For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,30
you."
"Real cool," she told him. "Thanks for making me look more lame than I already am."
Tyler actually dropped his head. "Sorry. Yeah. Um, if you need me, just call, ok? Or Dad, or..."
"I still have a car," Braden promised. "I'm good for a ride. I also have a full bar upstairs, three laptops, and dev access to all our games. I'm bored as shit, don't have a big brother to give me a bedtime, and I'm not going to freak out if you stay late. I'm a night owl anyway."
"Bye, Tyler," Rhaven told her brother, making it clear that she was more than fine. "Go get your dick wet - or try. I have a feeling my party's going to be better than yours."
"Yeah," he muttered. "Sorry, Ethan."
"Just go away," she begged.
So, finally, he went. Both she and Braden watched him mosey back through the main doors and into the parking lot. Then, once he was out of sight, Braden grabbed her shoulder again, and turned her for the elevators. It wasn't a sweet gesture. When his eyes jumped over to the front desk, she understood that he was still doing his best to treat her like one of the guys.
"Thanks," she said softly. "And I'm sorry about my idiot brother."
"Not a big deal," he promised. "It also makes a few things more clear, but I think his heart's in the right place."
"Yeah, all up in my business," she agreed. "Tyler was the popular guy in high school. Played all the sports, dated all the cheerleaders. You know the type. And me? I was his dorky little brother who got bullied by the kids he bullied."
"Oh," Braden groaned. "So, not just the normal stuff, but a little revenge added on top?"
She waited until they were alone in the elevator and heading up before she answered. "And a freak."
"You're not a freak," he said.
She just shrugged. "I didn't fit the mold the people around here expected. I started wearing black when I was like twelve. Maybe eleven. Seventh grade, at any rate. That meant I had to be a devil worshipper. Dad didn't care, but..."
"It's none of my business," he said when she paused for a little too long.
She just turned her arm so he could see the scars. "No, but this is why he freaks out." There, across the inside were quite a few scars. One was deeper than the others, and she knew there was a matching mark on her other arm. "Dad came home early. I'd done it right, but he was supposed to be at work for a few more hours."
"Shit," he breathed.
She just shrugged, because what else could she do? "Yeah. I spent a week in the hospital. First to get healed up, and then on a psych hold. That was about the time that I realized my problem wasn't that I was sad. It was that I didn't feel like a boy. I had no idea there were any other options, and..." She paused when the door opened on Braden's floor.
"Well," he said as he guided her up the hall, "then don't hate your brother for being worried. You're nervous around me, Rhave. It shows, and he knows you well enough to see it. The problem is that he doesn't know why you're nervous around me, so he's guessing, and there's a lot of shit about me online."
"I know. I've read it." She glanced up to see him grinning.
"Yeah? Stalking me?" Then he paused to open his door. "And yeah, most of it's true, but I don't lose my temper. Not for myself, at least. If you think Kate's the only momma bear we have in our little circle of friends, well, then I have some bad news for you."
"You're more of the papa bear type," she pointed out as she stepped inside.
He gasped. "I'm not a bear! I will have you know that I'm much more a bull."
Shaking her head, she looked at him in confusion. "What?"
"A bull," he said again. "You know, hairless, big, strong, with lots of muscles?" And he gestured to himself before closing and locking the door. "Not a jock, because I don't play sports. So, I get termed a bull."
"I had no idea," she admitted. "What am I?"
Braden let his eyes drop, taking in every inch of her and her baggy clothes. "A woman."
Chapter 11
"You can't look at me like this and see a woman," Rhaven said, turning to head deeper into the suite.