“Has he gone soft on us?” Nate watched Cal walk away.

“I think he’s always been soft, but they forced him to be strong and emotionless growing up.” As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I realized that this may be all three of us.

“I think we all have had to be strong and emotionless.” Nate said exactly what I was thinking, as he put the backpacks away in our front closet.

I nodded, feeling our bond slowly fixing itself. The past two weeks have felt so out of whack that we lost that weird connection we shared. We needed to do something together, and I knew exactly what we needed. I walked to the kitchen.

“I think we are overdue for some fun, let’s go paintballing,” I said, sitting on the island.

“Fuck yes!” Nate yelled.

Cal leaned over and smirked. “I think some of Lucio’s boys like to play on Saturday.”

“Oh, then we are definitely playing and kicking some ass. Let’s go get changed and hurt them the only way we can.” I knew it wasn’t what we wanted, but maybe a few rounds of shooting the shit out of them would be fun.

* * *

The guys and I had a great couple of days together. We kicked ass in paintball, went out for some beers, and watched sports on Sunday. It finally felt like we were getting back to normal and it lifted our mood. On Monday, Cal and I left the workers at the Calhoun’s, to pick up the packages that Jane’s brother had sent. Good thing both of us went because it was two massive boxes with a few smaller packages. There was no way in hell Jane could have even put them in her small SUV. Once we loaded up, Cal called her. It wasn’t shocking she didn’t answer, so he shot her a text in our group message she made.

Hey Beautiful, we have several packages for you.

I hope this isn’t a cheesy way to get me back into bed. If it is, then it’s 0/10. Jane replied, and I laughed, surprised she texted back. Fuck, I missed her.

Damn Cal, I’m not ready to leave yet. Sorry sweetheart, you’re going to have to wait for one more package ;), Nate texted.

Jane, don’t be fooled. Nate’s package is more like a small parcel. I texted.

It was silent for at least ten minutes. Cal and I headed back, worried this plan of ours would not work. My phone vibrated on the dashboard, and I waited for Cal to see what she had sent. He texted back furiously for a few minutes, but I couldn’t wait anymore.

“Are you going to tell me what you guys are talking about, or am I going to have to guess?” I chuckled.