Danny crawled toward the foot of the bed where I was sitting.Waking up with them, not one bed over, but sharing the same space, had been a wonderful kind of warm fuzzy.Until I’d checked my voicemail.
“What do we need to do?”Danny asked.
“Clothes.Please.”Yeah, I was watching my career implode and I cared that his dick was hanging out.
Or maybe I was being melodramatic.Maybe this was the turning point I’d been waiting for.Todd would finally figure out this partnership wasn’t beneficial to either of us, and I could move on with my life.
“Mine or yours?”Danny asked.He snagged the pair of boxer briefs Brandon tossed him, and stood to put them on.The lightweight dark fabric didn’t hide much more than him staying naked, but it was something.
“I don’t know what to do.”Being jarred into this state of panic so early in the morning had my brain on the fritz.I needed coffee.Or vodka.Or to wake up and realize this was all just a nightmare.
Danny reached for my phone.“Who posted the video?”
I unlocked it, brought up the right page, and handed it over.“I don’t know.No profile pic.RenobXOX?”
“Boner kisses?”Danny raised his brows.“Does sound like one of us.”He looked at the screen, then showed it to Brandon.
Brandon scrolled through the screen.“Don’t know the name.If they’re with Aces, they’re not going to tell anyone this is theirs.About half this account violates our code of conduct.”
A lot of people thought it was counterintuitive for a company that made a game featuring graphic sex to have rules about what their employees could and couldn’t say in public.But as a group, Aces was hyper aware of not doing things that would draw them more negative attention.They had some of the strictest no harassment rules out there.
None of which helped me right now.
Brandon pressed his phone to his ear.The muffled strains of someone answering the other end filtered out, but not loud enough to make out words.“Hey.You guys still here?”
The response sounded like an adult from a Charlie Brown cartoon.The absurdity of the thought almost made me cackle.
“What are the odds you brought your laptop?”Brandon asked.
More muffled words.
Maybe it was like Kenny on South Park.
Brandon almost cracked a smile.“Fucking work-a-holic, I knew it.I need a favor.DCMA… Now would be good… I’ll send you the link, and I owe you.”He disconnected and set his phone on the nightstand.“Dustin is getting the video taken down.He’s got a dozen processes in place, just like with the crowdfunded game,” Brandon said.
A glimmer of relief seeded in my chest.It couldn’t be this easy, but I felt like I could breathe again.“What next?”
Brandon gave Danny a questioning look.
Danny frowned and shook his head.
“Why not?”Brandon asked.
Danny stared back at him in disbelief.“What do you meanwhy not?I have no idea what you’re asking me.”
That almost made me laugh.“Do you want me to cover my ears?Leave the room?Go hide in the bathroom so you can talk?”
“No.”Brandon’s huff was amused.“What I was asking him”—he gave Danny a pointed look—“was since we have the room through tomorrow, if we should grab our laptops, get you something more comfortable to wear than the dress, and have a mini-vacation LAN party.”
“Gosh, why the fuck didn’t I guess that from your sternly furrowed brow?”Danny’s retort was playfully sarcastic.“When have we ever done that?”
This time I did laugh.“Careful Brandon, your roots are showing.”
He patted the top of his head.“I’m not going gray yet.This is all natural.”
“Mostly,” Danny said.
My smile grew bigger.“I meant your gaming roots.Who does that?Who gets a hotel room and spends the weekend playing games?”