Perfect Addiction (Perfect 2)

“Yeah, but you were outnumbered three to one. Perks of living with two extra roommates,” Alex says, sending a cheeky wink my way. “Ace is great. He drools all over the carpet when he sleeps but he’s adorable. Such an angel.”

“That demon?” Daniel rasps. “He ate my underwear and took a shit in our room.”

Kayden and I both let out a laugh.

“All right, everyone, listen up!” The man who had previously helped us get into our suits and load our paint ball guns appears in front of us. He’s a brawny man with a scraggy beard, his already tired–looking eyes wrecked even further from having to chauffeur teenagers into the arena all day. “Team leaders, gather up front. Pick your teammates and let’s get going. You guys are up next.”

Simon leaps from the bleachers and heads on up front to stand beside Cara while the rest of us huddle together opposite them.

“Simon goes first,” Cara announces, beaming at her boyfriend.

Simon wastes no time to make his first pick. “I choose Kayden.”

Kayden, unable to register the shock of having been picked first, takes a couple of seconds before a small smile breaks across his face. He shuffles in Simon’s direction, giving him a casual fist bump along the way.

“Du-uude.” Daniel sends a deadly glare to his best friend. “Where’s the loyalty?”

“Relax, I’ll pick you next round,” Simon says smoothly.

“In that case,” I say, raising a hand, “I’ll be on Cara’s team.”

“All boys versus all girls. Seems fair,” Alex deadpans as I take my place among the two girls.

“Relax. We have Sienna. She’s like ten guys rolled into one,” Cara says, beaming. Then she spins toward me and leans into my ear. “Pssst, you think I can get away with punching people in this game?”

“I think it would be to our team’s expense.”

“Right. Just checking,” she says, trying to seem casual about it, though she’s unable to fend off the annoyance washing over her face. “Daniel ate my leftovers yesterday and I was hoping for payback.”

A small laugh leaves me. I can only imagine how living with three other roommates, all with wildly different personalities, would be. Thankfully, I don’t really have to worry about that with Kayden. We’re fairly responsible when it comes to maintaining the apartment together while mostly keeping to ourselves.

The rep unlocks the wooden gate for us and we stream into the arena. The forest is thick with trees and shrubbery, with all kinds of wooden barriers and bootleg landmarks erected all around the place. Almost immediately the boys make a beeline for the opposite side of the arena. I begin to make a visual sweep of the place so I can form a strategy.

“All right, girls, listen up,” I announce, holding my arms out to form a huddle with Alex and Cara. “I think they’re heading for the fort on the other side of the arena. That’s most likely gonna be their base of operations so I say we head there for a flash attack.”

“That seems like suicide,” Alex notes cynically.

“That’s what we want them to think. But really, it’s a distraction,” I explain.

Cara gives me a look. “What do you mean?”

I proceed to tell them the rest of my plan. By the time I’m done, Cara and Alex stare at me with newfound awe.

“You’re fucking brilliant, Sienna,” Alex says, clapping her hands together slowly.

“That I am.” I wink at her. “All right. Let’s get moving quick.”

We start trekking, with Cara taking the lead. Moving through the arena without being seen is harder than it would seem despite all the trees, so we make sure to stop at a small pool of water to paint some mud on our faces and stick twigs in our hair to better camouflage ourselves. As we trudge along the path, careful to align ourselves behind the barriers along the way, the fort slowly comes into view.

“Get behind here!” Cara orders when she reaches a dirt-beaten car partially submerged in the ground.

We run up to her and I inch toward the edge of the vehicle to take a look at what lies beyond us. The fort is just a few feet away and sure enough, three shadows are seen moving about in flashes through the tiny open window.

I raise an eyebrow at the girls and they nod wordlessly, both of them moving to either side to cover my right and left flanks. I thrust my arm upward, fisting my hand, before counting down from three. Three . . . two . . . one . . . go!

With a roar, we burst out from behind the car, painting the fort walls a new shade of red. We manage to fire off another round of paint before I hear vague shouts from within the structure.

“Get down!” I hiss to Alex and Cara.