Her lips twitched as she lazily patted at my wound.
“Oh, sure,” I said. “Take your time, it’s not like I’m bleeding to death or anything, so please, go at your own pace.”
Keela rolled her eyes.
“Am I being passive-aggressive?” I asked. “I’m sorry, it must be a side effect of, you know, dying.”
“Alec, it’s a bloody paper cut!”
“Don’t you dare try to lessen the pain I’m feeling! It may as well be a bullet hole because it stings like fuck.”
Keela laughed. “Don’t be a sissy.”
“A sissy?” I admonished. “Sissy? Do you really think stinging pain from a paper cut is something to joke about? If you do, then I’ve truly married a monster.”
Keela laughed as she got a Band-Aid, wrapped my thumb up, and sealed it with a kiss. “You’ll survive.”
“Smartass.”
She left the room with a grin.
In record time, me and my kids had consumed our dinner, left the house, and headed to the Leisure Plex to have some fun. When we arrived there and I had parked the car, we headed inside, paid, and got suited up to kick some ass. Laser tag was only a new addition to the building, and even I had to admit that it was insanely cool. Each player was fitted with a vest that delivered a body tingling shock when a person was ‘shot’ and knocked out of the round. The guns were all black, and the styles were wide in variety. The tag room itself was a maze, and the lights were dim and the place was utterly silent during a round of tag, causing the players to play the game at full calibre in order to be aware of their surroundings as they hunted each other.
My kids and nephews loved it.
“It’s over for you little turds,” I said, stroking the barrel of my plastic gun. “I run laser tag.”
“We’ll see about that, aul’ lad.”
My eyes locked on Enzo. “You’re on my hit list.”
“That’s not the first time I’ve heard that. Girls tell me it all the time, and not in the way you mean it.”
Ares and Ace shared a look, rolled their eyes, then took off in opposite directions and got lost in the maze. I gave Enzo the finger, he gave it back to me, then we parted ways and waited for the buzzer to sound. Within the maze were large boulders to hide behind, as well as large plastic tubes that a grown man could crawl through to get to a different side of the room. I chose to hide behind one of the boulders until one of my offspring walked into my line of sight. I shot at Ace when he appeared, but he rolled on the ground and avoided the hit.
“Da’s campin’!”
“I’m not. I’m just lying here!”
“That’s what campin’ is!” Enzo voice hollered from somewhere to my right. “Move around, don’t sit and wait for us to come to ye’!”
God’s sake.
“Fine!”
I turned and zigzagged my way around as quietly as I could, and when I came up behind Enzo who was crouched as he shuffled forward, I felt a smug smile stretch across my lips. Without a word, I aimed my gun and shot my son in the back like a fucking marksman. Enzo grunted as his vest lit up red and delivered him a tingling shock. The red returned to blue, but Enzo only had two lives left, and he knew it.
“Who’s your daddy?”
Enzo slowly got to his feet and turned to face me.
“Wow.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe ye’ shot me, Da.”
My smile slowly slid from my face. “That’s the game—”
“You’re me father,” Enzo spoke over me. “I trusted ye’. I trusted ye’ to love and protect me, and ‘ere ye’ are, shootin’ me in the back the second it’s turned.”
Shame filled me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my shoulders slumping. “You guys told me not to do the camping thing.”
“This is a betrayal I’ve never felt before,” Enzo continued, sighing. “This brings me pain, Da. Real pain.”
“Son,” I stepped forward. “I didn’t mean to—”
I jumped when my vest vibrated then turned from bright blue to red indicating that I was now out of the game. As an adult, I only got one life so I had to wait for one of my sons to win this round before I was back in the game. I looked up at Enzo and found him smiling.
“Good job, Ace!”
Ace cackled from behind me as he ran away in search of his next victim. I stared at my eldest son who looked so much like me but had the heart of a hell dwelling monster.
“You played me.”
“Ye’ played yourself by thinkin’ we wouldn’t gang up on ye’.”
“You little bastard.”
Enzo winked. “Who’s your daddy?”
He turned and ran off, and I glared after him, considering putting rocks in a sock and beating him with it when he least expected it. Like when he was in the shower or sleeping.
“Little punk,” I said, shaking my head as I chuckled.
I took my phone from my pocket when it rang and answered it when I saw Damien was calling me.
“What’s up, Damien?”
He sighed, long and deep. “I’m in a bar with Dominic.”
“Okay,” I began. “Are you both having fun?”
I wasn’t sure what he expected me to say.
“No.” He snorted. “Dominic plans to drown his sorrows, and he wants us to help him.”
I paused. “What’s got him down?”
“Are you sitting down?”
I looked around and lied. “Yeah.”
“Georgie has a boyfriend,” Damien grunted. “And the little fucker is Gavin Collins’ boy.”
I fell. I dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes when my knees gave way from under me. I managed to keep a firm grip on my phone as I brought it back to my ear and snapped, “Murder. We have to murder the boy!”
Damien laughed. “We can’t. Bronagh forbid it.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Why would she do such a thing?”
“I don’t know,” my brother replied. “She’s not my favourite person right now.”
Mine either.
“What are we gonna do?” I demanded. “Georgie is our precious little flower cup. She can’t like boys. She’s ten!”
“She’s fifteen.”
Pain sliced across my chest.
“I refuse to believe that. She is ten years old and always will be!”
Damien laughed. “Are you coming to Croughs or not? I still have to call Kane and Ryder and give them this shitty news.”
“I’ll be on my way soon,” I said as I continued to lie on ground. “I’ll finish up this game of tag with my boys soon. I’ll be there with fucking bells on.”
I hung up on my laughing little brother and stared at the darkened ceiling above me.
“Are ye’ havin’ a stroke, Da?”
“No,” I answered Enzo. “At least I don’t think I am.”
His face came into view as he stood over me. “Are ye’ still sulkin’ cause ye’ got knocked out of the game?”
I had more pressing matters to worry about.
“No.” I sighed. “I’m sulking because Georgie has a boyfriend.”
I watched as fury blazed within Enzo’s eyes.
“She has a what?”
“A boyfriend,” I repeated. “An evil being that we failed to protect her from.”
Enzo stared down at me, then without a word, he joined me in lying down on the floor.
“I’ve a pain in me chest,” he said.
I nodded. “That’s your heart breaking, son.”
“I’m gonna kick ‘er arse,” Enzo suddenly warned. “She never told me she had a boyfriend.”
“I doubt she would have advertised she’s dating a Collins kid to you Slater kids.”
“A ... a Collins kid?’ Enzo repeated on a whisper. “She’s goin’ out with one of Jax’s cousins?”
“Uh-huh,” I answered. “Gavin’s boy, the eldest I imagine. What was his name?”
“Indie,” Enzo all but growled. “His name is Indie.”
“Indie,” I repeated. “This little shit has infiltrated our family.”