Page 47 of The Magical Tea Shop

“What about Ivy and Alden? No one has seen them. Ivy’s a girl. I bet I could pick her off easy.”

“No,” Jaxon said, “Ivy is mine.”

A chill of anticipation traveled from the tip of Ivy’s head along her spine to her toes at Jaxon’s vow.

She was his?Oh-ho, no, he was hers. Now she was even more determined to take him out, but she’d stay true to her primary objective: keep Alden free of paintballs. Make this his best birthday ever.

Getting Jaxon—oh yeah, she’d do that, too.

Alden was tugging on her sleeve whispering instructions. She’d have to leave Jaxon for later. Right now, she was Alden’s bodyguard.

*

Jaxon knew Ivywas out there. He could sense her. It was almost like he knew she was watching him, but that was ridiculous. Surely just his imagination. Or him hoping. He spent a lot of time wondering about Ivy and worrying how his decisions would affect her. His choices might impact her whole life, not in paintball, but in selling the building. He shook his head. He needed to keep his head in the game. Right now his goal needed to be giving these kids a fun time at paintball.

All other concerns needed to wait. But taking out his number one sniper had been inspired. He’d seen Ivy with Alden in that double-pronged attack. Now he had zero idea where she’d gone. The boys took off with their marching orders, and he scanned the horizon. She was here somewhere. He kept himself low. He could hear the occasional paintball splat and ensuing groan by the player taken out of the game. He always took a moment to look up and make sure the boy was okay. Hewaschaperoning. He needed to remain cognizant of that. Playing the game was fun, but his chief goal was to keep these boys safe and unharmed in their play. Goal number two was taking out Ivy. Or not, he didn’t actuallywantto shoot her with a paintball, he just—what? What did he want from Ivy? That was the real question he needed to answer, and not just in terms of paintball. Jaxon stayed to the outskirts, pensively watching the progress of the game.

When the sale of the building was complete, what then? He’d be on to his new life and Ivy would be left with what? Would she still have a business? He didn’t trust wild-card Derrick Cross. He was beginning to think no one could, but was the man completely untrustworthy? Cross hadn’t done anything shady. He was just brittle somehow, like he had a hidden agenda other than real estate acquisition.

Splat. Another one bites the dust.

Splat. Another one down.

Splat. And another one down.

As long as Ivy didn’t bite the dust, he was okay with it.

Jaxon counted. Where were all the boys? He peered over at the seating area and counted the boys sprawled out chatting up Becca Whitaker. Twenty of them lounged in chairs, so that left four. Alden, Ronnie, Ivy and him.

The game was coming to a head. Jaxon eased toward the flag. Time to finish this. He popped up behind Ronnie. “Hey.”

Ronnie about jumped out of his skin.

“It’s just me. What’s the plan?”

Ronnie’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“You’re the captain.”

Ronnie puffed up a little, and Jaxon smiled inwardly.

“It’s just us on our team. The rest are out. They’re hanging with Becca.” Ronnie frowned, clearly envious of being left out of Rebecca holding court.

“You’ll have your chance after,” said Jaxon. “Now, let’s get that flag.”

They ran low along the fence line, ducking behind barrels and stacked pallets, peeking around corners. Ronnie was obviously having a fantastic time. It felt good to be one of the last men standing. They headed up the rise toward the flag. The coast was clear. No one had even spotted Alden and Ivy for at least forty-five minutes, but that didn’t mean they were in the clear. Those two could be anywhere and…

Suddenly they materialized. Alden was covered in dirt and leaves, blending in with the terrain. And Ivy, Jaxon almost laughed when he saw her, was thoroughly covered in brambles. Despite her pincushion attire, she was majestic, brandishing her paint gun like a pro, sun glinting off her hair. The mask hid her face, so he couldn’t see her expression.

Alden rose up and took aim at Ronnie just as Jaxon took aim at Alden. Ivy tilted her head at Jaxon and shook it. She pointed to herself and aimed her gun straight at Jaxon. He got her meaning even with the mask on.

Let Alden win.

He grinned. They needed to act quick. Splat went Alden’s gun—Ronnie was out. In unison, they tilted their guns up, aimed at each other. In the last instant Jaxon dipped his gun and let his paintball fly at Ivy’s foot.

Splat right on her shoe just as Splat!, a hit straight to his heart.

Alden grabbed the flag, whooping and running for his base, last man standing, and clearly the winner.

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