He hoped this was a one-time issue, that whoever trashed her room was just a petty thief and not something more sinister, but he’d been in the protection game for far too long to not play it safe. Or was that his dick talking? He’d watched her vlog, been interested in her games and now—after meeting her—which head was he thinking with?
If Andrea were truly in danger, which was a real possibility in this post-GamerGate world, maybe he should recommend hiring the company. Pulling in one of the guys. He was just a computer geek, after all. Yeah, he ran some ops because of the connections he’d built, but he wasn’t the right guy for the job and he sure as hell had a personal interest in Andrea that weighed on his conscience.
“Thanks, everyone, for coming out.” The rest of the moderator’s speech was drowned out by cheers, clapping and the stampede of nerds to get to the next standing-room-only event.
A small crowd gathered around the tables set up on the risers for the panelists. Zain studied each in turn, from the avid fans clutching games, to the idealists who wanted to pitch a concept. There were three mean-looking twenty-somethings, but no one Zain would peg as dangerous or a threat. No one who would break into a girl’s room and trash it out of rage or a sense of purpose.
Andrea squeezed herself between the chairs and the backdrop, precariously walking the narrow ledge of room along the back of the risers. She managed to slip out of the spotlight with the kind of grace some people honed with the express purpose of melding into walls.
“You good?” he asked.
Andrea glanced up from her phone. She stared at him like he’d grown a second head or sprouted a third eye.
“You’re still here,” she blurted.
“Well, yeah.”
What the hell kind of men did she know?
Nope.
Stop that thought.
He didn’t want to know what kind of men she hung out with because then Zain would likely want to punch their lights out. He’d already discarded two email drafts to Andrea’s boss, Miranda. If things were as bad as Andrea said they were before the conference, then something should have been done about security or at least ensuring she wasn’t left on her own.
Andrea continued to stare at him without comment. Her eyes were so much bluer in person.
Zain rolled his shoulders, ready to be out of the heavy coat.
“I have some theories about who might be behind the break-in,” he said without any preamble. “I want to reach out to a couple contacts and see what I can dig up.” Andrea hadn’t retained his services, his boss would flip, but Zain couldn’t turn his back on someone in need, and that wasn’t his dick talking.
“Wow. You think it’s that serious?” Her thumbs hovered over the forgotten phone screen, her lips parted and gaze darting about the room.
“Someone broke into your hotel room, trashed it and stole your laptop.” Zain cleared his throat and shoved down the urge to comfort her. What’d happened in the room was a fluke. The way she’d looked at him, the zing of attraction, it was all in his head. She was a freaked-out woman in need of some help, and he would not take advantage of her. Even though all he could think about was her lips, the way they twisted in a wry smile. She always looked like she had some secret she wasn’t sharing, and that only made him want to know.
“That happened, didn’t it?” Her shoulders slumped. “I keep thinking, it can’t be real, you know?”
“It was wrong, and it happened. The head of security texted me that the cops have gone over everything. They left a card for you to call if you had any questions. If you change your mind and decide to go home—”
“No.” Andrea shook her head. “I can’t leave. I mean, what kind of message will it send if I run?”
“Is making a statement worth risking your life?” It was a bit of a logic jump. He didn’t know for sure if it was Andrea in danger or the intellectual property she’d had in her possession, but something about her triggered all his protective instincts. He’d rather be safe than sorry.
“It’s not that serious, is it?” Her face scrunched up, and damn if she wasn’t the most innocent thing he’d seen in an age. Zain needed to stay far, far away from her. Life had chewed him up, spit him out, and bashed the remains with a baseball bat.
“You said there were threats.” He hooked his thumbs in the ornate gear work belt circling his hips.
“To Crystal, yeah, but she always gets that kind of heat. I still can’t believe this is happening.” She covered her mouth, eyes going round. “Oh, God. The cocktail party tonight.”
“The what?”
“There’s a...a Dark Matter Games thing tonight. They own Grunge, the company I work for. Cocktails and everything. I bought a dress. I have nothing to wear except this.” Andrea buried her face in her hands.
The woman’s life might have been threatened and she was worried about a dress. It was a shift in thought Zain couldn’t hope to understand.
“Okay. Okay.” Andrea took a deep breath and held out her hands, eyes closed. “I already texted Miranda, I can stay with her. Maybe someone will have clothes I can borrow, right? That’s not unreasonable. Which leaves figuring out what to do about the mess in my room.”
“I believe housekeeping is taking care of the room, now. The manager said they would salvage what they could.”
“Great. Good. Okay.” She nodded. “Have I said thank you yet?”
“I...don’t know.”
“I really hope I’ve said it, but if not, thank you. Really. I was a crazy, babbling stranger and you’ve been really nice to me. I appreciate it.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Do you want to go to the cocktail party?” she said in a rush. “You don’t have to. It’s going to be kind of boring. Mostly game designers and marketing executives but there’s free booze and usually some neat swag, if you’re interested. No pressure to go or anything.”
Pass up the chance to hang out with a pretty girl who just happened to make video games for a living?
“Sure.”
So much for staying away from her.
“Okay. Cool. Awesome.” Andrea grinned. “So—uh—there’s like, forty-five minutes until it starts. Well, technically thirty, but you never want to show up in that first fifteen minutes because either they haven’t finished setting up and you get roped into doing that or you end up listening to the Dark Matter CEO talk and...well...I try to stay off his radar. I don’t understand a word that man says.”
“I’ve seen a few interviews.” Zain’s estimation was that the CEO had popped a few too many drugs in his early years of success, but otherwise seemed like a cool kind of guy. “Want me to walk you up to your room?”
“Uh, no. Actually, Miranda is in the lobby waiting to give me a key. How about I text you when I go up? Miranda has to be on time and usually gives me the heads up when it’s safe to arrive.”
Zain gave Andrea his cell phone number while mentally blocking out what he had to accomplish. There’d be enough time to do a little work before he met up with her and he’d still manage to change out of the stifling steampunk gear.
He quietly tailed Andrea to the lobby, keeping an eye out for anyone who showed more than a passing interest in her. The problem of being at a convention was that everyone was a potential suspect. Andrea paused to speak to a graceful, dark-haired woman that had to be Miranda. They caught a lift before Zain could get closer and were gone. He’d have to trust she would be okay with friends until they met up again.
There was a lot about the last two hours that wasn’t right.
No woman should fear for her safety at a convention. People shouldn’t get so bent out of shape over a game. And someone before him should have been concerned about Andrea’s safety.
Zain mulled over a number of angles on his way to his room. When Aegis Group took on a security detail, the first suspects to consider were the people closest to the client. Family. Employers. Lovers. Enemies. Those were the people often overlooked and who could cause th
e most harm. With Andrea, that pool included the entire convention and her co-workers.
By the time he shrugged off his Captain Hook coat, exchanged the hook prosthetic for his state-of-the-art 3D printed hand and sat down at the desk, he had an actionable list in his head. Andrea hadn’t mentioned her family at all, but he still did a quick background search on her immediate relatives before moving on to her best friend, Crystal, and their bosses.
An IM pinged, popping up on the bottom of his screen, using the Aegis internal messaging system.
Gavin: Working on vacay?
Zain minimized the box. The kid had enough on his plate without bugging Zain.
Gavin: BG checks? What’s going on?
Zain: Did the shipments arrive on time?
Gavin: Watching now. Delayed because of weather.
Gavin: BGs?
Zain: Looking into something. Later.
Andrea hadn’t asked him to do this, but she hadn’t needed to. The hotel wanted to clean and flip the room so they could make a profit, and the cops weren’t too concerned about what they saw as a crime of opportunity. People at conventions got robbed all the time. It was a peril of travel. But something about the combination of threats, the harassment, and now, the trashed room, had Zain’s warning bells going off worse than an air raid.
He’d spent long enough protecting people to have learned to listen to his gut. And his gut was telling him Andrea Clancy was in more trouble than she realized.
“How do I look?” Andrea tugged at her borrowed clothes. Jeans. A Dark Matter Games tank top. A red, plaid button-down left open to hide how her boobs were trying to bust out the sides of the tank top. And her brown leather boots. She dug her hands into her hair, trying again to shake out the kinks and waves from the buns. “My hair is a nightmare. I can’t go like this.”
“You look girl-next-door hot.” Tamara popped her sucker back in her mouth and gave Andrea a once-over. Andrea didn’t know Tamara personally, but she’d been friends with Miranda since the minute the women entered gaming. A beta tester-for-hire and online personality, Tamara was one of a short list of women people didn’t fuck around with. Probably because Tamara’s family was heavy into martial arts. Word was, Tamara often body-doubled for fight scenes in CGI games and the occasional movie. Crystal idolized her in a way that was almost cult-like.
“I’m totally under-dressed though.” Andrea frowned. She was woefully out of her league when it came to her not-date with the Steampunk Captain Hook.
“This is a good look.” Piper stepped out of the bathroom and flipped the lights. Another powerhouse, Piper was the Sound Doctor. An independent contractor no one game company could afford. The rumor was her very ears were insured.
“You have two options.” Tamara pointed her lollipop at Andrea. “One, dress like the hot, smart woman you are and be treated like a dumb piece of ass. Or two, blend in as one of the guys, and fly under the radar until you’re too valuable to be underrated, and then who cares what you look like?”
It was advice Andrea had heard before. Gaming was an industry where appearances worked against a woman, because of course she couldn’t be pretty and smart.
This sucked.
“Why are you so nervous?” Piper leaned against the opposite side of the mirror.
“Oh, just—” Andrea started at the vibration in her pocket. She pulled out her phone, the line of conversation forgotten.
Zain: Ready in 5. Lost track of time.
Oh, God...
4.
“Who is he?” Piper peered at Andrea’s phone.
“No one.” She spoke too fast, incriminating herself even though she knew better.
“Really?” A grin spread across Piper’s face. What Andrea wouldn’t give to have blonde, barrel curls like Piper’s, especially right now.
“It’s no one, really.”
“Is this no one coming tonight?” Tamara’s tone was honey sweet.
Damn it. Of course they’d all be there.
Unless she wanted to flake on Zain, she’d need to fess up to the truth.
“It’s...this guy from earlier. He was the one who handled the room situation. I invited him tonight as a thank you.”
“He’s cute, isn’t he?” Tamara grinned, transforming her sharp Asian features into something otherworldly beautiful.
Andrea didn’t have violent tendencies, but the green monster wrapping around her, taking over her carnal urges to scratch the woman’s eyes out was overwhelming. She shoved the phone back in her pocket and tugged at the tank top’s neckline.
Zain wasn’t going to pay attention to her after he met the other women. It was a sad fact of life. Andrea was friend material. Not girlfriend material. There wasn’t a guy she’d met and been attracted to who hadn’t dated any number of Andrea’s friends first. She knew how this went, and it wasn’t good for her. Zain was a hunky, hot complication she should not really invest in. But he’d been so nice...
“Someone’s blushing.” Piper chuckled. “Can’t wait to meet your hero. Sometimes I swear chivalry is dead.”
“And...” Tamara glanced at her phone. “That’s Miranda. Coast is clear. You going up with us?”
“I’m meeting Zain downstairs first.” Saying his name gave Andrea a case of the butterflies.
“Zain? I always liked ‘Z’ names. Can’t wait to meet your boyfriend.” Tamara grabbed her lanyard and hung it around her neck. “See you upstairs. Weird Girls Club unite!”
Andrea was first out of the door. If she didn’t leave now, she wasn’t going at all.
The skin between her shoulder blades prickled. She glanced over her shoulder, but the hall was empty. No ninjas or whatever, lying in wait to jump her. This whole convention experience was making her paranoid.
She caught an elevator down to the lobby, sharing the car with Sailor Moon and two Scouts that had to still be in high school. Andrea bit her lip and mentally wished them a better con than she was having.
The lobby was crowded with people roving around, headed to events, panels or running out for a bite to eat.
No Sexy Hook.
Crystal had about died on the phone when Andrea described him. And what girl wouldn’t swoon over the dark eyes and bursts of humor? He was tall, dark, sexy, and she was willing to bet, dangerous.
Way out of her league.
Andrea chewed her lip and slowly turned in a circle.
Was he standing her up? Had he gotten a better offer?
This was silly. She should go back to the room and decompress, order a pizza and do better tomorrow. But she couldn’t just leave. That was rude. Plus, the girls were expecting her now. How embarrassing would it be to show up solo?
Maybe she could just find out where he was, then wiggle her way out of tonight. She fired off a quick text and prayed he didn’t answer.
Andrea: Where r u?
The reply was almost instantaneous.
Zain: Behind you.
Andrea gasped, spun, and stared straight at a man’s chest.
“Sorry.” Zain reached out, grasping her elbow. She narrowly avoided a horrible collision with a baby stroller.
Andrea gaped at his hand. His left hand. It wasn’t a real hand...but it was.
“How cool...” She couldn’t stop staring. He—the bionic hand—released her and Zain held it up, fingers splayed, palm up. The surface was a smooth, slick gray with plastic squishy bits, but it hadn’t felt cold at all. “I’m being totally rude, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He wiggled his fingers at her. They even had nails.
“Did your arm just light up?” Or had she imagined the green and blue flashes?
“Yes.” He chuckled. “This is a prototype arm. A small startup in the UK is making these. I’m one of their field testers. This is their gaming model.” He turned his palm up and down. The lights raced up from his wrist to under his shirt sleeve every five seconds or so.
“You don’t mind?” She curled her fingers against her palms, holding back the
urge to touch him, but man, she was buzzing with questions.
“Go ahead.” He shifted closer, seemingly amused by her sense of wonder.
Andrea reached out, running her fingers over his palm and across what she assumed were some kind of sensor or pressure pad. He turned his hand over, the digits moving with a fluidity that was astounding. She’d only seen things like this in movies and games. Not in real life.
“How does it work?” She tipped her chin up and for a moment stopped breathing. When had he gotten so close? “If I’m being invasive, tell me, okay?”
“Is that your phone?”
“Shit.” Andrea hadn’t even registered the buzzing. She glanced at it and groaned. “Miranda is beckoning me.”
“Let’s go.” He gestured toward the elevators, his hand at the small of her back.
Her entire focus centered on the light pressure where their bodies connected. Warm, tingly sensations snaked through her body until her knees felt rubbery and nerves loosened her tongue.
“I guess I should hold my questions for later. Everyone is going to want to talk to you. That arm is so cool. I didn’t realize earlier that the hook was real. The guys are going to flip.” She groaned inwardly. Miranda’s friends would be all over him, and why not? He had all the ingredients for a compelling character come to life. “Are you okay with it?”
“What?”
He glanced down at her and she caught the scent of mint. The scar ended an inch or so away from his mouth, puckering the skin and giving him a perpetual, lop-sided expression. She found the lack of symmetry alluring.
Wait. She was supposed to be talking.
“People asking you about...um...”
Brain shutting down...
“My arm?” The corners of his mouth curled up.
“Yeah. Is that weird?”
“Weird is acting like nothing is wrong. Besides, the more attention this company gets, the better their chances at funding will be, and the less expensive they can make their products.”
Dangerous Games (Aegis Group, #3) Page 3