Present Tense (Out of the Fire #3) - Candace Blevins Page 0,26
from University of Melbourne at something like sixteen, right?”
“A few weeks from my seventeenth birthday, but yeah. Went to work for a video game company because when you’re seventeen you think that’s the pinnacle of how to have fun at work. Turns out, working with a team is a bitch. I finished the project, resigned, and started my own antivirus company. Working with a team isn’t a bitch when you own the company. I hired people I liked who knew their shit, and then sold it for a few hundred million dollars before I was turned.” She sighed. “I was out of my mind for most of the first five years, but I was supposed to be out of my mind for two decades. I put the funds into...” She growled. “The details don’t matter. I won’t have access to those funds or assets for another couple of decades.”
“But you came out of the insanity in record time.”
“I did, but I’m smart and I’m talented. I started out without a fortune once. I can damned well do it again. The agoraphobia I developed when I came back to myself has proven to be a pain in the ass, but I find I’m not terrified to go out when I’m with one of you. That isn’t a solution, of course. I’ll need to learn to drive on the right side of the road so I can go out on my own. It seems to me, I should do this before I get too accustomed to staying in this new home.”
He uncrossed his arms and put them on his hips. “I play D&D on Sunday evenings when I’m in town. The timing should work for you to play with us in the winter, but probably not the summer. You’ll have to explain why you never eat or drink anything, though.”
“Not usually a problem. Most people expect me not to eat much since I’m thin. I’ll drink some whiskey occasionally if alcohol is acceptable.”
“Bring whatever you want to drink. It’s JB’s house, and he has a rule about not drinking if you have a real-life weapon on you, so I stick to water out of respect for his rules. They’re human and don’t know about us, so I can’t explain it’s okay to drink even though I’m carrying.”
“He’s okay with you bringing a gun into his home?”
Eunice shrugged. “He has a carry license. Most everyone who’ll be there does. Most will probably leave their weapon in their vehicle though, so they can drink beer. No one gets drunk. It starts at six, which is only fifteen minutes after sunset right now. Ten-minute drive. I’ll let them know I’m bringing someone and we might be five or ten minutes late. We don’t usually get started until quarter after, so it should be fine.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it. I should head downstairs and get a shower before I go into my hole.”
She’d almost said have a shower, but remembered at the last minute to use the American terminology.
9
Collosa had told Kelsey he’d be in her room waiting for her when she rose, and sure enough, he was naked and in bed with a sheet over him, doing something on his phone when she came out of her hidey-hole.
He turned his screen off, set the phone on a shelf above his head, and rolled to his side to look at her. “There you are. Everyone was talking about the adorable new member of the nerd herd when I went into the office. Thanks to you, we’re finally able to move forward on an op that’s been on hold for much too long.”
“Nerd herd?”
He smiled. “You saw them.”
She had, and he was right. All but two were serious nerds. Still, Kelsey wasn’t happy being lumped in with that description.
“I’m a geek, possibly a minor dweeb, but never a nerd.” Occasionally a dork, but she was trying hard not to let that out in this new identity.
“Dweeb?”
“Anime and manga. I’m not into it enough to be a complete dweeb, but...” She took her robe off, draped it over a chair on her way to the bed, and slid between the sheets.
And she sensed he was nervous. Or perhaps unsure of himself. She still had trouble sensing the intricacies between similar emotions and reactions. Either way, if he’d changed his mind, she didn’t want to hold him to it.
“If you offered in the heat of the moment and you aren’t feeling it anymore, I’m sure Fabio would be more than