Chapter Two
“Ryker!”
I spun around in my chair and pushed my headphones off in time for Beckett to skid to a halt in front of me.
“What did I tell you about shouting my name when you come over?” I ran a hand through my long brown hair and gave him a stern look before grabbing the envelope he was waving around.
I was in the middle of editing a stream I had done earlier, but Beckett knew better than to say my name while I was working. But that never seemed to stop him.
“Sorry, man, but look at the envelope.”
I took a better look at what I’d grabbed from him.
The Gamer Awards invitation.
I tore open the envelope, and not only was there an invite, but a nomination announcement with it.
We’d received an email months ago confirming our attendance at the awards ceremony, with the promise of more information to come, and there were rumors that the event coordinators had gone a different route with inviting everyone to the event.
These invites were not what I had in mind, though.
The dark green envelope looked like it’d come straight from the forest and had traveled thousands of miles. My name was scribbled in silver lettering. The card inside had The Gamer Awards in big red letters across the top.
“I’m nominated for best streamer this year and an honorary award for best gameplay for League of Witches.
” I looked up to Beckett, who was all smiles as he puffed out his chest, clearly a proud manager.
Looking down at the invitation, I read the next part.
“It looks like they are honoring League of Witches for its five-year anniversary, too.”
“Fuck yeah,” Beckett snatched the invitation out of my hand. “I expected the nomination, but the honorary award? It’s about fucking time with how you play that game.”
“And only that game,” I added.
Beckett nodded in agreement as he read over the announcement further.
I’d been gaming for most of my life and was one of the most successful streamers around. Unlike most online personalities, I preferred to remain anonymous in my streams.
“Are we going to this ball, too?” Beckett handed me the card back.
I hadn’t read to the bottom yet, still stuck on the first half about my nominations. I read through the details of the masquerade ball happening the night before the award ceremony. It was in full honor of not only League of Witches, like the rest of the awards were, but Odette Reign, herself.
Odette.
“Do you think she’ll be there?” I asked, my hand slightly shaking, holding the card now.
Beckett raised an eyebrow at me.
He knew exactly what I was thinking.
We’d been friends since we were Juniors in high school. Almost twenty years, and he knew my whole life, my schedule, where I went, and what I did. And when it came to my obsession with Odette Reign, he knew every detail about that as well.
“Do you think the creator of League of Witches will be at the Gamer Awards and masquerade ball that is in dedication to her?” Beckett’s tone had turned sarcastic.
I glared at him.
“Not what I meant.”
“Oh,” Beckett took a seat on the couch in my office. “I know it’s not what you meant, but I’ve got to give you some shit when you read her name on a single piece of paper and clearly start to lose it.”
He pointed to my knee, which was bobbing up and down. I put my hand on it to stop the bouncing. He wasn’t wrong. The second I read her name, something in me picked up. It did every time I thought I’d see her.
“Do you think she’ll be there, though?” I ask again.
“I hope for your sake she is.” Beckett rolled his eyes at me, clearly joking, as we never attended these types of side events.
“I think we should go.” I blurted out.
Beckett’s eyes went wide, and so did mine as I realized what I’d just said.
“Look,” Beckett leaned forward, his hands running through his shaggy hair.
He normally looked put together, sitting there in his jeans and button-down shirt, but he looked frustrated now.
“I know you’ve followed this woman around for years.
You’ve gone to book signings for her, brought your mom even.
You’ve played all her games and even invested in her newest one.
But what you’ve never done in your whole time being CovertRetriever, was willingly go to an event and participate in anything that didn’t involve accepting an award. ”
I pulled my hair into a bun and leaned back in my chair, letting Beckett’s words sink in.
He was right.
I’d followed Odette for years, secretly watching and being there for her in ways she never knew and probably would never know. But I had never risked my anonymity for her before. The thought had crossed my mind a few times, but it was never enough to make me go through with it.
“I know.”
“Then what’s going through your head?” Beckett leaned back on the couch, waiting.
What was going through my head?
I ran my hands through my hair and took down the bun I’d just put up, then redid it.
I moved my hands to my thighs, running them over my gym shorts I hadn’t changed out of from yesterday.
I needed to get it together because, as much as I had always wanted to meet this woman, I’d always been too shy, worried about what she might think of me.
But there was a part of my mind that thought with a masquerade ball, there might be the slightest chance I could meet her.
Where I could be me but not be me.
That was another problem in itself.
“It would be a masquerade ball. No one would know who I was.”
“And you’d expect to know who she was with a mask on?” Beckett countered with a laugh.
“Yes,” I said instantly, sending him another glare. I would know who she was. I’d been paying attention to her for years. No mask could stop me from recognizing her.
“Fuck, man.”
“Forget it.” I waved my hand at him and turned back around to my computer, continuing to work on edits for the stream I needed to get uploaded. I stared at the screen, tension rising in my shoulders.
Beckett was right; this was a shit idea. I wanted to be anonymous, and no matter how it panned out, there was a huge risk trying to go to an event like this out in the open. Not just that someone would figure out I was CovertRetriever, but who I was in general.
Growing up in a famous family had its benefits until you wanted to do things on your own.
Especially when it was outside the scope of what you were raised in.
Beckett knew this all too well, as we’d both moved away from Nashville to escape our family ties for our own endeavors.
We both still had relationships with our family but wanted out of the spotlight the city gave us.
“We aren’t forgetting it.” Beckett came over and grabbed my mouse.
“Come on,” I exclaimed.
“This is clearly something you want to do, so tell me, what’s gotten into you?” Beckett asked, holding the mouse above his head. It wasn’t that I couldn’t get up to get it back, but I’d been avoiding this conversation with Beckett because I was unsure of what I wanted to do.
“I talked to my mom the other day.”
“And?” Beckett waved his hand for me to continue. I ran a hand over my face and fingers through my beard.
“They are looking to sell the café.”
“Shit.” Becket lowered the mouse, and I snatched it back. I turned back to the computer, moving through the motions to get this edit finalized.
“Yeah.” I took a deep breath, and I rendered a few portions of my stream that needed to be spliced together.
“That café has been in your family for generations. What are they going to do?”
“They want to retire.” And since my parents knew I had no ambition to take over the family café in Nashville, they needed to find different avenues to turn to. The Blackbird was home to names throughout the music industry, and the name Ryker was known all over the city.
“What you’re telling me is that this might be your shot to finally have a normal life where people don’t try to use you to get their music careers off the ground?”
“Thanks for calling me out.” I leaned back in the chair and faced him again.
Beckett was right, though.
My family’s café was the reason why I’d become an anonymous gamer.
Gaming was mine and not something that was connected to them.
It wasn’t something their name could touch and give influence on.
People used to flood my direct messages seeking help in their careers, so after high school, I kept myself off social media as much as I could.
My family had helped so many people over the years and was involved in people’s lives that, when it came to my future, I wanted to make it my own.
“You know this can be a good thing, right?”
I took another deep breath.
“I do, I just don’t know what to do if they go through with it. Do I stay anonymous? Do I let the world know who I am? Will it even matter, or have I just made this whole thing up in my head and no one actually cares?”
“Ryker.” Beckett leaned down, hands on my shoulders, and gave me a shake.
“This is your life. You decided this was your future because of how those who wanted to be in the industry treated you. You can keep it as is, you can change it, but do not let your parents’ choice make that decision for you. ”
“But what if it just made the decision easier?”
“Is this something you’ve been thinking about changing?” Beckett asked, concern forming on his face. It was news to him, because it was news to me.
I nodded in response.
While I had been thinking about this for a while now, not having to hide and just being myself, I had no idea how to do it.
Or even a reason why I should come out and just be me.
When I was gaming, it felt like I was a whole other person, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to give that up.
Not just the anonymity, but the persona I’d created and felt so comfortable in.
“What if I wanted to use the ball as a test run? Just to be myself.”
Beckett perked up at this, rubbing a hand over his chin, clearly thinking.
“What if we could find a way?”