Page 12 of Parker

Sydnee was his dearest friend, so no way he was going to fuck that up. And Jinx…

Despite knowing next to nothing about the woman, Parker had an innate feeling the intriguing woman was nothing like the others he’d met. A fact that drew him to her like a moth to a flame.

I need to find her.

“Okay, so here’s the deal.” He filled his lungs before releasing a slow exhale. “This woman…she’s different.”

“Different, how?”

This was where he expected the laughter to erupt.

“She doesn’t know who I am,” Parker finally admitted. “Not really.”

Sydnee’s dark brows arched high. “What do you mean, she doesn’t know you?”

“I mean…we’ve never met. Not in person, anyway.”

“If you’ve never met, then how—”

“We play the same MMO.”

There. He’d said it.

“MMO?”

Parker nodded. “Technically it’s an MMORPG, or massive multi-player online role-playing game. Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I’ll log onto the OG version of a game that came out like twelve years ago. That’s where I met Jinx.”

“Wait.” His childhood friend put a hand up to stop him from furthering his explanation, a tiny smirk lifting one corner of her mouth. “Let me see if I’ve got this right. You, the most successful video game designer in the world, spend your evenings playing an online game that came out over tenyearsago to pass the time?”

Parker nodded but remained silent.

“Okay…but why?”

“I don’t know.”Yes, you do.“I guess maybe because when I’m on there, I’m not Parker Collins, America’s Most Eligible Bachelor.” A pointless, shallow-as-fuck title he’d been awarded the last two years in a row. “When I’m playing that game, I can talk to people from all over the world without worrying about what I’m wearing or how my hair looks. I can joke around and have honest conversations without the fear that something I’ve said getting twisted into something ugly and plastered all over tomorrow’s top headlines.”

As if by design, a giant flash of white blinded them from the other side of the window at that exact moment. Having spotted the intrusive photographer a half-a-second before, Sydnee was already in the process of swinging her head in the opposite direction, her hand flying up to keep her face hidden as the stranger snapped the picture.

Parker wanted to hide, too. No, what hereallywanted was to jump to his feet, march outside, and beat the guy’s inconsiderate ass for trying to take Syd’s picture without her permission.

But he didn’t. Because of Jinx.

If he beat the guy’s ass, he’d most likely be arrested. Then he’d have to call his lawyer, wait for him to come to the police station to bail him out, and spend the next six weeks or more defending himself.

In court and in the press.

I can’t find Jinx if my days are tied up with a senseless lawsuit and settlement negotiations.

So with that in mind, Parker forced his lips into a smile and offered the man with the camera a casual wave from his side of the glass. After a few additional flashes, the stranger turned and left as quickly as he’d appeared.

“He’s gone.”

“Thank goodness.” Sydnee sat back up, brushing some hair from her face. “I swear, I don’t know how you deal with that on a daily basis.”

“Years of practice.” He took a larger swig of his tea, the move helping to calm his bubbling frustration.

Parker understood how the whole rich and famous game was played. Hell, he’d spent most of his adult life in the winning spot. But that kind of money…it came at a hefty cost.

The constant recognition and occasional heckling by the paparazzi…the ridiculous lies plastered across the fronts of supermarket tabloids and streaming on all the major social media platforms…

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