Fireworks: A Holiday Bad Boy Romance (35 page)

She must have
heard my heavy sigh. "Owen? How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough
to be impressed with your use of the frost sword," I said.

Quinn paused the
game. "Yeah, right. An expert like you. I probably did one hundred things
wrong back in that glen."

"Well, there
is a secret passage in one of the trees, but you were a little busy with that
ogre." I slipped onto the couch next to her.

"Is it wrong
that all I wanted to do all day was escape down here?" Quinn asked.

I resisted the
urge to brush her chestnut curls off her bare shoulder. "I don't think
anyone would judge you for that. It’s surreal up there."

"All the
almost crying but not actually, because women don't want their mascara to run.
All the cheery stories about Sienna, even from people who called her the b-word
to her face," Quinn said. "Perfect pictures, perfect flowers, perfect
conversations – I'm not sure I'd call that reality."

"Sienna would
have loved it."

Quinn gave a short
laugh that ended on a jagged sigh. "She would be so mad about me hiding
out here. I should be trolling the guests for a good date."

"'I don't
need a date; we're good,'" I quoted her.

"Every time
Sienna caught us down here playing video games." Quinn gave a ghost of a
smile.

"You know, I
was being honest. You're getting pretty good," I said. I picked up the
second controller and tossed it between my hands.

"You don't
need to lie to me," she said.

"And you look
beautiful in that dress and your hair looks great long," I said. I nudged
her with my shoulder. "Now can I compliment your playing or should I keep
going about you?"

Quinn never
believed me when I told her she was beautiful. It had almost turned into a
game. I wondered if she heard compliments so rarely that she never knew what to
do. Sienna got the compliments, the praise, and the bragging stories from their
parents.

I told myself it
was good for Quinn. Really, it was just a way to say what was on my mind. I
would have gone crazy if I could not have told her somehow.

"Compared to
you, I'm just stumbling around
Dark Flag
,"
Quinn said.

"On great
legs," I said. It took a moment before I could tear my eyes off them.

"Oh, shut up,
Owen. Tell me where that secret passage is. I'm heading back to the glen."

I slumped back on
the couch and started the second controller. Within seconds, my avatar was with
her in the glen. "I'll fend off the ogre, you look for the secret passage.
I'm not just giving away secrets for free."

"Oh my God,
where are all these people coming from?" Quinn asked. Multiple players
appeared on the screen.

"My clan. I
rallied some of the best players I ran across and we've made a good team,"
I said.

"Yeah, I read
about you. Nice cover shot," Quinn said. "No pimples, extra weight,
or worm-like pallor. You're changing the face of gaming."

"Hey, I'm not
taking a compliment if you can't," I said.

"It sounded
like the journalist was smitten," Quinn nudged me with her elbow.
"She described you as having the shoulders and muscle tone of Captain
America and the skills of an extreme gamer."

"At least
someone noticed."

"Looks like a
lot of people have noticed. I've never played with a clan before. So, are you a
professional gamer now?" Quinn asked.

"I entered a
few tournaments last year and did really well, got a couple of sponsors. Now
that the article came out, I got bigger sponsors. It’s enough to live on,"
I said.

"That's
amazing, Owen. Congratulations," she said. She paused her player and
kissed my cheek.

I let the warmth
melt some of the tension in my stomach. It was the first time I had actually
said it out loud. My parents knew I was doing just fine. My roommate knew I
paid all the bills. Still, I had not admitted to anyone but Quinn that I was
now a professional gamer.

"Did Sienna
know?" Quinn asked.

"Watch this.
When three or more players join together, you can actually take over the ogre
and control its actions," I said.

We disappeared
into the game for a while. All the sadness and confusion from upstairs could
not penetrate the world of
Dark Flag
.
For a moment, Quinn and I felt light, free, and happy.

Her eyes sparkled
as she soaked up the new moves. In her excitement, Quinn bumped her knee against
my leg. Her little black dress was drifting up her thigh. It was a good thing
the controller needed two hands.

"Quinn? Are
you down there again?" Mrs. Thomas called.

"Yes. Sorry,
Mother."

"Is that Owen
bum with you?"

Quinn looked at
me. Empathy made her eyes darker. Then her lips quirked up, my conspirator from
our high school days. "No. I haven't seen him. Maybe he's up in Sienna's
room."

We heard Mrs.
Thomas' footsteps on the stairs. "Well, if he hasn't left and comes
skulking down here, tell him I'm looking for him. I'm going to give him a piece
of my mind. Everyone knows he was never right for our Sienna."

"Sienna
loves, I mean, loved him," Quinn said. Her voice faded.

Mrs. Thomas
ignored her daughter and stomped back upstairs. "Sienna loved a challenge.
What a waste. Speaking of waste, stop messing around with that stupid game. You
have a chance to visit with Sienna's friends."

It was as if Mrs.
Thomas sucked all the air out of the room. Quinn was deflated, and I could tell
her mind was on her sister. I felt the weight settling back on my shoulders. It
took too much strength to lift my arms and restart the game. The other players
disappeared as we stayed offline.

"I'm so
sorry, Quinn," I said.

She did not say a
word, just leaned against my shoulder. I slipped my arm around her and pulled
her close. I tried to sweep her hair back to see her face, but she buried it
against my suit. I pressed my cheek against the top of her head and held her.

Quinn's breath was
ragged, but she did not cry. "She couldn't have meant it. It had to be an
accident."

"Your mom was
right. Sienna was a shooting star."

"Sometimes, I
hated her for it," Quinn said. "She was always trying to change me,
make me better, make me more like her. I tried. I just wasn't good
enough."

"She was
wrong to try to change you," I said. I hugged Quinn tighter. "You
didn't do anything wrong. You loved your sister and underneath it all, she
loved you, too."

"We should
have known. Everyone thinks it. My mother told me last night I should have done
something," Quinn said.

"What could
we have done? How could we have known? Sienna never shared her plans for
herself. She only told people how to play their parts."

I was angry again.
Sienna threw us into this horrible drama without a second thought. She had never
thought about anyone but herself.

"I was going
to be the nurse to her surgeon," Quinn said. She sat up and swept back her
hair. It smelled of rose water.

"And I was
supposed to be the trophy husband to her successful career woman," I said.

"Except you
were supposed to go off and coach little league or join the Rotary Club. Not go
and get professional sponsors to play video games," Quinn said.

"Yeah, I went
off script."

"Me
too," Quinn said. "I almost failed gross anatomy. You should have
seen Sienna's face when I bombed the practice final."

"What are we
going to do without Sienna here to organize us?" I asked. My arm was still
around Quinn's shoulders. I didn't let go.

"Sit on the
couch and play video games," she said with a weak smile.

We settled back,
Quinn tucked into the crook of my arm, and restarted the game. Upstairs, the
funeral reception continued. People shared stories of Sienna the perfect,
Sienna the ambitious, Sienna the bright ray of golden sunshine. In the
basement, we tried to forgot how she hurt us, her death most of all.

#

It
was easy to ignore
everything else. Quinn was tucked under my arm. She fit perfectly.
Dark Flag
was open on the wide screen
television. It had to be alright for us to disappear for a while. The upstairs
world could go on without us.

"Have you
seen the Black Fields?" I asked.

I felt Quinn's
head shake then nestle in closer. "No. Could you show me?"

"Wanna get
away for a while?"

"Exactly."

I booted up the
game to a new entry point. Players from my clan popped up everywhere, but I
repeated the same message: "Touring a newbie."

It was actually
part of my job. In fact, within five minutes, I spotted the avatar of one of my
supervisors. My sponsors had players in the game to see that I logged the
required number of hours and mentioned their product enough times.

"Hang on. I
have to tell that Cloaked Corpse about Buzz Fuel," I said.

"The energy
drink?" Quinn asked.

I was glad she did
not sit up and instead stayed nestled against me. "Yeah, it’s one of my
sponsors. I get paid to mention it during play. There are even bonuses if I
mention it a certain number of times."

"Your clan
players don't think it’s weird?"

"A lot of
them know it’s part of my gig. Though, it’s also pretty natural because a lot
of the players log on after work and pull all-nighters. We talk strategy and
staying alert is part of that," I said.

"Do you drink
Buzz Fuel?"

I looked down at
her scrunched up nose and laughed. "I go for plain black coffee. Keeps you
from getting dehydrated. But don't tell the Cloaked Corpse that."

"I'm just
following you," she said.

Her avatar stood
behind mine. It looked surprisingly like her. Most people chose idealized body
types and features for their avatars or decided to be otherworldly creatures.
My avatar had a wicked spiked helmet, but if I removed it, the face was a
composite created directly from a digital photograph of me. My sponsors wanted
me to be recognizable.

Quinn had also
chosen to be a human warrior. It meant her avatar depended on weapons, charms,
and spells to survive, but her ability to gather such things was unlimited. She
was new to the game and had earned very little armor, and I could not help but
noticed her avatar's curves matched her own dimensions.

Unlike the avatar
that approached me as I left the Cloaked Corpse. It was a female Nocturne with
bluish skin and iridescent eyes. Her breasts had been pumped up past voluptuous
and the skin-tight silver suit showed off every ounce.

"May I please
the clan leader?" the Nocturne asked.

"Whoa,
avatars can do that?" Quinn asked.

"You mean
throw themselves at other avatars?" I asked. I typed in a sequence that
put the Nocturne aside. "They can do a lot more than that. In the waysides
and taverns, avatars can kiss, fondle, undress, have sex, all of it.
Dark Flag
is not just rated M for
violence."

The pop-up screen
of commands appeared next to Quinn's avatar. I tried not to watch as she tried
a few out. Her avatar ran its hands over its breasts, unzipped its jacket, and
licked its lips.

"You might
want to watch what you're doing. There are other players around that might be
interested," I said.

Quinn quickly
scrolled through the commands but could not find the reverse. Her avatar's
jacket was slipping off one shoulder, revealing the very thin tank top
underneath.

"Why is my
avatar not wearing a bra?" Quinn asked.

"Virtual
gravity is not a factor?" I suggested.

She whacked my arm
and finally found the right command. With her avatar fully dressed, she sat up.
"Okay, there is way more to
Dark
Flag
than I'm ready to take on right now. Are you hungry?"

"Thirsty,"
I said. The heat between us had made my mouth go dry.

"Then let's
go on a real-life raid. The caterers in the kitchen know me and they'll put
together a quick tray and drinks for us," Quinn said.

"So you
really plan to hide out down here the rest of the day?" I asked.

Quinn stood up and
nodded. "Yes. Definitely. I mean, I get it if you want to leave."

I shook my head
and followed her upstairs. We rounded the corner on the way to the kitchen and
Quinn ran right into her father.

"Quinn, Owen.
I should have known you two were hiding out together," Mr. Thomas said.
"The hearse just arrived and we'll be leaving for the cemetery in half an
hour." His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "I expect you to
be in the limousine with the rest of the family, Quinn."

"I will,
Father. I'm just getting something to eat. I'm feeling light-headed,"
Quinn said.