Fast Connection (Cyberlove #2) (24 page)

From the corner of my eye, I saw Luke punching his finger to dial Micah’s phone number again. He put it on speaker, and this time it rang. I sat up straight.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Micah!” Luke’s voice was a sonic boom in the truck. “Where the hell are you?”

“ Um… at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston?” Micah released a faint laugh. “I know you’re gonna be pissed—”

“Pissed? I am fucking furious. What do you—”

“I’m already here so you yelling at me won’t change that,” Micah cut in. “I’m sorry for not telling you, but… I knew you wouldn’t let me go with her. And I
want
to be here. You have no idea how important this is for us!”

“Important?” Luke’s voice rose louder. “It’s just a goddamn gaming con!”

“Yes! It is a gaming con and we’re gamers and these are our people! You don’t get it because you’re not like us.” A long shuddering breath came through the speaker. “I just wanted you to know that we’re safe, and we’ll be home on Sunday afternoon.”

“Micah—”

The call ended.

“Goddamnit!” Luke slammed his hand against the steering wheel. “I can’t believe he’s pulling this shit.”

The level of stress he was emitting was strong enough to saturate my skin. I put a hand on his shoulder and tried to squeeze, but he was as unyielding as stone.

“He never would have done anything like this until he started hanging out with your sister.”

I jerked my hand away. “Luke, he’s a smart kid. He has a mind of his own.”

“He’s a sixteen-year-old boy blinded by long blond hair and a pretty face. He’d follow her into a goddamn volcano if she smiled sweet enough. Because that’s what this is all about.” Luke didn’t even look at me as he launched full speed into his rant. “He knows about her home life, and he knows she doesn’t trust anyone, and he either feels sorry for her or he feels
special
because she spends time with him.”

The defensiveness I’d tried to repress back in his bedroom returned with a vengeance. “Wow. Is that why you’re with me? You feel sorry for me? You like how I make you feel special?”

“I’m not talking about us. Don’t twist it.”

“I know you’re mad, but don’t go in insulting my sister just because you’re upset with your son.”

Luke’s fingers were so tight around the steering wheel I suspected he’d bend the damn thing.

“You’re right. It’s not her fault. I’m more concerned about how your parents handle conflict with their children.”

And here we went. “I don’t deny that my family has problems, as I fucking said like three hours ago,” I said, voice rising. “But it’s not all on them that she’s so headstrong. She’s just super independent, and she knows where she wants to be and where she doesn’t, and she calls her own shots. Yeah, not ideal for a kid when she makes… not the best decisions sometimes, but no one can
control
another person, man. That’s not how it works.” I slumped in the passenger seat. “Your kids are perfect and look at where we are—Micah ran off. And that’s not your fault either.”

“And like I said,” he said, voice like ice. “It never would have happened without her influence. And I knew the day would come where she convinced him to do something stupid.”

The truck began moving faster, whipping between lanes as Luke’s breathing sped. He was pissed. Beyond pissed. Which meant, to me, that he wasn’t seeing my point. “Maybe he’d have asked if you weren’t so overprotective. You keep those kids on lockdown, so they have to pull shit like this—”

“Now you’re telling me how to raise my kids?”

We were both crossing every line there was to cross, but there was no stopping. “Maybe if you weren’t so judgmental—”

“I’m judgmental? Don’t act like I’m sitting on my high horse with my perfect family. I know Adriana because I
was
her as a teenager, but about a hundred times worse. I was the kid all the other parents wanted their special snowflakes to stay away from. Hell, there was no sneaking when I went out because my grandfather couldn’t give two shits where I was.”

Somewhere in my mind I knew I should be feeling some sympathy, but I didn’t. “And look at all you overcame. You’re a Lifetime meets Logo movie.”

“I’m overprotective, closed off, and pretty much incapable of having normal relationships. I don’t know what kind of Lifetime that is.” I rolled my eyes, but he wasn’t done. “You know what? This entire conversation is fucking pointless because this is my fault. All of it. I was so wrapped up in you and figuring out how to involve you in my life, that I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on with Micah.” His white knuckles curled around the steering wheel. “This is why I don’t do this.”

Anger was still rushing through me like wildfire, but the burning did nothing to stop the pain of heartbreak ripping through me. “So now we’re going back to I-don’t-fuck-men-twice Luke Rawlings. Great. He was a real winner.” When he just glared straight ahead, I plowed on. “Guess this is why you used to hide behind your boxes and keep everything separate. Can’t handle criticism. Can’t handle anything without shutting me out.”

“You’re right,” he said roughly. “I can’t handle it when shit happens with my kids. And this is
exactly
the reason why I don’t involve men with my family. Shit gets complicated.”

The words were like a sucker punch. Ice swept over the heat that had begun to fuel my temper. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared straight ahead. “No problem. You won’t have to worry about it anymore once we’re back. I’ll stay out of your way.”

“Fine,” he guttered out. “That might be for the best.”

Luke

I sat on the edge of the bed while Dominic stood with his back to me, pulling his shirt on over his head. We’d reached Boston too late the night before to go to the convention center, and neither kid was answering their phones. The choice had been either to attempt sleeping in the truck or getting a hotel room before searching first thing in the morning—a decision that had not required much thought. However, our first time sharing a hotel room had been anything but sexy. Tension was fraught between us, and we’d barely spoken.

Dominic’s face was back to military-grade, an expression I hadn’t seen on him since the first time we’d fucked and I’d told him to take his sandwich to go. Our conversation in the car had gotten out of hand quickly, and looking back, I couldn’t explain my rage or what I’d said. Anything endangering my kids was a surefire way to make me homicidal.

I just hadn’t wanted Dominic to be a casualty.

The muscles in his back shifted beneath his shirt as he bent over to slip on his boots. Yesterday, I would have grabbed him and pulled him into my lap. Pressed my lips behind his ear before unzipping his jeans and shoving my hand inside as his breathing got ragged.

Today he was very obviously not in the mood to flirt or joke. He looked ready for this little trip to be over. I couldn’t agree more. I was pissed that Micah had snuck off with Adriana, but I was even more angry at myself. I’d been spending more time thinking about Dominic and less time paying attention to my kids. If I’d been more attentive, this wouldn’t have happened.

I rose to my feet. “Ready?”

“Uh-huh.” He nodded to my phone. “Did you get your ticket?”

That was another thing I was pissed about. Sinking money into a ticket so I could get into this con. “Yes. You?”

“Yep.” He strode toward the door and opened it, waving a stiff hand. “After you.”

“Dom—”

“Just forget it. I want to get this over with.”

It wasn’t a sentiment I had any desire to argue with, so I just followed him out the door.

Boston streets were a joke. Signs were non-existent and the air was filled with constant horn blasts. At least we’d had the foresight to take a cab rather than deal with parking. Still, by the time the driver dropped us off at the convention center, I had a splitting headache.

As soon as we walked inside, a female cosplayer dressed in a costume that showed a lot of leg smiled at Dominic. I glared and she turned away.

Dominic shook his head. “Seriously?”

“She was checking you out.”

“She wasn’t humping my leg. Chill out.”

That was easier said than done. “Fine. Where should we look first? This feels fucking hopeless.”

Dominic studied the schedule and map he’d grabbed on the way in. He pointed to a spot on the paper. “The Twitch panel is in five minutes. That’s the one Kai is Skyping in on.”

“Who the hell is Kai?”

“Garrett’s boyfriend, the famous streamer.”

“Oh.”

“I’m guessing they’re there. Seeing Kai was the main reason they wanted to go.”

I squinted at the map. “So, we need to go to Ballroom B on the third floor.”

“Yeah.” He pointed across the exhibit hall floor. “Elevators are there.”

We rode up with an orc and a fairy with a six-foot wingspan. I didn’t know what was going on, all I knew was that I wanted out of here as fast as goddamn possible with my kid.

When we reached the ballroom, the panel was already in session. We slipped in the doors and stood at the lone bare space along the side wall. My gaze immediately began to sweep the crowd, hoping to see my son’s afro next to a head of blond hair.

Dominic elbowed me. “That’s Kai.”

“Where?”

Dominic pointed to a large screen where a young, dark-haired guy with big blue eyes was waving at the crowd. A ripple of chatter blew through the audience immediately.

“Hi.” He fluttered slim fingers with a knee hugged to his chest. “I’m Kai.”

A couple of cameras flashed and some guy shouted, “I love you, Kai!”

Kai flushed and ducked his head, darting his eyes to something off-camera beside him. Another voice murmured something and then Kai looked back at the audience.

“Love you guys too. Sorry I can’t be there but, um, I’m just more comfortable on camera. Thanks so much to FallenCon for allowing me to participate this way.”

The kid was cute. I leaned down and whispered to Dominic, “This is your friend’s boyfriend?”

“Yeah, they met online.”

Kai pointed to someone off camera. “Say hi, Garrett.”

There were a couple of squeals as a dark-haired guy with a square jaw leaned into the camera. Fuck, he was hot. ’Course. And there was that flare of possession over Dominic in my chest. I was going to have to work on getting over that.

“Hey,” said that hot bastard Garrett. “Happy FallenCon everyone.”

I glanced at Dominic, and for the first time that day, his eyes flickered with affection. At Garrett. Not me.

I focused on the task at hand, scanning the crowd for my kid. But as the panel continued, I couldn’t spot them. The place was standing-room only. Some people were in costume and it was nearly impossible to see past all the fabric and props.

Once the question and answer session began, I was ready to tell Dominic that we could just wait outside or look elsewhere, but he pointed to a girl standing up with a microphone.

Adriana. Well, Adriana in an extremely uncharacteristic elf costume. The only times I’d seen the girl she’d been wearing jeans and black band T-shirts, but now her hair was put up in some complicated mix of braids and curls, and she wore a skimpy green and brown suede outfit with a bow strapped to her back. She even had long elf ears. I didn’t play video games, but it didn’t take much to figure out she was supposed to be an archer.

When a boy stood up next to her, my knees threatened to buckle with relief when I recognized my son’s
Fallen World Online
hoodie.

They whispered something to each other before Adriana raised the microphone to her lips. When she spoke, her voice wavered. “This question is for Kai.”

“Hi,” Kai said. “What’s your name?”

“Adriana,” she said, a smile creeping into her tone. “And this is Micah.” My son raised his hand in greeting, and Kai waved back. “Micah is my best friend. My only friend, I guess. And we met online. In your chat, to be honest.”

Kai clapped his hands. “No way! Awww. That’s so awesome.”

Adriana’s smile lit up her entire face. In that moment, she looked just like her older brother. “Sometimes it’s hard because even though we live near each other and hang out all the time—in person—people still seem to act like… what we have isn’t real. Because it started online and because we’re so different…”

Beside me, Dominic crossed his arms over his chest. I placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

Micah grabbed the microphone from her. “We were just wondering if you could talk about that since you met Garrett online. How do you deal with other people and their judgments?”

Kai’s brow furrowed and he gnawed on a fingernail before dropping his hand in his lap. “Well, it’s kinda common knowledge I don’t really
do
public.” A hand entered the frame and lightly smacked the back of his head. Kai laughed. “Okay, so I do more public than I used to. But, I’ll be honest. I don’t pay attention to the people who don’t understand. I don’t need their permission to love Garrett. We understand it and we believe in our relationship and that’s what matters.”

Adriana took back the microphone. “Well, we’re teenagers, so we do kinda need our parents to give the okay when we see each other. We’re actually here without permission.”

I scowled and Dominic sighed loudly. A couple people glanced at us, but my glare had them turning back around.

Kai cocked his head. “Well, that’s not good. How can you expect your parents to understand if you’re sneaking around behind their backs?”

Jesus, this gamer kid was now parenting my son. I felt like the ultimate failure.

“Here’s the thing,” Kai said. “Give them a chance to see you two together. How you interact and how you respect each other and treat each other. They’ll see it’s real. But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, some of the most real relationships I have are purely online. And there’s no shame in that. It’s the twenty-first century!” He snapped his fingers. “Everyone needs to catch up.”

The rest of the Q&A passed in a blur. I ignored the panelists who were saying words like “parasocial” and “online community” and focused on the pair of chairs where Micah and Adriana sat. They hadn’t seen us yet, but they were about to.