“Come and see,” Gray said, holding out his hand.
He led me to the living room where a full-sized Pac-Man Arcade Machine sat in the corner. I blinked, wondering if I was hallucinating.
“What? How?” I looked between Gray and Liam, who were watching me anxiously.
“We know things have seriously been lacking in the fun department,” Gray said. “So Liam spoke to his uncle and connected us to an arcade supplier here in Sol.”
“I couldn’t have pulled it off without Gray,” Liam said. “We had issues with the delivery truck, but we finally got it sorted. It has tons of games loaded on it, not just Pac-Man, but Cillian said this was always your favorite.”
My heart was ready to fucking burst. The Pac-Man machine was incredible, and I was already itching to play, but seeing my two alphas work together on something like this was the greatest gift in the world.
“Thank you,” I said with a sniff. I wasnotgoing to cry over how sweet this was.
Gray and Liam enveloped me in a hug.
“You deserve a break, sweetheart,” Liam said. “And we wanted to see the famous Shortcake Demon in action.”
I sniffed again.
We stayed there for a long moment, wrapped up in each other, before pulling away. Gray wiped a tear from my cheek. “Show us what you’ve got, princess.”
“Take that turn, no, that turn!”Henry shouted from his spot beside me. “Fuck!”
The ghosts swarmed and I died, the machine making a sad sound at my defeat.
“Almost got a top score that time,” Henry said, practically giddy. I wasn’t sure which of us liked the machine more.
“I know I can do better. This isn’t close to the scores I had at Cillian’s arcade, but I’m out of practice.”
“Alright, kitten, time to stop,” Liam said before I could start a new game.
“What?” I looked up at him, confused.
“You’ve played long enough. It’s time for a break.”
“No,” I said, a hint of a whine in my tone. “I want to keep going.”
Liam pried my hand off the joystick and I found it was stiff, almost like it was stuck in a claw position.
“I’m fine,” I said, pulling my hand back.
“You’ll develop carpal tunnel,” he said sternly.
“No, I won’t,” I argued. “You’re being a worrywart.”
“You’re still stopping for the day.”
“The day?” I asked, outraged. “No, why don’t I just take a break and then?—”
Gray appeared at my other side, scooping me up from the chair. “It’s eight o’clock, and you still haven’t eaten dinner. Say goodbye to Pac-Man.”
I jutted my lip out in a pout and blinked quickly to force my eyes to water. Gray’s expression turned horrified as tears started trickling down my cheeks. He looked at Liam, who looked just as freaked out.
“Well, do something!” Liam shouted.
“Like what?” Gray looked around as if an answer was going to fall out of the sky.
I couldn’t hold back my laughter.
