22. willow
CHAPTER 22
WILLOW
FRAGILE
Fifteen minutes later, we made it to our homebase, the whistle blew, and all hell broke loose.
Beyond the mosquitos and the weird banana candy smell from the paintballs, the worst part was the undeniable fact that King was the best. Everywhere we went, he clipped someone. I literally had no idea how he detected them. One minute, we’d be hiking over rocks, and the next, there went his paintball gun— bam, bam, bam —taking out yet another teammate.
While I did the most I could do.
Which was absolutely nothing.
Or scrambling over the brush and clutching my gun to my chest while I tried not to trip over my tennis shoes.
"That’s right, motherfucker!" Kassie belted out and high-fived Ryan when the two of them took down some people trying to ambush us behind the rocks. He high-fived her so hard, Kassie almost flew backwards.
"This is fucking insane," I whispered to myself, half-crawling down the dusty hill so I didn’t break an ankle. King wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me down with him while I kept up my mantra. I ignored the flush creeping up my neck. "This is insane. This cult is insane ."
"They’re not that bad," he said.
"I’m including you. You’re not excluded!"
We ended up at a maze that promised our next flag of the day, buried deep inside. I thought Kassie and Ryan would’ve stayed outside with us—which would’ve meant more of Ryan’s rapid-fire icebreaker questions to figure out if Kassie and I were ordained to be best friends forever—but they dove into the maze instead and they were welcome to.
With my lack of physical prowess, I’d get stuck inside, and the buses would have to drive off without me.
At least I got to be on the outskirts of the action.
I stood against the wall, gripping my gun with tight fingers. Every little sound made me jumpy.
"So…" King cleared his throat. "Did you finish up the health literacy paper?"
I glared. "That’s what you want to talk about right now?"
He shrugged.
"Homework? For the class you don’t have to be in?"
"I need it to graduate."
"You’re going to the NFL. Why do you care about a degree?"
"I told my mom I’d graduate."
The mom who was in and out of the hospital. A sympathetic pang hit me, but I stared ahead at the landscape, refusing to look at him. I could be compassionate and ignore him at the same time.
It was weird. You build all of these close connections with someone, learn all of these intimate details about them, and then…when the connection is severed, none of that even mattered. It didn’t mean anything. I knew all of these things about King, and I didn’t want to.
I rested my head against the maze wall. "There’s three other options for that class this semester."
He didn’t say anything.
"What about, you get rid of one class? We don’t need to be in two together."
Nothing.
" Why? "
"Elijah’s in both," he finally said.
"And?"
Silence.
"I don’t care that you hate hockey players," I said, my voice low. "If you want to get rid of me, why don’t you start by transferring into other classes?"
King glanced away from the landscape, turning his full attention to me. He lowered his gun, watching me through the goggles. It was quiet, only the soft sounds of the wilderness around us.
"I don’t want to get rid of you, Willow."
What the hell does that mean?
It wasn’t easy with him anymore. I missed that ease so much. I missed not having to guess and poke and prod him for explanations. The cagey way he behaved at Marrs drove me insane.
"What am I supposed to say to that, King? Seriously. What do you want? Because I want to minimize contact and not keep seeing you over and over again."
Something rustled in the bushes behind him.
I lurched forward with my gun, barely understanding exactly how to use it, and the paint flew off, about ten feet away from the target. King jerked back and shot into the bushes, actually hitting them.
" Goddammit, King!" someone shouted, and a football player hobbled out, smeared in red paint.
King’s eyes flickered to mine, surprised, and the two of us stood there, because… shit .
I could’ve let him get hit.
I could’ve and I didn’t. Why didn’t I? Getting rid of my blackmailer meant I could’ve left the game early too, skipped to the air-conditioned bus.
Dumbest decision of the day.
Happy screams broke from inside the maze and football players poured out, covered in red paint. Our team’s colors. Kassie followed suit, victorious, with a yellow shot to the chest but a flag in her hand.
Ryan rounded the bend and came back to us, pumped. "We have a plan."
"We found out where the last flag is—" Kassie said, breathless.
"Art girl got them to reveal it." Ryan grinned. "The flag’s at the top of a platform?—"
"The tree’s in the middle of an open field," Kassie took the reins, tying the flag on Ryan’s wrist while everyone else surrounded us. "Anybody that tries is going to get shot."
That made sense. If they had it that far away from everybody, it was going to be a pain to get it.
Kassie made a show of looking at me. "Anybody who tries it will get shot. Except…you know…"
" No, " burst out of King so suddenly, everyone turned to face him.
It was silent but King didn’t budge. His jaw clenched.
"If you know what I’m talking about, that’s a goddamn good sign!" Kassie urged. "Who would shoot her? Coach’s daughter? Who’s going to risk it?"
King shook his head, leaving no room for compromise.
Compromising about what exactly?
I stared at the peering eyes. I swallowed. "Um…me?"
"You’ll run across, go up the ladder, and we’ll protect you." Ryan grinned, reloading his gun. "They’ll be so shocked it’s you, they won’t think to fire."
"Um…I mean, I go to the gym but…" I fumbled with my response, overwhelmed. "I’m—I’m not a trained sprinter."
"She’s not doing it," King growled. "Find another way."
"Willow?" Kassie caught my attention again. "You know what the best part is?"
"What?"
"This’ll end the game."
Oh my god, she was right.
That’d be game over.
It didn’t matter how much King objected to it, I followed Ryan and Kassie on the long walk until we came to trees, clustered together.
I could see the glint of the green flag up high.
My pulse raced.
The field was a lot longer than I thought it’d be. With a slow shake of my head, I backed up. I couldn’t do it. There was no way I’d make it and those precious seconds would be wasted. Someone would take me out for sure.
No flag.
A hand reached for my shoulder and pulled me back. My heart leaped to my throat when King dipped down. "You’re not doing it."
He was right.
I couldn’t do it.
"King, why can’t she?" Kassie demanded.
" Look at her." King gestured towards me. "She’s fragile."
My eyebrows furrowed. "I’m not fragile."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I’m not ." Maybe I couldn’t make it to the flag, but King made me sound like I’d shatter both legs if someone breathed on me wrong.
"If you think you can do it, you’re wrong. You can’t do this. You won’t make it and you’ll get hurt in the process. No . You’re staying back, Willow. You’re not moving."
"It’s an instant win, King," Ryan said.
" No. "
"I can’t do it without you," Ryan told him, annoyed. "You’re the best shot on the team, I need you in on this."
Kassie raised her eyebrows. "Willow, do you hear how he’s talking about you?"
King shot her a dirty look.
"Yeah." I crossed my arms over my chest. "What the hell?"
"King doesn’t think you can do it."
" Kassie, " he warned.
"Sounds like he thinks he can make decisions for you!"
I tightened my stance. "It does sound like that."
King grabbed Ryan by the shoulder. "Get ten of the guys, rush the tree, someone’s bound to get through and scale it. We can pick off the rest of them together."
"We’d lose our best shooters."
The two of them started arguing and I bit my lip, thinking it over.
I could actually win the game.
Taking a deep breath, I picked the lowest branch on the tree to focus on. All I needed to do was calm down for the big performance. It was like being up on stage and putting all my attention on?—
Oh, fuck it.
I dropped my gun and stumbled forward.