Bile rose in her throat.
Why had she been so stupid?
They could carry what was on the computer off the computer just fine. Up until she’d booted him from her room, they had been doing that already.
“I have been a moron.”
Baxter shook his head at her. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Well, Joel wouldn’t. That’s why he stormed off.” With good reason. She’d always prided herself on acting after she thought about the situation. Not this time. She’d gone with a kneejerk reaction about his talking to Baxter. Stupid move. Then she’d compounded it by denying what they were to each other. She’d seen Joel’s face when she’d said one night stand. As usual, he’d figured things out before she’d let herself.
“Joel tends to get red hot mad and then goes off by himself to stew. He’ll come back in a better frame of mind.”
“I know.” She’d talked to him angry before, both about work and gaming. “I just don’t know if he’ll want to listen to me this time.” She might have just screwed this up forever. And that brought more bile up. She couldn’t lose him, especially now that she’d figured out her true feelings for him.
“He will.”
If only she could be sure like Baxter. “When he comes back, will you call me? Come get me? Have him call me? Something.” She let her eyes plead her case. She needed to talk this over with Joel. Desperately.
“Give me your number. I’ll call you myself.” He grinned at her. “If he won’t talk to you, we’ll tie him to a chair.”
She couldn’t help but smile at that. Joel could probably outrun them with his love of cycling for exercise. “I’ll settle for locking us in a room.” It was nice to know Baxter was on her side.
“A smack down. Of course.” He finished typing in her phone number in his phone. She noticed he’d put it by Samatra300, which had her avatar of a firefly.
“Thanks, Baxter.” She reached out to touch his hand. “For everything.” She’d need someone on her side if she was to get through this.
“No problem. You two are good together. Like Leia and Han.” He rubbed his hands together. “He’ll settle this with you. Or I’ll tell him I’ll be your new Halo 3 partner.”
Now that did bring a laugh. “I’ll see you later.”
He nodded. “K.”
What else could she do to prove to Joel that she’d had brain fart but now had seen the light?
That she might be falling in love with him.
Might? Love. I love Joel.
Did she?
She wasn’t all the way sure about her feelings but knew she felt more for him than she had anyone over the last few years.
At the very least, she needed to see where this went. Experience geek love for the first time. If last night had been any indication, it would be a smoldering experience.
She’d have to convince Joel of all of this.
She stopped in the hallway just shy of the elevator. She’d need to pull out all the stops to convince him to give her a second chance.
“I know an outfit that just might work.” He’d probably not be able to discuss anything if he saw her wearing it.
But would she be able to find it?
Of course she would. She was at a science fiction/gaming convention after all.
*
Joel pushed open the door to the hotel. He’d been walking around and thinking since he’d left several hours ago.
He still didn’t know what to do.
It was obvious Samantha wanted them to be friends. Online gaming buddies. No more than that.
Only since he’d met her… Since he’d found out she was a woman… Since he’d found that the best gaming partner and complement to him was someone that he wanted to be with.
He’d been instantly sexually attracted to her.
Instantly because he knew this person inside and out—except for that one little detail that had been held back until recently.
Only now he’d figured out another thing he hadn’t known about her, she didn’t want to take things off the Internet.
As soon as she’d said she hadn’t wanted to, he’d realized he did. He wanted to take them much further than being gaming buddies or online friends.
He’d had to get away from the convention and decide if he could deal with the fact she didn’t. He still wasn’t sure how he felt.
Walking around had only made him miss his bicycle. And now his feet hurt. He also had noticed as walked around deep in thought, that he kept putting off things he wanted to do like bike cross country. For no good reason. Well maybe he had reasons. But not taking their relationship off the Internet didn’t have a good reason either. Except for her reasons.
That maybe he should talk to her about instead of inventing reasons in his own head. He needed to hear from her. He needed to deal with this now and not later or never.
He reached for his phone. He should call her. Get this hashed out once and for all. He didn’t want to put this off like he didn’t everything else. Like his cross-country trip. He needed to find out about this now. Not later. They needed to talk.
They would talk. They would get this straight. He wouldn’t put this off another second.
Only his phone wasn’t in his pocket.
He remembered tossing it on the nightstand in his hotel room.
He went to the elevators and stood watching the beach scene that hung in the lobby. It had hues of red and yellow. Not good colors for a stewing man.
The doors opened and off walked Baxter. “Joel!” He stopped in front of Joel with a concerned look. “Where ya been?’
“Walking.” He stepped into the elevator. “I’ll see you…” Only Baxter stepped into the elevator with him. “…later.”
“Where ya going?” Baxter picked out his phone from his pocket.
“The room. I need my phone.”
Baxter started pressing buttons. “To call who?”
“What is this, twenty questions?” He glared at his friend. “I need to talk to Samantha. If that’s okay with you?”
“Yep. It is.” Bax punched a button and held the phone up to his ear. It beeped off. “Damn. No service.”
“Who were you calling?” Joel hadn’t remembered punching the eight button but they stopped at their floor.
Both of them stepped from the elevator in tandem.
“Sam.”
Joel stopped. “Huh?”
“She stopped by this morning. After you stormed out. I told her I’d call you as soon as you’d gotten back.” Baxter looked victorious. He also waggled his brows at Joel. “Now if I could just get a damn signal.”
“You and your piece of crap phone.” Joel’s heart pounded deep within his chest. His stomach fluctuated. Maybe she’d had a change of heart. Maybe she’d come to see him to apologize. Screw him senseless. Like last night. A myriad of reasons for her visit played through his head. It was better than watching YouTube videos online and just as time sucking. The only way he’d know what she’d come for was to call her or find her.
They reached the room and Joel slid his keycard in the door. Walked in and went right to his phone. Baxter’s number popped up as a missed call. He turned to Baxter and pointed at his phone. “You called?”
“When Sam was by.”
“My phone was here.”
“Noticed.”
Joel shook his head while Baxter still tried to get a signal. Pulled up his keypad. “Number? What’s her number?”
“Oh.” Baxter pressed another set of buttons. “555-803-2223.”
Joel dialed, keeping his fingers from shaking. “It went straight to voice mail.” His hopes fell. So much for the idea she wanted to work things out.
“What? I can’t believe that. She wanted me to call. You to call.” Baxter walked to the windows. “Voila. Signal.” He pressed a button and held it to his ear. “Straight to voice mail.” He frowned. “That’s odd.”
At least she hadn’t picked up for either of them. But now Joel st
ill didn’t know what she’d come by for.
Joel stalked to the door.
“Where ya going?”
“To find Sam. See what she wanted.”
Baxter grinned. “She wanted you.” He followed Joel out of the door.
Warm feelings spread across Joel’s entire being. “Bax.” He didn’t want to get his hopes up again.
“Seriously. She had a ‘duh’ moment. Realized what she should-uh-could-uh-would-uh done.” Baxter fell into step with him as they both approached the elevators.
“You sure about that?”
“Oh yeah.”
Even more warmth spread around Joel’s body. It went straight down to his cock and feathered out across him. “You’re coming with me?” He shot a dubious look at Baxter. “We need to talk alone. Samantha and I, that is.”
“I know that. But I want to make sure she’s okay.”
“You think she’s not?” That was concerning. Baxter wasn’t one for unnecessary worry about other people.
“I think it’s damn odd she’s not answering her phone.” Bax shrugged. “Trust me. When we find and you two start making kissy face, I’ll leave.”
Kissy face would be a good thing to make with Samantha. Baxter better be right about what she’d wanted.
* * * *
“I thought you said the credit card would definitely open the door.” Joel glared at Baxter as he tried to come between the door jamb and the door with his flimsy credit card.
“It works in the movies.”
“A lot of things work in the movies.” Joel tapped his fingers together again. “Maybe I should call her again.”
“You’ve called her a dozen times. She’s not answering her hotel phone either. She’s no where in the hotel. We looked.”
“Maybe we’re just missing her.” Joel glanced down at his cell phone again, willing it to ring. With her number.
“It’s not that big a hotel.” Baxter grunted with his effort. “She told me she wanted to talk to you. Why would she now not be available? It doesn’t make sense. We have to get into her room. See what’s there.”
“Bax, I don’t think we’re going to get in.” Their breaking and entering skills left a lot to be desired. “Maybe if we talk to the hotel like I said when you mentioned the credit card.” He was starting to get worried. Unless she’d been lying to Baxter, it sounded like she wanted to work things out. Why would she disappear?
Unless she hadn’t wanted to get with him at all. Unless it was all just some game. After all, she’d been a woman the whole time everyone had thought she was male. Maybe she got off on that and more.
Baxter pulled the credit card back, frowning. “I don’t understand why she would disappear like this.”
Joel pulled his phone from his pocket. “Me either.” He tried to call again but it went straight to voice mail. “Nothing.” He clicked over to email for the first time since this morning. There was an email message from samatra300 to the boards that had been sent to him. He had her tagged so that whenever she posted, it alerted him. “Hang on.” Maybe this message would explain where she’d gone.
He clicked the message.
Hey all.
Had a great time at the Collingswood Science Fiction Convention. Meeting everyone was special fun. Have changed my status from alien to female now that more have met me and know I’m a woman.
crosscountry500, thanks for the wild night. And I don’t mean playing Halo 3. Can’t wait to meet a few more of you, especially now that my pussy’s out of the bag. Don’t worry solidata1, you’ll always be my first. crosscountry500 can tell you how wild I was this time. Sorry crosscountry500 that I had to skip out before we could hook up again. I got called back unexpectedly by work. Tell poezzl20 sorry that I wasted his time. Should have just jumped both your bones this AM. Hahaha.
Had to leave early due to work so am headed home. Here’s to killing and grilling tonight.
Toodles
Samatra300
Joel couldn’t breathe. He clicked on the Internet on his phone to go to the board and read the message there. Maybe there’d been a mistake.
No mistake.
Several ‘atta girls’ from members had been left on the message and one horribly detailed message from solidata1 had been left about the “wild night” they’d shared back a few months ago.
He clapped the phone into his other hand and turned it off. Couldn’t stand to see the words in front of his eyes any more.
Baxter stared at his phone with a face of dawning horror. He looked as if zombies had just taken over the world.
“Got coverage?”
“Yeah.” Baxter shook his head. “First time not by a window this whole damn convention. I need a different carrier. It’s not the phone.” He didn’t sound happy about it either and not just about his phone coverage.
“Looking at the boards?” Not that Joel wanted him to but somehow knowing that someone else was seeing what he was would take away any doubts that Samatra300 had posted that message.
Which meant that he’d been had.
“I see it. But there’s no way…”
Joel didn’t half listen. The message had been burned into his brain and he couldn’t get away from it.
Samatra300 was a gaming bimbo. She’d had a conquest already and intended to get more. He’d just been another one notch on her bedpost.
So much for all her words of supposed honor.
She’d used him. Had gotten called home before she could do it again. She intended to use more of his brethren. To fuck. Discard.
He pulled his phone out again. “I want her banned from our forum.” She’d posted the message on the general boards. They had a special board just set up for their original Clan, which he no longer wanted her to be a part of.
Baxter sighed deeply. He nodded his head and shoulders. “I can understand that. I just can’t believe… I believed her when she said she wanted to see you and talk. She didn’t say she wanted…that.”
Joel tapped in the email of his bud who was also a moderator. A buzz came up that he had another email because he was on the Internet and his phone was on.
Maybe it was some sort of retraction. Maybe it was some sort of joke. A sick one. Maybe she’d been hacked. He couldn’t imagine that it was but damn, it had to be something. This couldn’t be the Samatra300 he knew and had gotten to know even better at this convention.
He clicked over to read it. It was from HarborLights89, another gaming buddy. A woman named Madison who was attending this convention too.
Hey crosscountry500,
I saw the message from Samatra300 on the boards. I wanted to send you cyberhugs. I overheard her today at breakfast telling some guy about what a sucker you were. She’s really trashy. I’ve heard things about her on the board before. You’re not the first she’s done this to.
Anyway, I’m at the Collingswood Science Fiction Convention at the hotel if you want to meet later. You’ve been really nice to me and this sucks.
Madison aka HarborLights89
PS I’m dressed as Inara from Firefly tonight. The perfect combo to your Mal. ☺
So that was that then. Samantha had been bragging about doing him. About pulling one over on him.
He rubbed his forehead. The whole thing hurt his eyes. He’d never have believed it if he hadn’t seen it himself. He’d seen some trash posted on the Internet. This was the worst ever. Probably because it was about him.
Baxter cleared his throat. “Another message?”
“An email. From HarborLights89. She…heard some things that Samantha said.” He almost choked on her name. Her real name. He’d never be able to say Samatra300 without retching again.
Baxter shook his head. “I’m sorry, buddy. I can’t believe she pulled one over on me too.”
She’d pulled one over on them all.
“I’m going to go get ready for the ball. Answer HarborLights89.” Try to recover some dignity. Samantha had posted on the general boards. Which meant everyone kn
ew. He’d deal with banning her from their own message boards later.
He’d take great pleasure killing Samatra300. The next time he saw her in Halo 3.
Chapter Eight
Sam twisted her body around and concentrated on swinging her legs. She hit the hotel phone, but it wasn’t hard enough to knock it from the nightstand.
Dammit.
She wiggled her lips against the gag.
This was completely and totally insane.
She’d met some crazy gamers and people online in her life. HarborLights89 aka Madison was taking the cake.
And it wasn’t chocolate.
Her skin touched skin. Of course she was tied up in her own fucking hotel room not wearing a hell of a lot. Which meant when she was found, she was going to be even more embarrassed than she was at being had.
If I ever get out of here, Madison, I’m going to kick your lily ass, and not just in the video games.
She’d been an idiot.
After getting on the costume that she intended to wow Joel with, even if they didn’t make it to the costume ball, she’d gone to her room for some rest. Joel wouldn’t be back that early and she’d been tired after their night together.
When the knock had come on the door, she’d been expecting Joel to be there. Or maybe even Baxter.
She’d not been expecting Madison.
Madison had wrinkled her nose and said, “What are you wearing?”
Sam had waved a hand. “It’s for the costume thing tonight.” Not completely a lie but not completely true either. This costume was for Joel and Joel alone. She’d probably been blushing and she had been continually smoothing down components of the costume. “What can I do for you?”
Madison had sweetly smiled. “Can we talk?” She’d taken two steps forward, trying to enter the hotel room. “I think we got off on the wrong foot earlier. I’d like to make up for that.”
Sam shouldn’t have let her in. Easy to say now. But at the time, she’d thought she could handle anything the witch could toss at her. “Sure. Let me grab my things and we’ll go down…” Then she’d remembered what she’d been wearing. She’d probably blushed even more. “…Uh.”
“We’ll talk here. I’m sure you’d be more comfortable here. Wearing that, you know.” Madison’s smile had grown. There had been nothing violent in that smile. “I don’t mind talking up here. I just want to have some girl talk. You and me. So we can get past what happened earlier. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
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