Chapter 9
TROYE
My luggage still hadn’t been located by the time I got home, at which point I decided that it was probably lost forever.
Or it would tour the world for a couple of decades before finding its way back to me.
Or some poor unfortunate soul would buy it at one of those lost luggage auctions thinking they’d struck gold, but in reality it was just my one and only suit and a handful of graphic tees.
It turned out that he had asked, and I’d always found a reason to say no. So he started manufacturing crises because I never said no when someone needed help. That was another problem he told me I should work on.
I didn’t see it as a problem, though. I liked helping people, but Charlie said that he hated watching people take advantage of me.
I wasn’t stupid enough to think that the people I helped wanted to be my friends.
They didn’t. They wanted me to buy shit off their baby registry and pay their phone bill so it didn’t get turned off.
And the little kid in me that grew up with dirty clothes and shoes that were always too small or falling apart, or both, wanted to help people.
It used to make me feel a lot better than it did lately, though, and I thought that was because I started to realize that this kind of help felt hollow.
I knew from experience that a lot of people who needed help would never ask for it.
A lot of people who needed help were like the foster kids Matthew helped.
I’d given up on trying to stop thinking about him. It was all I did now, ever since I walked out of that hotel room and hid like a coward. I might not regret helping people even when they were just using me, but I sure as hell wished I hadn’t left him.
Theoretically, I could find him if I really wanted to. The head office for Gemstone Games was downtown. He had expressed interest in working with me as a consultant on his game. But anyone could do that. My brain wasn’t special, even though he’d kind of made me feel like maybe it was.
After making sure to brush the breakfast out of my teeth, I padded over to my computer and got everything up and running. I’d promised my fans a marathon stream to make up for going dark over the weekend.
The minute I went live, viewers poured in, and my chat lit up like a firework. FuzzFace, my mod, a super fan from way back, was here today to make sure chat behaved.
“Hey, FuzzFace. Nice to see you.” I watched their response on the screen while I tried to decide what game to play.
I had more of that dungeon crawler beta to get through for the devs, so I decided on that one.
My fans were getting a kick out of it. It was kind of camp and didn’t take anything serious, and some of the bosses were hilarious but hard to beat.
So far, we were having a good time with it.
I used to try to mod chat myself, but once my channel picked up more followers, it became impossible pretty quickly.
FuzzFace was the obvious choice for my first mod because they were always in the chat sticking up for me.
Once I gave them mod powers, chat smoothed out a lot.
FuzzFace didn’t tolerate any shit. They still didn’t. Not even from me.
FuzzFace
You look well rested for a man who spent the night in an airport.
“It was a hotel. Should I go left or right here? Did I go left last time? Do we remember?” I glanced at the chat to see what the consensus was. “Okay, looks like I’m going right.”
I’d made it a whole ten seconds without thinking about Matthew and the spanking and the fact that my ass was still a bit tender, but in a good way. Did I unlock a new kink? No. Definitely not. I bet once the ache faded away, I’d never think about it again.
Okay, well, that was a lie. A big, fat, stupid, delusional lie.
Matthew was in the marrow of my bones now.
He was part of my DNA. I shifted around, and the pants I’d stolen from him were another reminder that it was real.
That I didn’t just have this elaborate dream.
Matthew Kincaid was a real person. And I’d met him.
We’d had an amazing, confusing as hell night together.
Gizmo240
The only thing worse than spending Valentine’s Day alone is spending it alone in an airport.
RuRu4U
Are you ever truly alone in an airport?
A monster came out from around the corner and instead of battling it, I let it kill me. A bunch of users called me lame. I could always tell who was younger because they’d say things like I was cooked.
“Sorry, chat, I’m a little distracted today. It’s probably jet lag. I think I’ll double back and go left. There’s that hallway down there with the treasure chest that I haven’t been able to get to yet.”
Chat kept me busy for a while with suggestions about what to do next. Things to try. Different routes to try and go. It took more than an hour, but eventually I got to the chest.
“All that for a few rubies.” I wrinkled my nose. Rubies. Gemstones. Matthew. Fuck. “Hang on, friends, I need something to drink.”
I took my headset off and pushed away from the desk. When I returned a minute later with my water bottle and a can of iced coffee, I scrolled back through chat just to catch up with the conversation. There were always new users in chat, new names mixed in among familiar ones.
When I put my headset back on, I saw one of those new names pop up into chat.
StoneKing
Nice pants
Stone…. gemstone… king… Matthew Kincaid. Matthew Kincaid from Gemstone Games was in my chat. Not only had he found me, but he’d reached out to me. His sudden appearance threw me off my game, and I ended up getting turned around and doubling back on myself.
Normally I would never send some random user a direct message, but I had to know if it was really him. I paused the game and fired off a quick message to StoneKing. My fingers shook as I typed his name followed by a question mark. And then I held my breath.
He didn’t make me wait long before responding to my message.
After your stream is over, I want to see you. Meet me at 60/40 at seven. And if you need to know if it’s really me, yes. This is Matthew. We were in room 411 together.
Jeez, Louise, bossy much? Was I going to meet him? I shouldn’t. I should stay away. Matthew was… too nice. That thought made me shake my head at myself and throw my attention back to the game.
Matthew was too nice so I wasn’t going to see him again?
Did I hear myself correctly? I thought of Charlie’s potential reaction if I told him that I refused to meet with someone because they were too nice.
He’d hang me out to dry for sure. Chat complained when I paused the game, but I had to respond to Matthew before I talked myself out of it again.
TroyeBoy
I’ll be there.
TroyeBoyDid you want the pants back?
StoneKing
Keep the pants. See you tonight. Seven sharp. Don’t be late.
StoneKing logged off after that, and I found it suddenly easier to concentrate now that he was gone, and now that I knew I’d be seeing him again.
I hadn’t expected him to find me, but now that he had, I wasn’t surprised.
I should have expected it, to be honest. Matthew was a take-charge kind of person.
My ass still knew that very well. Once I’d asked him to spank me, something I still couldn’t believe I did, he was all in. It was his show after that.
For a brief moment, I hadn’t needed to think about anything. He’d told me what to do and helped me do it. It never felt like he’d been holding me down either. Just… holding me. Keeping me in place so he could do what he promised.
And after. When I was done shattering, the way he’d kissed me. God. I couldn’t even describe it now. It was soft, but there was this energy behind it, like there were many different versions of him, and he wanted to give me that one.
I spent all day thinking about that kiss. About dinner. About what he wanted. Not his pants, he’d told me I could keep those. I should have stolen a shirt, but with any luck there’d be a next time. Next time, I’d steal a shirt.
I made almost no progress on the dungeon crawler game, something I apologized to chat for, but they didn’t mind watching me get my ass kicked over and over again.
I logged out at quarter past five and after making some quick notes about the game for the developers, I got up and stretched.
I hadn’t moved for most of the day, and my body was unhappy with me.
A quick shower had me feeling more like a human again, and I spent the next hour choosing something to wear to 60/40.
Matthew’s choice of restaurant made me wonder how deep of a dive he'd done because I’d mentioned them a few months ago on my socials.
It had been the first time I’d eaten there.
60/40 served food that was a blend of Indian and Chinese cuisine.
The tables in the restaurant were low to the floor and instead of sitting in chairs, you sat on cushions.
I’d gone there with Charlie for his birthday, only the two of us, which was just as well because Charlie didn’t like crowds, and I didn’t have many in-person friends.
Most of my friends lived in my computer.
Tonight the restaurant had a different sort of feel to it.
Or maybe it was all in my head. I’d dressed in a pair of black pants that were forgiving enough to let me sit however I wanted without cutting my body in half but still made my ass look amazing.
I paired it with a metallic blue shirt that I hadn’t had a reason to wear yet and as I scanned the restaurant looking for Matthew, I worried that it was too flashy.
I felt him before I heard him. A warmth pressed against my back. Breath puffed out against my ear. The weight of a familiar hand landed on my waist, anchoring me.
“I’m glad you came.”
You told me to. I almost said it. I couldn’t stop thinking about you was another thought I had to bite back. I’m glad you found me was the absolute truth, but I didn’t say that either.
Saying anything at all might have been a good start, but all I managed to do was turn and look to make sure he was real.
Matthew at the airport had been dressed for travel and comfort.
Matthew at 60/40 was dressed to impress.
His hair was styled so the longer bit on top looked purposely messy.
He wore a shirt that hugged his wide shoulders and showed off his narrower waist.
And then my voice found itself. “I can’t believe you found me.”
Matthew’s gaze burrowed under my skin and whatever he might have said was interrupted by the hostess asking if we had a reservation.
“King,” Matthew said, his voice smooth and low and sexy as hell.
I was going to combust before we even got to our table.
The hostess led the way, and Matthew fell into step behind me. His hand pressed against my lower back, ushering me forward, giving me no chance for escape.
Not this time.