Page 40 of Raise 'Em Up

“Relax.” Colton sighs. “You spent the whole day with her. And last night. And the fucking night before that.”

Donny just shrugs and grins. “Someone's a little green, aren't we? I didn’t see you complaining when she was trapped between the two of us the other night.”

Alex is right. These guys have the advantage of being with her all of the time. I don’t feel guilty about having her to myself for the day. And if they have any issues with it, I will say something. They are lucky to even still have Rylee after all the bullshit they put her through.

“Ready to go?” I ask Rylee, my eyes slowly trailing down her body.

She looks cute today. Her hair is up in space buns with two strands in the front that framing her face. She’s wearing a white crop-top with a black bra showing under it, and high-waisted jeans.

“Yup,” she says before she walks over to Colton. She gives him a kiss and then grabs his zip-up hoodie, yanking it off his body. He chuckles, looking at her in mild shock as she slips it on.

“Thanks, baby.” She blows him a kiss before making her way around to say goodbye to the others. “Let’s go.” She grabs my hand and yanks me toward the front door.

“Are we walking or driving?” she asks me.

“Driving,” I tell her. “But my car is over by my dorm.”

We walk there, grabbing a coffee on the way.

I take her to the pier and we spend the whole day riding the Ferris wheel, driving bumper cars, playing carnival games and anything else her heart desired. By the end of the day, Rylee has an arm full of teddy bears, and both of our stomachs are cramping from laughing so hard.

“Today was amazing.” The smile on her face makes my whole damn heart light up. “Thank you.” She looks at the strip of silly photos we did at the booth and hands me one.

“We’re not done yet,” I tell her. “There’s one more place I wanted to take you.”

“Oh, really?” she asks, raising her eyebrows. “Alright, I’m down for some more fun.”

We drop the stuff off in my car and walk down the street. “What's this?” she asks when we stop in front of a building.

“Well, you remember that time you watched me and Alex play Zombies, and you said it would be cool to be in a video game like that, like the VR videos you told us about?”

“Yes.” She looks over at the building and reads the name above the door. Seaside VR. “Oh, my God!” Her eyes dart back over to me, wide with excitement. “No fucking way!”

I grin. “Come on.” I grab her hand and bring her inside.

Ten minutes later, we’re suited up head to toe in the gear, then they put us into a white room with a square on the ground.

“Alright. Remember not to go outside of the square. And keep an eye on your partner, if one of you dies, you'll need the other to revive you.”

“This is so exciting!” Rylee squeals and I chuckle.

We looked through the different games we could play, but picked the zombie one, like Rylee originally wanted.

The game starts up, and it’s like we’re really in a whole other world. “Holy shit,” I say. “This really is amazing.”

“Right! Come on, baby, let’s kill some zombies!”

For the next twenty minutes, we are in full-on game mode. It’s a lot of work, but it’s exciting and fun. What makes it even better is the way Rylee screams, laughs, and trash talks every time she gets a kill.

“Holy motherfucker,” Rylee says as we both look up at the big boss of the game. He’s big, like over ten-feet-tall. “Okay, babe, we gotta work together to bring this fucker down!” she shouts and I laugh.

I love her so damn much, she will never know just how much.

“Alright, baby, we’ve got this!” I say back, encouragingly.

The boss comes for us, and we both start shooting. We die a few times, but we keep going. Rylee is getting more pissed that the fucker won't die, and starts getting aggressive with her trash talk. It’s taking everything in me not to laugh.

“Fuck yeah, you dirtbag. Die, fucker, die!” Rylee cheers when we finally beat the boss.

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