Chapter Three
Alice
Later that afternoon I meet Hannah in a coffee shop that’s about two minutes from her college. We’ve known each other since we were both six years old, and she moved in next door with her parents, two older brothers, and younger sister. She breezes in, catches sight of me in a corner booth, and flashes me an evil grin.
She’s not going to be impressed when she finds out I haven’t done the deed. It’s pathetic that I’ve never asked a guy out, but not as tragic as the fact I’ve never even had a proper date before.
My social life’s always been pretty dire. When I was at school there was the never-ending struggle to maintain an A-grade average, and I’m so used to having my nose in a book it feels weird when I don’t. In any case, I know how important it is to gain my degree. It’s my key to the world, and there’s no way I’ll let anything mess with that.
“Well?” She slides into the seat opposite me and takes a sip of the iced chocolate I got for her. “Oh my God. Is that what you wore today?”
I promised her I’d wear something sexy to work today, but if I rocked up in a dress it’d just be weird.
“These are the sexiest clothes I own.” Unfortunately, not a joke.
She huffs and rolls her eyes dramatically. “Whatever. Anyway, what did he say? I’m guessing you didn’t text me because you were too busy.” She snorts at her own joke and takes a long suck from her straw before diving into her bag. “Before I forget. I got these for you.” She pushes a small paper bag across the table.
Frowning, I pull out the box. “Jesus, Hannah.” Face burning, I quickly shove the condoms back into the bag, while Hannah sniggers like a twelve-year-old. I chance a furtive glance around, but no one’s taking any notice of us. “You could’ve warned me.”
“I just got the regular kind. You can work up to the ridged and flavored ones.”
My fingers twitch around the bag, and I’m this close to thrusting it back at her. Except if everything goes to plan, I’ll need condoms. The stupid thing is that hadn’t even crossed my mind until now.
“Thanks.” I shove her thoughtful present to the very bottom of my bag. I might be able to share most things with Mum, but I’ll die if she accidentally sees them.
“Are you sure regular will be okay?” Hannah gives me a faux innocent look, all big blue eyes, and I’m not taken in for a second. “I mean, he doesn’t need the jumbo size, does he?”
Nervous giggles bubble in my chest. “How the hell should I know?”
She waggles her eyebrows suggestively. “You must’ve checked out his package a few times. What’s your verdict on the goods?”
I let out an appreciative sigh as my brain turns mushy. “He has the cutest bum.”
“That’s good, but what about his dick?”
“I don’t go around staring at his dick, Hannah.” Well, not on purpose. But the jeans he wears fit him so perfectly that sometimes it’s hard not to let my gaze kind of…slide south.
Heat bursts through me. He’s never noticed, has he? No, of course not. I never linger.
“Ha ha, I know that look, Alice Wentworth. You can’t lie for shit.” Hannah smirks in triumph. “Anyway, I only got you those for backup. He’s sure to have his own, but at least you won’t be caught short if there’s an emergency.”
“Hmm.”
Her eyes narrow. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“There’s been a change of plan. I’m waiting until my leaving party.”
“What? You can’t do that.” She sounds genuinely horrified. “You’ll never see him again afterward.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of the idea.”
She agitates her drink with her straw. “No, it’s a really bad one. You don’t just want a one-night stand. This is supposed to be your big romance before university. With Harry,” she adds, as though I might’ve forgotten who we’re talking about. “You definitely need more than one night. A month is completely perfect.”
It’d be perfect if Harry had ever shown any interest, but there’s no way I could keep working at Blitz if he turns me down. A shudder works along my spine. I wouldn’t be able to face anyone at work if that happened.
“I’ve made up my mind. One night of orgasmic sex. Just like Cinderella.”
Hannah stares at me blankly. “Cinders lost her glass slipper, not her virginity.”
“Yeah, right.” It’s my turn to smirk before I take a sip of my strawberry milkshake.
She shakes her head as though she’s trying to dislodge that unromantic vision. “Anyway, the chances of you having an orgasmic first night are, like, zero, so that’s another reason why your idea sucks.”
I think about that as I finish my milkshake. “Well, theoretically. But since most of it happens in the brain, I can tell you I’ll almost be there before he even kisses me.”
She grimaces, clearly in pain. “You’re so weird. Do I need to draw you a diagram?”
“I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”
“Whoa.” Her voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. “You don’t think he’s a virgin as well, do you? I mean, you know what these geeks are like. And he did hang out in his dad’s basement before moving into the warehouse.”
“It was Caleb’s dad’s basement,” I correct her, because these details are important. “And no, he’s definitely not.”
“Are you sure?” she persists. “Because from stuff you’ve said he practically lives at Blitz. When does that leave time for hot sex?”
It’s true Harry spends most of his time at work. Obsessed is an understatement when it comes to his beloved Plains of Exitium. Where other guys might talk about their weekend conquests on a Monday morning, both Harry and Caleb—to be honest, most of the people who work at Blitz—generally talk about anything connected to gaming. Or the inevitable zombie apocalypse.
Not that Blitz closes on the weekend. Besides Harry and Caleb, there’re always several programmers and developers on-site in case some catastrophe needs fixing.
It’s not a career for them. It’s a way of life.
“Hello, Earth calling Alice. Are you still here?”
I drag my mind away from Harry and his nonexistent social life. Not that I condemn it, since mine is hardly any better.
“He’s had a tragic past.” I sigh and cup my chin on my hand. “Apparently, he fell in love with a girl who broke his heart, and he’s never dated anyone since.” At least that’s the gossip according to Diane, who knew both Harry and Caleb from school. Personally, I can’t imagine how any girl could dump Harry, but I guess it takes all sorts.
“And how long ago was that?”
“He was eighteen.” Di, who was already working with Harry when I started, only shared this info with me a couple of months ago when we grabbed lunch together at the local sandwich bar. “She did a real number on him.”
“Wait.” Hannah frowns, and I can almost hear the cogs turning in her brain as she adds things up. “He’s twenty-four now, right? He’s not dated in six years?”
“I don’t know. He might have.” All I know for sure is he hasn’t been seeing anyone serious for the last eight months. “But his high school crush was the big one.”
It’s just as well I don’t believe in romantic happily ever after, because how could anyone—let alone me—compete with something like that? Even if everything goes without a single hitch, all Harry’s ever going to be is a gorgeous, breathtaking never-to-be-repeated fling, so I’ve no idea why there’s a strange little pain worming its way through my chest.
“Huh.” Hannah bites the top of her straw as she considers my answer. “That’s hardly conclusive evidence.”
“They were together for almost a year.”
“Whatever. I hope he knows what he’s doing. You don’t want some jerk who doesn’t have a clue where your G-spot is.”
I’ve no idea where my G-spot is either, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t going to be a problem. “The bigger problem’s finding somewhere private. It’s all open plan at Blitz.” And the upstairs offices have glass walls, which leaves the bathrooms, and that doesn’t exactly fill me with glee.
Hannah lets out a tortured sigh. “You really need to rethink this. And seriously, with all their money couldn’t they hire a conference room in some flash hotel for your leaving party? At least then you could sneak into a bedroom or something.”
“No, it has to be in the warehouse. Otherwise, half of them wouldn’t be able to come.” We’ve had a few parties in the warehouse during the last eight months, and they’re surprisingly fun. Nobody’s left since I started, but there’s been a couple of twenty-first birthdays among other things.
Hannah gives a delicate shudder. “You sound like that’s normal.”
After working at Gorman, Rutledge, and Carpenter for three months, I know the passion everyone at Blitz shares for their work isn’t normal, but I sure know where I’d rather be.
“There is one room that’s secure, though. The Development Testing Room.” Strange I hadn’t thought of it before, except my plans of real-life seduction and defloration are probably blasphemous when it comes to the DTR.
“Are you shitting me? The Development Testing Room? It sounds like some kind of kinky sex dungeon thing.”
“No, it doesn’t. You just have a perverted mind.”
“It’s a good job one of us does. Otherwise, you’d die a virgin with a dozen cats.”
“There’s nothing wrong with having a dozen cats.”
We stare at each other for a couple of seconds before simultaneously giggling into our empty glasses.
“Am I invited to this party? I think I need to check out Harry in the flesh. I mean, he looks hot in those pics you’ve taken of him at the other office parties, but you might’ve Photoshopped them.”
“Trust me, I didn’t. And neither did Steele.” Although what that journalist was thinking with that article I don’t know. Correction, yes, I do. She wanted a ton of hits, and I’ll bet she got them, too.
“Oh, come on, Alice. I get there’s tight security and everything, but can’t you fix it so I can at least see the inside of this mythical Blitz before you leave?”
I could probably wrangle it without too much hassle, but I have this gnawing fear that if Harry sees Hannah, he’ll be so mesmerized I’ll no longer exist for him. “I’ll see what I can do.”
…
Harry
Two days after the trip into London, Caleb and I get the news we’ve been waiting for, and I rap my knuckles on the open door to Alice’s office. “Total world domination, here we come.”
She cups her chin in her hand and smiles at me the way she has a thousand times before, and my cock stirs. Jesus Christ. That’s a new development, and I hastily fling myself into the chair opposite her. Bad move. I think I crushed my nuts, and I grin gamely back at her while I try to relieve the pain without her noticing.
“That’s fantastic.” There’s a husky note in her voice. What the fuck? Now I’m hearing things. “With Jarrod Holdings interested, you’ll be able to ease back on the crowd funding.”
The ongoing crowd funding has taken on a life of its own, but I guess looking more long term, Alice is right. With the backing of Jarrod Holdings, one of the biggest gaming empires in the United States, our financial future would be secured. “Yeah, but that’s not all. Oscar Jarrod himself wants to meet Caleb and me and check out Blitz.”
“Wow. That’s amazing. I thought he’d send one of his minions over.”
I’ve been playing the RPGs Oscar Jarrod developed since I was twelve, and he’s a hero of mine. Everything he puts out becomes a Triple A Title. It was awesome enough that he showed interest in Blitz, but meeting him, to discuss the future of the company Caleb and I first envisioned six years ago, is taking it to a whole new level.
“He plans on visiting the first week of October.”
She pulls a face. “I won’t be here.”
Shit. I’d temporarily forgotten that. “I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.”
“You’d better. Oh, while you’re here”—she taps a couple of keys—“we need to set up a date to do interviews for my position.”
If there’s one thing I hate doing, it’s interviews. Caleb and I have known nearly everyone who works here since we were at school, either in real life or from online connections, and we invited them to join us. Others were recommended, so the interview part of things is just a formality. In fact, Alice is the only one who went through so-called regular channels.
“Pick a date. I’ll make sure Caleb’s available.”
“You should both do the interviews. You’ll be working closely with whoever gets the job, so you need to know you click.”
“Caleb interviewed you, and we click all right.”
She glances at me and gives a small smile that for some reason looks kind of sad. “I suppose we do.”
What does she mean by that? As far as I know, we’ve always got on, right from the first day she started. Strange, since it usually takes me a while to open up with new people, but with Alice it was like I’d known her forever.
“What’s with the scowl?”
Her question drags me back to the present. She’s always treated me like a good mate, and I’ve never had the vibe that she’s angling for an introduction to my brother, Lucas. My scowl deepens, since I have no fucking clue where I’m going with this.
No one at Blitz cares about Lucas. Why did I suddenly think Alice might?
“Ouch.” She’s laughing at me, and I force myself to grin back. What the hell’s wrong with me? “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll sit in during the interviews if you like.”
Interviews, right. Better she thinks that’s the reason I’m acting like a prat rather than the real one, especially since I have no clue why the growing probability of never seeing her again once she leaves for university is bugging me so much.
It was always going to happen.
Yeah, in the future. Not in five weeks and counting down.