Chapter Twenty-Seven
Ryker: Come over.
Itexted Odette, knowing that she’d look at her phone and know exactly what time it was.
In about an hour, I’d be starting my afternoon live stream.
Ever since Odette and I had started seeing each other, I’d adjusted my streams to be more in the afternoon to give us more time together at night.
Beckett and I had been toying around with permanently moving my time slots, and so far, it was working.
While some people who usually watched later in the evening weren’t always able to get on at the start, the stream went well into the early evening, meaning those people could still jump on and watch for a few hours.
As Odette and I had been seeing each other for almost a month now, we’d normally spent our respective afternoons apart, both working. Since she finished writing her book yesterday, I figured today would be a great day for her to come over and relax from her normal writing days.
My phone buzzed, and I looked down to see a side-eye emoji pop up.
Odette: You’re streaming soon, though.
Ryker: I know.
I messaged her and continued with my morning, getting ready for the day. Once I was out of the shower, I had one text from her and knew she’d be here soon.
Odette: Coming!
I laughed and checked that I had provisions set up: water, energy drink, and snacks. I made quick work setting up a little corner for Odette on the side of the room where I could see her, but where I made sure she’d be off camera, just in case.
She’d be able to make it in time for me to set her up before my stream started. I reached for my phone to message Beckett.
Ryker: I’m having Odette watch me today.
Beckett: Is that so?
I rolled my eyes. He was still giving me shit for telling her everything so soon, but he’d admitted the other night that seeing me free to do this and not have to hide it from her made me more focused.
Beckett: Maybe she can give you some pointers.
I threw my phone on the desk and left it. Fuck him.
But maybe he was right.
It wasn’t like I didn’t know how to play the game, but I hadn’t really thought about asking Odette for pointers or tips when it came to the game. It seemed like an unfair advantage.
There was a knock at the front door. I looked over at my monitor clock; I still had twenty minutes before one. I made my way to the door, fully expecting Odette, but opened the door to Beckett.
“I figured after that last message you were going to ignore me.”
“Please leave.” I looked over my shoulder at the clock on the wall, another minute passing. Odette was going to be here soon, and I needed to get my butt in the seat soon afterwards.
“No.”
Beckett pushed past me into the house. While Beckett and I had been friends forever, I was at the point where I was regretting buying the townhome next to him.
“How do I get you out of my house within the next five seconds?”
“I won’t be home tonight.”
I looked at him, confused as to why he was telling me this. We didn’t police each other’s nightly habits.
“Okay?” The word came out of my mouth in a drawl.
“What is your endgame with Odette?”
“What the fuck, Beckett?” I was taken aback by the prompt question.
“Just answer me, Ryker.” He ran a hand over his face, clearly frustrated. “Do you plan to marry her? What are you doing?”
“Fuck, yeah, if she’ll have me, but this is new Beckett. We are enjoying our time together as is. We love each other, and that’s all I have.”
“Okay.” Beckett nodded his head up and down and took a deep breath. He looked disheveled. His normally tucked-in shirt was half out of his wrinkled jeans. His hair looked like it was standing on end, like he had slept wrong or hadn’t slept at all. “Then have a good evening.”
He started to walk toward the door, but I stood in front of him, stopping him.
“Oh, no you fucking don’t.” I held my hand out against his chest, not letting him pass. “You don’t get to come in here and try to interrogate me without an explanation.”
“I’m leaving.” His words were clipped, and he wasn’t looking me in the eyes. Something else was going on here.
“Nope.” I let the ‘P’ pop.
“I’m going over to Jemma’s.”
“Okay?” My word was a question again. I knew he’d been sneaking over to see Jemma most nights.
It wasn’t like he was trying to hide it any longer.
I was more confused as to why he was acting this way about it.
Hell, we’d been over at Odette’s last night helping protect her house.
When Jemma messaged me, I told Beckett to get in my truck, and off we went.
No questions—just a yes—and we were over at their houses.
“Yep.” He let his ‘P’ pop this time, too.
We stared each other down, and I finally realized why he was asking me. If we were both involved with best friends and something happened, it could be disastrous. It could break what we all had going on. My relationship, theirs.
Shit, I hadn’t thought this would happen.
“Well, then.”
“I have no fucking idea what we are doing.” Beckett’s shoulders deflated. “I just wanted to know how serious this is between you and Odette, especially after going over there last night. I need to know if I need to draw a line with Jemma. Stop whatever we are doing.”
“You don’t need to do that.” I cut into Beckett’s rant. “We are all grown-ups, and it’s clear something is brewing between you two.”
“Dude,” Beckett ran a hand over his face and stared up at the ceiling. “She’s a firecracker. She’s a spitfire who I have no idea how to nail down, but I’m fucking trying.”
“Damn, dude, I’ve never seen you like this.”
“I feel like I’m running toward something that keeps running away. I’ve always been able to get what I want, but never Jemma.”
I raised an eyebrow as another knock came from the door behind me. I knew it was Odette this time.
Beckett reached behind me, answering the door.
“Beckett,” Odette said his name in surprise as he said hello and left abruptly. We watched as he walked away, and once he was out of earshot, I pulled Odette into my arms.
“He’s headed over to see Jemma,” I explained.
“He’s really good for her.” She gave me a soft smile.
“She seems good for him, too; she keeps him on his toes.” I laughed. “But he came over first because he was worried about us.”
“Oh.” Odette’s head cocked to the side.
“Don’t worry, my love.” I kissed the top of her head and led her inside and toward my office. I needed to go live in a few minutes. It was enough time to get her set up and get me on the microphone. “Your station, my lady.”
I waved towards the setup I’d put together for her.
“Fancy.” She pulled out her laptop and notebook. I hadn’t told her to bring anything over and was quite surprised to see her writing supplies, since she’d just finished her most recent novel. “Go, go.”
She shooed me over to my desk, and she started getting herself together.
I placed my headphones and face covering on, then logged in and was ready to start my stream.
I looked over at Odette before I hit the start button.
She was watching me intently, having never really seen this side of my stream before.
I was sitting here in a pair of gym shorts, a black shirt, my navy face covering that only showed my eyes, and a bun on top of my head.
Even though my face was blurred and voice altered in the stream, I took the extra precaution.
I hit the live button.
“Hello out there.” My usual greeting to my watchers.
I watched as the view count jumped. “Today, we are starting a new run through of League of Witches. For this round, we are to only participate in forward gameplay, no side quests, and no foraging. We can only use what is given to us from main quests and NPCs.”
I clapped my hands together.
“Let’s get started.”