and we did not make the basement walls extra thick for any reason. So, New Falls base. Who's loading in?"
"Bro?" Murder asked. "Tell me you're joking, Logan."
"Oh, you're fine with Knock taking it up the ass, but not me?" Void replied.
"I'm... But..." Murder chuckled. "Wow. These are the people I live with. I'm starting to feel like a damned prude."
Void just laughed. "And now you realize that I can never say if that was honest or a joke, right? The uncertainty is now even more fun than dropping that into chat."
"Fuckin' hate you, Void," Murder grumbled. "Who's on red with me?"
"I am," Jason assured him. "Zara's on blue, it looks like. Psyc?"
"Yeah, I'm on yellow but give me two seconds and I'll switch over." He paused for a second. "Cyn, you gonna play in the tournament? Still gonna be at the high table?"
"No idea," Jason told him. "I'll play, but my big sponsor doesn't need me anymore."
"Texting," Psyc said. "I mean, reloading into red as well, but figured I might as well - huh. Ok, that was fast. Rhaven said that yes, you're still sponsored."
"Rhaven?" Murder asked. "So, you're still talking to her a lot?"
"Fuck off," Psyc told him. "Yeah, she's still in PD too, unless you forgot."
"Didn't forget," Murder said. "Just haven't seen her. Figured she bailed on us - or got scared off by some guy."
Psyc groaned. "Man, she's not scared off. Don't even go there. She just does nothing but work on that game and won't even tell us what it's going to be."
"I know," Riley said.
"Same," Void added.
"Me too," Zara said.
"Wait," Knock broke in. "Who here doesn't know what it is?"
The channel went silent. After a moment, Murder just began to laugh. "I'm not sure if she's trolling you, Psyc, or flirting. Either way, let Rhaven know that this is the best joke ever and we're in on it now."
Psyc sighed. "And why do I love you guys again?"
"Because we make your life a living hell?" Jason asked.
"And now I even have the feds giving me shit! Damn it, I'm definitely taking that gift back."
"Wasn't really in need of a strap-on," Jason assured him. "I will have you know that I prefer to do the penetrating."
"Considering that I've seen Zara?" Psyc asked. "Uh, yeah. Complete no brainer there. I'd put my dick in that too. Oh, and Cyn? Not scared of you anymore."
Jason just hit alt-tab, pulled up another program, and found Psyc's name in the list. "Good-bye, Psyc."
"You fucking ass - "
The line went dead as he lost connection and everyone else began laughing just a little too hard. Jericho snorted, which only made it worse, and then Void began to giggle at almost the same pitch as Riley. Jason couldn't help it, a tear leaked from his eye and his cheeks were burning. This was everything. He couldn't remember why he hadn't logged in recently, but this? It was exactly what he needed.
Chapter 29
Late Friday night, Jason headed to Texas. Sadly, it wasn't to see Riley. This was a favor for a friend, but also a minor little FBI case. Ruin had asked for some help - after all they'd done for him lately - so he made it happen. The relief in the victim's father's eyes had made it worth it, and he'd racked up a favor of his own as payment.
Sunday morning, everything changed. Jason's phone began ringing much too early. When he punted it to voicemail, it started again. Giving up, he rolled Zara off him and stretched so he could reach the thing. Seeing Bradley's name on the screen erased the last of his grogginess. Jason was swiping to answer as fast as he could.
"I'm up," he said as a greeting.
"Then get out of bed, get to your computer, and check the KoG forums," Bradley told him. "Jason, we've got a problem."
Jason was out of bed before Bradley finished speaking. "Heading that way," he promised.
A press of a button woke up his computer. The fans whirred and the lights came on, but it took over a minute to boot up. Most of that was the virus and malware protections he ran, but it didn't matter. Right now, all Jason knew was that this was taking too long.
Then, as soon as it was done, he clicked to open a browser and went right to the Kings of Gaming site. Standing leaned over his keyboard, Jason thought he'd need to login to see anything, but he was so wrong. The entire screen