Chapter 17 #2
She tilted her head, her excitement dimming just a little. “But you’ll be there with me. And we could make it our thing! Something just for us.”
Something just for us. The words hit me hard, pulling at emotions I didn’t even realize I had. I could see how much this meant to her, making it even harder to say no. “I’ll think about it,” I finally said, forcing a small smile. “But we need to be careful, okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed, her smile returning as she reached out and squeezed my hand.
Looking down at her, I couldn’t help but feel a mixture of pride and dread. She was determined, and I knew there was no way I could talk her out of this. I’d have to figure out how to make it work—to keep her safe while giving her what she wanted.
But as I held her hand, one thing was clear: I’d do whatever it took to protect her.
Bianca POV
Bryce stormed into the living room after us as we passed through the doors. He wore a gross, sweaty ensemble of gray sweatpants and a black tank top, and even though he looked a bit rough around the edges, a fire was burning in his eyes. He threw a white towel over his shoulder and pointed at me.
“I challenge you!” he said.
My breath caught in my throat, and conversation in the room halted. Anthony was visiting and was conversing with Julian in the window seat. Finn was on one of the couches with Damen and Miles. The five of them stared at Bryce.
“What are you talking about?” Brayden asked.
“Yes, do explain,” Damen added. “You have no right to intervene with her position—”
“I’m not challenging her position , you moron.” Bryce didn’t spare Damen a glance. His attention was still fixated on me. “She owes me this.” He pointed at the television. “We had an agreement!”
I sighed—I’d forgotten about our deal. “ Fine .”
Why he’d waited until now to bring this up when I’d had the console for a week already, I didn’t know. But if he wanted his butt kicked in front of all these witnesses, who was I to argue?
Damen was still frowning at Bryce. “I’m still not sure what you’re talking about. ”
“I’d like to change the terms.” Bryce ignored Damen and continued to address me. “I overheard you talking to Titus earlier, and I disapprove. No one in the Dubois family is a quitter. If I win, you need to stay in school. If I lose, I’ll let you drop out for the semester.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.” I frowned at him.
“I’m not finished,” he continued. “You’ve skipped all your appointments with Do Yun this week. You need to go.”
“No,” I told him.
Bryce shrugged. “Well, if you win, I’ll never mention it again.”
“I’m not going to therapy.” All my pent-up anger and frustration was causing my vision to bleed red. He’d been pushing my buttons for weeks now, and now it was time to murder him. “But fine. I accept your challenge.”
“Hold on.” Brayden stood between us, hands outstretched. “What is this challenge?”
“We’re going to battle it out,” I answered, pushing up my sleeves. “First-person shooter style.”
Finn, watching the scene with barely concealed curiosity, almost fell. However, he regained his bearings and moved to us. But when he spoke, his focus was on my brother. “Bryce, you really don’t want to—”
“Shut up, Finn.” I pushed past him and stalked toward the ottoman. “No one asked you.”
Everyone else, I’d noticed, only stood back. Watching, but—outside of Damen’s initial outburst—not interfering.
Apparently, they’d decided to let me deal with Bryce. Good. My heart swelled at the knowledge that they thought I was capable.
How dare Bryce listen in on a private conversation? Who did he think he was?
My anger quietly built as Brayden, still wearing his befuddled expression, handed me a game system controller and instructed me how to use it.
I was barely listening. My focus remained zeroed in on Bryce, who’d plopped himself elegantly on a second ottoman, wearing an expression as if he was so perfectly brilliant.
I was going to throw my controller at his head.
“You got that, Bianca?” Brayden’s question cut through my silent fury, and I blinked at him.
“Yeah, thanks.” I tried to smile. At least he was trying to be nice.
Bryce scoffed, and my hatred flared again.
Then the game started.
I’d never played this edition. The controls were identical, so it only took a few minutes to pick things up. And yet, no one had protested—not even when Bryce’s avatar had chased mine across an ivy-covered bridge and shot it in the back.
I’d lost a life, but that was fine.
Then Bryce snickered as we waited for my character to respawn, and all bets were off.
“You’re so dead,” I growled.
He stopped laughing, and the instant my controls allowed, I was after him.
“What the hell?” Bryce asked after his character died ten seconds later. His relaxed pose shifted, and suddenly, he was leaning forward, bashing on his controller in mild panic. And after he lost another two of his ten lives, the laughter had left his voice. “Stop doing that!”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, lying forward on my stomach. My legs dangled off the end of my seat behind me, and I bent my knees and hooked my ankles above me as I played. I’d found the perfect vantage point and took him out once Bryce’s character was in view again.
“You’re camping!” he complained. “That’s cheating. ”
“No, it’s not,” I said. “If it were cheating, it wouldn’t be possible.”
“You can still cheat!” Bryce protested. “Anyone can play a sniper.”
I sighed. Since he was such a baby, destroying him this way wouldn’t be fun. Then he’d only whine forever.
So I gave in to his demands and followed him over the map.
Of course, he still complained. Bryce had resorted to button-mashing, but it made no difference. “Stop stalking me!”
“Fine,” I replied, “I’ll just use a knife instead.” And this time, his character was killed with a blade in the back. “Is this better?”
“How are you doing this?” he asked.
“It is only a fool who writes off their opponent as having no value,” I replied. I’d cornered him once more, and Bryce was forced to respawn. “Let this be a lesson to you, lest you are tempted to forget.”
I hummed as Bryce grimaced at the screen. Someone began speaking behind me, but the voices were too low to hear.
“Stop talking!” I tossed a grenade after Bryce’s fleeing soldier. “He can’t afford the distraction, he needs all the help he can get.”
“This game is stupid.” Bryce sounded upset. “I don’t want to play anymore.”
“See it through to the end,” I said. “No one in the Dubois family is a quitter.”
“Don’t mock me!” Bryce protested.
As much as his distress thrilled me, the fun was soon over. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” I pointed out. “You’re dead, and I win.”
The screen turned dark, and the final score flashed across the top, proving my point.
“This isn’t fair.” Bryce tossed his controller on the seat beside him and pouted .
In comparison, everyone else was staring at me, open-mouthed. “What?”
“What was that?” Miles asked, stepping toward me. There was a look of wonder on his face—almost as if he couldn’t decide whether to hug me or run away.
I glanced at the controller in my hand, then back to him. “A first-person shooter game. Some people play them to relieve stress. Others because they have repressed violent natures and want to kill something. I just think it’s fun.”
Miles pinched his nose. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Baby girl.” Damen knelt in front of me, his eyes twinkling alarmingly. “When did you—”
I pointed at Finn, interrupting his question.
“Her handle is ElvenEdgeLord69.” He buried his face in his hands. “She’s had a lot of free time.”
“ She’s ElvenEdgeLord69?” Brayden covered his mouth. “But he’s one of the top ten players in the country. All this time, I thought it was you.”
“Does it look like I have time to play video games?” Finn glared at him. “No, I just let her use my information for her account. She needed an outlet. I disabled chat and the microphones.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked. What chats? What could there possibly be to discuss in these games? The only objective was to go in and kill people. But as he pursed his lips, I waved my hand. I probably wouldn’t like the answer anyway.
“Never mind. Listen, can we add my account to this system?” I asked. “I really miss my custom skins.” There were all manner of items I needed. Hopefully, this edition would have the same downloadable attachments. My Hello Kitty VPAR was greatly missed. “ElvenEdgeLord69 has all the cool stuff.”
“Okay, everyone needs to stop saying ‘ElvenEdgeLord69’.” Julian held out his hands. “How did you even come up with that handle?” he asked, looking at me. “Why the…” He hesitated only briefly. “Sixty-nine?”
Wasn’t it obvious ?
“The yin-yang symbol!” How could they not know this?
Why did everyone seem so confused? “Think about it. They fit together so perfectly. And the bubble-part of the number holds the dot, and they wrap around each other…” My words trailed off at Julian’s look of confusion. “Do I need to draw it out for you?”
“No!” Julian sounded alarmed, and his eyes widened. “Please don’t.”
Now, I was confused, and my gaze narrowed. I was missing something. Perhaps I had been misled.
“Fine.” I pulled out my phone. “Just give me a moment.”
“Don’t look it up,” Damen interrupted, pulling the phone out of my hands. He glared at Finn. “What did you do?”
“Don’t ask me!” Finn was staring at me in horror. “I had nothing to do with this one.”
“What is it?” I asked, my face burned. I loathed the uncomfortable looks of pity on their faces. And my heart twisted painfully at the knowledge that I, surely, sounded so stupid to them right now.
“I had no idea it was this bad.” Bryce was rubbing his temples. “Someone should have warned me.”
“Why would anyone have told you?” I rounded on him, my pulse roaring in my ears. The stress of the week pulled at me, and exhaustion shredded my final hold on restraint. Distantly, I caught Julian reaching for me. I saw his mouth move, but his words didn’t register.
“You guys are the ones who didn’t want me!” The words tore from me. “You sent me away to become like this!”
The moment seemed to freeze in time, and my awareness shifted. There was only Bryce, pale but still slightly black and blue, staring at me with eyes that matched mine.
He was usually so annoying, so smug. But not anymore.
I witnessed the exact second his expression broke, and the first hint of real, genuine emotion—other than fury—filled his features.
Pain .
It was masked over within an instant, but I had seen it. My breath caught, and guilt washed over me.
What was I doing? I was the most horrible person in the world.
“Fine.” Bryce got to his feet, brushing off his pants. He would no longer meet my eyes. “I’ll just get out of your way then.”
And before I could protest, he stalked from the room.
The heaviness in the room lifted, and I sucked in a breath. “I’m terrible.”
Julian wrapped his arms around me, and as I pressed my face into his chest, the comforting blanket of his presence washed over me.
“No, you’re not,” he said.
“And you’re not wrong.” Damen was glaring at the place where Bryce had retreated. “Let him wallow.”
“It was kind of harsh. Whether you believe it or not, he does care.” Brayden stood between me and the door, glancing at it and me nervously. “I should probably—”
“No.” I sighed. Gathering my composure, I pushed away from Julian. Though my gaze locked with Brayden only momentarily, I didn’t miss the surprise in my brother’s eyes.
His acceptance made me feel better about my following actions.
“I’ll go talk to him myself.”