by Rene Folsom
Nerves built up inside me at the thought of spilling my guts to her so soon.
“Whoever loses has to tell the other a secret. Something no one else knows,” she said, a worrisome look in her eyes. Yeah, she had a pretty big secret hiding in there somewhere, and I damn sure wanted to find out what it was.
Well, this was intriguing. Since I wanted to know all her secrets, I didn’t hesitate anymore to accept. Plus, I knew I could risk having to tell my secret with the simple possibility I could learn hers. It wasn’t like she had a chance in hell of winning tonight anyway.
“I’m up for the challenge, but keep in mind, we’re playing what I brought with me tonight,” I said as I watched her get up from the stool she was sitting on and slowly make her way over to me. Her body moved like that of a serpent, tempting me to eat from the tree of knowledge. I watched, enraptured, as she slithered toward me, her breasts pressing against the thin fabric of her tank, perking up with the slight contact. Her curves were mesmerizing, and I itched to reach out and touch every inch of her.
“Challenge accepted,” she whispered, grabbing my ass and pressing her body to mine. “Bring it on.” Her kiss consumed me. Every little thing she did had me completely hypnotized. I knew I was already in trouble before we even began playing. I was sure as shit she’d find some way to distract me, my instincts as a male totally at war with the competitive side of me. I never thought I’d choose a woman over gaming, yet now, I was beginning to wonder just how strong I could be around this woman. She so easily brought me to my knees with the simplest of touches. Hell, even her eyes had me bowing down like a slave to her soul.
Just as I started to close the distance between our lips once more, she pulled away and grabbed her beer, saying, “But first, we drink!” I laughed as she downed the rest of her bottle of beer. Such a tease. “You’re still babying your first, and I’m already opening my third. Do we seriously need to make drinking a competition too or are you just worried the alcohol will make you lose that much easier?”
In response to her heckling, I tipped my bottle up and gulped down the last of it, the alcohol burning my throat slightly as I hissed an inhale of breath. “I got this, princess.”
After more drinking and ingesting a shit load of MSG, we made our way over to her living room, my fingers immediately beginning to unearth the Specter headsets with careful consideration.
“This is a new prototype nZone is working on. I was thinking you and I could test it out tonight. I’m hoping to get your feedback on it—you know, so I can write off this whole night as a business expense and all that jazz,” I explained, setting each prototype on the table in front of me as I spoke.
I was just joking, but she seemed to take me seriously, her eyes becoming as wide as saucers as she stared at the headsets on her coffee table. Holding her breath, she continued to stare, obviously shocked about something. Was she pissed at my comment about business expenses?
“I’m sorry, Maci. I didn’t mean it,” I said honestly. “I was just thinking you’d love to see what we’re working on. I didn’t mean it about you being an expense, honest,” I blubbered, trying to recover and get her to respond. I wasn’t used to being careful with my words around women, the need to impress them nonexistent… until now. “You okay?”
Suddenly, she snapped out of her trance, her eyes all watery, like I’d hurt her somehow.
Shit.
“I’m fine,” she said, shaking her head and looking everywhere but at my face. “I’m fine. I just… just give me a minute.”
I watched her retreating form as she disappeared around the corner of the hallway again, confusion filling me to my core with how odd she was acting.
Chapter Seven
Maci: Ass Whooping
“Oh, God,” I whispered, leaning on the counter in the bathroom, trying to breathe. “Fuck,” I whispered again. He brought them. I couldn’t believe he brought them.
I was determined not to bow down to Big Jim’s ruthless need to blackmail me. After seeing Liam tonight, I was sure I wouldn’t go through with it, needing to be with him more than I needed to make my career survive.
Fuck my career—Liam was way more important. I knew that. At least, I was confident about that until he showed up with those damn Specter headsets. Now the possibility was thrown right into my lap. I could easily use my charm to keep them, even long enough to hand them over to Big Jim and be rid of his evil ways.
A hole in my heart tore me to shreds at just the thought of betraying Liam like that.
God, what kind of person had I become to even consider such a thing? Even using the term person was stretching it. If I was going to consider such a horrible act, I obviously didn’t deserve him, didn’t even have a heart, didn’t even deserve to breathe the same air.
I was despicable, through and through. Even thinking of stealing from him, throwing all he’d worked hard for out the window, brought me right down to Big Jim’s level. I was worse than despicable—I was becoming the man I hated more than anything else in the world.
I could feel tears begin to bubble up at just the thought. I was surely going to lose the bet tonight. There was no way in hell I was going to be able to keep my cool during this whole thing, knowing all it would take is sweet words to do the unthinkable and save my career.
Looking in the mirror, I examined my face, willing the glossy look of tears to go away so I could focus on just having a good time with my boyfriend. I needed to put that fat, filthy man out of my mind, at least for the next few hours, just so I could enjoy my time with Liam.
Hell, he deserved at least that—deserved to have a girlfriend who didn’t run at the mere thought of a challenge.
My eyes looked puffy, and I idly wondered if playing sick would be the wise choice. Then Liam would leave with his equipment, and I wouldn’t have the chance to fuck up the good thing we had. Yet, I was weak—too weak to send him away.
Taking several deep breaths, I forced myself to build up the courage to go out there and kick his ass in this game. No matter what, I had to put on my game face and make this happen. He’d know something was up as soon as I showed even a little bit of weakness.
My heart thrummed in my chest as I took each step toward the living room, my breath getting stuck in my throat at the sight of him plugging what looked like a little black box into my console.
“Hey, wuss. You seriously chickening out on me?” he asked while inserting a disk into the console and backing up. I guessed the look on my face didn’t fool anyone, because concern crossed his expression. “Maci, are you okay?”
I plastered a fake smile on my face, determined to make the best of my situation. Love was like war, remember? “I’m fine, the beer just got to me, and I had to run to the bathroom again. Breaking the seal sucks,” I joked, feigning the alcohol as my crutch.
“Well, that sucks for you, because you won’t get any mercy breaks from me tonight. This is war,” he said, holding his hand out, the small headset hanging from his fingers, taunting me to take it like a child being bribed with candy.
War. Of course he had to choose that word. The man was way more perceptive than I gave him credit for.
“No need to have mercy on me—you’re the one who will be begging by the time I’m done with you,” I said, putting my game face on and psyching myself up for a stellar fight.
“Ha! You wish. Okay, this new prototype is nZone’s first attempt at virtual reality,” he explained as he helped me adjust the headset to fit my smaller frame. “You’re going to use your own controller, but the headset will be your sight and sound from here on out.”
“So this is why you weren’t too worried about my setup—sneaky,” I said, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
I could no longer see him as he slipped the headset over my eyes and inched closer, whispering in my ear. “We could’ve been playing from a little ten-inch tube television and I still would’ve enjoyed every minute.”
The feel of his breath against my skin sent a
whole new thrill of goose bumps across my skin. God, he was going to do everything in his power to distract me during this little battle.
“And you’d probably be whining every minute, using the size as an excuse like all men do,” I retorted back, needing to have the upper hand. Considering he was experienced with these contraptions and I wasn’t should’ve had him throwing me a goddamn bone. But no, he was pulling out all the stops as he placed his lips just beneath my ear, his soft kisses driving me wild as I stood there in nothing but a tank top and panties.
“Ooh, trash talk is already starting,” he said with a chuckle. “Well, here’s your controller. We’ll be able to see and hear each other once I get the disk loaded.”
I just nodded, standing still and hoping he could see me. Without warning, my top was yanked down and a soft, warm mouth covered my nipple, making me gasp at the onslaught of sensations coursing through me in that moment. It was like being blindfolded and shackled to the bed, unsure of what was coming next. He sure took this competition thing seriously.
“Pulling out all the stops, huh, Mr. Allen? Are you really that worried I’ll kick your ass at your own game again?”
“Again? I won last time, remember?” he mumbled against my nipple. Christ, I was going to lose my mind if he didn’t stop torturing me.
“Only because I let you like a fool. You won’t get the best of me this time,” I said, pulling away from his mouth and covering myself up again, hoping I was driving him wild with my scanty attire.
“We’ll see, princess,” he said, obvious humor in his voice, that princess nickname getting on my nerves each and every time he used it. I was no one’s dainty princess.
Within seconds, I could see the nZone logo flashing across my vision, the three dimensional imagery stunning me to silence. The sound of the logo swishing away from my sight surrounded me, as if I were wearing a fancy set of headphones with amazing sound. I couldn’t see or hear where Liam was, but I could feel his heat next to me. I wanted to reach out and touch him, my confidence lingering just out of touch at the thought I was so out of control with my surroundings.
“Relax, Maci. You’ll love it once it starts,” his disembodied voice said, these headsets obviously equipped with microphones so we could hear one another. His voice still made my stomach flip, even through the sound of a new apparatus such as these.
“I’m fine. Let’s get started already,” I said, just as the screen came up for us to choose our characters.
I couldn’t help but smile so hard that my cheeks began to hurt. I was already liking this.
*****
Less than an hour later, we were both duking it out, our characters battling with weapons that looked quite a bit like light sabers from Star Wars.
“What do you think so far?” Liam asked as his avatar ducked my most recent blow, my shield blocking his returning stab.
“The graphics could use some work, and there’s a bit too much lag between my movements and the character’s reaction, but overall, this is money.”
“Yeah, we’re still working on the response time between controller to character. The 3D graphics are quite a bit of a challenge in that regard. But, I think the development team is on the right track. It goes out to our in-house testers in a few weeks.”
“They’re gonna have a ball with this shit, Liam. Really, this is amazing,” I said, huffing as my body reacted to the virtual blow from his light sword.
Without another word, I finished him, my character catching him off guard and slicing him from head to groin, blood spattering my vision in vivid detail before the word WINNER was smeared through his blood across the screen.
“Damn!” he cursed. “Fucking shit!”
“Hey now. You’re corrupting my innocent ears with your vulgarity… loser!” I joked, relieving myself of the headset and finding a defeated Liam still standing there, dumbfounded I kicked his ass at his own game.
With a huff, he ripped the Specter headset from his eyes and tossed it on the couch, his poor sportsmanship showing through the pretty face. I suddenly felt a little bad for the pitiful schmuck. I knew men had an issue with being whooped like a redheaded stepchild by women, but you would’ve thought I just broke his heart with the look on his face.
Before I could filter my thoughts, I started to panic. What if he left angry tonight? What if he left upset and the only response I had was to betray him? I should’ve let him win, even though my secret was leaps and bounds above what he had to offer, I was sure.
“I’m sorry, Liam,” I said, approaching him cautiously, lightly touching his bicep with my fingertips. “You don’t have to tell me anything. All that matters is we had fun tonight. That’s all that’s important to me anyway.”
“Don’t lie,” he said, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “You know damn well you like kicking my ass.” His smile told me everything was okay, and he was somewhat over the whopping I held over him tonight.
“Okay, I admit, I really get a kick out of besting you at your own game. But really, I don’t do it to upset you. Promise.” Even though I was being honest, I could feel the treachery in my voice. I had knowledge that I was a deceitful little excuse for a girlfriend, and that emotion could not be hidden from even the most truthful of words.
Grabbing the back of my neck, he pulled me to him and gave me a hug. “That was a damn good game. I might need a written report from you so the developers can up their game before it’s released to testers.”
I smiled uncomfortably against his neck, patting his back to console him, for only I knew how much he wouldn’t want anything written from me in due time. Regardless of whether I decided to take the Specter or tell him my secret, either one was likely to make him run.
“You staying the night?” I asked, feeling the distance form between us by the moment. I needed to take a mental note to stop beating him… yet letting anyone win was beyond my very nature as a gamer.
“I wish I could,” he said, placing a small kiss on my nose and sending a whole new thrill through my body at his tenderness. “But I really do have work to get back to. Plus, the developers are going to need the Specters back by morning.”
“Bummer.” His hands on my ass had me a bit distracted as he tried to pull away. Instead, I yanked him closer, the feel of his muscles molding with my body. “I really wish you could stay.” Part of me was being honest—the other part needed time to think. After all, if he stayed, it would likely be that much harder to take the prototypes. I wanted it to be difficult—to be impossible—so that I wouldn’t have the slightest chance to fuck this up.
“I’m sorry. I really want to, really I do. But I know damn well I’ll never get any sleep around you,” he said, devouring my mouth in a scorching kiss before abruptly pulling away, as if to separate himself from a nightmare he couldn’t seem to wake up from. “Could you pack up the Specter equipment, including the disk, into that case? I need to splash my boots before I head out.”
“Sure,” I said, nodding toward the guest bathroom that was down the hall, watching him walk away from me. Normally, I’d laugh at his silly ways of saying things, like taking a piss wasn’t an acceptable way of saying it, but my mood was suddenly plummeting at the realization I had a decision to make.
Chapter Eight
Liam: Enigma
“You look like you got laid,” Thad said as soon as he saw me exit the elevator. Yeah, I took the elevator this morning, my heart freaking the fuck out the entire way. But damn it, I didn’t have the energy to take the stairs, my body still lethargic from spending so much energy on both sex and gaming with Maci the night before.
“And?” I prompted, carrying the hard-sided case with the Specter headsets to the development room.
“And I’m just glad. You seem to be less of a grump now that you’re getting some,” he said with honesty, following me with a huff in his voice. The dude really needed to get his ass off a couch and get some exercise.
“Well, you should try it some time. Sex does
the body good.” I regretted what I said as soon as it popped out of my mouth. Thad didn’t like to be reminded that he was a virgin.
“I’m trying, dude, and you know it.” He huffed behind me, his short legs having trouble keeping up with my stride. “What are you doing?” he asked as I entered the development room and started toward the back storage area.
“Returning the Specter headsets. I tested them last night at home,” I said, reaching into my pocket to fish out my set of work keys. Considering I was carrying a hard, black case with the nZone logo plastered on the side should’ve given him a little hint as to what I was up to.
“You weren’t home most of the night.” His subtle way of stating the obvious was starting to get on my nerves. But I knew this was just how he was, so I tried my best to keep my cool.
Whirling on him, I looked him in the eye and asked, “And how do you know that?”
“‘Cause I stopped by to see if you’d want to kill some of that pent-up energy by playing some fighting games, but you weren’t around and you didn’t answer your cell.” Now I really felt bad, because the guy was just trying to make his friend feel better and I ignored him. But damn it if he wasn’t draining sometimes when I would tell him I was busy doing something else.
Unlocking the door to the storage area, I said, “Just because I didn’t answer the door or my cell doesn’t mean I wasn’t home.”
“Yeah, I get it. You were with her,” he said, a pause coming right after a twinge of sorrow from his tone. I could tell he was struggling with the fact I was spending so much time with someone other than him, but I also knew he’d have to get over it. She was in my life now, and that was just a fact he’d have to deal with. “How’d she like them?”
Signing my name back in and setting the case down on the shelf, I looked at my friend and wondered how much I wanted to torture him with my happiness. There was only so much he could take by living vicariously through me before he’d burst of need for himself.