Page 51 of Shifting Spirits

He kisses me again, just a little before he moves back to let me tug the dress back on.

I probably should have worn a skirt and T-shirt tonight. This dress is so tight-fitting it’s a nightmare to haul on and off. Not the best kind of clothing for a girl who has three boyfriends who like to get her naked.

“Trouble?” Silas asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

“The dress is kind of tight.”

“I don’t mind you walking around in just your underwear, if you don’t,” he suggests.

“Okay,” I tell him, as he gets me down from the pinball machine. “Point me to the bathroom and then I’ll make all your arcade fantasies come true.”

He smiles. “Well, you made the main one come true already so you must be about to make it possible for me to beat the final boss on Leatherheads.”

“Leatherheads?” I ask.

He nods to the machine next to us. “It’s a crazy horror monster beat-em-up. I played it all the time when I was younger. I could never beat the final boss.”

“Well, I’m feeling pretty lucky, so we should definitely give that a try.”

I pick up my underwear. The floor is clean and dry, so I don’t bother with my heels.

“You put in a new bathroom floor, too, right?” I ask.

“Yeah, I did the whole place,” he confirms. “The door’s just over there.”

“Back in a sec.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Silas

Thearcadewasagreat idea, thank Apollo. Rachel ran around in her underwear all night, lighting up whenever she won a game, or captured a prize from one of the grabber machines. I’m pretty sure all the candy and soda we consumed gave us a crazy sugar rush that ultimately led to the insane decision to stay there until four A.M., until I somehow beat the final boss on Leatherheads and typed in my initials in victory.

“Ooh, S.V.C.,” Rachel says. “What’s the V stand for?”

“Victor,” I admit. “It’s a family name. My mom never liked it, but she felt she had to keep it going.”

“Victor,” she repeats. “It doesn’t suit you, but it’s only a middle name. No one really uses those.”

“Except when they need three letters for a high score.”

“Looks like it,” she says. “I’m glad we were able to make all your arcade fantasies come true.”

“You make all my fantasies reality,” I tell her. “Not just the arcade ones.”

“I love you, too,” she murmurs, tugging on the front of my shirt to bring me in for a kiss.

Her lips taste like candy. We definitely overindulged on sugar tonight.

She lets me go with a soft sigh. “Tonight was so much fun. I still can’t believe you did all this for me.”

“I’d do it again, a thousand times over,” I promise her. “Now, we should probably head home before Adrian sends out a search party.”

She laughs as she goes to grab her clothes from the candy counter.

I realize my belt is still unbuckled so I fix that while I wait for her to get dressed.

When I look up, I see she’s wearing her jacket over her underwear, and her heels are back on her feet. She spins around. “What do you think? Will I get away with rocking this look on the walk back home, or do I need to tie my dress around my waist?”

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