CHAPTER 1
KENT
Normally when I’m huddled around the TV with my best friends who I consider brothers and roommates, Cy and Gabriel, game controllers in our hands, there isn’t much which can distract us from the game. Tonight is different because something is off with our girl. Well, she’s not ours, but I swear when she’s picking off the other team from her sniper perch while making sure there’s enough med-packs, she sure as fuck feels like it.
She’s not though.
We’ve never met her. We’ve only ever played online with her and chatted. She’s the bright spot in my day and I know I’m not the only one who feels the same. We all look forward to nights when we can come home and catch her online.
It’s not the same killing enemies if our Ariel isn’t there. She giggles when she’s able to get a headshot and when she does it to protect one of our asses, she huffs out a little breath of relief. It’s damn adorable.
As if she’s protecting us from real danger and not computer-generated death. It warms my heart in a way I haven’t felt with a woman in a long time, if ever. Most women look at me and see someone nerdy. I’m sure working at the university library, wearing cardigans and glasses when I’m reading doesn’t help, but I know for a fact most would be surprised at what they would find under my clothes.
Yeah, I might be a librarian, but I’m hiding muscles honed from hours at the gym and my mind is nothing to sneer at either. I enjoy my job. I love being surrounded by books. I get to help people and expose them to knowledge. What could be better than that?
Maybe getting Ariel between us would be better.
We’ve ever shared a woman before. Normally, our taste in women don’t overlap. I’ve always been grateful for it before since it means we never had to compete for female attention or had a woman get in the middle of our friendship. It’s hard to imagine a woman who would be into all of us considering we’re so different.
I’m the quiet and studious one, the nice guy who has total guy next door vibes. I’m happy with it. I embrace it. Being seen as safe can be used to my advantage sometimes.
What I hide under my cardigans doesn’t stop at my muscles. There’s something darker inside me which craves the hunt, craves the submission, craves the taste of fear off my partner’s skin. I’ve never been able to fully satisfy my needs. There’s something sweet and naïve in Ariel’s voice when we’re chatting which speaks to the part of me which wants to corrupt her, make her terrified.
Then afterward I want to hold her against me, soothe her, pet her hair and whisper in her ear about what a good girl she is.My good girl.
My cock twitches in my sweatpants and I try to adjust myself without pulling too much attention my way. Thankfully Cy is deep in the game, barely even blinking as he starts to decimate the other team. Their cries of dismay at being taken down while Cy is the last remaining member of our team still alive, makes a sinister chuckle want to work its way out of me.
They have no idea they’re playing against a high ranked gamer who makes his money sitting must like he is now with a controller in his hands and his eyes glued to the screen. They’d probably shit themselves.
Sometimes Cy will get on under his competition gamertag, but he likes the anonymity of playing under this one. Where no one knows him. Where no one is gunning for him simply because of his ranking. They think killing him in a casual game is like taking his title away from him. It’s not. When Cy is on, when he’s playing with shit on the line, he’s a fucking beast.
I tamp down my amusement and gently coo at Ariel instead, “Are you sure you’re okay, Ari?”
The sigh of sadness and resignation which comes across loud and clear in my headset makes me want to wrap her up in my arms more than it makes me want to test her boundaries. Her words are slurred, reminding me she’s been drinking tonight. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I just,” she trails off not finishing her thought.
Over the last six months we’ve talked to Ariel a lot. She’s usually upbeat and gearing to kill a few people with no remorse. We’ve learned a lot about her and crave every single crumb of information she shares. She teaches middles school kids and if it doesn’t deserve an award alone, I don’t know what does. I’ve teased her more than once that she’s probably played one of her students online.
She giggled and told me, “Who do you think I’m picturing when I go for all those kills?”
She has a wicked sense of humor, our woman. Not tonight though. She was drunk from the moment she logged on. I’d hoped she’d show up. It was the only reason I agreed to hop online and play.
I think it was the only reason Gabriel sat down to play as well. My eyes slide over to my friend, a man trained to hold his emotions in check because of his family. He’s respectable, but he’s barely maintaining staying on this side of the line.
There was a time when he wanted to follow his brother, Jericho, into a less than savory and legal business as a hitman. Gabe’s big brother wasn’t having it and instead made sure to put him into the best schools and encouraged any interest which would give Gabe a better life.
Now Gabriel teaches philosophy at the university and is a well-respected member of the faculty. No amount of school or cultured airs could prevent Gabe from being one intense motherfucker and downright scary when he wants to be though. It must run in the family because the only person other than Gabe who I wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley is Jericho.
Not if I wanted to leave with my life anyway.
Gabriel’s voice holds a stern note which riles up some primal part of me I wasn’t aware my best friend could tap into. “Tell us what’s going on Ari.”
She hiccups and then her voice caresses me with sadness, “I got dumped today.”
I want to roar at her words. We know a lot about Ariel. We know she lives in Chicago, like us. We know what she does for a living. We know her favorite color, lime green, and her favorite food, spaghetti with meatballs. We know she doesn’t have a father in her life, hasn’t since she was born.
Still, we had no idea she was dating someone. My blood boils at the thought of some man touching what is mine. What is ours. This woman, without ever having seen her, has wormed her way into our hearts and minds. She’s fucking ours.
I barely suppress the growl which wants to rip from me, but Gabriel doesn’t even try. I can hear the anger in his voice, “What do you mean you got dumped today, Ariel? You were seeing someone?”