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I resumed my scramble to get out of there and took a step backwards, not in the mood for a battle of the wits, when Michael’s searing gaze snapped to my face.
Crap.
His lips curled up in a mocking smile, as if he’d known I was trying to make a break for it, and he cursed loudly. “Oh look, everyone, it’s the wanna-be girl gamer. Careful. If she didn’t take her Midol this morning, she might get all emotional on us. Anyone bring a hanky?”
Anger coursed through me as the guys around us laughed at his stupid joke. My feet planted into the wood floor beneath me, unwilling to submit to a plan of flight when that jerk had yet to be put into his place. I gripped my hips with claw-like hands and glared as hard as I could at him, willing him to spontaneously combust before my eyes.
“Eat my dust, Corrigan. You know I’m more of a gamer than you’ll ever be.”
The boys joined together in a chorus of ooooohs, like we were still in middle school.
Michael cocked his head slightly to the side, his eyes glittering. “Not in a million lifetimes, Frye. No girl’s ever won the tournament. You can talk all you want, but unless you’re willing to go head-to-head, you’re never going to be the top.”
I harrumphed, but the boldness I’d felt only seconds ago was fast fading. Technically, he was right. A girl had never won the tournament. No girls had ever entered. They’d made it clear as day that this was a boy-zone only. No girls allowed. How was I supposed to combat something like that all alone?
Now wasn’t the time. Flight was feeling like the better option. With a shrug, I casually broke eye contact. “Whatever. I don’t need to keep proving myself to you. I beat you years ago and I can still beat you today.”
I looked up at him in time to see his eyes narrow just a smidge and the angles of his jaw grow sharper. No surprise there. It was a certified fact that Michael hated to be reminded of the time I’d beat him in an impromptu Call of Duty battle years ago at his own birthday party. Usually, the slight deflation of his ego brought me joy, but in a room full of guys waiting for me to have an emotional outburst, it was more nerve-wracking than satisfying.
“You know what, I’m tired of talking about that stupid game.” He made a face and then looked around at the other guys, who seemed to be on the edge of their seats, waiting to see what he’d do next. “If you want to talk big like that, you’ve got to pay up, sweetheart. In fact, I dare you to put your money where your mouth is. Why don’t you sign up now?”
I lifted my chin, even as my gut rumbled with unease. Face-to-face confrontation was never my style. I preferred to settle scores on the virtual battleground. But Michael and I had never battled since middle school. And I’d mostly stayed away from his little gamer group. No one wanted me there. I wasn’t going to force myself into where I wasn’t wanted. I had more pride than that.
He wasn’t going to get me all riled up. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
I turned away, talking over my shoulder. “Nah, I’m good. I don’t want to bruise your fragile male ego. You might never recover.”
Two steps away was all I got before his mocking laughter made me freeze. If I were a cat, the cold sound would’ve raised all of my hackles. Instead, it made me grind the perfectly straight teeth my parents had thrown thousands of dollars at to correct my overbite.
“Told you, guys. That’s why girls shouldn’t game. They’re only good for one thing...”
He’d gone too far this time. I spun on my heel so fast it almost made me dizzy. With a finger pointed at Michael’s nose, I got right in his face. “Good for what, Corrigan?”
His lip twitched. “Oh, I think you know.”
I wanted to wipe that nasty smile off his face, but a solid form stepped between us, breaking my concentration. It was Michael’s ever
-present shadow, the other half to the twin duo that had done their best to make my life miserable since middle school.
“Elizabeth.” Gabriel Corrigan gazed intently at me, his dark lashes blinking heavily, as if he blamed me for creating a scene. A deep, disapproving frown pulled on his mouth, made to look only more severe by the jagged scar that raced down his right jawline.
“Gabe,” I shot back, using the nickname I knew he hated.
The slight twitch of a jaw muscle was the only outward sign that I’d gotten to him. “Done here?”
“Not sure.” I crossed my arms and cocked my hip with as much sass as I could muster under the situation. At least a dozen pairs of eyes were watching this confrontation go down. If they wanted a show, I’d give it to them. “Your brother was just enlightening me on the one thing he thinks girls are good for. He’s a real winner, that one. The Women’s Liberation Movement should recruit him.”
There were snickers in the crowd around us. Gabe stared at me for a long beat and then turned stiffly to glance at Michael rolling his eyes behind him. Despite the fact that the twins were almost mirror images of each other—same shaggy dark hair, sharp features, and blue eyes—their personalities couldn’t have been more different. Where Michael always had something nasty to say, Gabriel hardly ever spoke. But he was always there when his brother decided to be a jerk, so I counted them both as pains in my rear.
And until they both graduated at the end of this year, that was never going to stop. The only way to put them both in their places was to prove once and for all that I truly was the best. Even if it meant putting my neck on the line.
My body was buzzing with so much frustration, I couldn’t even check myself.
Maybe it was time to take a stand.
Now or never.
“You know what? Maybe I will enter the competition.” I pushed past Gabriel and up to the poster on the bulletin board. Adrenaline shot through my veins, making it a little hard to be rational. Before I could second-guess myself, I ripped the entire poster off the wall and rolled it up into a tight tube in my hands. Stalking toward my nemeses, as if I didn’t have a care in the world, I gave them both a cocky smirk and slid the poster roll into my back pocket. “There. Now I’ll prove once and for all that girls can be gamers. Guess we’ll see just how fragile that male ego is when I win.”
