Page 10 of Our Final Game

Starryeyes: oh um … i have to hang with my friends but i can be on if you are…

Zero: yea … i’ll just be late but i’ll be on, promise.

Starryeyes: okie <3

Zero: night cutie

Starryeyes: niighht :)

I jump up from my chair, my face burning. He called me cutie. I’m going to fucking die right here and now. I flop down onto the bed and roll around for a bit before staring at the ceiling. I have a crush on a fucking stranger on a mmorpg game. Am I going to be one of those people who meet their husbands on the game? My laugh echoes off my bedroom walls just thinking about it. Maybe tomorrow I’ll try asking him to voice chat while we play, and maybe I can at least try to get to know him better.

I wonder what he looks like.

The way he talks to me, I can’t imagine him being anything other than hot and dreamy.

Chapter 4

Tyson

Ishould be at our last practice before the competition tonight, but here I am. Pressed under my father’s thumb like a fucking bug. His office is still just as cold and stale as it usually is. The same clock that’s been up on his wall since I was a teenager seems like it’s ticking slower than normal. Or it could be that every minute in this office, in this building, is excruciating.

Hopefully, he can make whatever the fuck he wants quick. My feet tap lightly against the marble floors. I exhale when I hear the door creaking open and the familiar footsteps making their way around to the chair behind his desk.

My eyes slide over to my father as he sits and starts going over the paperwork spread across his desk. You’d think he didn’t even know I was here with the way he hasn’t even spared me a glance.

But I’m used to it.

“Father.”

“Son.” His voice is timber and strong as ever.

“Can we please get this over with? What is it that you want from me this time?” I ask, rising from my seat, sick of the games already.

“You’re to show up to the executive meeting this coming Monday.”

“What? You know I work. You said I wouldn’t have to attend anything for a while.”

My father believes I’m his only possible answer for an heir to this shit company. Not that it’s truly shit, I just don’t want to work in IT security. I know he thinks software engineering for a video game company is way beneath us. He tells me I’m wasting—no, ruining our legacy. I’m sure he means both the way I don’t want to take over his company, a company that’s been in his family for generations, and my sexuality. But here we are; these are the cards we were both dealt, and it feels like I’m the one with the fucked up hand.

“Are you questioning me?”

“I’m not.” I cringe, my nails biting into my palms as I squeeze my balled fist. “I was just hoping you’d keep your promises. I know you still struggle with that.”

I can’t help but make things worse when it comes to my father. He just brings something out of me I wouldn’t even know was there had it not been for him. He’s the only thing that I’ve allowed to have such control over my life. And ever since my mother passed, he’s never been the same.

Almost like he died with her.

“If your mouth keeps running, I might think about permanently forgetting about your little ‘promises’. We had a deal, but things could definitely change.” He grunts, sitting back in his chair to look at me over his glasses.

“I’ll let your uncle know you’ll be busy that day.”

Yeah, cause my uncle, from my mother’s side, by the way, would love to hear from him. He hates my father almost as much as I do. But I don’t think anyone could hate him as much as I do. My uncle has been there for Max and me since my mom passed. When I was a teenager, I sometimes wished he’d taken us from my father, but I know how hard that would’ve been. Max and I are Dad’s most prized horses. He keeps both of us around for different agendas.

“Whatever, just turn Max’s card back on,” I say, my nose flaring. “He needs to eat. You can’t do shit like that while he’s away at uni.”

“Oh, that. Right.” My father chuckles. “Come prepared.”

Is all he says before dismissing me. The same way he always does, final, like what he says is fucking law. I can’t wait to get me and Max from under him. To be free from his stupid games. I’ve had a plan for a while now, and hopefully tonight will push that forward a bit quicker.