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Adam cackled like a loon, pushing back in his seat. He stretched backward, with his hands behind his head. He looked so carefree and relaxed that Alisha couldn’t help but feel the same way too.
“It’s ingenious.”
His grin was a mile wide but he didn’t say a thing further.
“Are you going to share this ingenious plan of yours, mister?” Rueben asked, his hip cocked against the kitchen counter.
“There’s a movie theater a few towns over. They’re having a film festival, showing all the movies in one of my favorite franchises.”
Alisha groaned at his words, knowing exactly what he was talking about. They weren’t quite her idea of a good time, but she could see why a man who frequently regressed to a preteen would go bananas over a bunch of robots transforming into cars to fight over the fate of humanity.
His smile only widened when she groaned and he leaned closer to grab her hand across the table.
“Don’t you worry, my sweet, sweet Alisha. I have just the thing to make it a bit more exciting.”
She rolled her eyes at him before answering, “I’m waiting with bated breath.”
“We’re only going to pay for the first ticket. After that… we’re going to hide in the bathroom and then sneak into all the movies after that.”
“No!” Alisha exclaimed. “We can’t!”
“Oh yes. Yes, we can.” He shook his head at her denial, looking up at Rueben with a glint in his eye, and an incredibly hopeful look on his face. “Right, Daddy?”
Alisha held her breath, waiting to see what Rueben would say to that. They were both pretty by the book about how they did things. Would her partner, her Daddy, be okay to break the rules like that?
“Sounds good to me,” he eventually responded with a soft smile on his face. He then turned his gaze on Alisha. “I think it could be fun, and what better way to keep everyone occupied?”
What he meant was, what better way to keep our attention off the big icky box.
And he was right.
This was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Chapter 12
Rueben smiled at the two walking in front of him. They were holding hands like any normal couple would have, and even though he was slightly jealous of the both of them, he knew that what Alisha needed right at that moment was Adam’s carefreeness.
There would be plenty of occasions for him to be the one holding their hands. And until then, he was happy standing back so they could have their moment.
They were whispering to each other, and Alisha kept looking around, looking so guilty, if Rueben was one of the staff members at the theater he’d have immediately checked her for contraband.
As a fellow officer himself, he understood where she was coming from. It was very hard to break the rules, especially with something so blatantly… wrong. But he happened to agree with Adam on this. Somewhat.
Alisha needed to live a little more. She needed to let go, and remember how to have fun, how to be naughty. Mostly, so she could learn that no matter what she did, no matter what happened, they would still be there for her and care for her.
And even though Rueben agreed that she needed an excuse to let go a little… that didn’t mean he had to go with the idea completely. He’d let them think they had snuck in and pulled a fast one on the theater staff, but he’d phoned ahead and arranged a full set of tickets for the entire festival for all three of them. On top of a small bribe to the staff members to look the other way so that his two—lovers? Lovers-to-be?—could sneak about to their hearts’ content.
They stopped at the ticket booth and he paid for the three first show tickets, as discussed with the manager before heading over to the concession stand. Adam reached for the wallet in his back pocket, but a firm hand on his shoulder halted his action.
“This one’s on me. You can get dinner.” Rueben’s tone was firm and brooked no argument. Yet he was still surprised when Adam merely grinned and nodded in response.
Then he proceeded to order just about every single thing they saw.
Brat.
Alisha laughed, and when he asked her what she wanted she just shook her head. “I’ll take some of his. He has to share. He likes me.” She then knocked her shoulder against Adam and he quickly placed a soft kiss on her cheek before nodding his consent.
With their purchases piled up in Rueben’s arms, they all walked into the first theater just as the pre-movie trailers started.
