Page 5 of Devoted

It was dangerous information. The kind of information that sent my imagination running wild with scenarios that would never happen.

No matter how much I might want them to.

It wasn’t a lot to know about a person, but it was enough for me. Enough for my mind to greedily latch on to the serotonin I got from seeing the little green dot next to his name.

Opening my laptop, I held my breath as the game loaded. The graphics flickered across the screen before our current civilisation appeared. It was the fourth one we’d created together. The first three had turned to shit because we’d been too busy chatting to remember to actually do anything with the game.

I hadn’t commented on this, and neither had Zeke. The first time it had happened, I’d been hit by a wave of disappointment, thinking that’d be it for our conversations. It had lasted less than a heartbeat as Zeke immediately invited me to another game.

The next two had gone the same way as the first, and this one was likely to as well, but I didn’t care. I was man enough to admit it wasn’t why I was there.

I was there to talk to Zeke. It was a blissful reprieve from the loneliness that usually surrounded me.

I clicked onto the chat box, and my lips immediately curled in a grin.

Zeke was online.

A message flashed up before I could type a greeting.

Zeke

There you are

Fluttering erupted in my stomach at the idea that he’d been waiting for me. I stamped it down, refusing to let my overactive imagination build this into something it wasn’t.

Zeke

Have you been off on some crazy mission again?

I snorted, my fingers flying over the keyboard. My job as a virtual assistant and graphic artist could see me doing anything from creating covers to posting social media content. Occasionally though, I’d be asked to carry out a more…unusual request. Normally this was for one of the many romance authors who made up my client list. Whenever they messaged asking if I had time to do something, I knew it could be anything from creating a teaser for their next book to hunting down an appropriate NSFW image for a new cover.

Sometimes though, these requests went beyond that. The last time it had been to produce a set of bango cards for a panel at an event.

Yes, that’s right. Not bingo,bango. Same concept as bingo, but instead of numbers, the audience had to listen out for random kink or sexual terms the authors might say during the panel. The author in question had reported back that it had been a roaring success with readers.

I’d talked about it with Zeke and, ever since then, he made a point to ask if I’d had any other unusual requests.

Sam

Not today, just food shopping sadly

Zeke

you got Jelly Babies though, right?

My gaze caught on the bright yellow bag sat next to my keyboard. An impulse struck me, and before I could overthink it, I navigated to the game app on my phone and opened it. Aiming my camera at the sweet packet, I snapped a photo and uploaded it to our chat.

Zeke

that’s a depressingly small packet of Jelly Babies

I opened it, popping one in my mouth with a grin before responding.

Sam

best Tesco had to offer. Fucking rip off too. Cost me almost three quid

it’s because the Jelly Babies formed a union. They know they are superior to all other sweets, so demanded to be sold at a premium price.

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