Page 22 of Meet Mason, the Billionaire

“In that much of a hurry to lose, are we?”

“Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you.”

Again we played, and we both won a point and were down to our last guys when my arms started giving out.

That’s when I played dirty. Again. I suddenly shoved him with my shoulder. Mason was a lot taller and stronger than me, but he hadn’t been expecting the blow, and he stumbled away from the console.

“You dirty—!” He howled with laughter as I killed his last guy and thrust my hands into the air.

“Yes! Victory is sweet.”

“You cheated!” He sputtered in mock indignation. The truth was he was smiling ear to ear.

“There’s only one rule for playing retro video games, Mason.”

“What’s that?”

“Win if you can… lose if you must, but always, ALWAYS cheat.”

I jabbed my finger at the lobby. “Now go dance the funky chicken in front of our friends.”

“Your friends, you mean.”

“Oh, Mason, if you can’t tell they’re your friends now too, you really haven’t been paying attention. How Weird adores you.”

Mason was a good sport. Even when I went and convinced the pimple-faced teen running the PA system to play the actual funky chicken song, Mason just laughed even harder at himself.

I stared at him, dancing his heart out for the amusement of my friends, and realized something.

He’s special. Not just another pretty face. Not just some rich jerkoff. Mason has, well—

My grandpa would say he had character.

That was it, I decided. Mason had character. He WAS a bit of a character, too.

But that was just a bonus.

Chapter Ten

Mason

I sat down at the table, amid lots of laughter, and dabbed my sweating forehead with a handkerchief.

“That was the best rendition of the funky chicken dance I’ve ever seen,” Junebug asserted.

“You know, I could incorporate the funky chicken into my next Cycle,” Howard added, his eyes agleam.

“You’re a good sport, Mason,” Golga said with a sigh. “Megan’s a lucky girl.”

“No, I’m a lucky guy,” I said quickly as Megan seated herself beside me.

“You were awesome.” She kissed me on the cheek, and I cocked an eyebrow at her.

“You realize there are still tokens left, right?”

“Oh?” She chuckled. “Well, what are you getting at?”

“I’m just saying you can’t let this go without at least giving me a chance to gain some measure of vengeance, right?”

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