Page 114 of Fake Game

Sydney glares at the two of us.

Parker walks over and drops a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Don’t worry, love, I’ll be on time.”

“All of you, to your rooms. Meet me back out here in thirty to go over the schedule, otherwise I’m placing you all in tech isolation when we get back. I’m serious, we can’t get behind today.”

“What? But I’m ready,” Aleks protests.

Sydney pops her hands on her hips and speaks lowly, “Now.”

Parker puckers his lips and waits until she lets out a huff and kisses him back. I hold up my hands in surrender and turn to escape back into my room.

“Jackson,” she calls out.

I poke my head out of my door. “Yeah.”

Her storm-gray eyes lock with mine, “Don’t hurt her.”

Deer is too kind for this world, I knew that, and I’d do whatever I could to keep her safe from any harm. If we were trapped in a sinking submarine, I’d sooner give her the breath in my lungs than let her suffer.

“I won’t.”

THIRTY-ONE

DEER

“Okay, and—last one—smile!”

I throw up my peace sign, grin, and pause for the pop of flash.

“Thank you so much for waiting,” I tell the fan.

“Thanks for coming, you’re awesome.” He gives me a wave. “And you crushed the cosplay competition this morning.”

I wave back, but the second he leaves the meet and greet area, my hand drops, exhaustion wrapping around me like a blanket. But with that comes a small slice of relief because nothing has gone wrong all day. No one being touchy, grabbing where they shouldn’t, and no one claiming to be part of the Deer Hunters threatening me. I am still a little on edge, but it isn’t half as bad as yesterday. Although, that may partly be because of the killer orgasm I had this morning. I could’ve easily gone for round two in the shower if Syd hadn’t shown up.

The only issue is, even after last night’s conversation, I’m still unsure where we stand. I agreed to extend this whole fake dating situation because I was feeling greedy in the moment. I wanted more of Jackson—more of his time, more of his touch, more of his attention. But now that we’ve added orgasms to the mix, it feels like it’s gotten complicated all over again.

“Would you like us to escort you back to the green room, miss?”

One of the new security members comes to stand next to me, pulling me from my spiral. He’s the addition from the boys’ personal team, and I’m a little surprised by how young he is. I crane my eyes past him to look over at Lee’s line. I’d guess she has a solid fifty or so people to go through before being done.

“Are the boys still going?”

“One moment.” The man presses a finger to his ear and speaks softly.

As I wait, I grab my phone and blue HP energy drink. The convention staff provided it to me at the start of the event, but I’ve hardly had any time between people to take a few seconds to even rehydrate. Probably not super smart on my behalf since I skipped lunch and am feeling a little lightheaded. This photo op, paired with the cosplay competition this morning, has left me socially drained—I have no idea how I’m going to make it to the brand party tonight.

“The System are finishing up shortly.”

“Okay, I’ll head back to the green room to wait.”

It’s closer to the artist booths anyway.

The security team creates a square formation around me. They’re efficient as they guide me through the crowds, not allowing anyone to stop in our path. It kinda feels a little excessive—drawing way more attention to me than normal, and that’s saying something.

I hope Jackson will let us ditch them when we explore the show floor later; I wanted to enjoy it without all the fuss of me being, well, me. I even stashed a change of clothes in my bag to switch into so I could be more discreet.

We reach the room in record time, and I immediately make a beeline for my backpack and tug out a black hoodie and skirt. Two of the security team follow me inside while two stand guard. I’m really not used to this. I normally have one person on me at events unless I am with Lee or the boys. Then again, aftereverything, I suppose it isn’t unwarranted. Maybe I wouldn’t be in these situations if I’d upped my security ages ago.

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