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Knightly
I love these things with my entire existence. I booked us the tour, and the two of them were quiet until the guy giving us the tour got something wrong. Either of them would raise their hand and politely correct them. The two others with us were a little impressed with them. Their manners are the mirror of their mother. I can’t get enough of them every chance I get. Their videos have me smiling like crazy all day long.
“Daddy, I want to take a picture of that one.” Ayrie points at the ceiling. “But I want to use these settings, and I need to be up.”
She holds her camera up for me to see. I have no idea what the fuck it is I’m supposed to be looking, but I trust that she knows what she’s doing. I take the camera and lift her up onto my shoulders. I expect her to sit, but she stands and waves her little hand
out for me to hand her the camera.
“Be very careful,” I warn her, locking my hands around her ankles.
“You be careful, Daddy. Mommy will kick you if you drop me.” She giggles.
I clear my throat when a few passersby smile and point up at her. It’s only then that I see Aizen with his tablet, taking a picture of us. I smile for him, and he smirks without really looking at me. I set her down when she tells me she’s ready. Then two of them take turns giving me random facts about their favorite paintings.
Ayrie stops in front of a massive pink princess crown that reads, “ALL GIRLS ARE PRETTY.” I think she took more pictures of that thing than of everything else in here. I check the price tag and see that it’s still available. I wave one of my guards over and instruct him to buy the piece before Ayrie can hear.
“Dad, they have paint your own astronauts. Can we get some? They even have the painting station,” Aizen points over to the gift shop. There are others there painting astronaut figurines.
“Sure. Ayrie, want to paint?” I ask.
“Ah! Yes, please, Daddy,” she screams and runs over to us, which catches the attention of many people.
“Let’s put this away,” I say, and I take the camera. I slip out the smaller one when her shoulders fall in disappointment. “Mommy will kick both of us if we get paint on her new camera.”
She smiles, taking the small pink digital camera, and nods. “You’re so right,” she agrees and begins to look over the tables. Using the camera, she looks around as if she were taking a video.
“She’s looking for the perfect lighting.” The hairs in the back of my neck stand at the sound of my mate’s voice. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
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“Is everything okay?” I ask, surprised to see her here. I didn’t actually inform her I was taking the twins out.
“Yeah, we finished earlier than we thought. I asked your dad to drop me off. You’re all over the web.” She holds out her phone to show me the trending hashtag. # YesPleaseDaddy. There are dozens of pictures of the twins and me all over the
museum.
“We’re about to paint. Want to join?” I roll my eyes.
“I will never say no to painting.” she grins and leans in to kiss me. It’s a peck, but it makes what happened this morning melt away. It’s all I’ve been thinking about.
“Mommy!” Ayries screams at the top of her lungs. She runs over to her and slams into her for a hug. Aizen runs over as well.
“Did you guys behave for D.A.D?” she asks, crouching down to fix Ayrie’s skirt.
“Yes,” they answer in unison.
“You go paint with us?” Ayrie asks. I notice that around Phoebe, she doesn’t fight her accent like she does with me.
“I’ll go get the stuff. You guys find that perfect lighting.” I say.
“Ayrie.” Aizen taps her shoulder and points over at a window.
Phoebe doesn’t hesitate to follow them. I go over to the register to find a teenage alt girl staring back at me with huge green eyes. I clear my throat and give her a moment to get her head in order.
“Four astronaut packs, please,” I tell her. She nods rapidly and walks away. I hear a muffled scream from inside the storage room she entered. She comes back with four black paper bags and sets them on the counter. She rings me up, and when she opens her mouth to tell me the amount, she chokes. “I’ll use my phone.” I laugh and hold it out. She nods again and is even startled when the register opens. “Thank you.”
“Ah!” she croaks quietly, holding her hand out to stop me.
“Would you like a picture?” I ask. She shakes her head and then looks over at Phoebe. Oh, with her?” she nods. “Come on then.” I scent her before getting close to my family. She’s a Phoebe fan.”
“Oh. Would you like a picture?” Phoebe stands to help me with the bags. The girl nods. rapidly and reaches into her apron. I stop her..
“Slowly,” I warn her. She nods and pulls out a pamphlet with what looks like pictures of girls her age.
“Oh, my god,” Phoebe gasps, recognizing it without the girl having to expose much of it. “You carry this with you?”
“Yes,” the girl squeaks and pulls out a pen. Phoebe takes them and gives the girl a hug. “I’ve been to three of your shows in Paris. You’re the only reason I wanted to move
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there.”
She got all that out in one breath.
“I take picture,” Ayrie volunteers, waving her hand in the air wildly.
“I want to use my phone,” the girl says, and without permission, Ayrie takes it.
“Hey,” Phoebe warns her.
“It’s okay,” the girl waves her off. “My little brother is an alpha as well.”
“We don’t snatch things. I’ve told you about that.” Phoebe scolds her anyway.
“Sorry.” Ayrie nods and then hands the phone back. “I fixes your settings so you always bee you full.”
“Aww,” the kid coos. “Thank you. You can take the picture.”
She handed the phone back to Ayrie and snapped a couple of pictures. When they were done, the girl waved at us as she walked back to the counter. Phoebe removed the figurines from the bags and started setting up the paint, stickers, and glitter inside the bags.
“This is a really cool outing. I was thinking of taking them to the packhouse. Vy said there’s a bunch of cool stuff on display there and that Alpha Vincent has someone named Pepper doing the tours.” Phoebe says, reaching for the stickers.
“Pepper is Vy’s baby sister,” I inform her. “And this was all Ayrie’s idea.”
“Mhm. Look at all the arts.” She points behind us. “We go again? So Mommy can see? The big guys cover everything.”
I glance back to see that my guards and some of the museum’s security guards are keeping people from bothering us.
“I’m actually kind of tired.” Phoebe declines. “I did a walk–through of the new building, and I’d like you to help me find some cool vintage furniture.”
“Oh, Mommy! Vous le pensez vraiment?” Ayrie stands on her chair excitedly. “J’adore Jes trucs vintage. C’est mon préféré.”
“I know. You’re going to love the building when you see it.” Phoebe laughs.
“Ah!” Ayrie screams and continues to paint her astronaut a soft pink shade, blowing on the paint to speed up the drying process.
“I’m glad you got everything settled.” I clear my throat.
“Me too. Perry told me you got what you wanted a couple of days ago. I’ve been following your warning, and people are really happy about you taking the position. Nathan Knightly for King.” She smiles. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” I finish painting my astronaut black, and I’ve got nothing else.
Phoebe’s is covered in stickers. With silver, today’s date is written over the front of the helmet. Aizen’s is matte royal blue with little golden designs to make it look like marble.
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It looks like it’s made of velvet. He’s adding glue to the gold to make it shinier. Ayrie’s
is a pretty soft pink with daisies painted all over it.
“These are so cool,” Aizen says. “Dad, I love yours. Is so elegant.”
“Right. I was thinking the same thing.” Phoebe agrees.
“It’s just black,” I laugh.
“You do half glue and half no glue. Pretty soft and super shiny.” Ayrie leans forward to look it over.
“That’s actually a really good idea.” Phoebe nods. “These are going to look so good over the fireplace.”
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