For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,88

the room. "Rhaven, right now, you just need to worry about this weekend, because KoG isn't done. Once they realize you weren't scared off, they'll try something else."

"They already tried to out you once," Kate pointed out.

"I know," Rhaven breathed. "I bet they have my legal name now, too."

"Your deadname," Braden corrected. "You just killed that one off. Your family knows your new name. Your friends do too. That other name is dead, and so are all the bad memories with it."

"Today is the first day of the rest of my life," Rhaven breathed.

"I promise I'll help you with this," Kate said. "It's also a lot harder for someone to say no when it's Adam calling to make your appointment, and he's not above using his wealth to get what he wants."

"Andy might know some places local to me," Braden added. "He has some trans friends back home. Met them at a Pride parade, I think."

"And the attorney?" Rhaven asked. "Because I don't think I can just fill out a form to change my name!"

"Actually," Braden said, "I think you can. Don't quote me on that, but quite a few things can be handled without an attorney - but we can still help. I mean, for all we know, Void has someone around here who owes him a favor."

"And everyone's just cashing those in for me," she pointed out. "What have I ever done for any of you? How did I get all of this?"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Braden said. "KoG decided to target you. They destroyed my best friend. When they go after you, we aren't going to stand back and let it happen! Shit, Eternal Combat was designed to catch those fuckers. The whole reason we're here is to get revenge, and they're winning. If holding them back means helping you out? Then it's worth it. The fact that you're this amazing woman who's become a friend first and my girlfriend second? Do you really need to ask?"

"But this sort of thing doesn't happen to people like me," she reminded him.

"Bullshit," he said. "Maybe there are a lot of assholes out there in the world, but you know what? There are a lot of good people too. A shit-ton of us who will stand up for your rights, and women's rights in general, and people of color, and everything else. Rhaven, the oppression wants to make you think you have no one to turn to. You know how we win? We step the fuck up and help each other. If we can, we should, because that's the only way we stop the bullshit. KoG's, the rest of the world's, or whatever. Together, we're stronger than we can ever be alone."

"United we stand, divided we fall?" Kate asked.

Braden looked over at her. "I prefer our version. We are all flawed, but we are not alone."

Chapter 30

Rhaven and Kate separated out their purchases, and while Rhaven took her stuff to her room, Kate said she was going to move into her own suite. There was definitely a sly grin and a mischievous wink when she said it. Braden acted like he didn't notice, but Rhaven had a feeling he'd caught Kate's meaning. The man was clearly spending the night.

But once their coffee was done, Braden really did need to help the rest of his team with the booth setup. Rhaven went down with him. For the most part, the hotel was still empty, but some of the vendors had started to arrive. The ones they passed, however, were heading up, not down like they were. Then, when they reached the area where all of the booths would be packed together, Rhaven saw the metal skeleton that would soon become the frame of the Deviant Games main booth.

"Guys!" Braden called over, making a woman with dark hair look up. "I want all of you to meet my girlfriend."

The woman turned, exposing a dark red shirt that said "Flawed" across the front in black. It perfectly matched her lipstick and darkly-painted eyes. Like Rhaven, her nails were black, and this girl was beautiful. Distractingly so. Rhaven was pretty sure she'd seen her somewhere, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall the woman's name.

"Amy," Braden said to her, "this is Rhaven."

"Oh!" Amy said, offering a smile instead of her hand. "One of the gamer girls, right?"

"Trying," Rhaven said.

But a few of the others had already noticed. One smaller man pushed beside Amy to gawk at Rhaven.