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Chapter Twenty-Six
BRODY
IsettleEricinthe hotel room, and he immediately buries his face in the handheld gaming device he brought.
Looking over his shoulder, I twinge a bit in jealousy as I watch him play in high definition that my teenaged dreams could never have imagined.
“This is the new Zelda?” I ask, getting interested in the contrast of all those beautiful colors.
“U-hum,” Eric replies, “I put more than ninety hours in it and I’m not even close to completing it!”
“You’re that bad, huh?” I joke.
“Dad!” he pauses the game to yell at me. “There’s just a lot to do!”
“Okay, okay…” I acquiesce. “I’m just not used to these open world kind of games. Back in my day you had passwords to skip levels.”
“No save games?” he asks, in disbelief, but not removing his eyes from the game.
“Only much later. But not when I was your age,” I say.
I walk around the room and try to decide what to do next. For now, all is good, and Eric is not the most active kid in the planet. He’ll do fine locked in a hotel room for a short stint of time.
The last two shows were a breeze as well - the girls played Austin and Santa Fe without a hassle, though there are still more upcoming dates where this creep can cause trouble.
As Eric plays, I give myself a once over in the mirror. I’m wearing combat boots, jeans, a plain white tee and a flannel shirt. However, it all looks distorted because of the bulletproof vest underneath, and the gun hidden at shoulder level.
I now go everywhere locked and loaded. I never feel at ease.
“Lily is downstairs talking to the press. She will be here with you in a minute,” Eric completely ignores me. “I’m going out, but I’ll be back in half an hour, okay?”
“Where are you going?” he asks, still unmoved from the screen.
“Buying something important. I’ll bring you something too,” I say to more silence. “There’s one of my employees outside the door. Please talk to him if you need something.”
“Thank you, dad,” Eric says.
“You’re welcome, ch— Eric.” I say, then leave the room.
I check in briefly at the press conference. It’s a relief to see that Lily and Sweets seem to be working together now. Hopefully I left a good impression on her, enough for her to ease up on Lily.
While Sweets answers a question, I waved to Lily from the sidelines. She notices me quickly, and I signal with my hands that I’m heading out. She mouths a big and perfect ‘take care’ to me as I leave, and I blow her a kiss before turning around.
I have the key for one of the rental cars, so I head to it in the parking lot. It’s a black sedan, armored and terrible to drive, but necessary now.
Following the GPS, I quickly find the place I’m after. The refined and very expensive merchandise is on display in carefully designed cases made to impress as well as to keep away from grabby hands.
All I have is a strip of paper as a measurement for what I need to purchase. I had discreetly traced one of Lily’s rings on it that she had left on the bedside table. After much sampling, I decide on one, and get out of the store with a tiny velvet box in my pocket.
I browse though the other stores and find a nerdy plush toy for Eric, then head back to the hotel to be with my son and with Lily.
When I get back to the room, Lily is watching TV and Eric is still playing video games. “I don’t know how your thumbs don’t ache,” I say while passing him, then look around to find Lily’s beautiful smile.
“They do,” Eric says. “I’m just used to it.”
“Do you give it a rest when the batteries die?” I ask.
“Yup,” he says in autopilot. “Unless I have a big extension cord with me.”
