? Screw him.

In the simulation we were trying to steal a shipment when Dom started up with his orders again.

"Bambi, stay back!" Ignoring his command, I come out from around the corner to have three figures pointing their guns at me.

"Watch out!" Elijah says jumping in front of me, a bullet barely missing his head when he tried to shield me. The simulation ends and we all take our headsets off.

"What the hell was that all about!" Dominic shouted at me, "You ignored every order I gave you. If this was real, things could've been worse." I lost it.

"Why don't you go order Tiffany around? I bet she'll listen." The tension in the room grows thick. Noah, Eli, Oliver, and Jinnie stand there awkwardly.

Dom gives me a confused look. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I am talking about!" I stomp passed him wanting to get as far away from him as possible. Dom reaches out and grabs my elbow, but I yanked it out of his grasp.

"Don't touch me." I hissed. I make it outside and get into Oliver's car instead of Noah's knowing Dom got a ride from him.