Page 10 of Don't Game Me
She asked, “Were you into me?”
Was she that clueless? Of course, he’d been into her. If he didn’t get out of this room right now, he was going to kiss her again. “I need to take off.”
“I’m not moving until you answer.”
He picked her up and changed positions, quickly stepping away to put a foot of air between them.
“Were you into me?” she asked again.
He yanked open the door and stepped into the safety of the doorframe. He paused to look over his shoulder. The vulnerability in her large eyes trapped him. “Yes. But I…”
“You think hard on us going together. I’ll finish what you started tonight, but if you start this again, I expect you to follow through.” She shut the door.
3
Becca blinked at the hotel room door.What just happened?
Whatever exploded between she and Jake had nothing to do with her boss’s order. Fear might’ve prompted her to push Jake to the place they’d circled for years. But the kiss had been real.
You couldn’t handle what I want.
His words circled inside her mind. Around and around.
She collapsed onto the sofa and cradled her face. Pascal’s plan led to a bad place. She’d hurt Jake and the company he’d built with her brother. Neither would forgive her. She’d never forgive herself.
She couldn’t do this.
If Pascal released the video incriminating her, the shame would destroy her family. Her brother’s company might collapse as collateral damage because of what she’d inadvertently stolen.
Survival of this weekend’s manipulations to live to next week remained her one goal. Then she could meet the elusive contact others whispered offered a viable exit option. She’d been chasing the contact to have an in-person meeting for six months—since her brother died. The moment she heard Kaleb OD’ed on heroin, she knew he’d been murdered. It’d shaken her to her core to discover Kaleb had been sucked into the same illegal eGaming hell as she—the Stadium.
Tears burned her eyes. How she missed Kaleb’s goofiness, especially his obsession with ’80s pop culture. The two of them had been close, only a year apart. Losing him had torn away a piece of her heart.
She had to get out. Few escaped once indoctrinated to the high stakes multi-player, multi-character video gaming and gambling. When videogames became a spectator sport years ago, the underworld started. As racing and other legalized gambling fell off, underworld video gaming skyrocketed into a multi-billion-dollar gambling industry. She, like other gamers, had gambled in the Stadium out of ego and lost. Debt was yet another way Symphis kept his players. According to Noah’s fiancé, Tori, who’d escaped the Stadium a mere few months ago and gone public to warn other gamers, Symphis rigged the games to make them unwinnable.
Tori almost died to get out, but she said freedom was worth it. Tori might be the one person who’d understand, but Becca didn’t see how her soon-to-become sister-in-law could help.
On her personal phone, she searched for articles on an accident involving Stuart in San Diego. Two popped up. Images of a horribly mangled car in a gulley turned her stomach. No other cars involved. Police speculated his car hydroplaned through a massive puddle caused by a faulty fire hydrant. The car ended up in a ravine.
Oh, Stuart. Sweet Stuart. She wiped her eyes.
Knock. Knock.
She jumped and stumbled toward the door.
Knock. Knock.
Maybe Jake had changed his mind. Her heart thrashed against her ribcage. She didn’t even use the peephole before she wrenched the door open.
A twenty-something brunette with a hotel name tag engraved withKimberly, Customer Relationsheld out a standard UPS mailing folder. “Special delivery.”
When Becca didn’t move to take the envelope promptly, Kimberly shook it. “You are Rebecca Harrison, aren’t you?”
Whatever the cardboard envelope contained would turn her hurting Jake and her brother from an abstract possibility into reality.
“You sure it’s for me?” Becca asked.
Kimberly rotated the envelope to read the address label. “Says ‘Rebecca Harrison’ right there. That you?”
