Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Jamie
I open the bathroom door, and Shannon is running down the stairs. From the sounds of it, she’s crying. What the fuck just happened? We made up, had amazing sex, and now she’s back to hating me again?
Wrapping the towel around my waist, I follow behind her downstairs, calling out her name. A few of my teammates are in the living room. They cock their heads in my direction, eyebrows raised when they see me in a towel running behind Shannon.
She doesn’t turn around when she flings open the front door.
“What did I do now?” I say, walking onto the front porch behind her.
“You lied, Jamie. You’re such a fucking liar,” she yells as she stumbles down the stairs, wiping tears from her eyes. “She’s not your friend.”
I grip her shoulder to spin her around, holding my towel in place with my other hand. “Okay, fine. Cece was my friend when we were kids, but we dated throughout high school and until my first year of college.”
“I knew it,” she snorts. “I thought maybe I was overreacting until I saw the shrine you have for her.”
Confused, I narrow my eyes at her. “What shrine?”
“The pictures and notes you have saved in your desk drawer.”
“You went through my stuff?” I shake my head, now even more irritated. “You had no right to do that. I would’ve told you the truth about Cece… eventually.”
“Eventually.” She sniffs back the tears she dabs at with her fingers. “I thought you were different, Jamie.” Her voice lowers, filled with grief. “I thought I could trust you. Turns out you’re no different from the rest of the rich assholes on this campus.”
“C’mon, Shan,” I plead. “This looks bad, but it’s not what you think. I’m done with Cece. It’s over for good. I want to be with you.”
“No, you don’t,” she snaps. “You want her. I deserve more than a lie. I saw the way you looked at her in the pictures. And you kissed her while you were with me.” She spins around out of my grasp. “Don’t call me. Don’t follow me.” Shannon stomps down the pathway. “Just leave me alone.”
“Fuck,” I growl, balling my hands into fists at my sides.
“You gonna stand out here all night in a towel?” Preston booms from behind me. “You’re giving the girls in the lacrosse house a show.”
I glance over at the house across the street where a group of girls are sitting on their porch staring at me. A few of them wave at me. One says, “Hello.” Annoyed, I raise my hand to wave, and then turn around to rush past Preston and into the house.
“What’s up with her?” Preston asks.
“She found out about Cece,” Tucker says from the couch in the living room.
“Shit, that sucks,” Preston says. “But you’re not with Cece… right? You better not be back with that bitch.”
“No, I’m done with Cece.” My tone is defensive. “She kissed me. I didn’t kiss her back. I told Shannon Cece is a friend from my past. She went through my desk and found some old pictures of me with Cece. And that’s what all the drama’s about.”
“You shouldn’t have lied,” Preston says, following me upstairs. “Women always sniff that shit out, and then it comes back to bite you in the ass.”
“Tell me about it,” I shoot back.
I enter my bedroom with Preston on my tail and go straight to my desk.
Digging through the open drawer, I flip through the pictures of Cece and me that Shannon left on top.
Just seeing Cece’s beautiful face makes my stomach do somersaults.
My heart aches as I recall all the good times I had with her. But they never lasted long.
Every time I see Cece at an event, it reopens the old wounds. She claimed my heart so many years ago that sometimes it feels like it’ll never repair itself. We share a special connection, one I can’t deny.
Shannon’s amazing, beautiful, smart, and everything I ever wanted.
And nothing like Cece.
I need time to process my feelings for Shannon. Maybe the break will do both of us some good. On the one hand, I have a girl who really gets me even though she’s the Devil. But on the other, I have a girl who’s incredible, and I’ve slowly been falling for her one day at a time.
Until I saw Shannon running out of the house, I didn’t understand how I felt about her.
I need her in my life, but I’m torn between two women.
Is it possible to love them both? Cece can crush me as she has done every time we get back together.
And that’s also a problem because I need to get over Cece.
Preston rips the pictures from my hands and throws them in the trashcan next to my desk. “Forget about her, J. She’s a waste of time. The only person Cece cares about is herself.”
“My dad is merging with 10X Games,” I admit. Every instinct in my body wants to fish the pictures from the trash. “They’re absorbing my dad’s company.”
It’s the first time I’ve said it aloud. The news came as a shock, one I still haven’t adjusted to. My dad said it was a good move for our family and his company, but something was off about his explanation.
Preston gasps. “Why? That makes little sense.”
I sink down on the chair and run my finger over the mouse, waking the computer monitors. “I wish I knew. I thought about snooping around to see what he’s hiding, but I don’t want to violate his trust.”
“What about Mike or Grace?” He sits at the edge of my bed, the mattress dipping from his weight. “Can’t you ask them? Or your mom?”
“I already did. Mike wouldn’t even tell me about the announcement until I heard it from my dad’s mouth while he was on stage at 10X Con. All of them have the same rehearsed answers. It’s like my dad coached them.”
“I don’t get it.” Preston tugs at the frayed seam of his shirt and sighs. “Your dad has always taken pride in the fact his company is family owned and run. Why would he sell it to Cece’s dad? He hates him.”
“I know.” I bite the inside of my cheek and pull the keyboard in front of me, hitting each key in anger.
“She rubbed it in my face at the convention right before she kissed me. Cece does nothing without a plan. She knew the cameraman was there. It was too convenient that we had our picture taken at the exact moment she kissed me. I have this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach she’s somehow behind all of this. ”
I do another Google search, what feels like the hundredth one since my dad made the announcement and scroll through the web pages discussing the merger.
Before Christmas, I was leaning toward working for my dad after graduation.
Now everything has changed. I’ll never work for Kevin Carmichael. I cannot tie my future to Cece.
Preston leans forward, resting his elbows on his thighs while staring at me. “How is Cece behind the merger?”
I roll my shoulders against the chair and scan the contents of another new article. “Maybe I’m just paranoid.” For the first time in what feels like days or weeks, I laugh. “I sound like fucking a lunatic.”
Slowly, Preston nods, a mocking expression on his face. “You haven’t been yourself. Ever since The Queen started posting about us, you’ve been… I don’t know… different.”
The thought of her alone causes me to grind my teeth together, and then something occurs to me. “A while ago when I was looking for The Queen, she sent me a video game.”
Preston’s eyebrows rise in curiosity. “What was it?” He gets up from the bed and moves toward me. “Let me see.”
“I can’t. As soon as my character died, it disappeared.”
He hovers over me, staring down at me with his hands on his hips, ticking his jaw. “Why would she send you a game?”
I look over my shoulder at the open door and slide my chair over to shut it. Spinning around to face Preston, I lower my voice. “The game looked like a rip-off of Doom, Diablo, and Mage Wars.”
“So?” Preston’s not following my train of thought. “What does that have to do with a blogger who’s keeping tabs on us?”
“I think she wrote the code to imply my dad copied Diablo and Doom. They’re two of the most iconic video games of all time.
Diablo was the first real-time combat fantasy game.
It also had randomized opponents, weapons, and dungeons which personalized it to where no user ever had the same experience.
And Doom is one of the best first-person shooter games ever made.
People still love it after all these years. ”
“What does that have to do with The Queen?” Preston asks, taking his place on the bed again. “She likes old school video games? So what?”
“No, I think she’s trying to tell me that my dad stole some of his ideas from Doom and Diablo.”
“Oh…” Preston’s mouth widens in shock. “You don’t think…” he pauses. “No, he wouldn’t.”
“I mean, if you look for them, the similarities are there. Mage Wars is nothing like either of those games, but older versions of The Fallen Universe have a lot of the same features, like the randomized-user experience.”
“Shit,” he mutters, biting his bottom lip. “Do you think that’s why your dad is selling his company?”
“I didn’t even think of that,” I say, still in awe over everything that’s happened over the last few weeks. “You think Carmichael has something on my dad and is forcing him to sell?”
He shrugs. “It would make sense. Your dad wanted you to help take over his company, so something must have changed. Your dad has tons of money. He’d never sell for financial reasons.”
“My dad couldn’t care less about money.”
He grew up without it, and for that reason, he could go back to living on welfare if he had to. My dad is an extreme minimalist. Every cent he makes goes back into a new product for his company. None of this makes sense.
“If The Queen knows something, look harder for her.”
I snort at his comment. “Fuck, you look harder. I’ve spent all of my free time tracking her. She’s too fucking good.”
“You’re better than her,” Preston challenges. “So stop acting like a spoiled billionaire who didn’t get his way and go after her.”
“I’m not a billionaire,” I counter. “And I’m trying my hardest.”
He rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Your dad is. Same thing.”
“Still, it’s not my money.”
Most of the time I pretend as though it doesn’t even exist. Money complicates things.
It’s never been important to my parents, even though they have it, and they instilled that into me.
My dad always says we should live as if the money could disappear tomorrow.
Sure, he has an enormous house and expensive cars and gadgets, but he doesn’t live too lavishly.
Preston closes the distance between us and extends his hand to me. “C’mon, let’s get a drink.”
“You?” I shoot him a confused expression. “After all the shit you’ve given Tucker about drinking.”
He chuckles. “I just like breaking his balls.”
“I could use a drink,” I say, getting up from the chair. “Or two. I need to clear my head.”
Preston taps me on the back. “It’ll all work out, J. It always does.”
“I wish I had your confidence.”
My dad is losing his company.
Shannon hates my guts.
And somehow, Cece is at the heart of everything. I just need to figure out the missing piece.