Austyn smiles up at me.
“Descendants 2!” Mazie says excitedly. “It’s just started. Ryker, come sit with us!”
“I don’t think so.” The singing and dancing on the screen is officially freaking me the fuck out.
Austyn grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze, but it’s Mazie who talks.
“It’s awesome. It has pirates and kings! You have to! Plllleaaasse!”
I move to the front of the couch and sit next to Austyn, pulling her to me. “I can’t say no to a pretty girl.”
Mazie beams while Austyn elbows me in the ribs. On an oomph, a chuckle leaves me.
“What?”
“You’d better be saying no to all the girls, mister.”
She sets me on fire.
I lean down to her ear. “You’re all I want and all I need, beautiful.”
“Hello! The movie is on!” Mazie says, bouncing up on the couch and trying to get our attention.
After placing a small peck on Austyn’s lips, I say, “Alright, tell me what this is about.”
Mazie doesn’t answer, already too enthralled in the movie.
There’s a cauldron, apples, and four kids singing about being wicked, then dancing all over a school. Lord help me if this is what this whole thing is about.
Two hours later, the movie spins in my head like a bad dream. Holy fuck. I lost count the number of songs they sang and danced, but fuck, it was a lot. Little purple-haired girl thought she was badass. Then the pirate girl … fuck, she was some octopus or something. Hell, if I know. I would much rather get shot in every limb of my body than watch that movie again.
There’s one part in it, though, that got me. So much so Austyn saw it during the moving yet said nothing.
“Wasn’t it great?” Mazie says with an amazement I won’t dare squash.
Standing up from the couch, I stretch out my arms, my shirt rising just a bit. “It was interesting.”
“I know! I just love it. I’ve watched it so many times, and I’m trying to learn all the words to the songs. Oh, and the dances!
That would be so cool!” Mazie leans over to Austyn. “Thank you for watching it with me. Dad says, if he has to watch it again, he’s going to bleach his eyeballs.”
This makes me laugh. That totally sounds like something Rhys would say.
“Anytime, but we’ve gotta get goin’ now.”
Austyn rises from the couch just as two little arms wrap around my waist, her head right at my abs.
“Thank you, Ryker.” Mazie then bounces off.
“She’s somethin’.”
Austyn comes closer and steps right into my arms with zero hesitation. Fucking love that. “Yeah, she reminds me of me when I was little. I used to love these movies, and my parents would get fed up about the tenth time I watched one.” She pauses. “How did it go?”
Brushing her hair away from her face, I then cup her cheek. “They just questioned me. It’s his and my mother’s word against mine. It won’t go anywhere.”
“Are you sure? I mean, they’re minors. I don’t want you to …” She trails off. I know what she’s thinking.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me.” I kiss her deeply, then pull away. “But, he will pay.”