For The Win (Gamer Girls, #6) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,89

"Jeff," he introduced himself. "I've heard a lot about you."

"I may have bragged," Braden admitted.

"Oh, she's cute!" another said, but his gaze was mostly on her clothes. "Just your type, Brae."

"And that's Andy," Braden explained. "He's gay, so trust him when he offers fashion tips."

Andy scoffed. "Because I know fashion." And he gestured to his dusty jeans. "Ignore him. I mean, yeah, I'm gay, but I'm not a walking stereotype."

Next it was an overweight guy and a cute blonde woman with a bob. "This is Tim," the woman said, "and I'm Sam. He does character design, and I'm currently in charge of costume design. Armor, weapons, and all the visual depictions."

"I do world building and the maps," Andy said.

"My team's responsible for object design," Jeff said.

Rhaven looked between them. "You're all department heads?"

"Shit," Amy laughed. "Hun, we're all part of the Flawed team. The original group that got Silk running, and we figure out what the next game will be about."

"What do you do?" Rhaven asked her.

Amy smiled. "Well, I was hired to work the front desk, but I'm also the head of public relations. Not Human Resources, but the spokesperson, I guess?"

"She speaks for Dez," Sam explained. "You know Dez doesn't do people, right?"

"Right," Rhaven promised. "I've met her before."

"Well, at our first big event, Dez got drugged by some prick. Ended up with her in the hospital - "

"And I'd just been hired as a favor," Amy broke in. "Chance gave me, well, a chance. My job was to handle the odd stuff, but when the awards announcements came, Chance and Dez were at the hospital, and no one knew what else to say, so I kinda took over."

"And she's been sharing the spotlight with Chance ever since," Andy finished.

"Yeah," Tim said, gesturing to Rhaven, "but I heard you weren't coming this time."

"What?" she asked.

At the same time, Braden asked, "Why not?"

Tim looked between them. "Um, everyone was talking about the tournament on the EC forums. I mean, with the top players out, and the top outfits running at half strength, the ones not coming to this convention are excited about experience bonuses we'll have in Eternal Combat, and the rewards we toss out in game, you know?"

"What did they say?" Braden insisted.

Tim's eyes drifted back to Rhaven, but she waved him down. "It's ok. I'm kinda curious too."

"Yeah," the big guy grumbled. "They said you'd had a breakdown after your family disowned you."

"They didn't disown her," Braden said - but then he paused. "Shit."

"What?" Amy asked.

"KoG," he snarled, looking down at Rhaven. "They don't know you're going to be here, baby. They think this mess scared you off. Or it was supposed to. I don't know what they're thinking, because those asshats are whacked. But whoever posted that..."

"On it," Amy said, pulling out her phone to type a message. "Dez will have our guy look into it."

"She knows about Jason," Braden explained. "Pretty sure Rhaven has one of those confidential informant contracts he was handing out."

"What I don't get," Rhaven said, "is why you all sound like there's a problem."

Sam reached over to clasp her shoulder. "Because they just targeted you, Rhaven. I mean, we all know about the expo last year, but they haven't done much to you since. Not like QQ. Thing is..." Her eyes jumped to Braden, waiting for his nod, then she continued. "They don't want to just scare women out of gaming. They want to kill us."

"I heard," Rhaven admitted.

"And you clearly don't understand," Sam insisted. "I got death threats. Dez? She was kidnapped, raped, and tortured. Then, when she got involved with Deviant, she had a gun held to her head. And now they're chasing QQ. Never mind the female reporters who've been harassed. One committed suicide two years ago. A company friend has been stalked, doxxed, had her house set on fire, and more."

"Claudia Watson," Amy explained. "But she's not backing down. She also knows that she can hide out at the warehouse if she needs to."

"What does this have to do with me?" Rhaven asked. "I'm nobody."

"You're a girl," Jeff pointed out.

Rhaven couldn't stop the smile. "Only kinda, guys. I mean, you all know I'm trans, right?"

"Yeah," Andy admitted.

Tim and Sam nodded. Jeff shrugged. Amy's eyes narrowed and she looked Rhaven over again. "I had no idea," she admitted. "I also don't see what that has to do with being a girl. Look, if anything, that will be worse to the Kings of Gaming. You had the chance to