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“Have they returned without you?”
“They died,” he explained. “Same mystery illness Elena has. I think it had something to do with why we left Brazil, but I guess I’ll never know.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Her brows pinched and he must be nuts to think she was adorable like this, but he wanted to tell her every sob story of his life just to see her look at him with compassion again.
Elena opened the door with a broad grin on her tired face.
“Got it,” she panted.
“You okay?” he asked.
A chagrinned expression crossed Elena’s face moments before her gaze flicked to Daisy then back to him. Right. Got it. Don’t give Elena special treatment in front of Daisy.
“Let’s go.” Axel placed his palm on the small of Daisy’s back and guided her inside.
His fingers lingered a little too long after they’d shut the door. Daisy turned to him expectantly. The open trust in her eyes hit him squarely in the chest. He cleared his throat and gestured further down the darkened corridor.
“Time to have some fun,” he announced.
Elena whooped loudly and he smirked. Daisy’s lips twitched and a spark of something entered her eyes. It gave him a little boost to keep up the charade that he knew what he was doing. Within moments, he’d taken them through the back hallways like mice in a maze until they emerged in a large shadowy warehouse.
He quickly located the fuse box and triggered the lights. The space illuminated to reveal the city’s prime batting cage complex.
“Batter up!” His voice echoed across the empty space. Elena released another whoop and jogged to the nearest netting enclosure where she dumped her backpack and picked up a wooden bat from against a net.
Axel turned to gauge Daisy’s reaction and found innocent awe plastered over her face. She ran her fingers idly down her long silver ponytail and spun, taking it all in.
“You ever been to a batting cage?” he asked.
“I’ve never seen a baseball game.” She shook her head, and then mumbled, “I’ve never been to any sports game.”
“Fuck that,” he grumbled and strolled to where more bats leaned against a net and handed her one. With as much seriousness as he could muster, he promised, “After this mess with the Syndicate, I’m going to take you to your first game.”
Doubt flashed in her eyes, and she cocked her head as though her next words were obvious. “The world is supposed to end, Axel, despite what we’re trying to do to stop it. There could be no after.”
But he only smiled back. “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings, Daze.”
“Daze?” Her brow arched.
“Don’t like it?”
She shrugged.
“Well, stick around. I got plenty more where that came from. Like Margarida. Or how about just Gorgeous?” He winked.
Elena cupped her mouth and shouted from the pitch machine, “You gonna be boring all night or we gonna play?”
“Boring?” He tossed the bat over his shoulder. “I’ll show you boring.”
Within seconds he was tickling the guts out of his sister. She giggled and laughed and wheezed, so he stopped. If he went too hard, she might have an asthma attack, and those were deadlier for her now than they used to be.
“I used to do that to my siblings,” Daisy murmured wistfully.
“Used to?” He straightened his hair and shirt.
Sadness entered her eyes and he hated it. “Things happened. We grew up.”
“I don’t care how old Elena is,” he announced with a mock-warning look thrown his sister’s way. “You’re never too old for a tickle fight.”
