Page 6 of Off Her Game
Emma crossed her arms. Her gaze bounced between all of them. “I don’t like any of this. At all. I wish she hadn’t been there, that you hadn’t met her, Noah. She’s a person. This competition is real to her. This is how she makes money to live.” She pointed at the monitor. “That’s my sister we’re talking about manipulating. You’re putting her life on the line.”
“I get that.” Noah swallowed his compulsive need to apologize. Angry Emma scared him a bit. She could go from cold to hot in milliseconds. Emma could bulldoze a polar bear and have it begging her for forgiveness. It’s why he’d come to rely on her and respect the hell out of her. But Emma had been riding his ass since yesterday morning to find someone else for this. Gently, he said, “She’s in deep shit. The way she’s going could end like Kaleb.”
Emma breathed out a protracted sigh. “Fine. All you have to do is get her attention. She’ll mess up. You’re you, which in her world means you and Jake are the Game Lords. You’re gods. She also thinks you’re hot, Noah. Be ready for her to be bitchy, though. This is important to her. She’s a horrible loser.”
She thinks I’m hot?
Jake said, “No offense, man, you’re the smartest guy I know, but you’ll never be a player. According to Emma, Tori wants out of the illegal gaming as much as we need in. This is going to be a win-win. Remember that. All this is for show because we know the guys of the illegal world have spies everywhere. They’re always watching.”
“We need answers,” Tom said.
“Only if she agrees. We’re not forcing her into anything,” Noah confirmed, casting a glare at Tom.
“Sure.” Tom clicked his pen once more. The FBI agent would do almost anything to break this case and find the kingpin who controlled the Stadium. Coercing Tori to help ranked high on Tom’s list of must-dos. He wanted his own spy.
Noah gritted his molars and met Jake’s gaze.
Jake shrugged apology for the direction everything had taken as Noah brushed past him out of the door. Yesterday, Jake wrangled a promise from him to never again try to do things on his own. No more illegal eGaming events, even if him going had given them their first break—a contact on the inside.
As the security room door clicked shut behind Noah the willowy brunette he recognized as the hotel’s events coordinator stalked his way up the hall. What was her name? He sucked at names. He couldn’t return to the security room or duck into a nearby room. No escape.
The closer she got, the brighter her smile, and the tenser his muscles became.
“Noah. Is thereanythingI can get for you?Dofor you?” She’d stopped so close her perfume clogged his nose. Her tongue darted out to moisten her sculpted bright pink lower lip.
Was she hitting on him? Maybe she was just being nice. Fuck if he could tell. His tongue felt swollen. Sweat broke out on his back. The expected reply didn’t come. Finally, he blurted, “You’re great.”
And he walked off.
You’re great?What the hell? He’d meant to say she was doing a great job. He should turn around and fix his misstatement. Nope. He’d blunder himself into a bigger mess.
His racing heart slowed as he strolled onto the dark competition floor. He missed the adrenaline rush of competing and the anonymity of playing an avatar. Of course, he couldn’t compete today, not on the game he co-designed with Jake. He hadn’t sat in a competition chair since they started their company six years ago.
The hotel ballroom, low lit to facilitate optimum screen exposure, was a cacophony of groans and cheers from headphone-wearing finalists and excited murmurs from the audience who watched the competition on a jumbo screen. Truly humbling that he and Jake had programmed a game that captured the imagination and enthusiasm of so many. It’d hit the world two years ago and taken off like wildfire. The game offered an ever-changing world with a few static fixtures on each level and the ability for the player to do some building of structures, weapons, and stationary items. Players couldn’t get enough of it.
She’s had to work for everything she’s got. The testosterone crap she’s up against when gaming has made her cynical and hard.Emma’s words ran through his mind.
He’d recognized a kindred ambitious spirit in Tori when they met. He respected hard work. Her edges made sense once he’d discovered her to be one of the two top-ranking female players worldwide. In the jail he’d liked it when she’d looked at him with honest lust, when she didn’t know who he was. She wasn’t another girl looking for five minutes in the spotlight or a gamer looking to score so she could brag she’d fucked one of the Game Lords. Tori was none of that.
He tried to swallow his emotions but remained so conflicted he wasn’t sure how to get through what needed to be done.
This sucked.
Remember the plan.Distance yourself from all of this…her.Do it for Kaleb and the future of gaming.
Awareness slammed into him when he saw her sitting cross-legged in concentration, wearing headphones that were way to too large for her. How could he have forgotten how petite she was? In black tactical BDU–style pants with a loose graphic tee, her determination and stubbornness intrigued him. That and all the soft curves. Damn, he’d really liked her when they met in jail. Something about the jail after an hour of interrogation about why he’d been at the illegal gaming event made him vulnerable to all the feelings he usually kept sealed in an airtight container.
He could’ve told the police he was working with the FBI on the case and saved himself the stress, but he’d wanted to avoid the embarrassment of Tom or one of his FBI peons bailing him out. He hadn’t wanted Tom publicly scolding him for going to the event without approval, even though he hadn’t actually made it inside the building when the police raid started. In retrospect his decision not to reveal his FBI connection seemed stupid, but he had a life-long aversion to public humiliation.
Seeing Tori again tonight, he wanted a conversation with her instead of twisting her arm. Maybe they should trust she’d do the right thing.
What he wanted wasn’t an option. Too many things were already in play. Too many other people outvoted him.
He didn’t need feelings to get in the way of the plan. This would be a business arrangement.
He stepped up behind her screen and stared at her. Distracting her was a violation of gamer code.Don’t want to do this.
Look up.
