Page 80 of Win My Heart

“Hmm. Okay.” It doesn’t surprise me that Wade wouldn’t want Matt spending extra time with me. He just doesn’t like him. Maybe he’s a bit jealous. I hide my smile.

“Plus, I’m bored. We don’t practice nearly as often as I thought we would.” He pouts.

I get it. He’s young, new to the team. When I was his age, all I wanted to do was game.

“We are a well-oiled machine at this point, bud. We don’t need to spend all our time practicing,” I tell him, to which he leans his head back in defeat. “But I get it. When we first started the team, it was all we did. You should consider finding a side gig. YouTube, Twitch, or if streaming is not your thing, strategy guides, game voice-overs. It will give you something to do in your downtime.”

“You make a valid point, wise one.” His smile is genuine this time. He sighs. “Got anything to eat?” He gets up and heads to my kitchen.

“That would be a negative. I’m in desperate need of going grocery shopping.”

“Alright, let’s go then.” He closes the fridge, coming out empty-handed as expected.

“Really?” I perk up.

His forehead and nose scrunches, “Uh, yeah. Why not?”

“I figured I would end up setting up a delivery for this weekend, but I’d rather just do it now. You really want to come with?”

“Yeah, I heard there’s a sale on energy drinks. Ten for ten. I need to stock up.”

I giggle. “I don’t think you need any more energy, Matt.”

He rolls his eyes playfully. “Gotta keep it real, Bern. Gotta keep it real.”

I take a minute to jot down a list of things I know I need to get. If I don’t, I’ll for sure forget something. Then we head out the door.

Nearly two hours later—because grocery shopping with Matt is utterly ridiculous—he helps me bring my groceries to my apartment. I’m not doing that again. He wanted to stop and look at everything. I shoo him away to put his new stash of Rockstars into his mini fridge. His energy is through the roof; I need some quiet. Maybe a nap. Plus, I spent most of the shopping trip looking over my shoulder, thinking someone was following me. No one was, but… I’m paranoid.

I put my groceries away, then take a few minutes to fold the reusable bags I like to use. I have them on the counter as I fold. I don’t know why, but something catches my eye. I have a bookshelf in my dining room for some knick-knacks, lots of photos, and a few books.

I zero in on it when I notice two of my photos are face down on the shelf.

That’s odd.

I walk over to the shelf and pick up the frames, righting them. Both are photos of me that were taken by professional photographers during tournaments. They’re amazing action shots of me dominating the game—full-on gamer-girl mode.

Why were they face down?

I get that it’s been a while since I dusted the place, but I would have noticed them by now if they had been like this for long. I lean back on my heels.

Something doesn’t feel right. I drag my eyes around the room, but nothing else seems out of place. I pull out my phone from my back pocket and call down to the maintenance office. I get ahold of Steve, the guy on call, and put in a request for new locks. He’s a nice guy but needs a reason as to why I’m requesting them. I give him a quick rundown without going into too much detail—having issues with an overzealous fan and keep getting the feeling my space isn’t safe. For peace of mind, I want the locks changed. Steve puts in the request and offers to add a second deadbolt. I take him up on the offer.

Fighting back a chill, I decide to go to the game room for a bit. Ugh, I’m gonna have to move if I don’t stop getting creeped out in my own space. I don’t want to move.

* * *

An hour later, I’m still the only one in the game room. It’s quiet, but I’m fine with it. I design a few new overlays for my Twitch stream, and shoot off an email to a designer about updating my branding.

I get a text, and I look at it and smile.

Wade:I’m at your door. You in the game room?

Me: Yes, sir.

Wade: Alright, be there in a second.

I finish the last overlay just as the game room door unlocks and swings open.

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