Level Me Up (Gamer Boy #1)

by Lauren Helms

  She was also wearing a comfy looking tank, but I wouldn’t have wanted to see anyone else looking like I had just spent the night drinking way too much. I wanted to give her a chance to either hide in her room or change before he got here.

  “Blah. I don’t care if your man sees me at my worst. I honestly don’t want to move. I can’t move. It hurts to move. My head, my legs, too. It feels like I spent the night doing leg lunges,” she says with a groan.

  “You must have been busting moves all night,” I say with a chuckle.

  "Must have. Hey, good luck today. You will rock,” she smiles briefly.

  Just then, a knock comes at the door. With Gia’s blessing, I gave Dex the code to get in the building a couple weeks ago. I give Gia one more sidelong glance before heading to the door. I open it up and standing there are Dex and Link.

  “Hi, guys! Come on in,” I say, moving to the side as they come in.

  Dex stops on the way in and gives me a kiss. Link brushes past him, and then I see Simon step in behind him. Ekk. I didn’t know Simon was coming. Not that I care, I really like Simon. It's just that things are still a little awkward between Gia and Simon. We all hang out a lot, and while they do talk, it’s really painful to watch.

  By the time I close the door, I hear Dex say, “Morning Gia. How was your date last night?” Dex was here last night before she left on her date, but he headed home before she returned. Link walks over to the table and sits down next to her. She lifts her head and tries a smile, but it’s as if she is unable.

  She doesn’t fully turn around to face him when she says, “Too much to drink.”

  “Looks like it,” replies Link.

  From across the room comes a snort. I turn my head and see Simon trying to hide a smile. I shoot a look at Gia, and her body is ramrod straight. Uh oh.

  Quickly, I grab my purse and head to the door. “Alright,” I say, “let’s get this show on the road, boys.”

  The guys file out of the apartment, both Dex and Link offer goodbyes to Gia. I look back one last time before shutting the door to see that she is no longer at the table.

  ***

  “Ok Morgan, I have a very serious question for you,” says Link from the back seat. We’ve been in the car for forty-five minutes or so, and we are nearly at the Roberts’ house.

  “Shoot,” I say, slightly turning in my seat, settling my chin on my shoulder to look at him. “This better be a good one.” Both Simon, also in the back, and Dex laugh. Apparently in their spare time, the guys come up with the most ridiculous “would you rather” questions ever. They will talk forever about one single question and argue each point. It’s mind-boggling, but I admit, it’s pretty entertaining.

  They always include me in the discussions, but Link has taken it upon himself to ask me the strangest, most squeamish questions he can think of. Like the last one, would you rather lay in a box of snakes or have a cockroach down your shirt for the rest of your life? Yuck.

  “Would you rather Justin Timberlake die, or the Pope?” he asks with the biggest grin on his face.

  My jaw drops. “Are you serious? That is the worst question ever,” I say in shock.

  Simon turns to him laughing, “Dude, that wasn’t fair.”

  “You know the rules, Morgan. Answer it.” Link looks back at me.

  “I can’t. I can’t possibly answer that! You know I love JT, but the Pope? I…I can't…I can’t answer this.” I turn back to face the front. I know this is just a silly game, but JT is…JT, and while I’m not Catholic, it would be like asking me if I would prefer if it were the president who’d die.

  Dex grabs my hand with laughter in his eyes, but says with sympathy, “You don’t have to answer it, babe.” The way he says “babe” instantly zaps the distress from my body.

  Then Link says, “Yes, she does,” in a sing-song voice.

  I whisper to no one in particular, “Don’t make me say it.”

  They all laugh, Dex squeezes my hand. I quickly turn around in my seat again and look Link straight in the eyes.

  “You are evil, Lincoln Witt. You know how I feel about JT. If I say the Pope, I will forever be a horrible person and will for sure go to Hell. But if I say JT, then I will for sure have a panic attack at the thought of my dream husband, number one celebrity crush, and the most amazing entertainer there is and ever will be, taken from this world,” I blurt and then take in a deep, replenishing breath. I know I’m being dramatic, but it is what he is looking for, right?

  “Geez, woman,” Dex chuckles next to me.

  I keep the look of horror and distress on my face as Link huffs out, “God. You’re worse than Ruby. Please, don’t answer it. I wouldn’t want to get you all worked up.”

  Simon fights back laughter. I let my face relax and then smile sweetly. Then I turn back to face the front of the car.

  Dex murmurs, “Nicely played Lawson. Nicely played.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Morgan

  We pull into the driveway of a house smack-dab in the middle of a sub-division. The sub-division is older, so the houses each have more character: less cookie cutter and bigger yards. Dex's house has a farmhouse look but doesn't negatively stand out from the rest of the houses.

  This house reminds me of my own growing up, and just looking at it causes a tiny ping of sadness in my chest. My mom took such good care of our home, and it's evident that Mrs. Roberts does the same. This house is more than just a house; you can tell it’s a home.

  The two-story house has a big, long wrap-around porch with a glider in the corner, a set of comfy chairs and a table in the middle of the porch in front of a double pane window. The door is painted a soft purple which matches the tan siding and white painted pillars of the house perfectly. Baskets of full, beautiful flowers hang from the ceiling of the porch.

  As I unbuckle, I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. I don’t want my nerves to get the best of me. I need to get them under control before I meet his family.

  "Hey, you'll do great. My parents are pretty cool, and plus, they already like you."

  I chuckle, "How do you know?"

  "Because both Link and Bernie told them all about you," he says.

  "And I quote, ‘I already like her!’ is exactly what Joan said," Link informs me as he opens the back door and climbs out. Guess it's time for me to get out, too.

  Dex grabs my hand once again, and a sense of calm overtakes me. How can he have this kind of effect on me? I’ll think about that later, but for now, I need to focus on the task at hand. I need to not make a fool of myself. I notice as we head to the house, Link and Simon have already opened the front door, so we follow them inside. We are standing in a foyer that extends down a short hallway into what looks like a dining room. There is a set of stairs going to the second floor, and there is a small bathroom to the left. I barely have the door closed behind me when Dex is immediately greeted by a black lab. Greeted might not be the best term, more like mauled with big paws and a very wet tongue. Dex calls him Gus and laughs as he pets the dog and scratches his ears.

  From the room to the right of the stairs, a study maybe, I hear a deep, older man’s voice say, "Down, Gus. At least let them in the door!" Dex gently pushes the dog off but continues to pet him. Now in my view is an older man who looks to be in his early fifties, and I see Dex in almost all of his features. His smile is warm as he nods to Simon and Link but then continues to Dex to give him a hug.

  They embrace in a way that makes it obvious that their father and son relationship is strong.

  "Hey Dad," says Dex, as he takes a step back from the hug.

  "You must be the famous Morgan we keep hearing about," Mr. Roberts says to me with a fatherly smile.

  "I am. It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Roberts."

  "Well, welcome to our home, and please, call me Max."

  He turns towards the hall and gestures, "Come on inside."

  We walk down the short hall into the dining room, and Link and Simon have alr
eady wandered into another room. I look around for them and I have an idea where they went, but there stands a woman in the kitchen with a look of pure joy on her face. She has short brown hair and green eyes. She is petite at about 5'3” tall. She puts her dish towel on the counter and rounds the corner.

  "Morgan, I'm so happy you made it today. I’m Joan. Don't even try calling me Mrs. Roberts," she says, and instead of shaking my hand, she engulfs me in a hug.

  I don't remember the last time I was hugged by a mom. While she doesn't wear the same perfume as my own mother did, her smell reminds me of my mom. I fight back the tears that threaten my eyes. This is stupid. It's just a hug.

  "Hi. Thank you for inviting me," I say.

  She steps back and looks at me thoughtfully, almost like she still can't believe I'm here. She then looks at Dex.

  "You were right, she is beautiful," she says. This puts a smile on my face, but redness creeps up Dex's cheeks.

  "Ah, yeah, thanks, mom." He drops my hand to step in and give his mother a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

  "Well, lunch will be ready at noon, so go ahead and join the boys in the sunroom. There are snacks and some lemonade already in there.”

  We walk through the slightly darkened living room and enter the brightly lit sunroom. Three of the walls are covered in windows, and all the blinds are open. Simon and Link stand around a tall table filling small plates with cheese and crackers.

  ***

  We stayed at Dex's house for several hours after lunch. The whole visit ended up being so much more enjoyable than I expected. The lunch Mrs. Roberts prepared was fantastic. I was able to get her homemade barbecue sauce recipe, with hopes of talking Ruby into making it. I’m not a good cook.

  Dex's brother, Wade, had arrived about five minutes before we sat down to eat, and he was just as charming as his father and brother. No wonder Bernie has a crush on him. She didn’t come out and admit it the other night, but with her blushing then and my meeting him today, there is no doubt in my mind that she has a crush.

  Lunch was very entertaining, mostly because of Link and Simon. I could tell that they have been to many Roberts’ Family Dinners over the years. I could also tell that Link was like the Roberts’ third son.

  After lunch, I helped clear the table and clean the dishes. Dex tried to stay with me, but his mother shooed him off, and I was ok with that. We chatted, she asked about my job, and I told her about Ruby and Gia. She shared some embarrassing stories about Dex growing up, which I will definitely use against him at some point.

  It was very easy to talk to Joan, she was a mother through and through, and there was no doubt in my mind that she would care about anyone the moment they stepped foot in her door. It was even easy to tell her about my mom when she asked me about my parents. She listened to me talk about my mom, and I surprisingly didn't feel the need to cry.

  At the end of the conversation, sitting at the island in the kitchen, she leaned over and gave me a hug. "Thank you for telling me about your mom, Morgan. She sounded like an amazing woman, and I know she would be proud of the way her daughter turned out."

  Well, that made me tear up, but I held them back and said, "Thank you for saying that."

  She cleared her throat and stated that we should be getting back to the boys, as it was only a matter of time before Dex would come to steal me away. We made our way back into the sunroom and joined them. The rest of the afternoon was spent talking and laughing. It ended up being a great day.

  The car ride home was much like the ride there. Simon, Link, and Dex filled the car with entertaining chatter. Instead of taking me back to my apartment, I just went home with Dex. Spending the night with him really isn’t anything new. We just hang out in the living room with Link and Simon, the three of them getting in a few rounds of Call of Battle while I read a book in the chair.

  “Hey, I have to go to work tomorrow, so I’m gonna go to bed,” I say to Dex closing my Kindle.

  He shoots me a quick grin and says, “Ok guys, this is my last round.” Then says to me, “I’ll be in in five minutes.”

  I walk to his room and close the door behind me. I head to the bathroom and wash my face and brush my teeth. I keep a travel toothbrush in my purse, because really, it is too soon to be keeping stuff at this apartment. Ruby will swing by in the morning to pick me up for work, but I knew I was going to be staying here tonight, so I brought everything I need to get ready in the morning. As I walk out of his bathroom into the bedroom, Dex is pulling out a t-shirt from his dresser.

  He tosses it to me, and I catch it. He gives me a kiss as he heads to the bathroom. I change into the shirt. It smells like Dex, and I love it. I want to take it home with me so I can smell him later when I’m alone. Will he think it is creepy if I just shove it in my purse when I change in the morning? Maybe I could find a way to get him to leave a shirt at my place.

  I snuggle into his bed and get comfy. He comes out of the bathroom and says, “You better not be asleep already.”

  “Nope. Not yet, but close.”

  “Hmmm. You’ve said that before.”

  I giggle. “Yeah, Ok, Dex.” And he gets into bed next to me.

  “So, you want a tutoring lesson tonight?” he asks as he places his hand on my hip. We lay facing each other.

  “Hmmm. It’s really late.” I lay there with my eyes closed, but with a small smile on my face.

  “So.” His hand slides down my hip to my outer thigh.

  “I’m exhausted.” I clamp my eyes shut even more. I know what he is doing. I start to feel tingles at my core when his hand doesn’t end where it started back over the shirt but under it. He moves closer to me so our noses are almost touching.

  “Babe, I don’t think you’re that tired.” The only thing I can do is let out a little whine when his fingertips start to tease the soft skin of my inner thigh.

  “But I guess you’re right. It probably is too late.” My eyes fly open and give him a daring look. He’s teased me enough to know there is no way I can go to sleep now.

  A deep, low chuckle is his reply as his fingers gently slide beneath the top of my panties and skim my skin, leaving warm tingles in their wake. I close the small gap between us, kissing him fiercely. That is all the invitation his fingers need to dive even further down my panties to find my center, resulting in me not having another coherent thought.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Morgan

  It has been several days since I met Dex’s parents, and while the weekend was fantastic, I’m starting to feel a little anxious. Dex and the team flew out for a tournament yesterday morning. They aren’t due back for another three days. I really hate it when he travels. At least, he has made an effort to contact me more this time. He has texted me several times and called a few. Definitely progress.

  I can’t knock this sense of being left behind. I despise the feeling. I hate that when he is gone. I miss him. I miss him so much that it makes me uneasy. Why the heck should I be this dependent on a guy? And this soon? It’s utterly ridiculous.

  If I’m this dependent on him now, what would happen if he were to break up with me? The thought lingers. If he breaks up with me…

  When he breaks up with me.

  I shake myself out of the broken record that’s playing in my head. What the hell makes me think he’s going to break up with me? I push the thought away and try to focus on the book I’m reading.

  Thirty minutes later, I don’t think I even read two pages. I know I’ve read the same paragraph at least three times now. So, I pull up the Facebook app on my phone. There’s nothing a good ol’ Facebook stalking session can’t fix.

  I start looking through my newsfeed, then move on to people I know well and then people I haven’t spoken to in ages. A good chunk of time later, just as I go back to my newsfeed, a photo pops up on the page. My stomach drops.

  It’s a picture of Dex in the middle of two really attractive women. One arm hangs to his side and the other wraps behind the back of the
girl who is…kissing him.

  Ok, she is kissing his cheek, but still. Dex and the other girl are smiling for the camera, and I can tell that the kisser is super happy with what she is doing. Why are random girls, fans or not, kissing my boyfriend?

  “GIA!” I yell from my room.

  “What?” she yells back from the living room.

  “Facebook. Now.”

  What seems like long minutes pass in silence. My bedroom door slowly pushes open, and Gia is standing there with her phone in her hand.

  “I can almost bet, that it is not what it looks like,” she tells me.

  “What does it look like to you?”

  “It looks like a fan that just caught him off guard and kissed him as the picture was taken.”

  “I don’t think it’s a fan. They are friends on Facebook. She tagged him.”

  “Well…” she looks at her phone, at the photo and doesn’t finish her thought.

  “Is Dex cheating on me? Do you think this happens all the time when he leaves? Oh my God. It’s happening again, isn’t it?”

  “Ok Mo, slow down. One, you have no idea what actually happened before or after this photo was taken, and two, I highly doubt that Dex is cheating on you.”

  Tears fill my eyes as I stare at the stupid photo. I am at a loss for words.

  “You know; you could just call him. Or text him,” Gia offers.

  Still staring hard at the photo, I set my phone down with more force than necessary and hastily wipe away the rogue tears from my face.

  “It’s fine. You’re right. Probably a misunderstanding,” I say. I stand up and walk to the door. “I’m just gonna go to bed,” I say, and I start to close the door on Gia.

  “Hey, wait a second. Don’t shut me out. Do we need to talk about this? Do you want to me sit with you while you call him?” she asks, with concern etched all over her face.

  “No, I’m fine. I just want to go to bed. I will talk to Dex in the morning. Night.” I offer a forced smile and close the door.