For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,72

won't answer my texts. Tell her that I'm sorry I fucked up, and I'm trying real hard to prove to her that I won't push. Tell her that I'm an idiot and just want to help?"

"You're not an idiot," Kate said. "Braden, you're a good guy. The problem here is that Rhaven's convinced she's not worth anything. That's her depression speaking, though. All she can see is how many ways she fails at being normal, and none of the ways she excels at being exceptional."

"So what can I do?" he asked.

"Text her," Kate suggested. "Let her know that you heard, and you're sorry? Um, tell her she's going to be fine? I don't know. But text her something to make it clear that you aren't one of the things piling up in her list of problems?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "I can do that. And I'll be there tomorrow. Is there anything she needs? Clothes, um, anything like that?"

"No, she's fine," Kate promised. "Adam and I have her covered."

He just chuckled. "Kinda nice to have rich friends, huh?"

"You have no idea," Kate told him. "And Adam sees her as family. He's looking for an opening in the company right now, and he said she can use one of the spare rooms here."

"She's moving to Ohio?" he asked.

"Don't know, but we're going to offer," Kate said. "Psyc's trying to help her too."

"PsychoCut?" He scoffed. "He just wants in her pants."

"Give him a little credit," Kate shot back. "Psyc's been amazing to her. I'm not even sure if his interest is real or just him trying to make her feel good."

"It's real," Braden grumbled. "Trust me. A man knows when someone else is making a move on his girl."

"And you know that having more than one man flirt with her might be a good thing." Kate just sighed. "Braden, she's always been the freak. She's convinced that girls like her are anathema. Untouchable. She said it's still worth it to feel right in her body, but she doesn't believe she'll ever get the love story. So let Psyc flirt. Be jealous, but be cute about it. Not stupid."

"Help me?" he begged.

"Always," she assured him. "But I have to go. I need to get home and pack, because my flight leaves in a few hours. Adam's handling the PLG stuff, and Void's going to be hard to reach because Kitty had the baby."

"Nice!" Braden said, thankful for at least some good news. "They picked a last name?"

"Ryan Andrew Arheez," she said. "Kitty's doing great. Easy birth, and he came out at eight pounds, two ounces. Sounds like Murder panicked, but he's being a great dad."

"Good. I'll tell the crew here." He chuckled, able to imagine Murder losing his shit. "Go pack, Kate. I'll text her. Thanks for keeping me in the loop."

He'd barely hung up the phone before Dez showed up at his desk. The woman just stood there, watching him like she expected a full report. "What's going on? I heard KoG."

He looked back at her desk, halfway across the busy and congested warehouse. "From there?"

"Let's just say I'm attuned to those letters." She crossed her arms and put on her best "serious" face.

Braden leaned back to scrub at his face. "They outed Rhaven in her local paper. It blew up, she got fired, and she was going to tell her family tomorrow. It's bad, Dez. If I had to guess, I'd say those assholes were trying to scare her away from Denver, thinking that if they fucked up her life now, then she wouldn't be able to go."

"But?" Dez asked, grabbing a chair, dragging it over, and then dropping into it without ever taking her eyes off him.

"They didn't count on her friends. Adam Degrass stepped up, babe. He got her out of there and headed to Denver." Thinking of that, Braden grabbed his phone, pulling up Rhaven's contact to send his message. As he typed, he kept going. "Rhaven's not alone. She's going to have a place to stay. She's got support to keep her safe. She's got people who love her, so even if her world is crashing down around her, she's not going to be alone. I don't know if her family accepted her, and she might be off her game, but KoG isn't winning this one. She's not going to hurt herself because Kate's just about to fly out and meet her at the hotel. She's got a driver from her house to the airport, a plane full of