NINETEEN
When he and his mate arrived at the cabin, Tiana lay on the sofa, cuddled under a blanket. She still didn’t look too healthy to him and wasn’t talking much. Listening to his brothers’ mates gripe to him the last three years, he knew exactly how to handle this situation. Shit. From all the crap he learned, he could write a book for men on how to not properly take care of every female situation.
He sat on the floor in front of the sofa and pushed a strand of hair from her face. “You want to talk about it?” he asked. One of two things could happen: She could start talking or say she doesn’t want to. No matter the reply, the real answer is yes, I want to talk.
“I’m just trying to put it all together in my head,” she said.
The perfect response: “I agree. Doesn’t make a lot since.” After a moment of silence from her, he pushed on with the talk. “What do you think?”
Her brows scrunched down. “I get that Oliver followed me here. But what happened to him? It looked like he was attacked by a wild animal. They went to the barn…” He waited for her to finish her thought. “Can I see inside your setup in the shed?”
“Yeah, that’s a great idea,” he said, getting to his feet. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in there.” Holding his hand out, she took it, leaving the blanket and her dour mood behind.
He punched in the code to unlock the thick, metal doors then switched on the light as he walked in.
“Good god, Ker,” his little mate said. “This is incredible.” She stared around the room at the stations setup throughout, each with a different type of game, but same monitors attached to the wall and ergonomic gaming chairs. When he was programming, he’d carry his laptop to each location to plug in and enter code. His latest game was a virtual reality spaceship flying through asteroids. The objective was to make it through without getting creamed by a rock.
What he liked most about the game was it reminded him of true flying. When focused with the headset on, it’s like you were there with nothing else around but these boulders charging straight at you. Like diving head first through space. He was almost done with the programming. He needed to finish up the last touches to the live-feed screen that allowed others to watch the progress of the player, seeing what the headset revealed to the participant.
And that was the station Tiana stopped at. “Oh, cool, VR. Is this one ready to play?”
His brow raised. “This is a really hard game to play. It requires excellent agility and reflexes only superheros have.”
She looked at him. “So, is that a yes or a no?”
He couldn’t help but smile at this woman he loved. He pushed the button to power up. “You bet you can play.” He chose the easiest setting and showed her how to maneuver through the obstacle course.
He sat her on a beanbag and put the device over her head. “Okay, this is just practice to get used to moving through the screen,” Ker said. “To go up, tilt your head up.” Her head tipped back and the screen showed the angle to rise. “Same with down.” Her chin lowered, moving the image lower. “And same for left and right.”
“Got it.”
“You ready?” he asked.
“Push the button, already,” she griped. Man, did he love her spunk. He watched as she glided past rock after rock, her head and body swaying side to side as she dodged objects set to take her out. Suddenly, the screen flashed a congratulations frame. She’d finished that run fairly quickly.
“Great job, Tiana. You ready for a step up?” he queried.
“Yes, please. This moves really easily. It’s amazing. I feel like I’m flying.”
“Yup, that’s my whole idea behind it.” He skipped to the intermediate level and started her. Again, he watched as she flew through a simulated asteroid field. Either he’d made this game too easy or she was damn good for a beginner.
“Are you sure you haven’t taken spaceship flying lessons or anything?” Ker asked, partially joking.
“Nope,” she replied. “I think I’m a natural.”
“I’d say you’re a natural, but a natural what I don’t know,” he mumbled to himself.
Tiana reached back and swatted his leg. “I heard that, dragon boy. I got good ears.” When the congrats screen popped up, she cheered and flipped her headset off. “That was awesome, but you might want to make it harder.”
“That was still the easy setting. You wanna try the hard version,” Ker taunted. “Bet you’ll crash and burn within five seconds.”
“Ha,” she turned around and slid the device over her head, “lay it on me, wimpy.”
Ker delved into the last levels he’d created, anticipating few achieving that status. It took him a bit to get through, half the time he died trying. “Here we go.”
Tiana sat forward in the beanbag, balancing on her knees. As soon as the first boulder came screaming for her face, she leaned to the right, zipping past it. Then a quick adjustment to the left nearly took off her right side.
Now Ker was much more interested in his little mate’s body gyrating and jerking up and down, left to right. If hip-hop music were blaring, a passerby would think she was dancing with the way she popped in different directions. Just like he planned to have her doing tonight in his bed.
His cock hardened with those thoughts. Fortunately, no one was around to see him adjust himself in his pants. When she screamed and threw her arms into the air, he was jolted from his little fantasy of her. The congrats screen flashed again.
“I’ll be damned,” he said.
She jumped up and slid the head piece off. “I did it! Not one hit. Woo-hoo.” She did a happy dance and spiked an imaginary football. “I win! I win.”
“Yeah,” Ker said, “more like beginner’s luck.” He said those words, but still he was amazed by his talented partner.
Her stomach growled. “When are we eating? I’m starving.”
A mischievous grin filled his face. He had plans for his little mate tonight. Let the party begin.