Page 27 of Off Her Game
7
Tori’s eyes adjusted to the dim light of the Stadium, tonight located in a modified basement in an old office building near Columbia’s campus. Rows of tables and already-claimed computer terminals sat in the center of the room. The only allowed light came from the blue glow of the computer screens. Players already hooked in grunted, groaned, yahooed, and cursed.
She zipped her fleece-lined hoodie to ward off the super-chilled air. Frequent air exchange helped control the smell of sweaty men and fast food, although its real purpose was to keep them awake. Her usual sense of homecoming when at a gaming event evaded her. Tonight, she wished to be back with Noah, playing for fun and not competitively. She longed to be in charge of her fate, not owned by an arrogant, power-tripping narcissist and by Noah’s FBI agent.
She fingered the button inside her hoodie pocket. If something happened here or on the commute, someone would hear. That didn’t mean whoever listened at the other end could send help in time. She was still alone in this endeavor.
“Selene.” Rand, Symphis’s first lieutenant, gave her a lewd chest scan like she was a character in a game he wished he could redesign to have bigger boobs and a smaller waist. He took a sip from his Monster. As one of only two women who competed in the Stadium she experienced constant sexual objectification. This middle-aged creep could jerk off to fantasies all he wanted. It wouldn’t get him anywhere. Her typical disgust didn’t roll off her like it did in the past.
Did he know about Symphis’s elevator threat? Her heart thrashed inside her chest.
Her stomach churned.No puking. Relax. Be yourself.
Rand adjusted his calf-length, split-leg leather coat. The new piece was probably custom made as some sort of cosplay costume. The way he flapped the edges together hinted he longed for her to comment. When she said nothing and remained unimpressed he said, “You’re on the Red Team tonight. At least you made it on time, unlike last time.”
“What’re we playing?” Good, that came out bitchy.
Rand snorted and rolled his eerie pale eyes. “Symphis texted you the schedule weeks ago. It’sUnholy Wars.”
“Great.” She fake smiled.Unholy Warswas her least favorite play, even if she was one of the top fifty scorers in the world. When it first released two years ago she’d obsessed about it, memorized maps, remembered enemy patterns, and bombed every square inch of the three cities in the game. As time passed and she mastered all the levels, it bored her.
“You on your game tonight, Selene?”
“Yep.” She liked that he didn’t call her by her real name. She wasn’t under any delusion Symphis didn’t know or couldn’t find out her real identity. Selene, in this world, kept her more detached, even if it didn’t keep her out of jail.
“If you’re betting, Xion’s handling it tonight.” He nodded toward the back. He pulled his long, thin, white-blond hair out of its ponytail and redid it. The style accentuated the disappearing widow’s peak of his receding hairline.
“Got no money to bet.” She gazed at the oversized screen at the far end of the room that showed the other cities with teams who’d be logging in to play tonight. Like a horse race, the odds for each team flashed beside their name. Bets could be called in, placed online, or in person. The Stadium had grown to involve ten cities in the past three months, which was terrifying. The FBI and Noah were right to be worried. Illegal eGaming was so much bigger than New York, not to mention those who disagreed with Symphis ended up dead.
“Oh, Selene, I heard you had an interesting date tonight,” Rand called out.
“Did I?”
“Noah Harrison. We weren’t aware you two knew each other. Your sister works for him, but we didn’t think you…”
Her heartbeat thudded between her ears. “I met him at the game in D.C. He made me mess up and lose early. The date tonight was my consolation prize.” She didn’t like the thoughtful look on Rand’s face.
He pushed his ear where a communicator plug rested. “Symphis thinks maybe you dating him could be beneficial for all of us. He offers to clear your debt if you get the key code to unlockZoneworld Warrior Two.”
“Oh, sure. That’s dinner date small talk.”
“You might have to do more than talk to get it.” His eyebrows rose as his gaze dropped down her body.
“You want me to blow him and in the middle of it go ‘Hey, can I have the key to unlock the copyrighted code toZoneworld Warrior Twoso this guy I know can hack it or sell it or do something that’s definitely not legal?’” Her eyebrows smashed together into a cynicalare you shitting melook.
“I think with your mouth on his dick he’d probably give you anything you wanted.” He stared at her mouth. “I might.”
Eww.“I’d need a second date, which isn’t certain yet.” This was a test to feel out her usefulness to them.
Rand cocked his head and ogled at her chest again. “You went up to his place tonight…”
“I’ll get back to you if we’re going out again. Symphis will clear my debt for it. Really?”
“We heard the FBI approached you in D.C.”
No use denying it if they knew the FBI talked to her, but how did they know? They probably had a mole either with the FBI or NJ Legacy. Her head throbbed.Must calm down.
“They cornered me at the competition in D.C. I told them to fuck off. I’ve landed in jail enough not to trust those conniving shitheads.”
