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“Thought you were off.”
“So did I.” William points toward the abandoned whiskey sour. “And that drink is disgusting. Don’t touch it.”
Then he disappears into the crowd.
I reach into my pocket for my farming sim tablet.
“Hey, looks like your friends ditched you. Need some company?”
My hand pauses, fingers sliding over the buttons without pulling it out as I look up.
An Alpha stands in front of my table, his hip cocked, a drink in one hand, and his thumb hooked in his pocket. He has the height and polished attractiveness of a playable knight character from Dusk Protocol.
He gestures to the empty bench seat. “Mind if I join you?”
Excitement tingles through me, and I release my tablet. “Please do.”
He sets his drink on the table and eases into the booth, his thigh settling snug alongside mine.
He angles his body toward me, propping an elbow on the table. “I’ve seen you around before. You’re usually playing a video game.”
“Yeah.”
Silence stretches between us, and I stare at him, waiting.
He stares back, a crease forming between his eyebrows before he reaches for his drink to take a sip. “So, are you here with someone?”
The question opens like a menu prompt with multiple choices. I cock my head. “You just saw my friends.”
“Right.” He ruffles a hand through his brown hair. “I meant, are you here with your boyfriend? Or girlfriend?”
“No.” A thrill shoots through me. This is exactly the type of conversation that always triggers the romance route. “I don’t have either of those.”
His demeanor warms. “Ever think about changing that?”
I straighten, my interest piqued. “All the time.”
My sincerity seems to take him by surprise, but he recovers. “How about you let me take you out on a date?”
The words hit like a power-up. A date. Which could lead to dating. In real life and not just in my video games.
“Where would we go?” I ask, scooting closer. “Because there’s this place in Brickwell that does arcade nights on Tuesdays, and they have this retro cabinet of a game I’ve been wanting to try, but it’s always packed, and if we went early, we could—”
Amusement flickers through him. “How about something simpler. My place. Tonight. Drinks. Music. We can see where it goes.”
I cycle through my sim experience. “Where it goes?”
His head dips toward mine. “I’ll be honest, you’re cute, and I want to get you under. The quiet ones are always fun in bed.”
The menu shifts, presenting a dialogue option that leads to an instant ‘Game Over’ for the romance route. This isn’t the quest I selected.
“Oh, no.” I scoot backward, putting distance between us. “I already have someone for sex, so that category is covered. I’m just looking for the dating part.”
The muscle in his cheek flexes. “You said you didn’t have a boyfriend.”
I tilt my head. “I don’t.”
He thunks his drink back onto the table. “So you’re single, but you already have a sex partner.”
