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didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to cause her anymore pain and suffering.

For this however, he would leave no one unscathed.

"Literally fucking stop you douchetard!" Reese yelled at him. "Fuck off stop it hurts I'm dying oh my god I'm actually dying. Dude Tiana it's not a joke run for your goddamn life!"

Maddox spared a quick look at Tiana who seemed done with Reese's childish antics. Walking a little closer towards Reese, she kicked his leg with her foot. "Get the hell up you bozo. You still have one life left."

From somewhere near, the three musketeers could hear their fourth musketeer cackling in the background. Maddox's head shot up as he attempted to zero in on her witch-like laugh. "Where the hell are you Evelyn you sound fucking terrifying."

Her laugh grew louder as it did closer and before anyone could process what was happening Evelyn peeped out from behind Maddox before launching her body onto his.

"Attack!"

As the words left her mouth, Tiana launched into motion as she shot Maddox straight in the abdomen before sprinting off in the opposite direction. Realizing that she had just gotten Maddox down to one life like the rest of them, Tiana dropped her gun in shock before a smile bloomed across her face.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! I got him Evelyn babe I got him! Fuck yes!" she screamed as she danced around a fallen Reese in a circle.

"We fucking did it, like Bruce Lee hit it," Tiana started chanting as she shook her hips side to side. "Mmff oh yeah mmfff yeah yeah yeah fuck that I'm a goddamn bo—"

Her chanting came to a halt as she tragically stared at the vest around her go red. Dropping her hands by her side, she slowly lifted her head to see Reese with his gun out and pointing towards her with a fallen paintball laying beside her body.

Evelyn muffled a laugh as Tiana came to the realization that she no longer was the boss, and in reality, was the first one out with no lives left.

Tiana stared at Reese with rage behind her usually calm and collected personality before she chucked her gun at him. "Fuck you Reese! God you fucking suck!"

Reese dodged the gun as a smirk overtook his expression. "Whoops," he calmly stared as he shrugged his shoulders.

Tiana turned her head away from Reese deciding that she would ignore him and instead focused her attention on the pocket-size girl still on Maddox's back. She narrowed her eyes at Evelyn.

"Avenge me," she spoke with determination behind her eyes.

It was clear that these four idiots took Paintball very seriously.

"Maybe if you weren't so caught up in your tiny insignificant role of hitting me, you would still be in the game," Maddox teased Tiana.

Elbowing him in the ribs was Evelyn's quiet yet aggressive way of telling Maddox to shut the fuck up. He winced in pain as he not-so-subtly made the move of shifting away from Evelyn.

"Violent," he murmured softly to himself.

"We established that long ago," she hit back with a sweet yet deadly smile. It irked him.

"You terrify me," he shot back.

She lazily cocked her head to one side and winked at him. "Glad to know you feel that way. It means I hold all the power in this friendship."

"Stop flirting in front of us," Reese exclaimed from somewhere outside Evelyn and his little bubble.

He rolled his eyes at his annoying best friend deciding not to react.

"Let's just get back to the game," Maddox responded.

"Let's just get back to the game," Reese said mimicking him before sticking his tongue out at Maddox.

"Such children," Tiana muttered to Evelyn.

"Says the bitch who danced around in little circles screaming about how she shot Maddox," Reese piped up.

"I will fucking fight you I am not afraid," she seethed towards him.

Deciding not to take her anger for granted, Reese put his hands up in surrender whilst Maddox tried to smother his laugh from behind.

Tiana turned towards Evelyn with a puppy dog expression. "Avenge me."

Evelyn laughed. "I'll do my best."

balanced the popcorn and remote in her hand as she made her way towards the living room.

"Not gonna lie those paintballs hurt like a bitch," Maddox groaned from the couch he had slouched himself onto.

Evelyn chuckled as she walked closer and saw him taking up the entire couch. "Tell me about it I mean jeez can't wait to see what an actual bullet feels like."

Without missing a beat Maddox responded, "Oh that feels like a lot more shit."

Evelyn paused as she registered his words. Looking over at him with concern she spoke, "You were shot?"

"Yeah," he sighed softly, "it was bad. One moment I was this kid just having some fun and the next thing you know there's the sound of a bullet coming straight at me."

Her lip quivered in pain for Maddox and she quietly got up from her place on the couch beside his and plopped herself down on his stomach.

"I'm sorry," she whispered wanting to use her warmth to comfort him. "Sounds like it really affected you."

He took a deep breath as if he was just reliving the moment and needed to be snapped out. He watched Evelyn's concerned expression as she cupped his jaw to look at him. The more he looked at her the more he couldn't hold his laugh in and soon he was shaking from beneath her as his laughter rang through the house.

"What?" she questioned in panic thinking maybe the reminiscing of the event made him hysterical.

"Reese accidentally shot me when we went to a shooting range three years back. It was the fucking funniest thing to happen in a while," he managed to spit out in between laughs.

Evelyn stared at him for a second, then a few more seconds, then a minute.

Grabbing a pillow nearby, she slammed it into Maddox's face. "Asshole! You had me thinking it was something tragic, like it changed your life forever!" she screamed at his pathetic self, "You had me so worried you goddamn asshole!"

He laughed harder at her reaction and grabbed onto her arm pulling her down so her body was splayed across his. She couldn't helped as a laugh left her before joining Maddox in his miserable laughter.

"You suck," she chuckled.

"Eh you love it," he said with a shrug as he calmed down.

"Whatever," she scoffed as she played with his incredibly soft hair.

They stayed quiet for a while and Maddox closed his eyes loving the feel of Evelyn's hand's combing through his hair. That feeling could lull anybody to sleep.

While he relaxed into the couch enjoying her hands in his hair, she was fascinated by the softness to it. After a little while she couldn't help herself from interrupting his little nap.

"So what shampoo do you use? And conditioner," she whispered quietly in his ear.

He groaned at the noise and pushed her face away with his hands. She crinkled her nose at the gesture before choosing to further annoy him.

"Is it like a product with papaya extract? Or coconut?" she asked with humor lacing her voice.

Knowing she wouldn't give up until he answered her question, he sighed as the exhaustion settled upon him. "It's not a shampoo. It's a hair mask," he mumbled quietly hoping she wouldn't hear his confession.

"A hair mask?" she repeated wanting to see if she heard him right. He nodded his head and the blush on his cheeks was evident.

She giggled. "Aw tough boxer Maddox Lohan uses a hair mask." she said teasing him as she squished his cheeks with her hands. Swatting her hands away from his face, he placed them back on his hair signaling for her to keep massaging his scalp.

"Hey at least my hair's soft and pretty," he responded groggily.

"What hair mask is it?"

He didn't want to tell her the truth though. "Just a hair mask," he said.

After that he chose not to say anything more hoping Evelyn would stop asking.

"Maddox."

"Maddox."

"Maddoxxxxxxx."

"Maddoxxxxxxxxxxx."

"What?" he snapped in annoyance. Opening his eyes he stared Evelyn down with frustration in his eyes.

She giggled again. "Tell me what hair mask you use!"

She smiled sweetly at him and he rolled his eyes. "You won't stop until I tell you will you?" he grumbled.

She shook her head in answer.

"I—I mak—- I make it," he mumbled quietly praying she'd leave him alone now.

She paused her massaging of his scalp. She lifted her head up a little to look at him a little better. Raising an eyebrow, she mouthed the words he has just said.

"You make it?"

"Yes," he groaned from underneath her, "Now leave me alone and massage my scalp."

She let out a quiet laugh at his childish response before going back to do what she was doing before, "So you'll make me some too then? I want soft hair too."

He nodded his head while his eyes remained closed and she took that as her answer. Watching him try to sleep and being a grumpy pants was entertaining for her but the fatigue had taken over her too.

"Ok night night," she whispered softly knowing he couldn't hear a thing she said since he was knocked out like a light.

"I love you," she quickly spoke as she kissed his nose before cuddling more into his body. It was uncomfortable being on a couch that was humongous and could most definitely hold two people comfortably. However Maddox was splayed out across the couch giving her little room for her body. She was laying uncomfortably on his body, but dealt with it. Whatever.

As if he knew she wanted to be more comfortable, he wrapped his arms around her as he turned them both so she was now in his embrace and also on the couch, not just on him. She smiled contently as she snuggled closer to him.

"Night night," he whispered back tightening his embrace.

She wished he had said the second part as well, but decided that just her saying it would be enough for now. He'd have to learn to love her again, to trust her again. She'd wait however long it takes.

Because sometimes it just takes a while.

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