Page 60 of Big & Bossy

“Yeah,” I said, pinging the ball up, around the staircase, down the metal slide. “When Amanda needed space, I’d come here. When I felt like screaming and tearing my hair out, I’d come here. When I wanted to call Wade but knew I shouldn’t, I’d come here.”

First ball down already. I was rusty.

“Fuck,” I snapped, taking a step back from the machine.

“Don’t stop.”

“It’s fine, I’ll just sink the rest. I’ll start over.” I pulled the plunger again and again, sinking each of my balls until the big red letters on the screen read LOSER.

Jack handed me another two quarters.

————

NEW HIGH SCORE.

I stepped back from the machine, my eyes wide, my hands tired. “How the fuck…?”

Jack sat on the floor beside the machine, his suit wrinkling on the dirty arcade floor that likely hadn’t been cleaned once in the last ten years. His eyes blinked open as he lifted his head from where it rested against the wall. “What happened?”

“I beat it,” I laughed, the adrenaline starting to kick in. “I fucking beat it, Jack!”

He was on his feet in a second, wide eyes glued to the big red letters on the old screen. “Holy shit. Have you been practicing?”

“No. I haven’t played this one since college,” I grinned, bouncing on the soles of my feet. I had too much energy, too much excitement. All the months I’d spent grinding to beat that second-highest score, and I beat it after ten years of not touching the Addams Family.

“Put your initials in,” he said, a sleepy grin spreading across his cheeks. “Don’t want anyone to forget you’re still on top.”

I giggled as I pressed the little buttons, sorting through the letters until I got MEL back on the screen. Miranda Eleanor Littleson. I’d done it with him by my side, even if he was half asleep. Somehow, that made me feel better, made me feel closer to him.

“Mands?”

I turned, my hair whipping about my face. Blonde hair, tied up in a ponytail. A polo shirt with the arcade’s logo on it. Tight black jeans, combat boots. Hayley Moretti. She’d worked at the arcade during the last two years of my degree, always cheering me on from the sidelines, waving at me when she’d pass me on campus between classes. She was a smart girl. She’d studied physics.

So what the hell was she doing still working here?

“Hayley?” Jack asked, turning on the spot. The back of his suit was wrinkled from sitting on the floor, a little bit of gum stuck to the flap of his jacket.

“Oh my God, Jack,” Hayley laughed, her fingers covering her lips as she set down the broom. No wonder the carpets are so dirty. “I can’t believe you guys are here. What a small world.”

“We’re only here for the day,” Jack grinned, stepping a little closer to me. “Came into town for a networking event for Mandy.”

“Oh. You guys living out in Boulder?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Jack just recently moved out there.”

“Nice. Congrats, by the way,” she chirped, taking a step toward me. Her hand met my left one, lifting it gently to inspect the ring. “I saw the announcement in the papers. Always knew you two would end up back together.”

Why did everyone else seem to know or hope for this except for me?

Jack placed a kiss against my temple as he struck up conversation, filling in the gap I’d left behind so easily. Hearing that from her was bittersweet. I’d been hurt by him. Destroyed, really, if I was being honest with myself. But I knew damn well that he was what I wanted now, even with his erratic behavior lately. Had I known all along? And if everyone was right and we were meant to be together again, then why the hell did it feel like he was pulling away?

————

Jack’s lips against mine nearly stole the breath from my lungs.

He pressed me down against the back seat in the rented Escalade, his jacket gone, his hands on my bare thighs. He slotted himself between them, pushing them up toward my chest as his mouth moved ferociously against my own.

The adrenaline peaked when we left the arcade. Hayley’s words had echoed in my head over and over until we left and paired with the sheer excitement of beating my old high score, I couldn’t help but celebrate in the one way I knew how with Jack.

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