《Agent 13 (Book 1)》22. Devin, a gunshot, a TV, and a fly
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I think the title of the chapter just about sums it up.
"Wow." I hear Devin say as I descend the stairs and into the kitchen where everyone is crowded around the counter eating breakfast.
"What?" Jason questions. Devin continues staring at him.
"I just realized how ugly you are."
Jason's out of his seat in a split second, but Devin's already gone, Jason running off after him. I roll my eyes.
"Is this a normal occurrence?" I ask Chase.
He almost grimaces as he nods. "You get use to it...sometimes."
"Devin's like an annoying little brother on drugs," Cody adds, taking a drink of his coffee.
He points at his cup. "Do you want any?" He asks.
I look at it in disgust. I open my mouth to make a comment when a cup of tea is placed in front of me. I turn to look up at Hayden.
"No Cody, and thanks Hayden," I say as I lift the cup to my lips.
"No problem figured you still weren't drinking coffee."
"Coffee is nasty," I reply to him. It's so much nicer when we're not constantly going at each other. I see Cody and Chase watching us out of the corner of my eye.
"Yeah whatever you say." He retorts with a smirk. Cody lets out a sound similar to a growl and gets up, departing from the kitchen. Chase watches him go.
"What's up with him?" I ask.
Chase shrugs. "Don't know."
"I do," Devin says in a sing-song voice, sly grin in on his face, but before he can say anything further, he's tackled to the floor by Jason. I raise an eyebrow at the two.
"Well, I'm going to do some research on my computer," I announce. I look up at Chase and point at Jason and Devin, "Call me down if this gets out of hand, and I'll finish it." I tell him. He just shakes his head slightly, and amused smile on his lips.
"Yeah ok," he replies. "Oh, and you left your book down here." He holds out the book Zack had taken from me.
"Thanks. "I take it from his hands and head up the stairs, going straight into Cody's room, luckily he's not in there.
I toss the book onto the couch and it bounces off, a small slip of paper falling out.
What?
I grab the paper and turn it over in my hands. I look at the neat writing on the back. I shake my head, trying hard to fight the smile tugging at my lips.
I punch the phone number into my phone and hold it up to my ear. He answers almost immediately.
"You don't give up easily do you?" I ask.
"Not when I know I'll win." Comes his cocky reply. I roll my eyes, even though he can't see me.
"Well you sound really sure of yourself." I tease him lightly.
"Well of course I am, I mean come on have you see me?"
"Yeah as I've said before, I've seen better," I state calmly.
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He scoffs, "There's no way you've seen better than all this."
"And how would you know that?"
"I just do." He says. "Hey, you want to come to a bonfire party with me tonight?"
"Hmm, teenagers, drinks, you...yeah not very appealing to me, I think I'll pass," I answer teasingly.
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Where in that entire sentence did you hear yes?" I inquire.
"Oh come on, everyone in town's invited, there's going to be a ton of people there. You can't make me go alone."
There's a long silence as I pretend to ponder going, even though I'm already going to say yes because I'm supposed to be getting close to this guy anyway.
"Well it would give me a chance to meet some new guys, that aren't, you know...you," I reply.
"I'll let that comment slide, where do you want me to pick you up?"
"Actually..." I pause as I peek into the hallway at Devin and Jason who are racing up the stairs, tripping each other the entire time, I roll my eyes. "I'll meet you there. I'm sure my cousin will want to come along with some of his buddies, so he can drive me."
The thought of my supposed cousin, Devin, driving comes to mind.
I'm going to have nightmares for the rest of my life.
"Alright fine." He answers, "It starts at seven, over by the main lake, don't be late."
"No promises, bye."
"Bye." I hang up quickly before he can add anything else.
A gun goes off followed quickly by the sounds of screams and shattering glass. My dagger is in my hand in less than a second.
"DEVIN!!!" I hear Hayden roar. I put the dagger back into my boot and make my way to the stairs and into the game room. I peek my head inside.
"Oops?" Devin holds his hands up in surrender.
"Are you asking me or telling me?" Hayden asks accusingly.
"Both," Devin replies with a straight face. Hayden takes a threatening step towards him. "Hey in my defense it looks better this way." I look over to where he's pointing, the TV now has a bullet hole in it and most of the front screen is shattered and on the floor.
"In what world does a TV look better with a bullet hole in it?"
"What were you aiming at?" I question as I step into the room. Devin still holding his gun in his hand. Jason, Chase, and Hayden all glaring at him. Where's Cody?
"The fly."
I stare at him in disbelief. "The fly? You pulled a gun on a fly?"
"It was a big fly."
I run a hand over my face and turn towards Jason. "Where's Cody?" I question, trying to change the subject.
Devin's swatting at the fly he clearly missed. I sigh.
Jason shrugs "I think he's in the gym, but I don't know for sure."
"Great thanks," I tell him and turn towards Devin, who's still swatting the fly. "And Devin," he looks up at me. I throw a knife, it lands in the wall behind him. "Next time, don't miss."
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"Oh shit." I hear Jason exclaim as he pulls the knife from the wall, the fly on the end.
"Remind me not to get on her bad side," Devin adds in as I exit the room and head towards the gym.
"You're already on her bad side." I hear Jason say. I enter the gym. Cody's punching the punching bag, back to me, as I walk in.
"What kind of an agent are you?" I question him as I walk towards him. Seriously what agent doesn't come running over at the sound of a gunshot, in their own house no less.
He doesn't answer.
"Seriously?" I mutter. "Cody? Are you freaking deaf?"
I reach my hand up and place it on his shoulder. He reacts immediately, his arm swings out full force knocking me to the ground. I land on my back, my head hitting the floor. I groan as I rub the back of my head, sitting up as I do so, a murderous glare on my face. He looks down at me shocked, removing the earbuds I hadn't noticed from his ears.
"Crap. I'm so sorry." He says, panic on his face. "Everyone but you knows not to come near me when I have my earphones in. Are you ok?" He holds his hands out for me to take.
My glare doesn't cease, nor soften, instead, my leg swings out, my foot hitting that one pressure point behind his knee causing him to come crashing to the floor next to me. He lets out a string of curse words.
"For a minute there I forgot what you're like. Had I remembered I wouldn't have even offered to help you up, I would've just gotten the hell out of here," he mutters.
"You're lucky I only kicked you," I growl as I get to my feet. "I should break your arm," I add quietly, but his glare tells me he heard me.
He gets to his feet. I turn to leave, he grabs hold of my arm, my fist swings out, he catches it before it can make contact with his face. I glare at him. He smirks at me.
"Why'd you come in here?" He asks, he uses his hands to lower my fists to my sides, restraining them there.
"I still have legs," I grumble.
He laughs. "Yeah I know, I'm hoping you're not going to kick me again." he releases my arms and I take a step back from him. "But you didn't answer my question."
"I came to figure out how on earth you didn't hear the gunshot." I point to his earbuds. "Now I know, so there's no point in me staying." I turn to leave. He stops me by moving between me and the door. I glare at him.
"What gunshot?" He asks slight panic and confusion on his face. I open my mouth to reply when Devin runs in.
"Thirteen. Chase took my gun can you get the spider for me?" He whines.
I shake my head in disbelief at him. "You do realize that you're like a hundred-thousand times bigger than a spider right?" I ask him at the same time Cody asks.
"Why do you need a gun for a spider?" Devin ignores him.
"Yeah but, it's creepy looking and-"
"And it's not my problem." I cut him off. He glares at me and runs out of the room. Muttering to himself about finding something else to kill the spider with.
"Do I even want to know?" Cody questions me.
I sigh. "No, not really," I reply. "All you need to know is I've been dealing with Devin, a gunshot, a TV, and a fly." He raises an eyebrow at me. I wave my hand at the punching bag. "Get back to punching."
"What if I don't want to?" He questions, taking a step towards me, I match it with one back.
"Then don't. I really don't care."
He takes another step towards me and I glare at him as I take another one back. My back hits the wall. Just freaking great. I turn to leave. He places his arms on the wall on either side of me.
"Cody," I say calmly. "Move aside."
"Now why would I do that?" He asks, a smug look on his face, his breath fanning over my face. I stare at him, neither of us backing down or removing our gazes from each other...until we hear the sound of something breaking.
"Devin," Cody mutters and turns and leaves the room quickly with me right behind him.
We walk into the game room where a broken plate lies on the floor. Devin holding two more, a spider crawling over the broken pieces. Devin throws another one at it.
Cody stalks up to him and grabs the third plate before he can throw that one too.
"What is your problem? Why can't you just walk up to it and step on it like a normal person?" Devin just shrugs in response, and innocent look plastered across his face.
"Devin," I call out to him, he looks over at me. "Like this," I say as I walk up and step on the spider that he still missed. He scowls at me.
"Come on we got a bonfire to plan for," I tell them.
"What?" Cody asks.
"Zack invited me to a bonfire, and I'm bringing all of you. We've got to make a plan." Cody's face darkens at the mention of Zack's name, and Devin nudges him, waggling his eyebrows with a devious look on his face. Cody glares back at him.
"What's up with you?" I question him.
"He's in-" Devin's cut off as Cody's fist goes into his stomach, causing him to double over and gasp for breath.
"You're an idiot," I say to Devin.
"An idiot's who's fifty dollars richer." Cody punches him again.
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