Page 64 of Fake Fae-Ancée

She wore sweatpants and a T-Shirt with "NHC’s FINEST" printed on it. She had wrestled her hair into a messy bun on top of her head. You could see she wasn’t used to having her hair long. But it still looked cute. It gave me a pang, how cute, actually.

"Do you need any help?" I asked a little sheepishly.

I had asked her exactly that ages ago when I had found her in the rec, back in base camp one night, like a million years ago.

She'd been sitting on a very battered sofa, controller in hand, slaying zombies on the screen. It had been a few weeks after the pit-incident. Her foot had healed, thanks to the skilled sorcerers in the field hospital. We hadn't been talking since, but she'd never left my spinning mind for one second.

"Do I look like I need help?" she had asked, not unfriendly, but not too eager, either.

At this time of day the rec had been almost deserted. We'd been alone.

"No," I'd said. "But it can’t hurt, either. Watch out!"

Just in time she'd decapitated the attacking zombie on the screen in a spurt of badly animated blood.

"Thanks," she had muttered and then cast me one of those looks of hers that went deep under my skin, made Bear bristle his fur and had my heart dip.

"Wanna join me?"

I blinked, back in my penthouse on my large sofa in front of the flatscreen TV.

Kai grinned and hopped next to me on the sofa, messy bun bobbing on her head.

"Pathetic display. I could beat you blindfolded," she said, gesturing toward the screen.

I snorted, trying not to think of her wearing a blindfold and nothing else.

"You’re all talk, McKenn." I switched the game into 2 player mode. "But can you actually win?"

"Let’s play." Her eyes sparkled.

And the game was on. But while we fought our way through a virtual Manhattan infested with zombies and monsters, I had some trouble focusing.

Don't think about how your gaming sessions have usually ended, back in base camp. And especially don't think about that one night.

That one night where Kai had suddenly leaned her head against my shoulder with that deep sigh.

"You're looking out for me," she had said. "Don't think I haven't noticed."

I had swallowed, not answering, clutching the controller and decapitating another zombie, petrified by her touch that was sending hot rods of confused desire through my body.

"You're hovering in the background like a ghost," she had added. "Keeping the assholes away from me."

"So?" I'd said, not daring to look at her, and then I had looked at her anyway.

Kai had leaned in closer. I had kissed her. And she let me. It was light and tentative at first. But it had grown electric and frantic within seconds.

Something had snapped shut for good, that one night. Something irrevocable and deep. The memory of our first kiss was still laser sharp, how her soft lips had yielded to mine and how she had gripped my hair, the controller dropping to the floor…

I had to mentally shake myself and focus on the now. Remember, where the game was on.

Focus, you hopeless moron.

So, Kai and I slayed our way through the zombie apocalypse. And it actually went easier as a team than in 1 player mode. We cleaned out streets, backed each other up, operated without many words. Kai saved my skin about three times by taking out a monster I hadn't seen in the blind spot with one or two well-aimed shots.

We smashed the boss in record time. When the victory fanfare sounded on the screen, Kai threw up both arms and gave me a high-five, laughing.

"Thanks," she said with a grin and sank into the sofa cushions. "That was kinda nice."

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