Page 450 of Flirting with Darkness

“It helped to see him high-five Ezio on the way in,” I admitted. Knowing Ezio was there to watch over him made me feel more at ease and it gave me that bit of levity I needed to keep from crying.

“I blubbered like a baby when Deryn started school,” Dan admitted. “Katar teased me for a week about it.”

“He was inconsolable. The only thing that worked was to make him angry,” Katar explained. “And give him sweets.”

“I think I gained ten pounds that week eating my feelings,” Dan added.

I laughed and shook my head at the men who were like fathers to me. “Glad I wasn’t that bad.”

“Did Fox cry?” Emrys asked.

“No!” Fox shouted.

“He was about to, but then he brought up mimosas to distract himself,” Nico said then took a big drink of his.

“Doesn’t look like you’re complaining now,” Fox shot back.

They bickered halfheartedly and I found myself smiling, truly smiling, for the first time in a week.

The waiter brought out the drinks and the table got quiet as everyone enjoyed the beverages.

“What are your plans for the rest of the day, since you all took it off as a vacation day?” Emrys asked.

“Games!” I shouted. “It’s been a long time since all of us had time together to play video games.”

I’d used to spend hours each day playing video games, but life had gotten hectic, drastically reducing the amount of gameplay I had available. The guys loved playing as well and we tried to play cooperative games together when we could.

“Sounds like you’ll have a great day. Just make sure you set an alarm so you don’t forget to pick up Caleb,” Katar said.

“Oh, good idea,” Fox said and pulled out his phone. “Knowing us, we’d get so involved in a raid or something that we would totally lose track of time, and poor Caleb would be left at school.”

“There are plenty of people there who would bring him home,” Emrys said.

“I could pick him up,” Dan offered.

“No, we’ve got it,” Deryn said. “I know Jolie’s going to want that big hug when he comes out of the school building.”

He knew me too well.

“We should grab frozen pizzas from the store to have for lunch so we have more time to play, too,” I suggested.

“Frozen pizza?” Dan asked. “You do remember I run a pizza shop, right?”

“Yeah, but frozen pizza with a beer while playing video games is like a requirement,” Fox argued.

“It doesn’thaveto be frozen,” Deryn countered. “But it does make the experience better.”

“You kids are weird,” Dan said and shook his head.

“Maybe you’d like to see it for yourself,” I offered. “Why don’t you three come play games with us?”

“They don’t play video games,” Deryn said and scoffed.

“That sounds great,” Emrys said. “I’ve always wanted to try that racing one where you throw shells and banana peels.”

“You…want to play video games with us?” Rhys asked his father, stunned.

Emrys nodded. “If you don’t mind.”

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