Condemned (Beauty And The Billionaire Geek Book 2) (7 page)

“No, a dungeon raid. Bah. We play this computer game…” he said, pulling his clothes on. I sat up in bed, covering my breasts with the sheet. Spock meowed at me and rubbed his head on my elbow. I scratched the cat’s head. I had no idea what Billy was talking about. The most experience I had with computer games was Angry Birds on my cell phone.

“You have a video game appointment?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“Precisely. It’s an MMORPG. Everyone is going to be setting up now. I can’t drive you home until after. Do you mind hanging out? You could grab the bus or a cab…”

“I’m alright, I guess. I have a magazine and some homework. I can watch or whatever.”

“I’m afraid there isn’t a lot to watch, but you’re welcome to stay.”

I pulled my clothes on and followed him upstairs as he carried his laptop under his arm. The rest of his roommates gathered around the dining room table, right outside the kitchen. There wasn’t any room for me at the table so I stood there with my backpack watching them get set up, waiting for Billy to introduce me to his friends.

“I’m Daniel, by the way,” said a guy who was equally as geeky as Billy, though not nearly as cute. Daniel reached out his pudgy hand, and I shook it.

“Hi. I’m Zoe.” I looked at Billy as he set up his computer, not noticing he had neglected to introduce me to anyone.

“That’s Maddie,” Daniel said, pointing to a tiny Asian girl in huge glasses. She waved at me awkwardly. “That’s Evan and that’s Alex.” All the boys gave me drooling stares that made me feel like they’d never seen a girl before. Which of course was obviously not true. They lived with Maddie. I knew guys like this got obsessed with girls like me but overlooked girls like Maddie who actually had anything in common with them. Their reaction made me feel even more out of place than I already did. I had no idea what an MMORPG even was. Billy hadn’t bothered to tell me. He finally acknowledged me still lingering near the table. I kind of hoped I’d get a look at this game he seemed so concerned about.

“You can sit in the living room,” he said, almost dismissively.
Great.
I pursed my lips and turned on my heel to walk to the living room. I sat on the couch and sighed, letting my backpack fall to the floor.

Billy started giving everyone directions like he was some kind of general. There was a disagreement with Daniel about something called area of effect spells.

“Billy, you have to be able to taunt the goblins off me. Raining Fire is my best damage per second spell. Nothing else will get them down as fast.”

“If you want to pull a horde of goblins onto your squishy ass, then, by all means. These goblins don’t behave like regular mobs. We need to focus fire on a single target or I can’t keep the agro. Do you understand?”

“Fine, that just means Maddie is going to out dps me.” Maddie snickered at Daniel and stuck out her tongue.

“Do we want to beat this dungeon or do we want to dominate the dps meters? Because if this is about your dps readings, go play with a target dummy. I swear to God Daniel. Don’t act like a pubescent newb.”

“Fine. I’ll focus fire.”

The conversation sounded like people speaking some other language. A language I didn’t know. I pulled a new fashion magazine out of my backpack and flipped through the pages, inspecting the clothes and the model’s poses. I liked to read fashion magazines. Even though I always dreamed of being a dancer, part of me loved the idea of being a model. So glamorous. Little did I know, modeling was actually kind of weird.

“Taunt! Taunt!” Daniel shouted at Billy.

Billy shouted back, “Focus fire! Damn it!”

Everyone mashed their keyboards and mice. I rolled my eyes. What the hell were they even doing? I slipped from the couch and tiptoed across the room to look over Billy’s shoulder. He was wielding a sword and shield on a three-dimensional, high definition avatar. We’d never had a game system growing up because we’d been poor and my mom was a hippy. We’d only had one ancient computer that never would have run something like this. I’d never seen anything like it. It was like a real time cartoon or something. It looked kind of fun.

Billy didn’t notice me standing behind him while he mashed his keys and blood flew from the little green creatures he seemed to be thrashing to death. I trudged back across the room and flopped on the couch, thoroughly bored.  I kind of wished I could play too, but they all seemed to know this other world like it was their own.

I leaned back on the couch and took out my history text book. Talk about boring. I read my stupid homework while Billy led the raid. Daniel finally started listening to Billy and it seemed to go more smoothly. When they got up from their computers, they laughed sporadically and swayed around in what must have been the nerd version of high fives.

Finally, Billy walked over and sat down next to me on the couch.

“We did it,” he had a ridiculously huge grin on his face which seemed disproportionate for the actual achievement of whatever they did in their virtual reality.

“Congratulations,” I said, not hiding the sarcasm.

“Hey, let’s go get some food. “

I pulled my backpack up from the floor and followed Billy out to the scooter. We drove down the street to a sandwich shop and went inside, ordered, and the waitress brought us our food.

I gazed out the window, out into the darkness.

“I think I’m going to ask Daniel to help me deign my website. If he’ll forgive me for the AOE thing.”

“What website?”

“I never told you?”

“No. You mentioned it kind of.”

“I can’t believe I never told you. I got an appointment with an investor already. “

“Hmm. Awesome,” I said, picking at my sandwich.

“It’s an integrative social media platform where you can get all of your favorite social media, forums, news, articles, and learn new areas of the internet you might be interested in. You can also meet new people in your area who share your interests.”

“Sounds amazing.” And it did sound amazing. I had no idea he was working on something like that. I knew he was doing something. But not
that
.

I didn’t exactly have low self-esteem, but Billy made me feel like I’d been slacking off all my life.  While I’d been waitressing for the last two years, in a small town diner, Billy had been getting a Master’s degree in computer science, building some kind of innovative social media website, and running a computer tech business all before the age of twenty-two. Not to mention he was an “epic raid leader”.

I might have technically been better looking than him by conventional standards. I mean, Billy was good looking, but he was thin and had a dorky fashion sense. I looked exactly like the textbook definition of a “hot girl”. Some people might think I was out of his league, but really, it was the other way around. What did I even have to offer this relationships besides my trophy girlfriend looks?

I knew I wasn’t nearly as smart as he was. Did he just see the pretty face and hot body? I didn’t want to be loved for my looks. I wanted to be loved for me.

“Tell me why you like me, Billy?” I it let slip from my lips. He looked at me, stunned.

“You’re perfect. You’re gorgeous. You’re determined and smart. You make things happen in your life. You’re willing to do the hard work to find your dreams. I admire that. I admire you. You also make me feel supremely confident just because you are who you are.”

“So it isn’t just my looks?”

His brows drew together, and he put his sandwich on his plate. “Why would you even suggest that?”

“You’re so much smarter than me. You’re about to get a Master’s degree, and I’m in my first year of community college. You’ve got this awesome website thing, and I’m a nude model. We aren’t exactly on the same level.” I twisted the charm bracelet on my wrist, feeling like I should give it back.

“Zoe. You worry about things that don’t matter.” He lifted his sandwich and took another bite. Maybe I was worried about nothing, but I couldn’t shake it.

When Billy drove me home, Stacy wasn’t there. I sat on my bed and did the rest of my homework. When she got back, she came into my bedroom and sat on my bed, instantly seeing my new bracelet.

“Wow, where did that come from? Did you buy that today?”

“Billy gave it to me.”

“Don’t sound so depressed about it. This is gorgeous. It looks kind of expensive,” she said grabbing my arm and twisting it to get a better look. I pulled my arm back and frowned.

“It isn’t cheap. I don’t think he makes any more money than I do modeling, but he keeps giving me things. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“What’s the problem?”

“It’s just moving so fast. I feel like he’s absorbing me or something. And the amazing sex and gifts don’t help either. It just makes me want to let him.”

“Hmm. I get it,” she said laying down on my pillow. “Have you looked into finding a dance troop?”

“I have.”

“Really, what is it?”

“Well, you probably won’t like this, but I met a girl from a burlesque troop at school today.”

“Geez, Zoe. Can’t you keep your clothes on,” she teased. I smacked her with my pillow and lay down next to her.

“The girl who invited me is really nice. I like dancing so much, it almost doesn’t matter what it is.”

“Well, that’s good. I’ve some good news of my own. I’m going full time at the gym.”

“Awesome!”

“You should find a regular job too.”

“I might. Marcus pays way better than a regular job. I’m making fifteen-hundred dollars in one day now. That was my entire month’s income back at the diner.”

“It’s hard to pass up,” she said with a sigh.

“Yes it is.”

After our date at the sandwich place, I didn’t hear from Billy for several days. I knew he had a tendency to get caught up in his work, but not hearing from him made me feel uneasy and lonely. I didn’t want to be the one to call. The entire relationship made me feel like I was falling under a spell. I didn’t want to be the desperate one who couldn’t go without talking to him for three days.

I sat by my bed staring at my phone, torn between wanting to call him to tell him to come get me and wanting to break up. In so many ways, he was just too good for me. The way he thought, the way he led, even his misplaced loyalty to his parents, made me feel inferior. Yet at the same time, all I wanted was for his radiance to reflect on me, the way the moon reflected the sun. That ridiculous sense of dependence made me hate myself and everything about my relationship with Billy.

Instead of obsessing over Billy, I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door to catch the bus from Capitol Hill to Pioneer Square. It rumbled along the road in the dim light of dusk. I was dressed in a pair of tan shorts, a tank top under a hoodie, and converse sneakers. I got off the bus in front of a popular café and walked along the busy street.

It felt good to be out in the evening, on my own. I’d been so wrapped up in Billy that I’d forgotten what it felt like to be young and free. Music spilled out of a bar and laughter filled the cobblestoned square. I found the studio and followed the stairs below ground where I knocked on a basement door.

Bea came to the door in full makeup and costume. I could hear the women talking loudly behind her and smelled the pungent scent of smoke. Bea wore a steampunk corset and a striped mini dress. Her face was painted in over-the-top baby doll makeup and her hair hug in ringlets around her shoulders. She gave me a quick hung and led me into the room.

“Wow, you look awesome!” I said as I followed her into the studio.

The rest of the troop was dressed similarly. They had different body types and it was clear that they weren’t all dancers. She introduced me to everyone, and I sat back to watch their show.

I cracked up when the plump comedian told her sex jokes. The magician was a tall woman in a cartoonish pink wig, who amazed me with her tricks. Then Bea and the dancers came out and did a routine. The other women had only been suggestive, but hadn’t taken off any clothing. Bea and the dancers did athletic, aggressive routines and stripped down to g-strings and pasties.

By the end, I was even more excited to be in the troop than before. They didn’t get all the way naked, and I had become used to nudity, working for Marcus. It wasn’t stripping. It was something else entirely.

Bea gave me their practice schedule. They usually booked gigs for a couple hundred bucks a night, since they were a new troop, and it was divided equally among the dancers. Everyone was expected to contribute to the studio rent, and I was fine with helping out.

On my way back to the bus stop, Billy finally texted me.

How are you?

I just joined a burlesque troop.

You must like taking your clothes off.

Why does everyone keep saying that?

Don’t be mad.

I’m not. It isn’t nude anyway.

Can I come watch?

Sure. If you find the time.

There was a pause and the bus pulled up in front of me. I got on and paid. A moment later, he texted back.

I’ve been really busy. Sorry I didn’t call.