It had been two days since Rebel had spoken to him. Two days wouldn’t be that much, if they’d been out in the real world, working, playing, doing things besides sharing a small living space with each other. Meals had been silent, mornings were silent, evenings were silent.
It was so different from the times in the hospital, where she’d talked his damn ear off. He hated to say this, but he missed that. It hadn’t seemed comfortable for her; she’d clearly done it because she thought he needed to hear her speak, but it was so much more preferable to this silence.
He missed her rambling. Hell, he missed the husk of her voice. Po hated that she wasn’t speaking to him.
He knew she was mad at him, but he wouldn’t change his mind. There was no way he was going to serve Rebel up on a silver platter to doctor douchebag to let him do whatever twisted things he wanted to her. No matter what.
And apparently, they couldn’t discuss it like adults. That was on him. He knew it. What would he say? He wasn’t about to let Dr. Pedigrew take away the one woman left who mattered to him. Nope. That wasn’t going to work. All he could do was stand firm in what he’d already said to her. Because he was right. He couldn’t start a relationship with her. Not in the middle of all this. Not when he had no idea what he was doing. Not when her life was in danger.
Po was getting out of the shower when a multicolored neon monstrosity on his bed captured his attention. It was a nerf gun, one of six left here by Jameson, one of the SEPs guys, during a get-together they’d had here a year or so ago.
Po had put them up in the closet of the guest room for whenever.
There was a bag of extra ammunition next to the gun along with a note.
“Bring it. If I win, you listen to me without being an ass. If you win, I’ll be silent till this is over.”
Okay then. He would renegotiate when he won. He was over this silence bullshit.
Po slipped on a pair of pants and grabbed the gun, loading it up and stuffing the little foam bullets in his pockets. Then he went to find the girl and kick her ass.
Coming down the stairs, a snick, kerthunk met his ears at the same time a sting battered his chest. Rebel’s maniacal giggles floated across the living room, where she was hiding somewhere in the kitchen.
“Alright,” he growled before plastering himself against the wall and creeping toward the sounds of her giggles.
Inching around his sitting area, back to the wall, he spun low around the couch, his gun seeking her out. Her hair flipping over the kitchen island gave away her position. Po took aim and waited.
Nothing.
The came another snick, kerthunk and another sting on his chest as he saw her gun peeking out from around the giant computer monitor he had next to the kitchen.
How did she do that?
He took cover behind his couch, army crawling to the desk where her last bullet had come from.
Stupid. He’d been so laser-focused on the island, waiting for her to pop up, he hadn’t been paying attention to the end table next to it she’d used for cover to get into the computer setup.
She was better than he’d thought.
He widened his senses and tried to figure out her next move. If she was in the kitchen, she was probably hiding behind the island, waiting for him to enter so she could pop up and tag him. Or in the pantry, where she would be trapped.
Unless she had gone into the garage…
He took a breath and slowly rose to a crouch, stalking her low into the kitchen.
She stood in the doorway to the garage, using the door as cover, pelting him with darts on the automatic fire setting. He did a weird army roll to behind the island, dodging the foam bullets as he went, before popping up and firing off at her.
He hit her, and she giggled. He went down, his back to the island.
Po had to catch his breath. Her giggle was intoxicating. It hit him then. The first time he’d heard that sound, he’d vowed to hear it again. Now that he was, he was completely at her mercy, wrapped and twisted around her little finger, and it was fucking lovely.
They were having fun.
He caught himself grinning from ear to ear and had to pop up and do it again.
But she was gone.
He ran to the garage and poked his head around the doorway, seeing his three vehicles and two bikes. Sure, he’d bought them all with drug money, his SUV, truck, and sedan, but he’d kept them just because he could. She could be behind the cars or in the closet where he kept his tools.
He was on autopilot, out to get his girl and tag her into screaming mercy.
Peeping out around the doorway, he didn’t see her anywhere. He risked a glance behind him, and she wasn’t there either.
A snick sounded from behind him.
He spun slowly, his hands in the air, gun pointing toward the ceiling. She’d been hiding behind his SUV.
Sneaky.
“I got you. I win.”
“Do you though?” He leveled his gun at her. “Or are you bluffing? You ran out of bullets in that automatic volley in the kitchen, didn’t you? You haven’t reloaded yet.”
He pulled the trigger, popping her once in the chest. Po realized he was still smiling, and her answering smile was lighting him up, sending shock waves through his body in a weird, bubbly way.
He’d never felt like this with a woman before, ever. This shit was for fairy tales and little girls.
But he liked it.
“But in terms of sheer volume, I think I won. I hit you the most.”
“You ran out first,” he pointed out before unloading on her, taking delight in watching her little dance as she tried to avoid his missiles. And her laughter. She wasn’t giggling anymore. It was a full-on belly laugh that ended with her on the garage floor.
And his clip was empty now.
With the empty clips came another kind of emptiness. The game was over.
Back to life.
Back to not speaking to each other.
He sighed as his smile dropped from his face and he turned to go back inside the house. In the kitchen, he stood at the sink, filling a glass with water and drinking it as he looked out the window at his concrete neighbor, an abandoned warehouse, destined for condemnation.
Just like his soul.
He hadn’t bought this house for its curb appeal. He’d bought it because it was cheap and had a good layout for him. Clear exits.
He heard the door to the kitchen slam.
“Okay, see you later.”
Wow. She stalked through the kitchen to the living area. Each step echoed on the concrete, breaking something inside him all over again.
Worse than her leaving.