His eyebrows shot up as he zeroed in on Jim and then looked back at me. “Didn’t Malachi say you two had plans?”

“Uh …”

“Those plans changed,” said Jim, throwing his arm around my shoulders and yanking me close.

I elbowed him in the side before I could stop myself, and he grunted and stepped away as Levi, Greg, and Aden guffawed. Ian, who appeared to be the only sober one among them, stepped forward like he thought I needed protecting, so I tried to smile. “I’m catching up with Malachi later,” I said.

Aden was laughing so hard that he could barely stand up straight. “You’re a busy girl,” he said, but barely got the words out before Ian shoved him. He lost his balance and staggered into a mailbox, which he draped himself over, still chuckling.

“Sorry about that,” Ian said. “He’s an idiot, obviously.”

“What are you guys doing out here?” I asked, eyeing the paintball gun.

Greg held up another weapon, one I sincerely hoped fired pellets or paintballs and not bullets. “We’re hunting the Animal Guy!”

“Huh,” said Jim. “So are we.”

Ian’s eyes grew wide. “You are?”

“He’s just kidding,” I snapped, wanting to punch Jim in the throat. “We’re visiting some of my friends in the neighborhood.”

Aden raised his head from the mailbox. “In this neighborhood? What are they, Kings or MS-13? Come on, Lela. You can tell us.” He rested his head on his arms and continued to giggle.

“Are you serious?” groaned Ian. “Dude. Shut. Up.”

I let out a slow breath through my nose. “You guys really think you’re going to find one of those Animal Guys around here?”

Ian rolled his eyes, but the others nodded.

“And you’re going to … what? Bring it down with a paintball gun?”

While the other three shouted things like “Fuck, yeah,” Ian dropped his face into his hands, his fingers tugging the front of his beanie down like he wanted to hide inside it.

“Listen,” I said to Ian. “Aden’s right about one thing: this isn’t a great area if you don’t know it well, and right now you guys are drawing a lot of attention to yourselves. The cops are out looking for vigilantes, too, so maybe you could go hunt somewhere else. Like back in Warwick.”

His hands fell away from his face. “She’s right, guys. This was a dumb idea. Come on. Car’s this way.” He grabbed the back of Aden’s coat and hauled him off the mailbox. As he herded his drunk friends back toward the corner, he looked over his shoulder at me. “Are you going to be okay?” His gaze flicked to Jim.

I forced myself to step closer to my Guard partner. “Yeah, totally. See you on Monday.”

He sighed. “See you.”