Playing into the Night

ZANE

We played six more rounds of laser tag. I kept my eyes on Shay, making sure she didn’t try to scale any walls again. In the final round, I caught a glimpse of her, but then she vanished.

Where the hell did she go? I looked up to her last known location, but she wasn’t there. Then, my pack buzzed, indicating a hit.

Damn her!

The guys were all on the lower floor, chasing each other around. I was alone on the top floor. As I turned a corner, my pack buzzed again, but when I spun around, Shay was nowhere in sight.

I ducked behind a wall, took off my pack, and propped it up at about my height. I leaned around the corner, pretending to peek out.

This time, I saw her laser. I quickly hid behind the wall again, put my pack back on, and started to sneak towards her. She was tucked into a wall, her feet off the ground.

I approached her from behind, unnoticed, and aimed my gun at her pack. She was busy scanning the floor, hitting Conner and Noah.

Her aim was perfect.

I pulled the trigger and her pack buzzed. She jumped, looking around for me. But I had already retreated into the shadows where my pack was hidden. I heard her feet hit the ground as she cautiously moved towards me.

I took off my pack again, hiding it behind a wall. When she walked past me, I stepped out from behind her, wrapping her in a tight hug. She laughed, and I planted a kiss on her neck.

“You’re good—I’ll give you that. My tracking skills have improved tenfold today, just trying to keep up with you. Let’s go find the other two and rack up some points.”

She smiled as I put my pack back on. She grabbed my hand, leading me to a wall which she opened and stepped inside. I followed her, and we had a perfect view of the floor.

We both took aim and repeatedly hit the guys as they searched for us in vain. When the lights finally came on, we snuck out of our hiding spot, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“So, you found my secret spots that I had built for when we came to play. How many times have you been in this thing?”

“A friend of mine used to work here, so I would come to clean up with her just for fun. We would walk around this place with the lights on and find all the nooks and crannies for hiding.

“I found that one by accident when I bumped into the wall and it moved a little. Then when I would come out here to play on my days off, I knew all the spots to hide in.

“I guess you could call it cheating, but it’s one way to get your shooting skills up.”

We left the laser tag area and returned the packs. She pointed to the mini-golf courses, and we played all three of them.

She was really good at it, making holes-in-one left and right while us guys struggled on most of the holes, only making them in on par.

“I need something to drink, then I guess we can do games. By the time we get those cards empty, I will be ready to go home for the night. The tiredness is already creeping in on me.”

She let out a huge yawn.

We went to the bar to get drinks, then spread out on the floor to play different arcade games. I played mostly racing games, but I ventured to some that gave out tickets.

When the money was finally out, I went to hunt down the others.

I had made sure the doors were locked and secured while we were inside so I knew Shay would be safe. I found the guys, but she was nowhere in sight.

“Have you seen Shay? I saw her about an hour ago, but not after that.”

“No, boss, we were playing games. I saw her a few times but not recently.”

“Fuck, spread out and find her now. She was tired, so she might be in a corner sleeping.”

We all split up, and my heart was beating fast. Why didn’t I keep her close to me? I wanted this to be a fun night for us, but I should have stayed closer, knowing there were people out to get us.

We searched for about fifteen minutes, when Noah came up to us with her in his arms. She was sound asleep and had all kinds of things from the prize station in a bag.

“She was sitting at a table with her head down, sound asleep. I tried to wake her, but she was out.” He tried to hand her off to me, but I shook my head.

“She might wake up, so hang onto her. Let’s go home to get some sleep. We have some things to take care of tomorrow, so a good night’s sleep is in order right now.”

We walked out of the fun park and got into the limo. Noah tried to get in gently with her, but she stirred a little. Mumbling, she kissed him on the neck, and his head snapped straight.

I chuckled as he handed her over to me.

“I am not getting my ass kicked for what she does to me in her sleep,” he said, rubbing his neck where she kissed him.

“I would not do anything like that to you. She is not in her right mind and is used to me holding her, so she probably thought you were me.”

She snuggled down into my chest and went back to sleep.

“Thank you for this night, boss. It has been years since we did anything like this. I always enjoy it when we come out here—it’s a good way to blow off some steam and enjoy one of your fun businesses.”

Conner smiled at me. “That other building, what did you do with it exactly? I know you had talked about turning it into an adult entertainment place—is that what you did with all those empty rooms?”

“Yeah, they were turned into bedrooms so people could rent them if they just wanted a quick place for a few hours.

“Both men and women work there, and three ladies handle all the scheduling. It was doing well last time I looked at the numbers.

“No one who works there is forced to do it—they do it as a job, and from what I heard, the tips are also excellent.

“I did not want to run a brothel, just a place where people could work on their own terms.

“They keep every tip they earn from each customer and they also get a paycheck, so I call it my adult entertainment business.”

Half an hour later, we were pulling into my driveway, my sweetheart still snoozing peacefully in my arms.

“Conner, what did she snag from the prize table?” I asked, nodding toward the bag brimming with goodies.

He began to pull out a myriad of items. A PlayStation, a giant teddy bear, cash she’d won from a machine, Beats headphones, Bluetooth earbuds, a Nintendo Switch, and a heap of toys meant for younger kids.

I couldn’t help but smile as I gazed down at her.

“She’s probably planning to give those to the kids at the water park. I’ve heard her mention the ones she hangs out with there.

“There’s this one little girl she talks about a lot. She’s always asking the staff to call her, to let her know she’s there waiting for her to come play.

“She’s going to have a ton of experience with kids before she has one of her own. I’m glad she’s found something to keep her occupied while I’m not around.”

We reached the door. Sliding out of the car, I carried her up to our room, my hand gliding over the new palm scanner that had been installed.

I gently removed her clothes and tucked her into bed. Then, I slid in next to her for the night. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I pulled her close, letting sleep claim me for the night.