For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,71
stop thinking about it.
He pushed back his chair, intending to get up when his phone rang. Letting out a heavy sigh, he snatched the receiver without looking at the display. "Braden," he answered.
"Brae?" It was Amy. "I have a Kate Gaskill from Degrass Industries on the line. She says she needs to talk to you about something. Want me to put her through or take a message?"
Kate? How'd she get this number? No, she set up the events, so she'd have it. "Yeah," he said. "Put her through."
"One sec." There was a pause, and then something in the sound changed. "Kate, I have Braden on the line."
"Kate," he said, hearing Amy hang up. "Hey, what's up?"
"It's bad," she told him. "Braden, her local paper published a story about a mystery gamer from Prescord. It's got a picture of her from Dallas, and Rhaven's life is imploding."
"What?!" he asked, shoving to his feet. "Who outed her?"
A few of the people around him looked over, but he didn't care. This was bad. No wonder she hadn't replied to him. She had so much more to worry about, and he'd seen firsthand how she felt about her family. Granted, Bill and Tyler were pretty great, so he didn't blame her, but how were they taking this. How was she?
"It's called the Prescord Daily News," Kate told him. "They have a website."
He was typing in the name before his rump was back in his chair. Immediately, a list of links came up, and the one he wanted was at the top. Clicking it, the main page displayed the exact article she was talking about. And yes, there were pictures. Good pictures, actually. One had Rhaven laughing. One had her and QQ standing beside each other. Then there was the cropped headshot that showed her face perfectly, but the first line caught his attention. The Kings of Gaming were offering a reward for her identity.
"Shit," he breathed. "KoG's on her?"
"Yeah," Kate said. "Look, it's bad. She said there were people protesting her at work, and I know she got fired. Someone tried to hurt her, Braden. She made it home, but she said her dad and brother were there. I don't know what all went down after that, but she's in a car now, headed to the airport. Adam's flying her to Denver and putting her up in a suite. I'm going to catch a plane here in a bit and meet her there. I don't want her to be alone, but I barely know anything."
"Is she ok?" he asked.
"She will be," Kate promised. "I've got the hotel sending a driver to pick her up at the airport, so we're going to make sure she's fine. I know she's scared, and I'm sure she's upset, but she's going to be ok."
"Her dad told me she's been suicidal before," he breathed.
"I know about that," Kate promised. "Probably more than you do. I think she'll be ok, though. I just thought you should know what's going on."
"She hasn't replied to me," he said. "Kate, I think I pushed her too far. I said that she couldn't wait forever because someone could expose her before she got the chance, and now they have - and she hasn't said a thing to me since I left her house!"
"She's scared," Kate told him. "Braden, she likes you. She told me she was worried she'd dumped you."
"No!" he huffed. "God, no, Kate. She told me that if I couldn't accept how she was doing this then there was no point, but I can. I thought..." He dropped his head and groaned. "Fuck. I thought it was a warning to back off. She meant to dump me?"
"She meant for you to back off, but she thought you'd taken it wrong," Kate explained. "I told her that you wouldn't. Kinda nice to know I'm right. Braden, that girl likes you. A lot. But you also need to know that she's never dated. At all, Braden. She isn't into women, so she never faked it. She lives in a small town, and she once said that she's never met another LGBTQ person there. Only online. She has no idea what she's doing, and she's so sure that she's not good enough for you."
"She's perfect," he insisted. "Absolutely perfect. I'm not going anywhere, Kate. Not unless she makes me, and even then, I'm still on her side."
"Yeah, kinda what I figured." She paused. "Can I tell her that?"