My screen flashes red for the third time in two minutes as Sinestre’s health dives. I swear and knock back a healing potion, strafing away from the demon clawing into me.

“Stop aggroing all the mobs, Evie!” yells Tyler over the chat server.

“Not my fault Cole can’t hold them all,” I retort.

“Thor needs to heal through this,” says Lorlien.

“He’s trying!” I glance at Aaron, sitting across the room from me, intently focused on screen.

“You two need to sort your shit out and decide who heals, you can’t keep swapping week to week,” Lorlien mutters.

“Yeah, Sin.” Aaron throws Luin at my head, and she lands on the lounge room floor. “You know my DPS is better than your healing.”

Sinestre dodges another demon, and Aaron’s focus away from the game prevents him throwing a healing spell at me. Sinestre crumples to the floor, dead. I swear in unison with Lorlien.

“Did you two have a domestic?” complains Tyler. “Are you deliberately letting her die?”

“No, that’s Evie’s thing,” replies Aaron.

“Ha!” I throw Luin back at him and she bounces off his shoulder.

“Listen, it’s a hard fight, we don’t have the mechanics down yet,” Aaron says. “Don’t get pissy, Lor.”

I take my character’s death as an opportunity to drink from my wine glass as the fight continues— badly.

“Please can we recruit a Cleric?’ asks Lorlien. “Sin and Thor both have the damage we need.”

“Jesus, don’t give them another thing to battle out— they’ll focus on who has the biggest and cause issues when everything jumps on them for doing too much damage.”

“It’s already established I have the biggest,” says Aaron with a sly side glance in my direction.

“Is that so?” I reply.

“Okay! Nobody’s paying attention here. For fuck’s sake! I’m fed up of this constant wiping.” There’s a click and Lorlien’s chat sever icon changes from green to red. Everybody falls silent.

“Oops,” I mutter and suppress a laugh.

“Evie, you’re drinking, aren’t you?” asks Tyler.

“And you’re not?”

When Tyler doesn’t reply, I stand from my chair and grab both mine and Aaron’s glasses. He leans back in his chair and watches as I top them with wine at the kitchen area behind.

“I can’t wait until my house sells in Perth,” he says and gestures around the room. “I might be able to buy a bigger place for you to trash.”

Strewn with half-finished sketches, my shoes, clothes, not to mention cups and plates, navigating a path across the floor is treacherous.

“Um...”

“Half your boxes are still not unpacked!” Aaron pulls a face halfway between irritated and amused, the girl messing up his perfect space—the reality of life with Evie Taylor.

“I’m working on it.”

“How many months have you been here now?” He gestures at the bedroom. “Plus your suitcases. Did you think I was going to ask you to leave after a couple of weeks?”

I sip the wine and watch him over the rim. He’s half-right, I didn’t expect this to last more than a few weeks. “Oh, only three months. I’ll make a start tomorrow.” Heading over, I place the two glasses on the desk between our computers.

Aaron shakes his head and focuses on the computer screen, so I straddle his lap and look down at him. “Love me, love my genetic inability for tidiness.”

“Yes, I’m beginning to learn that.” He places his hands either side of me, chin on my shoulder as he keeps his eyes on the screen; hand on the mouse.

“Seriously, Aaron?” I mutter into his ear and nip the lobe. He lifts his shoulders at the sensation.

I wriggle against him, dragging his tee upwards so I can get my hands on the body I’m still unable to leave alone on a nightly basis, even after months living here. Tinny voices come from his headphones and I place my ear closer so I can hear.

“Sounds like we’re taking a break from the raid,” I say.

Aaron grabs my hips and pulls me closer, mouth touching the skin above my shirt. “I didn’t want to raid tonight, anyway.”

“Aaron!” I place a hand over my mouth in mock horror. “But it’s Friday night.”

He shrugs and flicks open the top button on my shirt. “You keep dying. I think we should find something else to do.”

The day I met him face to face, cosplaying, halfway between reality and the world, was the day we both chose to take the step across the border between the two. The storyline shifted, we began and struggled with new quests, some repeatedly before we achieved them. Together we can embark on a new journey into a stranger realm, perhaps we can reach the end game together.

In a well-perfected move, I drag Aaron’s t-shirt over his head, revealing the man beneath.

The graphics are sure as hell better in the real world.

Thank you for reading End Game. I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review on the sit where you purchased the book.

Read on for more information about my other romance books, including a sample of my last release, Unscripted.

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If you are a LitRPG fan, or fan of the show Westworld, you might be interested to know I’m writing a LitRPG series. Fringe Realms is a book set almost entirely within an online game world and follows the main character’s progress. Is she a player or character in the game?

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