Adrian — 12
When I got my hands on that man I was going to…what? Strangle him? Kiss him? Fuck him? Yeah. That. All of those and more. I took Bishop’s advice and went to talk to Cody’s friend at the firehouse in Sulfur Springs. Tristan was only too happy to help where Cody was concerned.
Apparently, my comment last weekend about having a relaxing evening had led him to believe I’d gone out and found a hookup. If only he knew. No, I’d craved Cody so much I left my toy suctioned to the shower wall and ended my evenings with a session with it. Before I drove everyone crazy, I needed to make a move on Cody. The plan was to do that today, during paintball. I was going to show him I was young enough to keep up with him. That age was just a number and if he couldn’t finally see past it, I’d have to admit defeat before I drove myself mad.
But after his disappearing act, and the fact that he’d finally sent a two-word response to my messages from last night—I’m fine—it had me wanting to take no mercy. I wanted him and I could tell he was interested but was holding back. I needed to find out why, and I needed a plan. The first part of Operation Win Cody started now.
Little did Cody know, Bishop and I both were excellent marksmen—it came with the job or we’d get dead—and we both loved a good round of paintball.
Thanks to my insider information from Tristan, Hawke, Walker, and Trace, I knew Cody’s helmet was lime green, so that was my target. Only, I was planning on teaming up with him and helping him, Tristan, and Hawke take down the other firefighters. Bishop and I were looking forward to this probably more than the others.
“Adrian? You about ready?” Bishop called out as he came through my front door. We were taking his SUV because it was less likely Cody would recognize it.
“Yeah, let me grab my bag,” I called back as I picked it up off the floor on my way out of the office.
“So, you ready for today?”
“Fuck yes. I need to know if there’s a chance or not. If not, I’m seriously considering a transfer.” The look on Bishop’s face let me know he wasn’t expecting that.
“But you just had your sister come here. I thought you liked it here?”
“I do. But I’m not sure if I’ll be able to see Cody around town with someone else. I know it’s insane, but I can’t shake him. The desire to be with him is really strong. I can’t explain it.”
“No, I get it. I honestly do. Well, before you put in transfer papers, can we at least see if he tells you no? I mean, you haven’t even really pursued him yet, have you?”
“Not really. But that’s changing as of today.”
“Good. Let’s go. The sooner you get suited up and find your target, the sooner we can go on the offensive and show those firefighters what they’re up against.”
I nodded, more than ready to see Cody again. It’d been difficult to stay away this week and even more so to pull way back on the messages. Now that the bait was set, it was time to see about setting the hook.
I followed Bishop out to his SUV and tossed my bag in the back with his before I climbed into the passenger’s seat. He already had the SUV running, so we were driving away from the house in no time. We knew the rest of the group were scheduled to arrive at nine, so we planned to be there by a quarter till, allowing us time to get into our gear so Cody wouldn’t see us.
“You nervous?”
I looked over at my partner and wondered why he’d ask such a question. My confusion must have been apparent because he elaborated for me without having to ask.
“You’re seeing him after…what…a week?”
“Yeah, and?”
“I don’t know. You said he seemed like he was more interested once you pulled back a bit. So I was curious if you were nervous to see how he responds when he discovers it’s you that helped him take on the firefighters.”
“Oh. Honestly, I haven’t given it too much thought. I just hope he doesn’t turn on me because he’s pissed.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“Nope. I’m just going to wing it. If he seems happy about me being there, I’ll go with it. If he’s pissed, I’m going to back off and probably ask for an out-of-town assignment or something. I don’t know. I’ve never run from a challenge before. But with Cody…things are just…different. I think about him all the time, Bishop. All. The. Time. It’s like I’m a teenager with my first crush all over again.” I ran my hand through my short hair, giving it a tug to try and make some sense of things. It didn’t work; it never did.
“Holy shit!”
I drew my gaze back to Bishop, who had a shocked look on his face.
“You’re serious. Like, you’re really crazy about him.”
That made me sigh, but it was true, and I hadn’t even so much as touched the guy. Ever. No fingers brushing against each other, no holding hands, no hugs, nothing. But what I did have was several weeks of getting to know Cody. Both through text and phone calls.
“Yeah, I am. Which doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, but there’s just something about him.”
“No, it makes perfect sense.” Bishop had a far-off look on his face, and that made me wonder again. He’d been…different…lately.
We pulled in to Paint the Town’s parking lot, and after parking in the corner, we grabbed our gear and headed to the entrance. Once we paid our fee, we went to the lockers and quickly geared up. We loaded our markers, making sure we had spare paintballs before we locked our bags in a locker.
“You ready?”
“Yeah. But now I’m getting nervous. It seems like make-it-or-break-it time.”
“Naw. If what you’ve said is true, I’d say he’s interested and you’re about to find out. Come on, they should be here any minute.”
I nodded and we both lowered our masks and headed out onto the course. Thankfully, our masks were full face and tinted. Cody wouldn’t be able to tell it was us, unless he recognized me by my size, which was possible. Although, most people did look bigger with their protective gear on, so maybe he wouldn’t notice?
“Look,” Bishop said as he gestured to the entrance. There they were. After a week, there he was. He looked different. He was happy to be there, but his smile wasn’t reaching his eyes, and that had me wondering if there was anything wrong.
I followed Bishop to the course entrance and walked through as the rest of the group geared up at the lockers. We were going to intercept them a few obstacles in, hoping things went as planned.
Once we were in position, we simply sat and waited. It wouldn’t be too difficult to hear them coming; there were eight of them, and Hawke and Tristan had agreed to make plenty of noise. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the sound of high-pitched squealing followed by matching laughter could be heard, and we knew that was our cue.
We rounded the corner just in time to be met by who we knew would be Tristan, Hawke, and Cody. They were trying to get away from the other five as quickly as they could but couldn’t seem to get the upper hand. Since Bishop and I both had training that was quite useful, we came to their defense—all planned—and it was on.
I laughed, I ducked, I grabbed Hawke and pulled him out of the way just before he would have been pummeled with paint. We formed a tight group and moved through the course, making sure to take hits at the firefighters as often as we could. Almost an hour later, the firefighters were closing in quickly, and Cody and I had conveniently gotten separated from the others…imagine that.
“Watch out!” I said as I pulled him behind me before diving for cover behind a wall.
“Adrian?”
Shit. I’d done so well, too.
“Yeah?”
“No fuckin’ way. You’re the one who’s been taking on Walker and Trace with us?”
I stared at Cody, who had lifted his mask and was looking at me with what I could only describe as shock.
“What’s wrong?”
“You play paintball?”
“Well, yeah. It’s fun as hell. Especially when I get to shoot Bishop in the ass. But today we had other things to do. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Whaaa? No. I’m fine. I just—”
“Hey, you two, we could use some help!”
I smirked at Cody before replacing my mask and running back into the battle. This was fun. This was enjoyable, and I couldn’t wait to do it again. Hopefully I could get Cody to come back out with me and Bishop. We loved to take on some of the other guys at work. It helped keep our reflexes sharp, and it was always fun to pummel the assholes with paint.
I located the other three, and once Cody caught up, we were five against five again. We strategized our final push and moved out. It was all markers blazing, and in the end, we were victorious with very minimal hits. The other guys, they looked like they’d…well, been through a paintball battle and lost.
When they admitted defeat, we all gathered, and when the masks came off, there were some surprises, but mostly laughs.
“No way? Deputy Fisher?”
I smiled at Trace, who seemed genuinely surprised to see me. Damn, I thought he knew? Or was he a really good actor? The wink I got from Hawke told me it was the latter.
“Yeah, but please, call me Adrian. Bishop and I love it out here. It helps keep us on our toes.”
“Shit, you know this guy?” a man that had an exact copy of himself right next to him asked.
“Sort of, Raymond. Let’s say I know of him but haven’t ever had the pleasure of meeting him before now,” Trace said.
“Hey, listen, we’re all going back to our place for a cookout. Would you two like to join us? It’s a great way to unwind after a paintball battle,” Walker asked as he slung his arm around Tristan’s shoulders and pulled him into his side. This was part of the plan all along and hopefully Cody wouldn’t balk at the suggestion. I glanced at Bishop, who shrugged. Damn, these guys were great at acting.
“We don’t want to impose. I feel we already did enough by jumping in and attacking like we did,” I replied as I swung a covert glance in Cody’s direction.
“No, you two should come. I’d like to hang out and catch up,” Cody said as he placed a gloved hand on my arm. Score a point for me!
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” When I looked into Cody’s eyes, something had changed. And that gave me a lot of hope.
“Then if it’s not an imposition, we’d love to join you guys. Should we stop and bring anything?” I asked the group in general.
“Unless you have a specific food you want, no. Everything’s already waiting for us at the house. Let me give you directions. We live closer to Crooked Bend though,” Walker told us.
“Not a problem. We know the entire county pretty well,” Bishop replied. We left the course, and after stopping at our lockers and stripping off our gear, we all left. Bishop and I were headed to my place to shower and change, but we’d used the excuse of picking up beer as our reasoning.
“How long do we have?” Bishop asked as we entered my cabin after arriving. I glanced at my phone to read the messages I’d received while we were driving.
“The message says everyone is going home to shower and they’ll meet around noon. So we have a little over an hour. Why?”
“I was just curious. Should we stop and get something? I feel bad about showing up without some sort of contribution.”
“We don’t have to. I have the fruit salad in the fridge I planned to take, and we can easily say we threw it together last minute. Why don’t you use the hallway bathroom, and I’ll head to mine.”
“Aww, and here I was thinking you’d finally invite me into your room.” I could tell Bishop was joking simply because neither had any type of feelings for each other. But not only that, he couldn’t keep a straight face.
“Yeah, never gonna happen. Go shower so we can go.”
“Wow, aren’t you grouchy. I’m going. Don’t want you to lose your chance with Cody.”
I growled a little, and Bishop laughed as he left. He knew exactly where the bathroom was; he’d stayed over more than once when we were working on cases well into the night.
I quickly strode to my bedroom, and after locking the door, stripped down for my own shower. It was the end of July and it was hot outside, even early in the morning, and rinsing off the sweat was going to feel good.
I was through the shower and dressed in no time, but Bishop was faster. He was on the couch, waiting for me. Whatever he was reading on his phone had his full attention because I’d made it almost directly in front of him before he looked up.
“Something good?”
“Possibly. Time will tell. You ready?” Bishop got up from the couch and started walking toward the front door.
“Yeah, let me grab the fruit salad.” I walked off, trying to figure out what could have possibly changed Cody’s mind this week. “Okay. I think I’m ready,” I told him as I walked out of the kitchen area with the bowl of mixed fruit. Bishop left through the front door, and after I locked it behind him, I went out the garage door to my own SUV. I had a certain brown-eyed pastry chef to see, and I wasn’t going to be late.