For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,16
he glanced up. "No double meanings. No subtle hints. I'm honestly saying that we developers have habits, and your mods are shaking us out of them."
"But the upload agreement says you can steal from us without compensation," she pointed out. "So, you could basically use my code all you want."
"No," he corrected, "we can't. The legal jargon says that if there is a similarity, then we can't be sued. We don't owe royalties for it. Not the same as understanding your creative direction. I mean, we're all a group of fuck-ups, babe."
The word was barely out of his mouth before she tensed, glancing over to make sure no one heard. Braden just grunted in frustration, knowing he'd fucked up. The problem was that he couldn't think of her as anything but this amazing woman. It was the same mistake he'd first made with Dez, thinking that being a man gave him privileges that were undeniable.
But if he screwed up, she could walk out the door, get in her car, and leave. She didn't have to talk to him. He deserved nothing from her - which was what Chance had been trying to tell him last night. He had to play by her rules. She was the one in charge here, and if he wanted her attention, then he needed to rein in his flirting.
"Sorry," he mumbled under his breath. "Bad habit, I guess. I kinda feel like I'm walking on eggshells with you, though."
She pressed her lips together, clearly debating something in her head. "Still offering dinner?"
"Fuck yeah."
So she raised her hand and flagged down the waitress. That pause gave enough time for their conversation to lapse, all but changing the subject. He'd basically been scolded and spanked, but he could take it. He'd almost crossed the line, and everything about her said that Rhaven was the timid kind. She'd much rather run away than pick a fight for herself - or let anyone else pick one for her.
Because she didn't think she was worth it, he realized as he ordered his meal. That was the part he'd been missing. In his mind, she was absolutely amazing. In hers, she wasn't, and the people around her had likely done nothing but convince her of it, over and over. That was the problem with bullying, though. It proved to the victim that they were worthless, and that wound was worse than anything else. It was the kind that lingered, refusing to heal for years and spreading to everything else a person thought was good about themselves.
Rhaven honestly believed she was the extra, the person who should never be noticed. Someone, somewhere, had told her that, and it had hit too close to her heart. Maybe not directly about her, but she'd probably heard some hate-filled comment about someone else. The news was full of it. The internet was even worse. There was so much hate out there, and she was the kind of person who'd take it all to heart, because hers was just too big and open.
When the waitress left to put their order in, he tilted his head to catch her eye again. "I'm a screw-up, Rhaven. You need to know that up front. I say what I think, and I do it before my brain kicks in. I mean, I once grabbed Dez. Just reached out and put my hands on her, even after Chance had told us all not to touch her."
"I heard it's bad," she admitted.
He nodded. "Very. The feel of skin-to-skin contact triggers her worst memories. Thing is, I was just trying to move her over - to show her where I'd fucked up the code. So, like, a double fuck-up, right?" And he sighed. "I dunno. Maybe that's the part you're missing? I'm not some impressive man. I'm a big, dumb geek. I'm not the best coder. I'm not the smartest developer. I'm blunt and I'm strong. That's kinda all I got going for me."
"No," she breathed. "Braden, you have some amazing ideas about the design of shooters. Granted, you're definitely a shooter player."
"I kinda am," he agreed. "But that's another weakness. No attention span, right? MMOs are usually too slow, and my attention just wanders off to something else. And it's hard to build a character when I'm just looking for the next fight."
"But look at what you did with Eternal Combat," she countered. "That game has become one of the most popular shooters on the market."