Random Encounter Read online

  “Wow.” Adrienne’s lips formed a perfect O. “That was almost more convoluted than sister-friend-wife-in-law.”

  “Wait. You know The Wizard.” Dustin met Cole once, and was fascinated with him. Or maybe not with Cole so much as his history. He was a jack of all trades at Rinslet, Judith’s ex-husband, and one of the few people we knew who’d walked away from the gaming industry almost completely.

  Adrienne raised her eyebrows. “It’s my understanding, from him, that no one called him The Wizard.”

  “Only Judith.” It all seemed like so long ago, and at the same time, some of those memories were still fresh. I mentally cleared my throat to kick myself back on track. “Dustin’s point is, I’m sure”—to distract Adrienne from asking when I sketched her—“if I, or anyone, get to be too much…”

  “I know. If I see something, say something. So far, I’m good,” Adrienne said.

  I liked her. She was going to fit in great here. “Back to work. You’ve had all of a morning to be overwhelmed, but do you have any questions so far? About anything?”

  “I’m sure I do. But right now, I don’t know what I don’t know. Um… Oh.” Her face lit up. “What are your five things?”

  She meant the game she’d walked in on between me and Dustin. My mind blanked as I reached for an answer that didn’t sound as cold as the truth. “What?” Not my best comeback ever.

  “Dustin said people should talk to me if they wanted to get to know me. Goes both ways, doesn’t it? Your five things you’d leave behind in a zombie apocalypse.”

  “It’s just a game we play. Prompt changes every time.” Still not a great answer. Why did this one thing knock me off balance? Because the answer was I could leave it all behind, and she’d take that wrong.

  “Let’s get lunch.” Dustin’s changing the subject was neither smooth nor subtle, but I was grateful for it.

  Adrienne furrowed her brow. “It’s not even eleven thirty.”

  “True. But the best places fill up at noon, so we want a table early, and it’s your first day, so we might be there a while, making sure we’re a cohesive team,” Dustin said. “What do you like? Chinese? Italian? Mexican? Indian?”

  Adrienne shrugged. “How boring am I that I’m always on the prowl for the perfect sandwich?”

  I’ve got your perfect sandwich right here. You, between the two of us. Nope. This was now, not fifteen years ago, and telling the new employee she’d look even tastier stuffed from both sides was most definitely inappropriate.

  “There’s a great place about two blocks down. We’ll walk, enjoy the sunshine, and talk about what you were doing in that classroom last night.” I shouldn’t bring that up again, she’d looked embarrassed enough the first time, but I was genuinely curious and I wanted to make sure the topic ceased being taboo.

  Adrienne grabbed her purse. “Fine. But you owe me the same in return. I’ve seen your dicks, you can at least tell me why they were hanging out. Actual answer on this one.” She winced and covered her face with her hand, peeking out between her fingers after a heartbeat. “I mean… I didn’t mean however that sounded. Please don’t take that wrong.”

  I really liked her. “I won’t. Just this once.”

  “You’d better leave it an open-ended offer.” She finally lowered her hand. “It’s going to happen a lot.”

  “So let it.” I jerked my thumb toward the elevator. “Last night. Spill.”

  The three of us stepped into a waiting lift. “If you’re looking for lurid or interesting, you won’t get it from me,” Adrienne said. “Scarlet Barton knew my brother when he worked at the university, and introduced me. Creating at home hasn’t always been the easiest, so she lets me use a studio whenever I want, and sit in on any classes I’m interested in.”

  Dustin turned to face us, back to the doors, as we rode down. “Including the naked ones.”

  “Figure drawing is part of the curriculum, and I like drawing figures.” Adrienne’s tone was casual with a hitch.

  Dustin ginned. “So I saw.”

  “Once again, I’m not the one who was naked.” The longer she talked, the less hesitant Adrienne sounded.

  “And I’m not the one who was embarrassed.” Dustin stepped backwards off the elevator, not looking until all of us had cleared the doors.

  I wasn’t letting his throw-away comment turn things stilted and awkward again. “Scarlet and I go way back. We were in graduate school together. She called me last night, said she had a last-minute cancellation and did I know anyone? It sounded like fun, so I volunteered us.”

  We stepped outside, and the sun caught the golden highlights in Adrienne’s light brown hair. As if they’d planned it, she and Dustin both paused and turned their faces toward the heat, their eyes closed.

  Stunning.

  “Let me make sure I understand—a friend calls, says I need someone to take their clothes off for a classroom full of college students, and your first reaction is I’m in.” Adrienne’s voice was calm. She finally opened her eyes again and met my gaze.

  I shrugged. “Yup.”

  She looked at Dustin. “And you were just like okay, dude, let’s go.”

  “I’ve seen him naked before. I was pretty sure my lust was sated enough to control myself for an hour or two.”

  Not any longer than that, but I wasn’t complaining about the way last night ended.

  “Right. Co-workers, friends, and fuck-buddies.” Adrienne sounded skeptical. “And I’m not quite sure I understand how easy it was for either of you to sign on, but I see other people do it all the time, so I’ll stop projecting my insecurities on you.”

  We headed toward the sandwich place, and the sounds of downtown traffic filled in the lull in the conversation.

  Dustin started to whistle, most likely whatever he’d heard last on his playlist of the week. It was something he did when he was relaxed and unfocused, and it was always nice to hear.

  “I never got the hang of whistling,” Adrienne said. “Not sure if it’s the putting my lips together part or the blowing part.” Her step faltered.

  “Only one way to find out,” I said before she could take it back.

  “Practice makes perfect.” Dustin didn’t miss a beat.

  The bright red on Adrienne’s cheeks was exaggerated in the sunshine, but it looked good on her. “Do not encourage the random outbursts. I’m bad enough as it is. The number of times I’ve been told I seriously need help.”

  “You seriously need to not worry about it.” I hated it when people filtered their thoughts. If this was Adrienne uncut, good. “I already told you, it’s not a problem.”

  “I will help you with the whistling, though. Come here.” Dustin stepped in front of Adrienne, stopping them both.

  I paused as well, curious.

  “Make a tight circle with your mouth.” Dustin dragged a thumb over Adrienne’s bottom lip.

  Her sharp intake of breath matched mine. Such an alluring sight.

  “There’s your problem.” Dustin smirked. “Blowing means the air goes out, not in.” He whistled again, a light and carefree melody.

  Adrienne blew out a puff of air, which sounded exactly like that—a puff of air.

  “Your tongue needs to work with your teeth and lips.” Dustin nudged her shoulder lightly with his own, and we were all walking again.

  “I thought teeth were a big no-no with blowing.” Adrienne winced.

  Smart woman. “I’m with her on this,” I said.

  Dustin sighed. “For whistling. I work with a pair of fucking perverts.”

  “Takes one to know one.” I couldn’t argue the observation.

  “I may be inexperienced, but I’m seeing a distinct lack of fucking.” This time Adrienne barely flinched.

  Good.

  “Left it back at the office. Don’t worry, you’ll get your fill.”

  I could take Dustin’s words so many ways. But there was a line between innuendo and outright descriptions of the sex we’d had, and I should
steer clear of the latter. Probably. Maybe. “Have you?”

  “Gotten my fill? As in… physically or is this more of a psychological thing?” Dustin asked.

  “Unless those renderings come to life, I’m guessing not physical.” Adrienne plucked a loose leaf that had landed in a nearby bush and rolled the stem between her fingers. “And tangent, but orcs are not nearly as well hung as I expected.”

  And I’d made them that way on purpose. If someone wanted to play the big guy, they didn’t get a huge cock for it. “It’s all the muscle mass. Makes a dick look smaller.”

  She glanced at me, disbelief sprawled across her face. “Right. I can hear it now. I don’t have a tiny penis. I just work out a lot.” She spoke in a false baritone.

  Dustin and I laughed.

  She’d been here half a day and she already fit so well. I couldn’t have gotten luckier in finding a replacement.

  And the longer she was around, the better she slid into the culture, the less the pit inside over leaving would bother me.

  Six

  Adrienne

  When I got to work Wednesday morning, the Art room was empty. I glanced at my phone clock, and then at my computer clock, as I got logged into my machine and checked my email. Empty, of course. It was odd being so new at a job that no big tasks waited for me. I was excited for when that was no longer the case. It was a few minutes before eight thirty, but yesterday, Phillip said they both got in earlier.

  They’d be here soon, I was sure of it. Until then, I’d keep poking away at the software, and pretending I had any idea what a realistic threesome would look like, lizard-enhanced gunman notwithstanding.

  My phone chimed with a text from an unknown number.

  We’re in the big room. Come find us.

  We? Where?

  I locked my machine, grabbed my phone, and wandered toward the same room Dustin gave his presentation in yesterday. That was the only big room I could think of, but I still approached with hesitation.

  As I drew closer, three familiar voices drifted out, one of them Luna, telling Dustin and Phillip what to do, using words like router, CAT6, and hardwired. I rounded the corner to find the room transformed from yesterday, and the three of them at the center of the change.

  A series of long tables filled the room, each with three computers behind, and three monitors, keyboards, and mice on top.

  “Addie.” Dustin grinned when he saw me. “Told you she’d understand.”

  “I really don’t. The text was from you? What’s going on?” On the surface, the what was obvious, but the why escaped me.

  Luna pointed Dustin toward the last row of machines. “Finish checking the connectivity.”

  I wasn’t used to seeing her bossy. It was cute. And a little terrifying.

  “Everyone who wants to participate is doing the first beta in here today,” Dustin said as he worked. “Partly because I thought it would be fun. Partly because Ms. Queen of Security said it was the best way to ensure no one hacked us while it happened.”

  Luna smirked and waggled her fingers in a wave. “We’re on an isolated network. We’re hardwired to everything, and we won’t have voice chat.”

  “Wow. Are we really worried about that kind of breach?” I knew people were talking about this game, but with my limited understanding of what she was doing, this was some beyond-high-level setup.

  “We’re absolutely not worried, because we’re doing things right.” Luna climbed under one of the desks and fiddled with cables. “My job is to make sure people like me don’t get in. I’d want in to this.”

  Luna was a talented, and potentially dangerous, hacker—it was why she was in charge of the company’s digital security. In her case, the hacks tended to be for the challenge rather than the threat, but I understood her point. “So... what can I do?”

  “Pick your faction.” Phillip joined me, placing a hand at the small of my back.

  A rush of heat flashed between us. “Can I be Erudite?”

  “Not unless we want to get sued.” Phillip planted me in front of a computer that was already on. “This one’s good to go. We set it up for you. You can take the online quiz or just choose from the list of descriptions, it’s up to you.”

  “Back up.” I could guess at some of what he was saying, but that didn’t mean it all fit together in a clear picture. “What and what and what? Pretend I’m brand new here and start from the beginning.”

  Dustin took a deep breath. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

  “Smart ass.” I couldn’t help laughing. “Today. What’s going on in here and how am I involved?”

  Phillip pulled up a chair next to mine. “We explained the beta. We wanted to bring the whole group together, like gaming parties used to be.”

  “I borrowed some competition equipment from Rinslet.” Dustin sounded pleased with himself.

  He should be. As far as I could tell, it was a nice setup.

  “And the game has factions, based on who you are,” Luna said. “They’re not like guilds, and you can be in whatever one you pick, regardless of race or class, but they do come with bonuses and also wicked awesome crests. I wanted to tell you, but we’ve all been sworn to secrecy until the news goes out today.”

  “I’m starting to get the impression Dustin likes his secrets,” I said.

  He stared at me for a moment, expression blank. Did I insult him? His grin and wink were a relief. “I like a good, fun surprise. But this mandate didn’t come from me.”

  Phillip reached past me to click through screens on my computer, and type. When he was leaned this close, the faint scent of musk and soap teased me. Great. He was gorgeous, intelligent, smelled good, and was well hung. That wasn’t tempting at all.

  Phillip pulled away, but not so much I no longer felt his heat. “We've all played the game in bits and pieces, but we’re starting from the same place as everyone else for today’s beta. We want to blend in with the other players and watch their experiences. Everyone else in the office already has their faction picked and their character built out, though. This is your chance to do the same before everything starts.”

  Dustin crawled out from the space he’d squeezed into behind a table holding a long, rectangular box with a lot of lights, and wires coming out of it. “Plus Phillip will add your faction symbol to your avatar for the forums.”

  “Oh yeah, I saw that yesterday.” And with everything else, I completely forgot to ask what the playing card suits meant beneath everyone’s pictures and why they didn’t seem related to any of the teams or other groupings. “So which faction are each of you?”

  Dustin, Phillip, and Luna exchanged looks.

  “We’ll tell you after you pick,” Dustin said. “Everyone else went into this blind, you can too.”

  “Gee, thanks.” I didn’t mind, though. There was always time in life for another quiz that told me what color nail polish I would be or what kind of cheese toast I was. I loved those things. “Where’s this digital sorting hat?”

  Phillip winced. “You can’t call it that.”

  “Picking panties?” I offered, then bit the inside of my cheek at how bad it sounded.

  “Done.” Dustin dropped into another chair and logged onto the computer in front of him.

  Luna tapped him lightly on the shoulder. “What are you doing?”

  “Drawing Picking Panties.”

  She shook her head. “You’re testing network fidelity on router six, if you want all your players to stay connected for several hours.”

  “Yes, mistress.” Dustin’s sigh was exaggerated.

  I couldn’t help my laughter. This was definitely not the Luna I usually saw with my brother, but I could see how they were halves of the same person. “Picking Panty Quiz. Direct me.”

  Phillip reached past me again to click a bookmark in my web browser. Could he have just pointed it out? Sure. Was I glad he didn’t? So very glad.

  I clicked through the quiz, and impatiently waited the
five-ish seconds for my results to load. I read from the screen. “Hearts. The god Lir is your patron, and your element is water. You’re gifted with and drawn to the ways of cleansing and healing. Rebirth and resurrection are within your grasp, and you bring abundance to those you hold dear.”

  “I knew you’d be hearts,” Luna said. “So perfect for you.”

  I wasn’t sure I agreed, but I liked the hope in the description. “What are each of you?”

  “I’m diamonds. My element is earth. It’s abundance, but more in a I know the hearts of men kind of way.” Luna recited the explanation as if she’d done it dozens of times before.

  Dustin wiggled his fingers in wave. “Spades-slash-air. Words are my weapon of choice. Unless I need actual weapons, then those are awesome too.”

  “Clubs. Fire,” Phillip said. “Single minded focus.”

  “And the four of us make up a perfect set.” Luna clapped, glee on her face.

  “Now, character creation.” Dustin dropped into a chair on the other side of me.

  “They’re proud of this.” Luna took a seat across the table from us, angled so I could see her next to the monitor. “They should be. It’s the coolest character creation screen ever.” This was the Luna I knew. Eyes bright, grin plastered on, and radiating infectious enthusiasm. “You can pick your race, character size, shape, male, female, neither, both, somewhere in between—”

  “Hey, now.” The reprimand in Dustin’s voice sounded exaggerated. “You’re stealing our thunder.”

  The exchange made me even more excited to get into the setup and see the whole thing was about. “I promise she’s not. I need to know how you made everything scale and gave the designs the flexibility they needed to do what she’s describing.”

  And they told me. For the next hour, the three of us geeked out on an artistically technical level that would put most people to sleep, but that I loved. This was what I signed on for. The reason I wanted to work for a company like this. It wasn’t just making video game art, it was the innovation. The newness and uniqueness. The creativity and spark and being part of something vast.