AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterThree
BERNIE
After barely survivingthe car ride home, we’re back at my place for the night. It’s a lovely two-bedroom apartment that happens to be in the same building that the rest of the team lives. Our training space is also located here, which we call the game room. Very original, I know.
While my apartment is on the fifth floor, same as Chuck’s and Matt’s, the game room is on the sixth floor. It’s two apartments that have been gutted to make one big space. There’s a kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. The rest of the space is an open concept, where all of our nice sponsored gaming rigs are housed. Rigs consisting of several monitors, computers, and systems. From speakers to our chairs, it’s all top of the line, and when the items don’t come through via our team sponsors, the team funds cover the costs. It’s nothing but the best for the world’s best gaming team, multiple times over.
Right next to the game room, on the opposite side of the hall, lives Simon and Link in a large three bedroom. Dex used to live with the guys, but he recently moved out to live with Morgan. They moved into the penthouse on the seventh floor. It’s a pretty nice setup, to be honest.
We are like one big happy family. The convenience of all of us living in the same building feels like it was plucked right out of a book.
I’ve always suspected that Dex owns the whole building. He doesn’t talk about his investments, but I know he ownssomeproperty. The first thing he did when we started winning the big bucks was hire a financial advisor, and he’s done really well for himself over the past five years. When he and the guys moved in here, they joked about buying the building. About how cool it would be to claim it so that anyone associated with the team could live here. Perfect example: Ruby and Gia live together but have opted not to join the “gaming commune,” which is what Ruby so lovingly calls the building. They live about a twenty-minute walk away, but I feel like they’re always around in some way or another.
Finally getting settled in, we all crowd around the bar area opening up into my kitchen. I open a drawer and pull out several take-out menus.
“I love that you have paper menus.” Morgan says as she shuffles through them. “I just look up everything on my phone.”
I smile. “I do too, but with the paper menus, I can circle things I want to try so I don’t forget when I want to try something new.” I find the menu for the Japanese place nearby.
“Oh! I love that. I’m so doing that from now on,” she replies.
Gia grabs a menu and offers a super fun idea. “So I’m thinking Morgan picks her favorite things, and we place Grubhub and Uber Eats orders and eat as we get them.”
We all agree and then end up ordering a bunch of sushi, pizza, Chinese, and way too many sweets from an all-night bakery.
We’ve got all the nail polish, hair tools, makeup, and chick flick movies queued up on my TV to last us well into the night. It’s like an old-school slumber party. I wonder how many more girls’ nights we’ll have once Morgan and Dex marry. I guess time will tell.
“Have you guys listened to that new playlist I made yet?” Morgan asks.
“Oh my gosh, yes. I love it!” I tell her. It’s a mix of new music but has a lot of songs I hadn’t heard yet and loved from the first listen. “Actually, let’s play it. I just bought a brand-new speaker.” I trail off as I look around the room, then remember that I took it upstairs to show Link yesterday.
“Crap. I left it in the guys’ apartment,” I mutter.
“Here, take my key.” Gia snags her keys out of her purse, unclips one, and hands it to me.
“Honestly, I don’t know why we all don’t have keys to one another’s places,” Ruby says as she pours a glass of wine. “It would make things so much easier.”
“True story, bro.” Morgan grins behind her own glass.
“Uh, no, thank you,” I say. “The last thing I want is to walk in on any of you doing the nasty with my teammates. I’ll stick to knocking.” I shudder at the thought as I slip on a battered old pair of TOMS that sit on a mat next to my front door.
Gia’s eyebrow raises. “You had no problem taking my key just now.”
I point to her as I twist open the knob on the front door. “You are here, not up there. Plus, I know the guys are out for the night celebrating Dex.”
There’s a round of agreement from the others, and I stick my tongue out at Gia good-naturedly and close the door behind me.
I rush to the stairs at the end of the hall. It will be quicker than waiting for the elevator, and since I’m only going up one floor, it makes sense. After taking the steps by twos, I’m standing in front of the guys’ apartment in no time.
Brushing a stray hair off my face as I unlock the door, I realize I never changed out of my workout attire. My capri leggings, which I wear while lounging around at home more than working out in, are black with a camo pink design up the sides. Then I’m wearing a crop top tank in the same matching pink.
I’m glad the guys aren’t here, because I don’t dress like this around them. Ever. I’m normally I’m in a pair of skinny jeans and a fitted tee or hoodie. On occasion, I know how to dress up. I’m assuming if the guys saw my midriff, it would be akin to seeing their sister show too much skin.
I take a few steps into the apartment, and it’s dead quiet, as expected. I look around for the speaker and notice the place is cleaner than it was yesterday. Since Dex moved out last month, it’s become blatantly obvious who kept the place clean—or at least held the guys accountable for cleaning up after themselves.
I chuckle to myself at how much fun Gia and Ruby will have when they have to house-train their men eventually.
I remember that we had the speaker back in Link’s room, testing it with his stream set up. So I head down the hall.
