Play: a virtual reality romance: Manhattan Lux Book 2

by Olivia Devon

  But the rest of the world was another matter entirely. She was supposed to call Aaron this morning. He’d have to settle for a text instead.

  Grabbing her coffee and her phone she headed back to the bedroom, texting Aaron a quick message.

  Still sick, she wrote. No voice, so I can’t call. But I already know about that tabloid photo. Don’t worry. :) I bet you’re sleeping in after last night. Text me later?

  She figured the tabloid wasn’t the only reason he wanted to talk to her, but the urgency in his texts suggested it was on his mind. Which was nice, he was looking out for her, cared about her feelings–

  Game Hour’s opening music started and Katie settled back on the bed with Rupert and her coffee. Rupert kneaded around in her lap until she criss-crossed her legs, then he settled into the space and propped his chin on his paws as if watching along with her.

  As soon as the music stopped, she knew this episode was going to be a good one. Breaking News flashed across the screen, and the hosts forwent their usual banter, diving right into a story about HyperLyfe.

  “Surprising developments this morning,” said the male host. “CEO Aaron Eldridge of Eldridge Innovations, the parent company of Virtual Reality MMO HyperLyfe, appears to have a virtual mess on his hands.”

  “That’s right Jim,” said the female host. “Looks like Celestia, one of HyperLyfe’s most popular in world game destinations might be jumping ship. A document leaked to us last night suggests that ZumZum Games is in talks with Celestia’s creator to port the game out of HyperLyfe, and make it available on competitor’s platforms.”

  “What?” Katie croaked. “That’s not true!” She jerked and a splash of coffee hit Rupert on the nose. He meowed in protest and swiped at her as she reached for the remote to turn up the volume.

  The host continued. “But Game Hour has learned that EI is actively attempting to block the sale to ZumZum, in order to prevent what would potentially be a huge loss of traffic and revenue for HyperLyfe.”

  “But there’s turmoil at EI over the matter,” said the female host. “Insiders have alleged that Eldridge is allowing his complicated personal life threaten the stability of his company and the future of HyperLyfe, the company’s biggest game property. Sources suggest that the CEO’s personal relationship with Celestia’s creator is to blame.”

  “The fuck?” Katie whispered as Rupert nudged her hand.

  “Game Hour isn’t a gossip show,” said the female. “But since these details are an integral part of the story, we decided to share them with our viewers and let you decide.”

  A photo popped up on the screen, and Katie groaned out loud. It was the tabloid shot of her and Aaron in Lux, the one Steven had goaded her with.

  Katie’s phone buzzed with an incoming text and she checked her screen while the hosts explained the theories behind the photo.

  Aiko: Turn on Game Hour. Now.

  Already watching, Katie texted back. WTF?

  “That’s Eldridge in the popular New York City nightclub, Lux,” said the male host.

  “Well nightclub isn’t entirely accurate Jim,” said the female. “Lux is a well-known sex club that caters to prurient appetites and an elite clientele. While Eldridge’s camp hasn’t confirmed it’s him in the photos, our viewers should know he has little motivation to do so, since the woman he’s seen with in the photo is obviously not his current girlfriend, supermodel Carly Carpenter.”

  “That’s correct, Jill, and here’s where things get really sticky. Sources who have reached out to Game Hour suggest that the woman in the photo is, in fact, the HyperLyfe gamer that goes by the handle Catalina Celestina, the creator of Celestia.”

  “So Jim,” said the female reporter, holding up her hands. “Help me out here, because we’re going back and forth in this story, between the virtual world and the real world. It’s confusing.”

  “It is,” agreed Jim. “Which is why we did a little digging. Turns out, the real world identity behind Catalina Celestina is…”

  Katie’s stomach rolled, her hand shook and she set her coffee on her nightstand then began texting furiously.

  What the fuck is happening right now Aik? This is insane!!!!!

  “…Katie Martinez,” continued the male host. “A game designer who was fired a few years back from Galaxus Games.”

  Fired‽

  She wanted to puke.

  “Sources have confirmed to Game Hour that Eldridge has been having an affair with Martinez for some time now, and that it’s this relationship that is corrupting the CEO’s historically good judgment.”

  More photos flashed on the screen. A photo of her in a bikini on vacation, one under the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center. Those photos had been uploaded by her mother to share with her family. The realization made her feel sick all over again. They stalked her mother’s social media for photos to hang her out to dry! What kind of bastards?

  Another photo flashed on the screen and Katie tried to scream out her anger but her raw throat wasn’t cooperating.

  The guy in the bodega, he hadn’t been a weirdo or a street artist, he’d been paparazzi, and the photo he took of Katie was hands down the most hideous thing she’d ever seen in her life. Red nose and watery eyes, dressed in her rattiest clothes and yelling angrily at the cameraman. She barely recognized herself.

  “I don’t know about that last one Jill,” the male host snickered. “I think I prefer the bikini shot.”

  Katie threw the remote on the bed, and Rupert jumped away in indignation.

  “Well it’s not your shitty photo on the TV!” she shout-whispered when he meowed resentfully.

  The video chat on her laptop chimed. It was Aiko, so Katie answered, then pointed to her throat when Aiko’s face appeared.

  “Lost my voice,” she whispered.

  “Shit. Okay I’ll do the talking,” said Aiko. “Don’t bother watching the rest of that show, those two are morons, and marketing just pulled all our advertising.”

  Katie nodded.

  “The story is wack and hard to follow, mainly because it’s bullshit, and whoever is behind all this has another agenda.”

  “Which is?” Katie croaked.

  “We’re on that now Kit Kat, I promise. I’ll let you know what I find out. In the meantime, rest, and don’t talk to the press.”

  “How can they do this?” Katie swallowed and tried to whisper loud enough for Aiko to hear. She was really pushing things now, her throat was on fire from the strain of talking. “How can they just make up all these lies like this?”

  “Well it’s not lies is it? I mean it’s just the spin that’s crap.”

  “But it is.” Katie wrinkled her nose. “I’ve never heard of ZumZum Games. I’m not in talks with anyone, and Aaron wouldn’t try to block–”

  “Um.” Aiko winced and frowned. “I think you better talk to Aaron. He bought ZumZum about an hour ago.”

  Aaron hadn’t slept all night. There was an urgent message waiting for him when his celebrity stream in HyperLyfe ended. Gwen’s contact at ZumZum had been found out, and the owner had panicked and caused a shit-storm.

  As it turned out, ZumZum was just two twenty-something siblings in Illinois who’d wanted to start a gaming company and got their uncle, a car dealership owner, to put up the capital. One of the siblings had been Gwen’s leak, and the Uncle had been none too pleased.

  Aaron had to fly out in the middle of the night to shake the guy’s hand and convince him that there had been no grand conspiracy to steal his company and make him a fool.

  Even though there sort of had been.

  The siblings, Corinna and Joe Zumowski, wanted out from under their uncle’s iron rule. The guy was nice enough, but had no knowledge of the gaming industry. So sister and brother had conspired to attract a buyer.

  While Aaron wasn’t pleased he and Gwen had been manipulated, he had to admit that the Zums had real talent, and would be an invaluable part of EI. So, after an hour of reassuring the Uncle he didn’t
want to buy the company…he made an offer to buy the company.

  To his surprise, the guy accepted. Handshakes were exchanged, lawyers called, and all that was left was to sign the paperwork next week.

  Aaron boarded his company’s private jet back to New York, desperately in need of a nap. But before he could sleep, there was one more urgent matter in need of addressing.

  Katie.

  Flopping into a plush leather seat, he waved off his attendant, popped up the video conference screen on his side table, and rang Katie.

  She felt sick. And no, not because of the flu, but because she was disgusted. With the media. With Aaron. But most of all, with herself.

  How could she have been so stupid?

  There’d been a company interested in her work, in her ideas, and Aaron had swooped in and put a stop to it. Bought them out before they could even approach her. He hadn’t trusted her to talk to him, to give EI a chance to counter the offer, he’d just taken it away before she even knew it existed.

  Her laptop rang with another video chat request.

  Her cursor hovered over the accept button for a moment. Six rings. Seven. Finally she hit accept, voice only, no video. She really couldn’t bear for Aaron to see her right now.

  “Katie?” His voice sounded tinny and distant, his dress shirt was unbuttoned a little and he looked tired. Still gorgeous, the bastard, but tired. “Sorry,” he said, running a hand through his messy hair. “I’m on the plane, looks like we have a shaky connection. I don’t have any video for you.”

  “I turned it off,” she said, her voice strained and hoarse. “I’m sick. I look like shit.”

  “Oh I doubt that,” he said, his eyes crinkling with his smile. “I can’t imagine that’s even possible.”

  “Then you didn’t see today’s Game Hour.”

  “I saw the segment on EI,” he said. “Aiko forwarded me the video. That’s partly why I’m calling.”

  Katie didn’t respond, just picked at some cat hair on her comforter.

  “Hey I’m on my way back to the city,” he said. “Can I stop by and see you? I…” he cleared his throat and she saw him swallow, heard hesitation in his voice, and knew it for what it was. Regret.

  “I haven’t seen you since Lux,” he said. “And so much has happened since then. I really think we should talk. In person ya know?”

  Well that was it, wasn’t it? They met. They fucked. He stole her business opportunity and now he wanted a chance to smooth it over, try to come off as good guy before he broke her heart.

  He probably had some stupid explanation like how it was all for her own good, and really things would work out better this way, and honestly it’s just business, don’t take it personally.

  No. Her work was personal, it was everything, and if he couldn’t see that, didn’t get that, well then there was nothing to talk about.

  Katie laughed, one rueful scoff, that quickly turned into a coughing fit.

  “I’m sick,” she said again. “And I’ve got no voice–”

  “If you’re worried about me getting your flu,” he said. “I don’t care. This is more important.”

  “Aaron,” she croaked, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. “I literally can not talk to you right now.”

  She hit the hang up button, and ended the call.

  Rupert came over for a cuddle and Katie gathered him up, rubbing tear stained cheeks against his fur.

  Her cell phone buzzed against the comforter, and she flipped it over with one hand.

  Aaron: When you can talk, call me. Or text, that’s great too. But please, Katie.

  But please Katie? But please…what?

  Pushing Rupert off her lap she started to text back, her fingers flying over the keyboard. But then she stopped.

  There was so much to say, but really, none of it mattered. So what was the point?

  Deleting what she’d written, she replaced it with a thumbs up emoji, and hit send.

  Thumbs up? Aaron squinted at his cellphone. Well shit, that wasn’t good.

  Katie hadn’t said a lot in their conversation, but she hadn’t needed to. He could sense she was upset. Could read her well enough, even after a few days, that he knew she was putting up the defenses and shutting him out. He couldn’t say he blamed her.

  They’d shared a lot, in a really short amount of time, and it had been intense. The past few days, he’d felt like he was free-falling, unsure of where this thing was headed, but completely willing to hang on for the ride.

  Problem with wild rides was, they frequently crashed. And here he was, in the same place he’d been time after time, in relationship after relationship. He should’ve put her first, instead of business. Should’ve woken her up the morning after their night at Lux and kissed her, held her, made plans to see her that night, instead of writing a note and sneaking out to his meetings.

  Truth was, he’d been scared. Because when he’d woken up next to her, seen that lovely face relaxed and peaceful in sleep, delicate fingers laying on his chest, he couldn’t imagine anything sweeter than waking up to that same picture every morning.

  It was fucking terrifying. Because he was pretty sure he this free fall was gonna land with him in love. And love had never really worked out for him before. Why should it now?

  Chapter Twenty

  It had been days, and Aaron still hadn’t heard from Katie. He’d seen her avatar popping up online, but she hadn’t sent him any messages. He hadn’t tried to contact her since that last text he sent. The thumbs up had seemed pretty clear –Don’t call me, I’ll call you.

  He had to fend off fans in-world who asked when she’d be co-hosting streams with him again. There were thousands of comments on the HyperLyfe blog, all asking for Catalina Celestina. The press had tried to paint her poorly, but the fans knew better. The day after the Game Hour segment, there were dozens of blogs posts online defending Katie Martinez, acknowledging her part in the history of Galaxus Games, and calling out the media for slut-shaming.

  That last part made Aaron cringe. While he agreed that slut-shaming was bullshit, he figured Katie would’ve preferred no speculation about her private life at all.

  “Oh my god,” Aiko whined as her purple bug avatar buzzed through the window of Aaron’s castle. “You and Katie are literally the most annoying people I know right now.”

  “Aik, get out of here,” said Aaron. “I’ve got an interview in a few minutes, and I’m not interested in your relationship advice.”

  “Got to have a relationship to get advice about it,” Aiko said with a sniff. “And you two fucked that up,” she mumbled.

  “I can’t make her talk to me,” he said. “And if I can’t talk to her I can’t explain.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Aiko’s avatar hovered in his castle window, tiny hands on purple hips.

  “I know she’s mad,” said Aaron. “But Jesus Christ, she told me herself not to let our personal relationship get in the way of running my business.”

  “Riiiggghhht.” Aiko’s avatar morphed, changed into a life-like replica of her real life self, complete with irritated facial expression. “First, she told you that before you two had sex. When that happened, the limits changed, and you guys should’ve renegotiated.”

  “Can’t do that without talking,” said Aaron.

  “Two.” Aiko ignored him and held up two fingers. “When you bought ZumZum, you basically backed her into a corner.”

  “What? How?”

  “Well now, her opportunity to port out Celestia is gone.”

  “No it’s not.”

  “Okay, then if it’s still there, since EI owns ZumZum, the deal would go through you.”

  “Well yeah.”

  “And that doesn’t strike you as a development that could come off as controlling, manipulative, or at the very least high-handed?”

  Aaron didn’t respond. An alert popped up on his display telling him it was time for his interview, but he dismissed it, telling his assistant to give him another minut
e.

  “Okay,” he said after a moment. “I see your point. Especially considering her history with Galaxus, that had to be…unsettling. But again, I can’t make this right if she won’t even talk to me.”

  “True, and when we talk to her we’re going to berate her as well.”

  “We?”

  Katie’s mom had shown up three days ago. She hadn’t needed Aiko’s call to know that her baby was hurting. Barbara Martinez knew when her girl was sick with more than just the flu. Poor thing was heartsick, and weary, and going to places in her head that she hadn’t visited since she’d been in that awful accident. Since that boy had nearly broken her.

  After that accident, Barb had been wary when Katie began spending so much time in HyperLyfe. She’d worried it was unhealthy, a way to escape the real life. Then one evening she’d joined Katie in world, and Barbarella69 was born. She never looked back.

  HyperLyfe had been a way for Barb to spend time with her daughter when they lived so far apart. It had expanded her social circle, which, as a widowed retiree, seemed to keep getting smaller in the real world. In HyperLyfe Barb had friends from all over the world, and her non-hearing status was never a barrier. A text-to-speech simulator Katie had bought for her let Barb type whatever she wanted, while her avatar spoke the words.

  She kind of wished she had one of those gadgets right now. She’d been arguing with Katie for the last hour, and getting nowhere. When her stubborn daughter finally buried her head in her pillow, Barb stomped on the floor to get Katie’s attention.

  “Not fair,” she signed when Katie lifted her head. “Don’t do that!”

  “I’m sorry,” Katie signed back. “But I’m done talking about this, Mom. I’m not calling him.”

  “You’re scared,” Barb signed. “All relationships have issues, give him a chance.”

  “I’m done.” Katie’s lips moved and she held up her hands.