Virtual Reality

by Kitty Cox

  He dropped his face into his hands. "Me, Kate. Not my job. I'm so damned tired of everyone kissing my ass because I'm rich, ok? I'm no different than the guys you game with. I can't fire you. I'm not dumb enough to piss off Nancy, so I can't even yell at you."

  "Be like QQ," she whispered to herself before reaching over to grab her cup. Adam's eyes followed her, a hint of a smile on his lips while she took a healthy gulp, then lifted her chin. "I'm married, Adam. I'm almost divorced, and I'm not willing to give my husband anything he can use on me. You're cute, but men like you? All you want is a notch in your headboard, and I'm too old for that. Sure, it's flattering, but we both know you aren't serious."

  His smile had only grown. "That's her. So, you want me to stop flirting with you?"

  "Boosts my ego, just stop looming."

  "Why?"

  "My ex did that. It makes me feel powerless."

  He nodded once. "Then I won't do it again. What if I'm tired of notches?"

  "Then buy one of them a ring." She grabbed her cup again, but this time held onto it.

  He laughed. "You met Sophia. Think I should marry her?"

  "No!" She rolled her eyes. "What are you getting at?"

  "I want to read one of your books because I want to know a bit more about you, that's what I'm getting at. You're different. You keep me guessing, and you ace this job."

  "Yeah, so after you fuck me, how's that going to work, hm? You think you can just keep coming to work, doing your thing, and there's not going to be a little awkwardness when your next trophy walks in?"

  "Stop stereotyping me. I needed a date for a business opening that Nancy conned me into. Sophia's a model, so I figured she'd be willing to hang on my arm and go through the stupid shit I have to do. They expect me to have a date at those things, ok. I wasn't dating her."

  "She got that attached over a one nighter?"

  "Yes!" He leaned forward. "It wasn't even a whole damned night, either. I mean, stopped by one of our hotels for a few drinks at the bar - you know how it goes - so got an empty suite and was home in time to get some gaming in. Figured I'd get a scathing text, and that was it. When she showed up at my place, I made it clear that there was no 'us,' which led to the display you saved me from. That's it." He paused. "And no, I'm not going to apologize because I like to get laid."

  She didn't know why he was telling her this, but one thing stuck out. "What game?"

  "Eternal Combat, like half the world."

  "What team color?"

  He chuckled. "Um, I have a character on all three, but I prefer blue. Your turn."

  She had no idea what he meant. "For?"

  "Baring your soul. Why the hell are you so scared of me half the time, and not Nancy?"

  "You could buy my life and never notice the dip in your bank balance."

  He ran his tongue across his teeth and tilted his head in a half shrug. "Probably. So could Nancy. She's pretty rich, too, but that doesn't seem to bother you. So what is it really?"

  "But she's nice."

  He laughed, leaning back in his chair to prop his arms on the side. "No, Kate, she's not. Nancy is a pit bull. She's a bitch with a belt too. I know, she gave me enough stripes as a kid." He winked. "That's why I begged her to work for me. Took me a few years, but I knew she was the only person who could do this. She thought that being a high school dropout who had her first baby at sixteen meant she'd never get anywhere." He gestured toward her office. "I proved her wrong."

  "Nancy?" Kate gasped.

  Adam nodded. "The same one. That woman all but raised me. Thing is, when I went to make my first big investment, she was right there helping. I saved up and bought a house on the bad side of town. Just a piece of shit. Together, she and I fixed it up. Lots of elbow grease and cussing. Split the profits, and I reinvested. At nineteen, I got my first hotel, and the rest is history. Thing is, it never would have happened without her help."

  "That makes so much sense."

  "Kinda does, huh. So why are you scared of me?"

  She sighed deeply and set her cup down, leaning forward to rest her hands on her knee. "I'm not. I'm scared of what will happen if I screw up this job, ok? This is the kind of chance I didn't even dare to dream about, and now it's mine. I'm just scraping by to make it to my first check. You're paying me twice what I expected - "

  "And not half of what you're worth," he broke in. "Pay was based on your resume. It's just going to go up."

  "Yeah, unless I fuck this up. That is why I'm scared of you, Adam. Oh, it's really flattering that you like to flirt, but god forbid I actually take you up on it? My value to the company will drop quickly, just like your opinion of me. See, I know how this works. I'll play the game, but I have got to pay my bills first."

  "Let me counter that." He looked at her for permission, waited until she ducked her head, then went on. "Is it, in the world you live in, possible that a man might be interested in anything other than a good time?"

  "I'm sure it's possible, but not likely."

  He nodded, sighing deeply. "I understand. How long until your divorce is final?"

  "Two more weeks, on that Friday morning."

  He nodded. "Sell me a fucking book, Kate. One thousand dollars. It'll get you through until the first when we get paid."

  She sat up. "I'm not selling you one of my books for pity money!"

  "Then take a check. Call it a thank you for saving my ass the other day."

  "No."

  "From Nancy?"

  "No!"

  He threw his hands up. "You're not the only one that gets to be a knight in shining armor, ok? Friends, you said. Friends, Kate. To me that means something."

  Her response was cold. "I don't want you to buy my friendship."

  "Yeah? Well, money is about the only thing I've got worth anything." She heard something in his voice, something desperate. He pushed himself to his feet and paced the room, pressing his hand to his forehead. "How the fuck would you feel if the situation was reversed? If someone who'd been nice to you was in a pinch, and you had everything to help, but his pride kept him from taking it."

  She didn't have to think about it, she knew. She knew exactly how pissed she'd been when no one had stepped up to pull that woman off him, all of them amused to see their boss laid low. He could've resented her for stepping in, but he'd taken it with grace.

  "You're right," she said softly.

  "You'll let me help?" He turned, looking at her in shock.

  Kate nodded. "It's a lot of money, though. I mean, I don't need that much, and I'll pay you back." God, it hurt to admit that she needed the help.

  He rushed to the side of her chair, kneeling to look her in the eye. "It's not, and thank you. Let's me have a bit of pride back."

  "Yeah." She shrugged. "Hurts mine a bit."

  Slowly, he reached up and tugged gently at a curl that had broken free of her bun. "I really do want to read the book."

  "Why?"

  "Because I want to know what makes you tick. You're not like anyone else I've met before. Tell me, and I'll back off, but I'm entranced by you, Kate."

  Chapter 10

  That evening, Kate needed to work off some tension, she headed right for the game. Her screen flashed red as she pressed into the building, breaching the way for the rest of Paradox to follow. QQ was on her left, Ice and Knock behind them, keeping the ladies healed up.

  "Movement right," she called out.

  "Need two jets on the outside, flank," QQ ordered.

  "Can do," Fizz said, "Swish, put down the joint and come help."

  "Yeah, man. I'm on your six."

  Kate waited a moment until QQ reloaded, then pushed in that direction. She aimed, she fired, and she dropped one guy to every two QQ killed. Not bad, but she hadn't mastered the aim to get consistent headshots yet. On the upside, she felt like an asset to the outfit, not a hindrance. They'd taught her well.

  "How do you do that?" she asked. "Seriously, QQ, I'm lucky to hit the neck."

 
"Depends. I cranked my mouse sensitivity up, others turn it way down. It's all about tweaking your peripherals."

  Swish chuckled. "Incoming Corsair ad, I can tell."

  QQ giggled. "No. I like their stuff, but not everyone does. It's just sized right. Razer has a good mouse, but their keyboards are crap."

  "So, you mean just increase the settings or decrease it a bit at a time?" She watched as she shot at the next enemy. When she took aim, her mouse floated past the man's head before coming back to center. "How do I know which?"

  "Just practice," QQ admitted. "Play with it until it feels good, then make small adjustments each day. Gonna go pro, Lith?"

  She laughed. "It'd be fun, but nope. Don't really see that in my future. I'd like to be good enough, though."

  "You will be," Knock assured her. "You're already ahead of the curve, and what, a couple of weeks?"

  "If that!" She was rather proud of how fast she'd been learning. "I think the building is clear."

  "Fizz?" QQ called. "How's it look outside?"

  "Got a sniper on the roof. He's playing hide and seek."

  "Gotcha. Lith and I are gonna be the mouse. If someone has a line, counter-snipe. Otherwise, you fly boys clean him up before he takes us out."

  The ladies made their way outside, slowly working toward the capture point, when suddenly, QQ just dropped. The sniper had made a clean, one-shot kill, something that wasn't easy.

  QQ groaned into her mic. "Ok, boys. Hundred and fifty dollars in-game cash to the person who drops him. It's Mustard."

  "Fuck," Fizz said. "No wonder I can't find him."

  Kate was still on the move. "Heading to the point, gonna make it blink. He'll be watching me."

  "I got your back," Ice said. "Give me a second to get into position, and I'll take care of ya, darlin'."

  "You always do," Kate agreed. "I'm out of sight, lemme know when you're ready."

  It didn't take long before he replied. "K. I'm on the ridge above. Draw him out, keep your path varied. If anyone sees shimmer, call it."

  "It's Mustard," Swish said. "He knows better. Look for the hardest line, and that's where he'll be camped. You won't get much before he's cloaked again."

  "Ok," QQ called. "Except for Knock, Ice, and Lith, everyone recall. Let's empty this place, and let him think he won. She's got the cap going. Soon as it's blue, we're gone."

  "Cap?" Kate asked.

  "Capture," QQ corrected absentmindedly.

  The icon slowly blinked, then flashed blue, and finally turned solid blue, proclaiming who held control of it. Kate kept moving, even as she hung around the general area, but once it flipped, she paused and clicked a med pack.

  "Ok, he should bite this," she said.

  A shot rang out, a second right behind it. Kate took a hit, her character dropping to nearly dead, but the med pack had been just enough. In the upper corner of the screen was the notification Mustard < IceMan.

  "Nice," she told him.

  "Just takes a little trust," he replied.

  "Grats, Ice," QQ said. "Got a promo code for you."

  "Really?" Kate gasped. "You were serious about that?"

  Ice laughed. "Give it to Lith, QQ. She needs some cool camo."

  "You sure, bro? You got the kill."

  "She played the bait, and yeah, I'm good."

  "Lith," QQ said, "Messaging you with a code, type that into the game cash line." A private message dinged, filled with letters and numbers.

  "Seriously?" Kate couldn't believe it.

  "Yeah. EC's one of my sponsors. I get tons of them. Use it or lose it, chica. I just activated it, so it's already burned."

  She did as she was told, following the directions, then saw numbers finally appear in her game credit line. "Oh my god, thank you, QQ! I can't believe you just give that away!"

  "It's a double-edged sword," QQ warned. "Makes you addicted to the goodies, then you spend your own."

  "Yeah, but, isn't it kinda weird giving away what's basically real money?"

  QQ made a humming noise, thinking about it. "Depends. I mean, most people in EC get that I'm like the face of the game - they're one of my sponsors. Now, handing out real money? That's a whole different story."

  That caught Kate's attention. "What do you mean?" A few of the guys chuckled, most likely having heard the story before.

  "I started out a broke gamer," QQ admitted. "I mean real broke. And I had a thing about wealth and men. The two together made me twitch."

  "She means Void," Knock added.

  "I'll smack you," QQ warned him. "Thing is, he bought a few nice things for me. I mean sweet nice, like paying for my dog's vet bills. To him, it was no different than buying a friend a beer. To me? It was more like a month's wages."

  "Give her the numbers," Knock encouraged.

  QQ groaned. "K. So, my farm made like forty grand last year. Void made that much a month. My farm supported just two of us back then. He supported a game habit. So, every time he'd try to do something nice, I'd think he was trying to buy me."

  "But guys like pampering cute girls," Ice said. "So why didn't you kill me for the tequila and coffee?"

  "It's different," QQ said. "Dating customs say that if you want to get laid, you buy me drinks. The only reason I was gonna let Swish buy me coolant was the time issue, but I would have paid him back."

  "Wait." Ice was not about to let this go. "So, you expect a man to buy you drinks?"

  "No. I expect that it's going to happen. I have no issue with buying drinks for a guy I'm interested in." A man's voice spoke up in the background, but it was impossible to make out the words. "In theory, baby. Fine, then jump in TeamSpeak. No, I'm not. Yeah."

  "User has joined the channel."

  "So," a man said. "We're talking money, huh?" Kate saw he was the infamous Void people talked about.

  "QQ gave me game cash," she explained. "It kinda ended up that way."

  "Lithium, nice to hear ya. Columbus?"

  "Yep, I'm gonna be there."

  "Good," he said. "And Q's making herself sound so sweet and innocent in her version of the story. Only reason Ice got to buy her a drink was because he stuck his foot so far up his ass, he had no option. Riley made sure of it."

  "How?" Kate asked.

  Void chuckled. "Dumb ass said loser buys the drinks. She made sure he lost. He was allowed to buy coffee the next day for being cool. Pretty sure she would have cut the balls off any man that tried if it hadn't been directly tied to her kicking his ass."

  "Hey," Q whined, "I'm not that bad."

  "Yeah," Void said like it was an old debate, "you are. First time I tried to spend money on you, you ripped me a new asshole. You were busting your ass to prove that you were worth it - whatever it was - and me sweeping in with my big, ready-made paycheck pissed you off."

  "That's because men make exponentially more for doing the same job."

  "Yeah?" Void asked. "But you were raising horses, and I was second best in virtual law. Kinda like comparing a CEO to a fry cook. Trust me, once she got a sponsor, things got easier."

  "I still don't get it," Ice said. "I mean, if someone wants to spend cash, why make such a big deal out of it."

  Kate had that answer since it had happened so recently. "Because my vagina isn't for sale. We know you're trying to impress us, but we're not whores."

  "Fucking slut-shaming. Really?" Ice growled. "I've dumped plenty into my bros. I mean, Synjd, remember when your electricity got shut off?"

  "Yeah," Synjd agreed. "That was a while ago. Ex took the cash and ran. Power went out, and it was like six hundred to get it back on. Sent a message to the outfit forums that I wouldn't be on, and Ice PayPalled over the money. Never let me pay it back either."

  "QQ buys me shit all the time," Knock said, "but pretty sure that doesn't count."

  "Hey," Void hissed. "Fuck you, Knock."

  "Void too," Knock added.

  Kate couldn't help but laugh at that, but she wasn't ready to just let it go. "But really, how w
ell do you need to know someone before you blow money like that on them?"

  "Depends," Void said. "Mostly on how much cash you have. I had over a hundred grand sitting in the bank, Lith. Just not enough bills. So when QQ has a puppy that can either die or I blow a thousand bucks on it? Seriously, what's the difference between one-hundred-twenty, and a hundred-nineteen? Quake's an awesome dog, too."

  "Not what you said this morning," QQ teased.

  "He fucking licked my damned balls."

  Everyone laughed at that but Kate. She was still thinking about the check Adam had given her. "I still don't get it," she said softly.

  QQ chuckled. "Trust me, I know, but I've been on both sides. When you're broke, you feel like every dollar you have means so much. When you're rich - and I'm kinda rich now - you think about how much easier someone's life could be with a little present. I mean, I do it all the time. These guys, they got me into the pros. I figure I owe them so much. So, if I hear something, I do something. Granted, I'm also very aware of how much it sucks to feel like you owe someone."

  "Why would you owe them?" Ice asked. "I mean, if it's a freebie, then, no strings attached, right?"

  QQ thought about that for a moment. "Doesn't work like that, Ice. Change around the example, and you'd see. I mean, let's say that I asked you to breach the rooms so I can crank up my stats and not get killed. No biggie at first, right? What about the hundredth time? The thousandth? What about when your stats go to shit, and I'm bragging about mine? I'd owe you for it, even though it was a favor, right?"

  He made an appreciative noise. "Nah, I get ya. That makes sense."

  "Makes a lot of sense, actually," QQ insisted. "And when it comes to money, the deeper in the hole you are, the more daunting the idea of repaying the favor becomes."

  "Right," Ice agreed. "So, ten bucks for a coffee, no biggie. Couple hundred to fly your little brother to a convention? Life debt."

  "Exactly," Kate agreed. "It's also a good way to point out to someone that they aren't as good as you, ya know? Like saying 'hey I'm successful and you aren't.' Kinda hits the ego in two ways."

  "But that's you doing it," QQ said. "Well, depending on the giver. It's you putting that in their mouth, not the other way around. Trust me, now that I have money? It's not a big deal at all to loan someone cash for a car, or whatever."