Chapter 15
Rohan
Tyson ended up leveling me twice before we headed back to town for the night.
String lights hang above our heads, fireflies buzzing through the air as we walk along Halia’s main road.
I didn’t do much until near the end of our grind, but I’m still exhausted.
Everything that happened yesterday is probably still weighing heavily on my body.
“We should grab some dinner.” Tyson nods toward the tavern.
“Sounds good,” I mumble.
I’m glad Tyson seems to have dropped the whole kiss thing. I don’t know why I did that. I wanna kick myself. What makes it worse is I always thought kissing Tyson Moon would be the worst experience of my life. I would probably gag just thinking about it before getting stuck in here with him.
But … It was really nice.
He’s a good kisser.
That should probably piss me off even more, though. Because of course he’s good at kissing too.
“Hey, you there?” he asks, breaking my thoughts, waving his hand in my face. I didn’t even notice I’d been staring off into space.
“We’re here.”
“Oh yeah. Right. Well, go in!” I huff, trying to regain my composure.
Tyson shakes his head at me before opening the door, and my cheeks burn a little when he lets me walk through first.
That’s it.
I really hope this is a dream or some weird hallucination because if not, I’m going to have to move to a different country if we ever get out. I’ve kissed him, on my own! And now I’m blushing cause he held a fucking door open for me.
“Let’s get that table there,” Tyson says before heading over and sitting down. I follow him, and a waitress quickly comes right behind me to take our order.
“You boys getting any drinks with your dinner?”
“There’s drinks in the game?” I ask, tilting my head.
“Yeah.” Tyson chuckles. “We’ll have two ales. Each.”
“Wait, who’s we?” I scoff, pinching my brows.
“You’re gonna have me drink by myself?”
“Uh, yeah. I don’t drink.”
“Sounds like some shit you’d do.”
“What do you mean by that?” I snap, smacking my palm down on the wooden surface.
“I don’t know? Cause you’re fucking buzzkill?” Tyson drawls. That stupid bored look he always has makes my blood boil. Never mind he’s still a fucking asshole. I should apologize to myself for even beginning to think otherwise.
“Actually, yeah, I’ll have that ale!” I say, turning to the waitress who’s watching our exchange with an amused expression.
“Sounds good to me.” She grins.
I lean back, crossing my arms while Tyson sits across from me.
His face stoic and indifferent. I roll my eyes at him while we both wait silently for the food to come to our table.
After a few more minutes, our waitress comes back, her arms full of plates, before she sets the food we ordered down in front of us.
Tyson got some curry chicken dish, and I got a soup with a side of bread.
She leaves for a bit before coming back with the ales he ordered as well.
“Hope you boys enjoy!” She smiles, walking back to the counter.
“Looks pretty good. Better than the inn food,” I mutter.
“Yeah, should be good,” Tyson says, taking a sip of the ale. He eyes me from the rim of his jug, his brows shooting up.
He’s waiting for me to drink.
Asshole.
I grab the jug and take a large gulp, trying not to sputter as it goes down.
I haven’t drunk in so long. The last time I did was at a college party my senior year, and I ended up sleeping with my ex.
Who broke up with me, by the way, so that was fucking humiliating.
I vowed never to drink again. I like my control very much, thank you.
But we’re trapped in a game. There’s no exes for me to sleep with here.
“Why don’t you slow down? You’re definitely a lightweight,” Tyson says, the corner of his mouth tilting up just a tick.
“Stop telling me what to do. This was your idea anyway.” I stab my fork into the bread, dipping it into the soup before taking a bite.
“And since when do you listen to my ideas?” He chuckles.
He’s right. But I don’t want to think about that right now.
I huff and focus on eating my food. We’re quiet for a little. The sound of drunk cheering and conversation is the only audio to our dinner. I’ve drunk down the first of the two ales Tyson ordered, and I’m definitely looser.
“I have a question,” he says, my eyes snapping toward him.
“What?”
“Why do you hate me so much?” Tyson stares at me, waiting.
“Well, for one, you took my title from me.”
“Is that all?”
“I mean…That’s a lot. To me.”
“Is it now?”
My face balls up instantly at this question because what does he mean by that? “Of course it is!” I counter.
“Why’s that? It’s just a game, Rohan.”
“Just a game. Right, of course it is to you.”
“So explain it to me.”
I stare at him, frozen, and it has to be the ale in my system because instead of telling him off, I open my mouth and mumble, “Seeker means everything to me. I only went to uni for my parents, you know they came to America for my sisters, and I. Just wanted them to be happy, to have that one thing. But gaming … But gaming was always for me. And I was so close to living my dream, with my dream career. I worked so hard … Then you came.”
Tyson’s expression is once again unreadable as I basically pour my heart out to him.
I’m definitely going to regret this in the morning, so I take another huge, sloshing gulp of the second ale.
Cause why the fuck not, we’re already embarrassing ourselves in front of our rivals, let’s jump all the way off the cliffside.
“Ah, I see.” He hums, crossing his arms.
My head—no, my entire body feels much, much more relaxed.
I blink my eyes a few times. Tyson looks kind of blurry from here now.
I’m definitely getting wasted. I sigh. “Yeah, you came and fucked everything up. I needed those sponsors, you know, but then they wanted to work with you instead. Cause you’re number one and all now… ”
“Now I have to work these stupid jobs I hate…” I huff.
And it’s true. Originally, I was headed to make some serious money, life-changing money.
But Seeker isn’t big enough for the both of us to make that kind of money, though I’m not even that far behind this guy.
I guess him having the whole look probably helped even more.
Ugh, I hate it all really. He snatched my life right from under me when I was so close.
“What do you do for work right now?” I think I hear Tyson, but my eyes feel really heavy. It would be nice to close them, so I do. The cold wood feels really soothing against my cheek as I ease into slumber.