For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,28
I'm a loser."
"Hey," she snapped, because she didn't have a car, but that did not make her a loser.
Tyler just grinned in that annoying way that only an older brother could. "Guess you shoulda bought a car, huh? Now, c'mon. I've got places to be."
But Rhaven was mortified. This was not the impression she wanted to give Braden. Not even close. Never mind that she had no idea what her brother would say or do. Unfortunately, she also couldn't complain. He was already too close to guessing what was really going on, and the last thing she wanted to do was confirm it. So, shoving her hands into her pockets, she headed toward the main doors beside him.
Inside, Braden was sitting in one of the chairs in the lobby. His eyes landed on her and a smile touched his lips, but it froze when her brother walked in on her heels. Braden's brow furrowed, and his eyes jumped from Rhaven to Tyler, and then back as he put on his professional smile and pushed himself from the chair.
"Hey," he greeted her. "Thanks for coming."
"No problem," Rhaven said, trying to sound like this was no big deal. "You said you had some time to kill, and my brother needs the car to impress some girl."
"You have a car?" Tyler asked, puffing up a bit when he realized just how big Braden was.
Braden smiled. "Yeah, I got a rental. Why?"
"Well, didn't want to leave my kid brother stranded across town at a hotel with some stranger."
"There are worse places to get stranded," Braden pointed out.
Tyler just looked him over. "There is that. So, you cool with giving him a ride home?"
Braden's jaw clenched, but it only lasted for a second. "Yeah, sure. I mean, this town can't be that big, right?"
"It's not," Rhaven promised. "And my brother is doing a great job of making this as awkward as possible."
"How do you know Ethan, anyway?" Tyler suddenly asked - even though Rhaven had already answered this question a few too many times.
Braden actually chuckled. "Um, you know anything about games?"
"Enough," Tyler assured him.
"I already told you," Rhaven groaned. "He runs the EC booth at the conventions. He works for Deviant."
"And," Braden added, "I'm trying to get some ideas for the heads up display for our next game. Rhave makes these mods - "
"Rhave?" Tyler asked, having never heard that name before.
Braden almost choked. "That's the user name the mods are submitted under. Yeah, um, sorry. I call most of my friends by their game names."
"Thought you gamed as Sh4d0wB4n3," Tyler said.
Rhaven sighed. "When I was twelve! It also wasn't exactly unique. There's no way I'm getting that name now, so I use another."
"Uh huh." But Tyler didn't look like he was ready to leave yet. "So, big guy, why are you out this way?"
Braden glanced at Rhaven, then back to her brother. "Please tell me you've heard of Deviant Games?"
"I have," Tyler promised. "I play Flawed."
"Ok." Braden dragged a hand across his mouth, clearly thinking about how to answer this. "Well, I'm the lead developer for first person shooter mechanics. Department head, basically. I'm also one of the core group who worked for Deviant before most people had ever heard of us. Chance Hunter hired me right out of college, and I've worked my way up to becoming a department head. That means that I'm one of eight people trusted enough to sign business deals."
"What kind of deals?" Tyler asked.
"None of your business," Braden told him. "Contract's under about a million non-disclosure clauses. What I can say is that Deviant is growing, and we want to make sure that our customer base is taken care of."
"So, why Prescord?" Tyler asked next.
Braden just crossed his arms and stepped a little closer. "You want my driver's license number and a fingerprint to go with this interrogation?"
"Your bio online says you're into guys," Tyler shot back. "Just making sure I'm not leaving my brother alone with some freak who's twice his size and may have a very different idea of hanging out."
"Uh huh," Braden said.
But Rhaven turned around and smacked him. "Asshole!"
"Don't give me that shit, Ethan. I don't know this guy, and you've never mentioned him before. What the fuck am I supposed to think?"
"That I'm not some kid who needs you to act like an idiot and embarrass the shit out of me," she shot back. "I asked for a fucking ride, not a damned babysitter."