27. Sage
27
SAGE
F loaty? Welcome to his life? Doesn’t matter right now.
Sage needed to focus if she wanted a chance of not coming in dead last. So much for top five. She could be content with top ten. Top half. Anything but dead last.
She opened the door, took a deep breath, sprinted across the room to her station, and dove into her other world. And in this world, it was an even playing field. And she was ready to fight back.
She blocked out the sounds of the commentators, pretended she was at home with Squash snuggled in her lap, and did what she did best. She played. She talked to herself like she would if subscribers were watching (and quickly pushed out the thought that people were actually right there watching her play) and she scraped by in the first round, but she had to pull out her secret move to do so.
Through a lot of trial and error, Sage had learned how to attach to the armor of other players and bounce off of them. This was supposed to be her Big Final Move—the last-ditch effort to pull her out of trouble. She was supposed to use this later in the competition, not at the very beginning. But time was not on her side and she was backed against a wall (literally). But she squeaked by.
She had a whole ten minutes to collect herself before the second round started. Lily barreled through the roped-off section to the “arena” of sorts. It was the first time Sage got a moment to look around. It was a long, long table spanning the length of the room with gaming setups surrounding each side. Giant screens covered the walls, allowing everyone’s gameplay to be broadcasted.
Then there were high-rise bleachers surrounding the perimeter of the room, clearly the first two rows of seats blocked for VIPs, commentators, and support staff. Speaking of other players, they leaned back in their chairs and either drank their energy drinks (were you really at a high-end gaming event if not at least five people were sponsored by some energy drink with questionable ethics and ingredients?) and others were stretching and chatting with their managers or sponsors.
“Where were you!” Lily screeched. She sounded like an absolute wreck which was strange because she was smiling. A camera flashed at the eliminated players being ushered to a green room where they would conduct some interviews and statements.
Let the speculation begin, Sage thought.
“I ran into some issues with Jared,” Sage said, not even able to wrap her head around the whole thing .
“Why do you smell like you just made moonshine in a bathtub?” Lily asked, still smiling. “Pose real quick.”
Sage defaulted to her smile and leaned into Lily, who was squatting next to her while a photographer snapped a picture.
“Here,” a deep voice said, thrusting a mug into Sage’s hands. “Drink this. And I got this for you too. You know, for the whole moonshine debacle. Don’t want people talking more than they already are.”
Leo handed her a pack of bubble gum. “Mr. Camaro, I demand to know what is going on! You told me she was missing, and the police—” she hissed the last words.
“Good luck, Love.” Leo winked at Sage, ushering Lily back to the section for sponsors.
“I thought you had to talk with the police?” Sage said it too loudly and only realized this after the fact when several heads turned her way.
“How did you—” She held up her mug of perfectly prepared tea.
“I can multitask.” Leo winked and adjusted his earpiece. Then he turned into the serious bodyguard—not the guy who made her tea just the way she liked it. Leo left the room as quickly as he entered. Willis sat next to Lily, scanning the crowd much like Leo always had.
And with two sips and a piece of gum, she was thrust into round two. Then round three. Then the fourth. She made it to the fourth round! Top ten! If she played her map correctly, she could scrape into the top-five round.
Except she didn’t.
The other players were just too good and she didn’t have enough experience. She was just outgunned .
It was a solid defeat with some amazing gameplay. She stood when the round ended, smiled along with the other eliminated players, waved to the photographers and live-streaming channels, and made her way to the green room. Surprisingly, she couldn’t wipe that grin off her face. She had really done it. It was a failure, but one of the best because she finished in seventh place, higher than her initial goal. And she had done it off the heels of just being kidnapped!
Take that, Jared.
She had a million questions thrown at her.
“Why were you late?”
“What happened?”
“Why were the police here?” another commentator asked.
“How do you feel like you performed despite the news swirling about you on social media?” someone asked.
“Are you dating one of the cops? There is a photo of you making out with a man.”
“Is that why you were late? A little love rendezvous that went too long?”
Ah, finally a question she could answer. She cleared her throat. “Uh, well, I am not totally sure what is being said about me on social media at the moment, but I assume there is a lot of false stuff going around.” Lily nearly caused a scene with how fast she jumped onto the stage and stood behind Sage, leaning over her shoulder and nearly yelling into the microphone about how there was an incident, the police are looking into it, and there cannot be any comments made as “it is an active investigation at the moment but LilyTech is here to support our gamers” and all that other crap.
Sage had won. Well, she had won her own little goal and that was all that mattered to Sage right now. And the fact that Leo, despite talking into his earpiece and with different officers, kept looking in her direction, tracking her through the room. Every time their eyes met he smiled. And Sage couldn’t help but swell with pride. No that wasn’t it. Excitement? No, that wasn’t it either.
Affection.
More questions were asked, and more were answered with non-answers. Overall, the interviews ended when the final match was set to take place. She joined her LilyTech crew (minus Jared) and watched the finalists compete. It would have been amazing being at that final five table but in the end, how could she be mad about the outcome?
When Crickets won (not totally unexpected but still annoying) Leo whisked Lily and Sage away to a small room where they answered questions with the police. The police informed Sage that both Jared and his cousin were in custody and “Yes, absolutely we would like to press charges!” Lily exclaimed.
And that was it.
It was all over.
Case closed.
So why did she feel so…bummed?
The biggest event in her career and it was over just as it began.
Leo and Lily chatted in a quiet corner and paused their conversation when Sage joined them .
Lily sighed and turned to Sage. “Take a breather. I am so proud of you. Not the outcome we wanted but we can use this. I sent a dress up to your room earlier. Hair and makeup will be up at five so let’s say we meet down here at six? Good grief I need to hire a photographer to get some photos since Jared decided to screw us over.”
Oh yeah, being kidnapped and held against her will in a basement and forced to drink poison was totally inconvenient.
Sage and Leo took the stairs to her room. “Willis is up there if you need anything. I have to get back down there and answer some questions and file some reports for the agency. I’ll pick you up at six.”
“Pick me up?”
Leo cracked a grin. “Gotta have a final farewell event with your assistant, Bob, right?”
Sage smiled back. “I think I’d prefer to go with Leo.”
S age had to hand it to Lily (and maybe Jared’s hand in this). The dress was impeccable. It was a deep red, silky material with a halter neckline and low back. The color was the exact shade of the primary planets in the background of Welkin Wall . The hem of the dress had gold stitching—cute little stars and designs were also motifs for the game. Her hair was pulled away from her face and fell down her back in gentle waves. It was a great look and Sage, despite not being one to wear dresses often, felt confident in the gown.
She stared at herself in the mirror, admiring the make-up. The artist had given her a smoky eye very reminiscent of the 2016 trends and she would likely have to endure comments from her younger subscribers pointing out this fact. The red lip matched the deep gown perfectly and complimented her hair. It was bold and beautiful and she wiped it off with a towel, smirking at her reflection.
She opened the door before Leo could knock. He looked surprised for half a second and then smiled, taking her in. He didn’t even try to hide how his eyes roamed her body.
And now she was certain she was blushing as red as her dress.
“You’re beautiful,” Leo said, voice not much more than a whisper.
“That’s not something Bob would say.”
“You wanted Leo.”
She smiled. “I do.”
“Worried it’ll go too far?” he reached out and grabbed her hand, intertwining his fingers with her as he spoke.
She looked at her hand in his. “Terrified,” she whispered.
“But we could pretend.”
“Pretend?” She looked up at him. He really was handsome.
“Pretend I’m not on the clock. Pretend that this is normal. For my last day on the job, we can pretend that going too far isn’t wrong.”
She wanted to ask if it was wrong. Was it wrong to want him? What was too far? Where was the line?
Instead, she just reached up and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him gently to her lips. If they were going to pretend, she could confess later that she was a method actor or something.
He kissed her back, leaning over her and pressing her against the door, wrapping a hand around the back of her neck, angling her face toward him. This wasn’t a gentle kiss like before, this was a thousand kisses funneled into one. Her body could barely keep up with the sensation of his body pressed close, his lips over hers, his thumb stroking her cheek and oh my goodness, was it hot in here?
Leo’s radio beeping broke them out of the moment. They laughed. Leo rested his forehead against hers. “I think I am terrible at pretending.”
“Me too.”
He stepped back and clicked off the radio, removing the earpiece. “Well, I doubt anything I do tonight will change my fate. I’m either getting fired for having my Subject kidnapped under my watch or a pat on the back for recovering my Subject. Word from Willis says my boss man was surprised this job ended with a bang like it did but was nevertheless impressed by how I handled it. Glowing review from Lily too, so I’m hoping for the latter.”
“There is still one more day for me to get you fired,” Sage said, still holding one of his hands.
He pecked her on the lips. “I’ve wanted to do that for so long.” He kissed her again. “Let’s see if word of my fraternizing with a Subject gets back to the boss man. Maybe I’ll get fired after all.”
“Would you really lose your job?”
They walked toward the stairwell. “I have other plans forming. I can’t be James Bond forever,” Leo said. “But making out with a Subject is definitely against the rules. So are a lot of things. It’s a gray area.”
Sage shrugged. “Well, you were deep undercover as Bob. And maybe my fans are right.”
“Right about what?”
Sage couldn’t help but smile. “That I might have a thing for my assistant.”