your luck really hard,” she told him. “Not before playing Shards of Ruin.”
“Oh hell, no. I wouldn’t dream of it. But later?”
“Later,” she promised. “Definitely later.”
“I can’t wait. And you know what the next shopping trip will be, to celebrate once all this is wrapped up? An art supplies store. I think I’d really get off on following you around in one of those places, watching you dump your art stuff into your cart right and left. Pencils, paints, paper, whatever your artist’s heart desires.”
That blindsided her. She had to look away fast, before he saw her eyes fill.
“What?” Nate asked, alarmed. “Oh no. Shit. What did I say now?”
It took a few minutes of him repeating the question before she could control her voice enough to reply. “Relax,” she assured him, reaching over to pat his thigh. “I’m fine. You just touched a tender spot.”
“Is that good or bad?” he demanded.
She wiped her eyes and gave him a misty smile. “It’s great,” she said in a husky whisper. “I like it when you touch my tender spots. You’re very good at it.”
She could tell from the look in his eyes and the way he shifted in the driver’s seat that her words had turned him on. Good. Let him suffer.
Art supplies, her ass. That seductive bastard.
15
They had a long and spirited argument before finally settling on the lowly hograt as their steed of choice. Elisa had insisted on it. Nate held that it was counterintuitive. The damn thing was so small and scrawny and ugly. Plus, he had money to throw at this game for points, so they’d make better time with a swifter mount that cost more. They’d cover more ground in less time. It was a no-brainer.
Relative to their humanoid on-screen avatars, the hograt was about the size of a burro, but it was hairless and warty, with a wet, fleshy mouth and protruding, slimy yellow teeth. It had thick, grotesquely muscular kangaroo-like back legs. A yellow-green tinted vapor hung around it, suggesting that it stank. It looked diseased and misbegotten. Like bad luck personified.
The other choices were more attractive. There was a big, shimmering, sinuous lizard creature that flashed through the desert sands at high speeds. There was a massive, armored creature that looked like a giant rhino out of a nightmare. Another choice was a flying creature like a silvery pteradon, with a mouthful of snaggled, dagger-sharp teeth. All of those options looked far more promising to Nate.
But Josh had mentioned the hograt by name, and Elisa was adamant. So they got to limp-hop their way through this vast game landscape at a fucking snail’s pace.
There were unpleasant surprises from the start. Yes, the hograt was cheap, point-wise, but the animal could only be controlled with an expensive spell that had to be bought separately, in advance. Otherwise, it turned around and promptly ate the player. That was a nasty little detail they both discovered to their cost.
Lots of blood. Not a great beginning, but whatever. Back to the top.
It had taken a long time to get going. Setting up two game stations, two monitors, and Elisa was a novice, so she was clumsy and slow, and emotionally on edge, not a great combination for gaming. She made up for it with her stoic tenacity.
The whole enterprise required massive multitasking. Nate simultaneously played his own game, coached Elisa through hers, and watched the YouTube videos Craig had recommended on his tablet. The YouTuber he was watching was a screamer, which grated on Nate’s nerves, but he’d do anything to garner fast tips.
Hours ground by. Slow. Frustrating. Stops and starts. Sudden and ugly deaths, gruesome dismemberments. Elisa got better, but she fell into every trap and snare.
“Aw, shit,” Elisa snapped.
“What happened this time?”
“Eaten again. That big thing buried in the sand with the mouth like a big garbage disposal. Me and Yellow Tusk just slipped right down into its maw. Damn it.”
“My condolences,” Nate said. “Respawn fast.”
The day passed like that. Nate ordered in sandwiches and fruit and a couple of pieces of those famous layer cakes that Gina had talked about, one a towering chocolate cake, the other strawberry shortcake with layers of Bavarian cream.
Sometime in the afternoon, once Elisa had found her feet and he was no longer watching the YouTube videos, he actually started to appreciate the game itself. It actually deserved the hype. It had good graphics, good music, creative interactive design, and an endless series of fiendishly sadistic traps for players