Chapter 3

3.

The club pulled up the footage fast, the segments tied to their team, the ones that mattered.

Sophie took them, then casually plucked out a few pieces of gear and tossed them on the ground.

Job and Sebastian exchanged a look.

Sophie's face went whiter and whiter, her nails digging little crescent marks into her palms.

"So you threw it away on purpose."

"You knew Job and my brother would put one of the sets on you no matter what."

Both men moved, stepping in front of Sophie.

"Marjorie, stop it. Nothing happened to you anyway."

"Sophie didn't mean it — you're her older sister, can't you let it go? Besides, we already said we'd keep you safe."

The footage kept rolling.

The two of them heard the shots and ran straight for Sophie.

I took a paintball to the leg and curled up behind the cover, in pain.

Their faces went pale too. Job rushed forward, reaching for my knee.

"You got hit, does it hurt? Let me help you up."

I limped away from him, crossing to Harry's other side.

Job started to come after me, and Sophie let out another yelp, clutching her ankle.

"Job, I still can't really walk. Could you carry me on your back?"

"My brother's kind of clumsy."

Job hesitated. He looked at his empty hands, and some corner inside him seemed to empty out a little too.

He looked at me, his face settling back to normal for once.

"Once the match is over, I'll apologize to you properly."

"Don't wander off. I'll drive, I'll come get you in a bit."

I didn't answer. The girl from the couples' team on Harry's side came over to help me.

Before she went, she shot Job a look and asked me, dead serious,

"This thing isn't your boyfriend, is it?"

"Girl, you'd be better off dating a barbecue pork sandwich than a spineless piece of work like that."

"What kind of nonsense is that, leaving his own girlfriend to take fire? Lucky it wasn't a real gun. If it were, he'd be apologizing to you down in the afterlife."

I kept nodding, the very picture of a good student.

The girl's eyes curved into a smile and she reached over to ruffle my hair. "You're so sweet. If I ever get married, I hope I have a little girl just like you."

She wanted to keep ruffling, but the host over there had already started calling names.

Each team back to its own. I still went back to Job's team.

Just standing at the very end.

First place went up on stage for the prize money.

The other teams each had to send one person up to take a penalty.

Someone drew eating wasabi, someone drew dancing, someone drew a mystery-box food.

Job lowered his voice, a note of guilt in it.

"Don't worry. Whatever penalty we draw this time, we'll take it. It won't touch you again."

For Job's team, Sophie drew. She opened the slip and went a little pale.

"One female player takes the penalty: drink a glass of blended whiskey."

She looked to Sebastian like she needed rescuing, her voice thickening toward tears.

"Sebastian, I can't drink. You know that, my stomach's always been bad."

"If I drink something blended like that and something goes wrong, then what?"

Sebastian turned to me.

"Marjorie, how about you do it."

"It's just one glass. I know Sophie's stomach is bad too. She's been on medicine to fix it, she can't just quit halfway."

I looked at Job, calm, wanting to see whether this man couldn't keep even one promise.

Job went numb under the look, but he forced the words out anyway.

"Marjorie, Sophie is your sister."

I tilted my head and smiled, mocking myself.

"You remember her bad stomach, but you all forgot I have an acute alcohol allergy!"

His face drained bit by bit and he shook his head quickly.

"No, no, I remember you're allergic to alcohol. I just didn't think of it for a second."

"Nobody drink. Let me go find the organizers."

In the end, because of the special circumstances, the organizers agreed to switch who took the penalty.

Job took the glass and drank it down in one go, wiped his mouth, and gave me an ingratiating little smile.

"I said I wouldn't let you take the penalty, so I won't."

He used to smile like that too, back when he'd made me angry.

Like a puppy, obedient and harmless.

I like harmless things, so I'd go soft, raise my anger high and set it down light.

This time, I set it down for good.

"Let's go home."