by Flite, Nora
Conner: If you're there, that's a fact.
His flirting was top shelf, as usual. Kicking my feet under my desk, I put my phone aside and tried to focus on work. But even though I had a ton of things to catch up on, my mind kept wandering back to Conner.
When he rolled up outside my work later that evening, I was ready for him. I always kept a set of workout clothes in my office for the occasional late night gym visit. Those were pretty rare, but I liked being prepared.
He rolled down the passenger window and whistled. “Excuse me, I was looking for my super professional fianceé. You're clearly someone on a mission to kick some ass and I'd hate to get in your way, so if you see her, give me a shout.”
“Ha ha,” I snorted. “I told you, Aubrey wants to play laser tag.”
“She wants to play. You look like you're ready to defend your championship belt.”
Tugging at my soft, dark plum yoga tights, I did a little hop. My sneakers were charcoal in color; I hoped they'd give me an edge in the dark laser tag room. “You look pretty serious yourself, tiger,” I said. “Are you wearing all black?”
He lifted his track jacket so I could see his tight forest green shirt underneath. “Almost. You did say this was going to be fun, and what's more fun than winning?”
“Those are sexy words.” I lunged through the open window to kiss him. Conner's mouth welcomed me, his hands yanking me through the window until I was fully inside his car.
His palm trailed down to where my black racer-back top had lifted, exposing my skin. He left tight bundles of nerves wherever he touched—I shivered.
Suddenly a car honked loudly behind us. I yelped, knocking my head on the inside of his roof. “Hey! Horn dogs!” Aubrey crowed, honking again. Conner and I turned to stare at her where she'd parked behind us. She must have gotten her car from the underground lot, then spotted us by the front entrance. “Let's get a move on!” She was grinning as she pointed to the Fit Bit on her wrist. “Time to drink beer and go pow pow pow with blinding bolts of light!”
Conner laughed, sharing a look with me. “I hope this doesn't count as my first impression.”
“Don't worry, she's just kidding around.” I made a not-so-nice hand gesture at my friend—she winked in response. Clipping my seatbelt on, I gave Conner one more kiss on his cheek. “Let's go show her what we can do.”
MAX'S GAME CENTER WAS on the edge of the city. It was nearly dark out when we arrived, but the parking lot was flooded by lights coming from tall lamp posts. It was pretty busy—apparently everyone wanted to drink and game on Friday night.
Aubrey joined us inside, giving Conner a slap on the back as she got in arm's reach. “Sorry if I scared you earlier,” she said. “It was too tempting not to honk my horn.”
“No worries,” he shrugged. “Thanks for inviting me out to this. Maya made it sound like a good time.”
“If you're on her team, it is. If you're not, it's terrifying.”
“Hey!” I laughed. “I'm not that bad.”
“You gave me nightmares for a week when we were in college!” she reminded me. I blushed, unable to deny it. “Maya was stalking me around a paintball range,” Aubrey explained, noticing Conner's confused look.
He smirked at me, making me redder. “That's wild.”
“You're making me sound like a monster,” I groaned.
“Because you are,” she giggled. “Don't take offense, you know I adore you, Maya. You're super competitive and that's why you're the boss. Embrace it.”
Before I could respond, more people arrived. They all hugged Aubrey, some of them hugged me, too—the ones I knew pretty well. Aubrey had a ton of friends, she seemed to draw people to her like moths to a flame.
Within minutes we were getting wrist bands for laser tag, then ordering beers to drink as we socialized in the main room with all its arcade games, waiting for our laser tag round to be announced.
I turned to ask Conner something, and though I stopped moving, my brain continued to spin. Conner was gone. Standing behind me was Ben. “What are you doing here?” I asked, not hiding my anger.
His eyebrows shot upwards. “Hey, hi to you too.”
Across the room I caught Aubrey's eye. She saw who I was looking at and went a little pale. “Did Aubrey invite you?” I asked in disbelief.
“A friend of hers did. Relax, Maya. Just because we're exes doesn't mean we can't be in the same room together.”
One of my biggest regrets when Ben and I split, was how I'd gone out of my way to not make people choose sides. I thought I was being mature, but deep down, I'd hoped everyone would give him the cold shoulder. That hadn't happened. Why would it? No one had any clue what he'd done to me, and I'd always planned to keep it that way.
“Oh, before I forget,” he said. “Congrats on your upcoming wedding.”
He was smiling lightly. Like this wasn't weird. And his relaxed attitude made me feel suddenly self-conscious. Did it matter if he was here? There were a ton of people, we didn't need to talk to each other. And if we did, was I so broken that I couldn't be polite?
I saw his eyes dart to my hand holding my beer bottle. Was he looking at my ring, or just wondering what I was drinking? To my relief, he stared over my shoulder and waved. “That's my friend, Mark,” he explained. Then he shoved by me, ending the confrontation before it went further.
“Hey!” Aubrey said as she moved next to me. She looked towards where Ben had went. “I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't invite him. Want me to tell him to leave?”
“No, it's fine. Besides, this is a public place,” I said quickly. I made myself smile, but inside, I was unsettled. Ben had messed me up when he left me. The thought that I was the one hanging onto that, not him, filled me with self-hate. I needed to be better than this. Stronger.
She pinched the space between my shoulder and neck until I winced. “Love that upbeat attitude. But let's channel the anger you're hiding in a productive way.” She pointed across the room, just beyond the rows of mini basketball games. “Laser tag time.”
I JOINED THE CROWD that filed into the darkened room. Along the walls were colored vests to designate teams. Music thumped through the speakers, the bass high enough I felt it vibrating in my chest. The setup was meant to create a tense atmosphere. It was working.
I was formulating a plan in my head about how to win this game before I'd even grabbed my vest—green, by the way. I figured Conner wouldn't care what team we were on as long as we were together.
“Conner,” I said, fighting my way through the shoving wall of people. I couldn't see Aubrey or him. I was getting a little claustrophobic from the hot bodies struggling to get their gear. Just as I was ready to shout out his name, his hand closed on mine, his eyes bright over the heads of the others.
He yanked me out of the group towards an emptier spot in the small room. “You okay?” he asked, checking my face for signs I was stressed or upset.
I held up my green vest. “I'm fine, just getting ready to kick some blue team ass.”
Together, we looked down at the obviously blue vest in his hand.
“Shit,” he said. “Opposite teams.”
My heart fell. “No, it's okay, I'm sure we can trade with someone!”
“Everyone line up and get your weapons!” the host shouted, waving a flashlight to draw us towards the pair of doors that were cracking open to let us into the arena.
People started pushing us forward—I pushed back with a grunt. “Stop! Wait! We need to change teams!”
“No time!” someone laughed; I didn't see who. “Grab a gun and go!”
“Yeah,” a girl shouted back, “we only have twenty minutes in the arena! Make my ten dollars count!”
“But—” I started to argue.
Conner ruffled my hair. “It's okay!” He flashed me a reassuring grin. “So what if we're on opposite teams? This will be fun.”
“I guess,” I said, letting the people nudge me through the doors. Conner winked, then bent down to kiss
me. My whole body heated up like the center of a volcano.
“Maya,” he said softly.
“Yea?”
“I'm so sorry for how hard I'm about to kick your adorable ass.”
I leaned backwards with a shocked laugh. “Are you kidding?” Hoisting up the laser gun from the rack by the door, I separated from him, walking into the foggy arena. “You're going to regret not being on my team!”
A loud beep rang through the air—then the host's voice erupted in the speakers, louder than the rumbling music. “Get ready! Your vests will light up then the game is on! You can take three hits before you're out, and you CAN shoot your teammates so be careful! All weapons fire three shots before they need ten seconds to reload! That means make! It! Count!”
The room went pitch black; people gasped and giggled. Then all at once the music kicked into hyper gear, the fog rolling thicker, red lights twinkling along the edges of the platforms and tunnels in the big room. My vest vibrated as it charged up. The gun I held whooooped as it revved to life.
The game was on.
Strobe-lights illuminated sections of the battle ground, letting me spot faces I knew, some faces I didn't. People shrank down to green versus blue. Friend or foe. I reminded myself this was all for fun, and the occasional nervous scream or booming laughter helped keep the mood energetic but light.
Clutching the laser-gun, I circled a corner, hurrying up a sloped tunnel. I wanted the higher ground so I could fire at people easier. There was movement ahead of me—the person's vest had the faint glow of blue on the sensors.
Without hesitating I aimed and fired. Pew pew pew! They gasped, stopping in their tracks, palms sliding over their vest as it powered off. The scoreboard on the far wall blinked as it tallied five points to the Green team. My team.
“Oh, come on!” The girl I vaguely recognized as one of Aubrey's friends stared at me in distress. “I barely got to play!”
“Sorry!” I said, running around her, crouching as I moved across the upper platform. The fog in the room made it harder to see people on the bottom floor. I squinted, moving cautiously as more yelling echoed in the chamber.
Aubrey appeared in front of me. She giggled like a mad-woman, raising her gun just as I saw she was on my team. “Don't shoot!” I said.
“That was close,” she apologized, motioning for me to follow her. Together we ran across a rope bridge, then down a hall that swirled with white bands of light. At the end there were a number of large crates.
I ducked behind one, craning my neck to look out at the wide open room. “Everyone is shooting without thinking,” I said.
“Most of them are kinda drunk,” she agreed with a toothy smile. “I'm a little buzzed, myself. These lights and music are killing my head.”
“Follow me, I'll end this fast.”
“My white knight,” she said, fanning herself.
Jumping up, I fired shots at another blue team member. I hit twice, missed the last one. My gun began to count down—ten seconds till I could fire again. “Get them!” I yelled at Aubrey, pointing to someone who had their back to us.
She aimed, missing horribly as they turned.
“Conner!” I gasped.
His eyes lit up at the sight of me. The thrill in his face was predatory... playful. Sexy. I froze on the spot as he fired lasers at Aubrey, shutting her down. “Dammit!” she huffed. “Avenge me, Maya!”
I looked at my gun. Five more seconds. Conner had ten. Smirking, I aimed at him. “You're in trouble now.”
“I can see that,” he said, before bolting into the darkness.
“Hey! Get back here!” I laughed, chasing him with my heart thudding wildly. It gave me a thrill to pursue him. The music rumbled around me as I pumped my arms, tensing my body, demanding everything I had just to keep up with Conner.
I slid to a halt, nearly hitting a wall when he turned on a dime and ran into a foggy tunnel. I'd stopped paying attention to everyone else, but distantly, I noticed the crowd noise was fading. The game was nearing its end.
My gun vibrated back to life. Conner was done for.
A warm, firm arm circled my middle, yanking me to one side. “Ah!” I squeaked. The grip tightened, muscles trapping my arms, my weapon, to my sides.
“Got you,” Conner murmured into my ear.
My skin became fire. “Cheater, let me go!”
“Please, as if you want me to.” His lips stroked my earlobe, his breath giving me delightful goosebumps. “Caught by the enemy, how tragic.”
Arching my back, I let out a soft whimper. “This isn't fair.” My struggles were curbed by his jaw rubbing on my cheek. Something poked my hip. “Is that your gun or are you just happy to see me?” I teased.
“Both.” Conner shifted his grip, turning us so my back was on the wall, his chest against mine. Our vests crushed together, green lights merging with blue. “How long do you think we have before people notice we're missing?”
“Not long enough.”
He smirked so hard the edges of his eyes crinkled. “Drop your weapon.” I did it without hesitating. He didn't let go of his, I noticed. One of his hands slid down until it found the front of my yoga pants. “I'll just finger you until you come. How about that?”
“Fuck,” I groaned. His fingertips rubbed over the front of my panties, petting my sensitive skin so that it felt like I was wearing nothing. Trembling hard, I pushed my shoulders into the wall so I could keep standing. He made my bones soft as butter.
Dipping his hand into my panties, he kissed my mouth, sealing away my gasp. His tongue rubbed across my tastebuds in a gentle wave. All the while he made circles with his thumb on my swollen clit, two fingers burying to the knuckle inside of me. I was on the verge of orgasm, then he stroked my G-spot, motioning me to come hither. I did.
He held me against his sturdy body while my muscles flexed with lava-hot delight. It was fast, and intense, and it left me wanting more.
I grabbed for his giant erection but he caught my wrists. “Ah ah,” he chastised me, pressing his nose on my forehead. “Not yet,” he whispered. “Later. Let's finish the game first.”
“I like this game better.”
He breathed in sharply. “Me too, babe. I can't get enough of playing with you.”
“Let me jerk you off,” I begged.
“Jesus Christ that's tempting.”
I went to undo his zipper; his laser gun moved between us, blocking me. “I'll give you a head start,” he said.
I lifted my eyebrows dubiously. “You're choosing the game over a handy?”
“Three... two...”
“Fine. But you'll regret this.”
“We'll see,” he chuckled.
Grabbing my gun from the floor, I took off down the tunnel, my sneakers thudding louder in my ears than the music. I broke out into the main room. The scoreboard shined overhead—my team was five points down. I had to shoot Conner to win.
A scuffling sound came from my left. “I thought you were giving me a head start?” I said, twirling around. But it wasn't Conner aiming his gun at me.
It was Ben.
Chapter 16
Being Kind Matters
“THIS IS A NICE SURPRISE,” Ben said, moving closer. His gun was pointed right at my chest. “I thought you were out already. I should have known you were still playing, you were always so competitive. Ah! Don't try anything,” he warned, looking at my gun as I went to raise it. “It's over. Blue team wins.”
“Fine, just shoot me and finish it,” I grumbled.
“I will. First, let's chat.”
“No thanks.”
He snorted derisively. “You were always more action than talk. But I shouldn't complain.” His eyes ran over my body. His tone was too flirty for my liking.
I need to shut this down right now. “I'm seeing someone, Ben.”
His eyes rolled hard in his head. “Sure you are.”
“I am, I'm marrying Conner. You congratulated me for it.”
“I'm
not stupid. I know the game you're playing.”
My pulse began racing as my nerves went into overdrive. “It's called laser tag.”
“You think you're so clever.” He was too close—I thought about trying to shoot him, even if I knew he'd get me first. That would end the game. Losing was better than feeding into the pleasure he was getting by dragging this moment out.
There was something awful in Ben's expression. It reminded me of staring down into a dark lake, sensing something was slithering in the weeds just out of view, its shape terrifying and foreboding.
Pew pew pew! Lasers went off. I startled, but it wasn't my vest that blinked out of existence. It was Ben's. “What the hell?” he shouted, spinning so we could both see Conner standing behind him. “Fuck! We're on the same team, man!”
“Sorry,” Conner said flatly. “I have terrible aim.”
Ben grimaced, knuckles ivory-white on the plastic gun in his grip. Conner met my eyes, giving me a knowing, sly smile. Of course he hadn't shot Ben on accident. His loyalty lied with me. Always.
Conner's gun was out of juice. He waited with lifted eyebrows for me to do the obvious. With one final glare at my ex, I pointed the gun at Conner and fired.
“Green team wins!” the announcer crowed.
All around us came shouts of joy or groans of frustration. The game was over and, for most of us, it had been uneventful. Not for me. Not for this thing in my heart that swelled daily for a man I could no longer think of as a stranger.
I trusted Conner to have my back.
After what Ben had done to me, I didn't think I'd ever trust anyone again.
Conner had proven me wrong.
“I LIKE HIM.”
I gaped at Aubrey. This was high praise from her. “Really?” I asked.
“Yeah, he's got a nice energy to him. I could tell he was having fun out there, but he wasn't getting too intense.” She gave me a knowing look. “Unlike some people I know.”
“I like winning.”
“Everyone does, Maya,” she laughed. “It says a lot about a person how they handle losing.”
