Just as his head dipped and my lips were about to press to his. I turned away and pressed a kiss to his cheek A low growl rumbled in his chest and I didn’t bother hiding my smirk as my heels hit the concrete. I started to drop my arms from his neck when his thumb and index fingered gripped my chin and forced me back. He dipped his head lower and kissed me. He kissed me like he was thirsty and I was the only thing that could quench his thirst. He moaned as I gave him access and he deepened the kiss. When we separated I took a step back but he wouldn’t let me go. His hand intertwined with mine and my breath caught in my throat.
“So?” He asked.
“What?”
“Are you still a good shot, Ady?”
“Why don’t you wait and see who leaves here with their tail tucked between their legs?” I whispered.
“Ooh,” Shane teased.
He led me into the arcade. We started with a shooting game, before I could grab the red gun, Shane swiped it up.
“This is my lucky color,” He said as he handed me the blue one.
“What a gentleman,” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t need luck,” I said as I stuck my tongue out at him.
I was right of course. I won and he shrugged his shoulders like it didn’t mean anything. He swore on the Moon Goddess that he let me win. As if I believed that for a second. I wanted to laugh. Right, that’s why he had to have the red gun.
I swear, it didn’t matter how old men get, they will always be children when it comes to games. We moved on to a claw game. I sucked at these games, it was rigged. The animal was always too heavy to be picked up. It didn’t even lift an inch off the floor.
I refused to play it and Shane smirked at me as he pretended to roll up his sleeve. After two tries, he won me a baby wolf. I tried not to look at him in shock but dammit that’s what I was.
He puffed out his chest and looked so proud about the little black puff ball of fur. It had a patch of white around its eye and I had to admit it was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I was determined to win him something too, not from a claw machine but from another game.
Luckily enough for me, the next game we came across was a target shooting game. If you could hit them all before the timer went off, you could pick whatever stuffed animal or toy you wanted. I picked up the rifle, I had great aim and shot everything. When it came time to pick out a toy, I picked a small kitten. I told him it matched his personality and he scoffed. He pretended he didn’t like it but I didn’t miss the way his fingers wrapped around it.
“It’s true, it’s cute and tiny.”
“Oh baby, we both know I’m anything but tiny,” he growled into my ear.
I couldn’t hold back the laugh and I found that I didn’t want to. Shane was getting under my skin and I was having such a good time with him. It felt amazing to be able to just have fun. He carried the small pink kitten in his jean pants pocket.
We spent hours playing the games until Shane led me by the hand outside. There was an outside area now. When we were little it had only been indoors. Now, there were go-carts, water boats where you shoot the other players with water, and a mini-golf area but if you wanted them to glow you would have to come back at night or stay out here until then.
There was also a large trampoline with a swing that took you up at least thirty to forty feet in the air. It was a hard pass for me. I choose life. My feet needed to be firmly on the ground. Nothing Shane said could get me to go on it.
We attacked the go-carts first, it wasn’t packed but there were a few other people playing. I chose the black one and I looked up at him as he stopped beside me. He buckled me in before going over to a red one. I wanted to roll my eyes at his superstition but couldn’t stop watching him. A bright green light splashed across the carts before he could buckle and I laughed.
Without a second thought, I stomped on the gas and my cart flew forward as I left him in the dust. We went three laps and I felt victorious when I crossed the finish line first. For once, it felt amazing being able to do something so easy, so fun without the weight of responsibility or my thoughts holding me back. It was selfish but I couldn’t find it in me to care.
I followed him and he helped me gear up for laser tag. I was bouncing with excitement when we were paired on different teams. I was going to shoot him. I found the perfect hiding sot underneath a castle block.
I shot him over and over again and laughed when he couldn’t find me. By the time he knew where I was, the game was over and I had collected the most points. He called me a camper and I called him a sore loser. He crawled beneath the castle and tickled me until I almost peed myself.
The asshole helped me to my feet and kissed my nose before he draped an arm around my shoulders. We walked out of the black room and the smile on my face wasn’t fake. Before I could think too much about it, Shane led me to the basketball games that stood side by side. He challenged me to one round that turned into more than ten. We were evenly matched and we played so many “best out of three” that I lost count.