Page 30 of After All This Time (A Time For Love #2)
Neon lights in blues, purples, and pinks swallow any attempt of the outside soft afternoon light to break in. In here, it’s always been like it’s permanently twilight and the only blinding light you get is the one radiating from the dozens of video game screens and pinball machines.
Yes, it’s true that a lot of things have changed, like the new floors or the restructuring of the game rooms, but the atmosphere is the same.
It feels like a lifetime since I’ve set foot here and in some ways it is. I never came back here after Liam left. This had always been our thing; spending hours shooting things, ribbing each other when we lost, buying the other anything they wanted when they won.
I never knew such a happy memory could leave such a bittersweet taste in my mouth.
Jesus, if I cry in the middle of an arcade, and in the middle of my first date with Liam, I will never forgive myself.
Swiveling my head towards him, he’s looking at me with such a heart-breakingly soft expression, it’s a challenge not to touch him in some way.
My heartbeat picks up, drumming loudly in my ears when he steps closer to me, and my breath hitches when I feel his warm hand prying my fist open where it had clenched tight, and threading his fingers with mine.
He smiles at me just as he squeezes my hand, and that is the moment I know.
Amidst twilight and neon lights.
Among bleeping sounds and cheering shouts.
That I love him.
That this isn’t a crush, or a product of excitement and curiosity.
I want him and every aspect of himself that he can give me.
I will take it all.
“What’s that look for?” he asks me, his eyes never breaking away from mine.
“Nothing,” I shake my head, my lips tilting into a playful smile. “I was just thinking that you might be rusty after all these years.”
His eyes glitter in the semi-darkness.
“Is that right?”
“Uh huh.”
“You might be surprised.”
“Oh? Care to make it interesting?” The words slip out unbidden.
Oh God, he’s licking his fucking lips.
“How interesting?”
I draw closer to him, pulling on his hand to make him give me his ear.
“If, by the end of the night, my score is higher than yours, I want you to suck me off until I forget my own name.”
A low growl vibrates in his chest, giving me a thrill like no other.
His burning gaze locks on mine.
“And if I win?”
Now it’s my time to lick my parched lips, Liam’s eyes honing in on the movement.
“Then you get to be the first to fuck my mouth.”
“Jesus, Coop,” he exhales harshly.
“Just something to think about,” I throw over my shoulder as I start pulling him towards the stand that will give us our passes.
“You’ve got yourself a bet, baby.”
I certainly do.
***
We fight with alien spaceships and zombies.
We kick each other’s ass in every fighting game we can get our hands on.
We barely hang on to our sanity as we evade death-threatening bubbles, giant gorillas, and innocent jelly beans that are out to get us.
My heart pumps out adrenaline like crazy as we race each other in carts, and my fingers almost fall off playing half of the pinball machines in the establishment.
And I’ve never felt happier.
I’ve been grinning, and laughing, and cursing, and shouting for what feels like hours, and I never want this day to end.
Because every time I turn around, he’s there, doing the same things alongside me and it’s like we’re in high school again; goofing around, having fun.
Except now, his eyes track me differently, a smolder I didn’t see back then now burning in his gaze.
And our bet never leaves my mind, which doesn’t help my focus.
“Fuck!” I groan loudly, as his player kills me off one more time. “How the hell are you so good at this? Have you been practicing secretly?”
“Nope,” he chuckles. “You seem to forget the fact that I’ve played basketball half my life, Coop, so coordination skills are kind of my thing. And that my hands are basically my livelihood.”
“Yeah,” I mutter, as my gaze is drawn to his strong, capable hands. “Those are good hands.”
I feel the whisper of breath that ruffles the hair by my temple before I hear his low, deep voice.
“If you’re a good boy, maybe I’ll show you what else is good about me.”
The sound that leaves my mouth is not fit for the public.
“Shh,” Liam soothes, his palm wrapping around my nape, the small pressure making my pulse skyrocket. “Those sounds are for my ears only, baby. Remember?”
Yeah, as if I could forget the hot as fuck phone sex session where he basically called me his.
“Yeah, Li. They’re yours,” I whisper to him, and I watch as he swallows thickly. I smile impishly because if he’s gonna drive me crazy, I’m taking him down with me.
His nostrils flare and his eyes are so wild, I’m sure he’s seconds away from dragging me to a dark corner, but instead he composes himself immediately.
“How about we call it and eat something, Coop?”
“But I’m still winning overall.” I frown. And then it just dawns on me. The stakes of our bet. “Are you letting me win?”
The half-grin he aims my way should be illegal.
“I’m not letting you do anything, Coop. I’m just really fucking hungry.”
And he simply turns around towards the food stand, leaving me with the brain-melting thought that, by the end of the night, my best friend’s mouth will be wrapped around my cock.