Page 363 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 1
"It's okay," I said.
"And Zach, why are you attacking him?" Tavon asked.
Zach shrugged. "Just trying to figure him out." He was looking at me. "Gauging his reactions to different things."
"Zach, I asked you to drop it..." my voice trailed off when James came back over. He had a beer in his hand and a waiter was following him with a tray of drinks.
"I opened up a tab for the table," James said as he sat down. He immediately draped his arm back around my shoulders.
"Thanks, man," Tavon said. "So what made you get into tech in the first place?"
"Honestly, it was forced on me."
Everyone laughed. I looked up at James. I had never asked him that question and I was curious about the rest of his answer.
"I liked reading in my free time. And my parents hated that. They put a computer in my room and kept giving me games to play on it until I finally got interested."
"You do realize that's the opposite problem all our parents had with us, right?" Sierra asked.
James laughed. "I think they knew there was an opportunity for advancement there. Whereas being an author wasn't something they wanted for me. My older sister was already interested in literature. And they were right. The opportunities in this field are endless."
"So you originally wanted to be an author?" Sierra asked.
James shrugged. "No. I don't know. I was young. I didn't really know what I wanted to be."
I bit my lip. He was never allowed to dream about what he wanted to be. His parents had decided that for him early on.
"Did you play any sports growing up?" Tavon asked.
"Some. Never for very long. I always went back to tech."
"So, were you like a nerd in school?" Sierra asked. "I can't picture that at all."
"I'm still a nerd," James said.
"You are definitely not nerdy looking," replied Sierra.
James laughed awkwardly and turned away from her. "What about you, Tavon? Did you play sports?"
"Soccer. Second team all-conference my last two years in high school."
"My little brother was good at soccer too. I used to love going to his games," James said.
I took a sip of the beer that the waiter had handed me. I knew that Rob had played soccer growing up. He liked to brag about how awesome he was.
"You like beer?" Zach asked me.
I turned toward him. "I'm used to hanging out with the guys."
He smiled. "I pegged you for only drinking girly drinks."
"You pegged me wrong."
"And what about you, Zach?" James asked, cutting our conversation short. "Any sports growing up?"
"I ran track."
"Do you still run a lot?"
