Page 51 of Off Her Game
Once her clothes were happily spinning in warmth he faced her and waited.
“He called me while I was on the subway home.” She scrolled through her phone to bring up the “unknown” incoming call as proof.
“What’d he want?”
“He used something to modify his voice, made it robotic sounding. He was mad the FBI was at NJ Legacy this morning. Said I forced him to teach me a lesson. He wiped all of Emma’s accounts.” If she was a crying sort of girl, she’d have moist eyes, but she wasn’t.
“None of this is your fault, Tori. You have to remember that.” He pulled her into him again for a hug. “Tell me you understand that. He’s a psychopath who’s using you. He’s manipulating you.”
She nodded. Understanding didn’t change the fact Noah near her put him at risk.
He held her against his chest. “We gave you the code free of security for the first few levels. That’s something.”
“It’s not enough.” She rocked her head back and forth. “Nothing will ever be enough. I can’t do this, Noah. I can’t.”
“You’re not alone. I’m with you in this. I take responsibility for myself, for putting my life in danger.”
She liked the idea of the security he offered, even though it wasn’t something he could guarantee. “Emma said I should give you my phone. That’s why I’m here. Tom can do whatever he can to trace the call, but I’m not sure there’s much that can be done.”
“I don’t know that they need your phone for that.”
He’d hold her all night to confirm she was fine if she’d allow him, but that stepped over the line, didn’t it? If only he could take away her fear, even though she seemed to realize safety was an illusion with this predator.
“You could stay for a while, if you want. Maybe you can show me the game you designed.”
Him seeing her game kept this in safe waters, somewhat professional. That was bullshit. Him reviewing her game was about as personal as it got. Like looking into a programmer’s soul.
She stepped out of his embrace and chewed her lower lip. “I don’t have it with me, but…”
He’d been made aware they’d acquired her game this afternoon when the team leader reviewing Conjur’s backlist saw her name and recognized it. Nothing like a dedicated team who worked even on weekends.
“You found it in Conjur’s inventory, didn’t you?” she asked. “They purchased it ten days ago and hadn’t even discussed with me their plans for it.”
“I found out today. You could’ve told me.”
“Emma wanted to tell you, but I told her not to. To the world, we’re dating. It’d look like I slept my way into you being interested in it. That’s not me. Did you already see it?”
He shook his head.
“You can access it from here?” She glanced at his TV.
He nodded.
She rolled her eyes with a sigh. “Fine. Let me show it to you, but let me explain it a bit before we turn it on. I designed a RPG game with charactersfemalegamers might like to see in a game. That being said, it’s not some sort of feminist propaganda. I just wanted to take the misogyny out of the avatars, plot, and goals.”
“Not all gamers or game programmers are sexist pigs.” He hooked a laptop into his gaming system.
“I know, but sometimes during programming the sexual stereotypes are assumed. Unfortunately, the sexist gamers can be pretty loud. I’ve been called a bitch whore and much worse more times in chatrooms and on different social medial platforms than I care to remember. I probably should’ve chosen a more gender neutral gaming name than Selene, but, damn it, I don’t want to pretend I’m not female like other gamers do. Game developers, being that they’re usually men, habitually make the female characters have big boobs and little waists or walk with swaggers or have their midriff exposed. In the non-gamer real world it’s the quiet women in glasses who’re the most dangerous. So, why not make those avatars the most deadly?”
“Interesting.” They needed more women on the development team. They’d discussed this a few weeks ago because they were sensitive to the issue of gender bias as an industry norm. They didn’t want to promote it anymore, but, as she said, sometimes the programming happened unintentionally. Intuition urged him to remain neutral while she talked. He booted up the game and grabbed each of them a controller.
“The problem isn’t just with the games. The industry is dominated by men, especially the ones who control gaming media. They bias what gets attention. There’s a problem with the culture. It’s this pervasive idea that white, straight men are the primary audience. No offense.”
He shrugged, but deep down he did take offense to it. He tried to not be like that. Apparently, they weren’t doing it right. This wasn’t really news to him, not after Gamergate happened a few years ago, when harassed women in all aspects of the gaming world came forward to speak out about the issue.
She continued, “The past few years the hottest games target a very specific male subset of the population. Anyway, this is one of my hot buttons. Sorry. Stepping off my high horse now.” She pointed at the screen as the homepage popped up. “My game isn’t virtual reality, but I think it’s fun. I’ll walk you through the first level. You ready?”
Sometime later he glanced at his watch. “Two hours? I didn’t even feel it go by.”
