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Chapter 16

This? This is a lie

“So why didn’t Riley come?”

“Said he has work for other clients, but I think it’s more about some girl he met.” Max shook his head as he took his bag from the cab driver. “He didn’t want to spend a few days without her. They’ve gone out
twice
in a week.”

“Yes. It’s insane that a young, intelligent, attractive guy would want to spend time with a girl possessing the same qualities with the possibility of a relationship developing.”

“Are you making fun of me?” He shot me a look over his shoulder.

“Never.” I followed Max toward the hotel, which was new and beautiful. I’d never been to California and wanted to soak up as much as I could, even though I figured we’d be spending most of our time between the hotel and convention center.

“Well, Riley’s always been more of a romantic.”

“Seriously? What’s your idea of romantic, letting a girl beat you at a video game?”

He held the door for me. “Not going to happen. If she’s lucky, I might let her pick her avatar first.”

I laughed, but Riley’s words came back to me. That Max had already been down the path of a serious relationship. And he’d gotten seriously burned. Since I’d found out about Christina’s threats, he hadn’t said anything about them. I hoped they’d gone away but it’d never seemed like the right moment to ask. Maybe after we got through the meeting with Harmon tomorrow.

A massive check-in line greeted us at the hotel and we pulled into the back of it, our carry-on bags in tow.

“Hey can I leave my bag with you while I find a bathroom?”

“You going to get pretty?” He grinned.

“Going to pee. Sorry to disappoint.” I wandered off to find a bathroom. But I did brush my teeth and scrunch my hair up in an attempt to combat the plane effects.

When I returned, the line had moved and Max was unzipping the front pocket of my suitcase and peering inside.

“What are you doing?”

He glanced up. “Your bag tipped over and then started buzzing. Why did you pack your phone in your suitcase?” His hand went in the pocket.

My phone was in my handbag.

Then what the hell was…

“OHMIGOD stop!” I grabbed Max’s shoulder, but he resisted. “I’m serious, get out of there.”

The grin faded from his face as he pulled his hand out of the suitcase.

“What the fuck…” His hand emerged. Gripped in Max’s fist like a writhing fish was a giant, buzzing purple penis.

I hurriedly closed the distance between me and Max, using my sweater and handbag as a shield so no one could see what was between us. The woman in front of us in line glanced over her shoulder, her eyes widening in shock. She sent me a disapproving look before turning back.

I hit the button on the base that took Jorge from screaming stallion to silent sentinel.

“Wow,” was all Max said.

“Yeah.” I swallowed, waiting for the ridicule, but his expression was serious.

“Do you know what this is?” He held Jorge between us like a peace offering.

“A vibrator,” I whispered under my breath. I wrapped my hand around it next to Max’s—there was a lot to grab—and tried to take it back.

Max held firm. “No, Payton. This?” He shook it, wincing. “This is a lie the adult entertainment industry tells women to keep real guys from getting laid.”

I flushed. “It was just a gift. You got a striptease for a divorce present.”

“A lap dance,” he clarified, his gaze dropping once more to his hand. “But the more interesting question is why did you have this riding shotgun on a three-day trip?” Max raised his eyebrows, his expression curious.

I didn’t have an answer other than the truth, and I sure as hell wasn’t trotting that out. I snatched the vibe from Max and stuffed it in my purse. Good thing I’d brought the tote or it wouldn’t have fit.

My handbag buzzed. “Fucking hell, not again—oh, it’s my phone.”

“Is that your giant cock supplier?”

I pulled out the device to find a new text. “Her name is Charlie. And no, it’s my mom. She’s always worried about me flying.” I flashed the screen of my phone at Max.

Have fun + b careful Payton! Watch out 4 perverts

“Yes. Because the gamers are the pervs.” Max nodded patronizingly, his gaze flicking to the bag under my arm.

I shoved him and he lost his balance, pulling his hands from his pockets to grab the handle of his suitcase. He grinned as he righted himself.

“It’s a mom thing,” I grunted. “Yours doesn’t text?”

“I’m not sure she has my phone number.”

I wasn’t sure how to reply to that, but we were at the front of the line, so I didn’t have to.

As it turned out, Max’s room was one floor above mine, and for a moment I was glad they weren’t next door to one another. “Meet you in the lobby in fifteen?” he asked as the doors opened on my floor.

“Sure.”

My room was bigger than I’d expected. A king bed beckoned from the center. An oak desk sat in the corner, and a sitting area held a couch and a chair. The bathroom boasted a soaker tub I could already imagine myself in. Lose myself in the water and forget this whole humiliating day.

Later
, I promised.

I unzipped my suitcase and hung up a few things. Then I took Jorge out of my purse and set him on the nightstand.

God, I couldn’t believe Max had found it. The only thing more mortifying was that I’d brought it so I wouldn’t, as Charlie figured, jump Max the first second I got.

Jorge was obscene, and I’d only enlisted him a few times this month. But with my current level of sexual frustration, I wanted some insurance. Something, anything, to keep my mind off the guy I couldn’t have.

In the end I stashed Jorge back in the suitcase.

“You ready for this?” Max asked when I met him in the lobby. There was excitement in the air, and whether it was over Comic-Con or just the buzz of people traveling for holiday, it was impossible to tell.

“Nope.”

He grinned like a kid waiting to unwrap a present. “Let’s go.”

Max had forgotten the humiliating moments in the lobby. Or, he wasn’t going to mention them, I realized as I trailed him to the convention center.

Like the games, movies, and comics it featured, Comic-Con itself was another world. Bright lights, larger-than-life characters, digital everything, and what looked like thousands of fans. I found myself drowning in the endless array of costumes, booths, and props, but Max was like a kid in a candy store. His usual cool exterior had melted off in the California sun and he was buzzing with anticipation. I followed him around as he paused in front of displays, pointing out things he liked or asking me if I’d seen certain movies.

I felt like a visitor in someone else’s dream. But when I saw where we were headed, the tingle of enthusiasm started low in my stomach. “Oh my God, Max, is that…”

I ran for the far corner of the convention center, toward the big banner announcing Oasis and Titan. My ballet flats slapped against the thin carpet and I was glad I’d worn jeans on the plane.

Under the banner surrounded by silver and green balloons was a booth and a big setup with six computer stations where people could play. A few intent-looking gamers were already at the stations.

“Max! You’re late, asshole.” A tall guy with glasses and light brown hair clapped Max on the back when he caught up.

Max rubbed his jaw in response. “I’m not late. This is your job, not mine. Rufus does my trade shows,” Max explained to me as I straightened from where I was inspecting a cardboard cut-out of Nyoki and crossed to them. “He knows how to get the crowd going.”

“Yeah, well, you know how to build the games that drive them insane.” Rufus grinned.

My attention was pulled to the screens where the people were playing Oasis. It was familiar but different—probably they were on a different level than anything I’d gotten to in my crash course. And, I noticed, the way they played was different. They effortlessly maneuvered the characters, picking off enemies and causing the meters on the screen to go crazy.

Rufus nudged Max. “What do you think. Wanna make their day?”

Max raised an eyebrow. “More like make
my
day.” He took off his jacket and passed it to me. “Hold this.” I watched, speechless, as he crossed to one of the stations.

I had no idea what was about to happen but I was dying to find out.

A flash of color caught my eye, and I turned to find a girl in a costume standing next to me. I looked her up and down: her hair was bouncy and auburn, reaching her lower back; her top was a corset that showed more boob than either of the strippers at Stack; her skirt was made up of flowy scarves that barely covered the tops of her long legs, which ended in flat sandals that laced up high on her calves.

“Hey! I recognize you. You’re a character from Oasis, right? Ilyana?”

Her smile was big and genuine. “Yeah! You play?”

“Sort of. I’m Payton. I…work with Titan. I’m pretty new.”

“Cool. Dawn.” She held out her hand and I took it. “I’m just doing promo this week. I model a bit but I was actually really excited for this gig. My brother knows Rufus and put me up for this.”

“Well you definitely look the part!”

“Thanks. You could pull this off, you know. You totally have the hair for it. Mine’s extensions.”

I reached up to feel my ponytail, flushing. “Being the center of attention isn’t really my thing.”

She shrugged. “You’d be surprised. Wearing a costume’s like having a dog. Instant conversation starter.”

My attention drifted to where Max was adjusting his seat and the controls in front of him. Others in the crowd that moved from station to station were noticing too.

A handful of people had stopped and were pointing. The other players were talking amongst each other.

A guy walked up to tim. “Hey, can I play too?”

“Sure.” Rufus stepped back and grabbed a microphone. “One more seat available! Who wants to play Oasis with Max Donovan?”

Max shot him his “you’re being a dick” look, one I’d been on the receiving end of more than once, but a dozen people rushed over. A girl who must’ve been sixteen was the first one there. Her cheeks were flushed and she dropped her purse and other bags before getting into the chair and adjusting it.

“What are they doing?” I asked Dawn.

“Developers like Titan have demos at Comic-Con and other big shows. People can try out the games before they buy them.” She nodded to the six chairs. Max was comfortable in one of the middle seats, and Rufus was typing away on a console off to the side. The six split screens in front of the chairs merged into one, the Titan logo appearing in the middle.

“Some of the people are just hobbyists, but others are downright obsessive. It’s not very often they get to play with one of their heroes.”

“Hero, huh?” I knew Max was like some kind of god to the team at Titan, but given his distaste for public appearances, it was hard to picture him being so popular with fans.

“This is going to be wicked,” Dawn breathed.

“What do you mean?”

“Watch.”

The screen lit up and the sequence from Oasis came on. The four guys and two girls seated in the chairs looked intense, their eyes on the countdown happening on the big screen.

“They’ll project up there what the gamers see on their monitors,” she explained.

When it got to “zero,” the characters appeared, but there was no time to get oriented. Everything started moving. They found a fight—it took me a moment to realize it was the same fight—and they were off.

Max was playing Nyoki, and he was doing things I’d never seen the character do. It jumped onto buildings only to launch attacks on enemies I was sure were out of range, flipping off them to evade their weapons. The bars on Max’s screen were going crazy, sometimes red but mostly green as he built up points and broke boundaries.

Everyone watching was pointing and murmuring excitedly. My eyes were drawn too, but after a few moments it was Max, not the action on the screen, that riveted me. He was intently focused, hands barely seeming to move over the controls in front of him while things just happened. But his lips were parted and his eyebrow with the piercing was lowered just a little like he was concentrating.

I’d played next to him for a whole night but never watched him. It felt different somehow.

Dawn leaned over. “So I like nerdy guys as much as the next girl, but Max Donovan? That man must have incredible hands.” Her appreciative gaze was squarely on Max. “The rest of him isn’t bad either.”

“Have you met him?” I asked, diverting the question.

She shook her head. “I hear he’s brilliant but pretty cold.”

In a flash as bright as day, I felt Max’s body press against mine, his mouth raining kisses up my jaw. How he’d lifted me onto the pool table, his hands hot on my legs and promising more.