Gamed (A Standalone Romance Novel) (Bad Boy Romance) (10 page)

"Is that why
so many people come and go from your place?" he asked.

"What?"
I put down my phone.

"Sounds like
people are in and out of here all the time. You 'training' other people?"
the officer asked.

"I did not
know it was a crime to have people over to our apartment," I said. Jasper
had a very lively social life. He could not bear to be in the apartment more
than twenty minutes on his own. He was always inviting people over for a drink,
to watch a show, or to gather and head out on the town.

The only person I
ever had over regularly was Sienna, and that had stopped nearly a year ago. She
did not have time to leave UCLA except to visit her parents and she much
preferred the interior designed surroundings of her family's home to my
bachelor pad.

"We both work
off-hours and know a lot of other people with the same work-from-home type
schedules," I said. "Jasper works with other freelancers –
logo-designers, artists,
etcetera
. I have an agent and
other industry colleagues that come here. So, yeah, people come over a
lot."

"Well, Mr.
Redd, all I can say is you should stay in town. This is not over yet," the
bald officer said. He was happy with his final word and
lead
the way out the door.

I took another
long sip of my beer and hoped that Quinn would call again.

#

After
a few minutes, I
picked up the phone to call Quinn. Then, I put it down. It wasn't like I did
not have other people to call. Other women, too. It just seemed like she was
the first one on my mind. I shook my head and moved away from the phone.

Then it rang. It
was Quinn. I picked it up on the second ring.

"Owen, are
you alright? I was driving to pick up a pizza and I think I saw cops outside of
your apartment building," she said.

I forced myself to
take a sip of beer and slow down. "Yeah, they were here, but everything is
alright."

"Seriously? Why
were there cops at your place?"

"I don't
know, someone trying to mess with me." The first explanation that came to
mind took hold. "I bet another
Dark
Flag
player got ahold of my address and thought they'd rattle me a little
bit. There's actually a tournament coming up and maybe they hope I'll
cancel."

"People do
that?" Quinn asked.

It made sense. The
players who focused on taking me down were usually very serious gamers and
hacking came easily to many people in that set. Finding my address from my IP
would not be impossible. I made a mental note to adjust my security settings
and encrypt my IP address.

I heard the front
door opening. There was one other explanation to why the cops were searching my
apartment for drugs. "Look, I
gotta
go. Everything's
fine. Maybe I'll see you in
Dark Flag
later."

I hung up on Quinn
and waited for Jasper to untangle himself from his leather messenger bag, suit
coat, and scarf. No matter what the weather was like, he always dressed like a
man out of
GQ
.

"Hey, Owen,
didn't see you there. How's my
playah
?" Jasper
asked.

"Your timing
is perfect, per usual," I said. "The police were here not too long
ago. Spent good quality time searching the place for drugs."

He dropped his bag
hard onto the floor but laughed. "Seriously? And I missed it? I've been
meaning to follow up about that proposal I sent over to the precinct."

"Yeah? I told
them about that. Right after they handed me a search warrant and went through
everything," I said.

Jasper grabbed a
beer from the refrigerator. "How long did that take them? Did they thank
us simple bachelors for making it easy on them?"

"They brought
in a K-9," I said.

Jasper took a long
time to open his beer and take a heavy gulp. "Man, what have you done to
piss off the authorities lately?"

"Who says it’s
me?" I asked.

"People love
to jump to stereotypes when I talk about my gamer roommate. You know, cheese
puffs, high octane sodas, and a shut-in in sweatpants. I could see how the cops
might jump to 'deals pot on the side.'"

"Except I
don't," I said. "I don't even smoke pot. It would be in violation of
my contracts. It'd be my career, too, you know."

"You say that
like I'm the one that's guilty," Jasper said. He leaned against the
counter and crossed his leather dress shoes. "All I'm saying is one of our
nosy neighbors probably got the idea from some movie and tipped off the police.
Gets a bit boring around here. Man, I'm sad I missed all the action."

"Me too. Especially
when the German Shepherd was very interested in the pocket of the sports coat
you lent me," I said.

"Oh?"
Jasper asked. He straightened up, then stopped himself and leaned back
casually. "Where is it? I was going to wear it out tonight. There's a
great new band over at The Alley."

"Is that your
way of telling me you're not dealing pot on the side?" I stood up and
crossed my arms, taller and wider than Jasper.

"Seriously,
man? Why would I be doing that? Things are going great for me," Jasper
said. He looked around the loft from one end to the other. "In fact, I've
been meaning to tell you I signed up with this head-hunting company. They've
got a lead on a job for me in L.A. Looks like I might be moving on soon."

"Really?"
I asked. "And this just comes up now?"

"Yeah, well,
I didn't want to jinx it. So, anyway, come out with us tonight. Help me
celebrate," Jasper said.

"No,
thanks," I said. "I think I'm going to get some fresh air. Apparently,
I need to think about getting a new roommate."

"How about
that Quinn girl you've been mentioning? Maybe she's moving back to town,"
Jasper said. "That's
gotta
be a good thing for
you."

I did not like her
name on his lips, but I uncurled my fist. He knew too much about Quinn. He also
knew everything that had happened with Sienna.

Jasper was moving
on soon, and it occurred to me that now I had the chance to do the same.

#

I
made it to the corner
before my phone rang. I pulled the car over and answered, thinking it might be
Quinn again.

"There you
are. I've left at least three messages," an impatient, fast-paced voice
said.

"Oh, sorry,
Tanner. How are you?" I asked.

My manager Tanner
Olson gave a quick sigh. "Fine, fine. I'm just checking in with you about
the tournament. You're all signed up and you're ready to roll, right?"

"Yes, I
signed up online a few days ago just like you told me to," I told him.

"And have you
gotten all the stuff from your sponsors?"

"What
stuff?" I asked. A grumble of irritation made me clear my throat. "What
have you agreed to this time, Tanner?"

"Nothing
terrible. All small logos. A t-shirt, a polar fleece hoodie, a visor," he
said quickly.

"A polar
fleece hoodie? The tournament’s in Vegas."

"Inside,"
Tanner countered.

"So how do
you explain the visor?" I asked.

"Bright stage
lights."

"I'll look
ridiculous."

"I requested
everything in black. You'll look fine. It might actually tone down that whole
underwear model thing you've got going," Tanner said. "You know half
the gaming world thinks you're a front for some 400 pound shut-in."

"Great. Always
nice talking to you," I said.

"Hey, you pay
me to tell you the truth. You know you love me. Hey, speaking of love, who's
the new ally?" Tanner asked.

"New
ally?"

"The newbie
human avatar. There's all sorts of buzz about you saving someone. You got a
girlfriend I don't know about? I hear she's not a bad player. Want her to get a
spot in the newcomers duel at the tournament? As long as she doesn't throw your
concentration," Tanner said.

"Like I said,
nice talking to you." I hung up the phone.

I realized too
late that I should have told Tanner about the police visit. He would have a
lawyer out to me within the hour. I shrugged it off. If Jasper was moving out,
then I had no need to stir things up.

The same went for
Quinn.

I should have
known that
Dark Flag
was full of a
bunch of gossips. Tanner had warned me that the better I did, the more I would
be watched. Thousands of players had log-on alerts on me. A few of my sponsors
put clips of my plays on their websites. I put down my phone. I was not ready
to see what assumptions were being made about Quinn and
I
.

I had told Jasper
I needed fresh air and it was true. I needed to clear my head. I restarted the
car and drove to the trailhead of Calico Basin Trail just outside
Summerlin
. The trails were closed after sunset, but the
parking lot was a good place for star-gazing. In high school, it was my refuge
from loud post-game parties. I used to run into Quinn there. She had loved
laying on the hood of her car and picking out constellations.

So, I should not
have been surprised when I pulled into the parking lot and spotted her. Quinn
was stretched out on the small hood of the economical little car her father had
given her and Sienna. It was perfect for commuting back and forth between L.A.
and Vegas. She sat up as my headlights swept across her and jumped to the
ground.

"Hey, don't
go. It's just me," I called out the driver's window.

Quinn stopped with
her hand on the door handle. "Owen? What are you doing here?"

"Getting some
fresh air," I said. "What did you think? That I'd be spending the
night in a jail cell?"

"Well, I know
you have all those severed heads in your freezer, so it was a safe bet,"
Quinn said.

I laughed and got
out of my car. "If only it had been that exciting. The cops were pretty
disappointed when they didn't find anything at my place."

"What were
they looking for?" she asked, leaning against the hood of her car.

"Drugs. You
know, gamer smokes pot, that whole stereotype," I said.

"That's
terrible. You know, my father's a lawyer. Maybe you should talk to him."

"About what? ‘Hey,
Mr. Thomas, you know how you think the worst of me? Well, so do the cops. What
should I do?’ I think he'd lobby for locking me up." I joined her on the
hood of her car.

"Yeah, maybe
not," Quinn said. "But you think maybe someone set you up?"

"Now that I
think about it, I should add your father to the list of possible suspects. If
you think about it, he makes perfect sense. He hates me. He has connections in
the police force, and he'd be able to get a search warrant," I said.

"As much as I
could see how that might be true, I think my father has other things on his
mind than setting you up," she said. She nudged me with her elbow. "He
never forced you and Sienna apart. He just hoped you'd drift apart
naturally."

"Yeah, well,
he got his wish," I said.

Quinn looked up at
me, her chocolate brown eyes wide in the dark. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that
Sienna and I drifted apart. You know it’s true, Quinn. It was happening all
along, but when she left for UCLA it was real."

"Every couple
goes through ups and downs," Quinn said. She inched away from me. "Long
distance is hard."

"But it
wasn't that," I said. The whole story was on the tip of my tongue. I
wanted to pull her back against me and confess it all.

"Sienna was really
busy at school, that's all. I barely saw her. She loved you, anyway,"
Quinn said.

"Sienna loved
the idea of me. The real me was a project that never quite fit her standards."

"No. When
you're dating someone, you just want them to love everything you love. That's
how it is with me and Trent."

"Wait,"
I said. My hands turned to ice. "Who's Trent?"

"My
boyfriend," Quinn said.

CHAPTER
FIVE

Quinn

I
woke up in the morning and realized just how little sleep I had gotten. Owen
had left the parking lot of the Calico Basin Trail shortly after he arrived. The
only problem was his words echoed through my head all night.

He
and Sienna had drifted apart?

I knew he was
telling the truth, I just could not believe he was telling me. There was something
so serious in his tone. I knew there was more to it, but I panicked. After so
many years of desiring Owen from afar, I was completely terrified by how close
and available he was sitting there next to me on the hood of my car.