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And I was God damn fucking determined to make that happen.
I’d hate to take the Director position from Phillip, who had become my closest friend over the past few years, but he’d been up front about not wanting a management job if it only involved bossing people around. He wanted to mentor.
Maybe it hadn’t made sense to put me in charge of a two person team, but Brandon was the only one in Music, and he had a director spot, while an office sat empty in the Art room, waiting for my name to be on it.
I pulled into the loading docks at Rinslet, and Chloe was waiting for me with a couple of younger guys I didn’t recognize. This company came from humble beginnings, just like Aces, and now they had their own eight story building in the middle of downtown, with their name in big bold letters on the glass.
We were going to hit this point, and it was going to happen long before I retired.
After I parked, I greeted her with a smile and a wave, opened the back of the truck, and grabbed a box of keyboards.
“Let them do the work.” Chloe jerked her thumb at the guys. “I wanna talk game.” She was a few years younger than me, probably about Adrienne’s age, but I wanted to be Chloe when I grew up. She’d started in writing when she was fresh out of high school, had created the core storyline for Rinslet’s most popular game, and now ran a large portion of the company.
I stepped aside and let her minions grab their first load of equipment. When they had disappeared inside, I asked, “What do you think?”
Her eyes grew wide with what I assumed was supposed to look like innocence. “I’m not supposed to have access to your beta. I’m the competition.”
“Uh-huh.” I chuckled. “Should I ask who gave you a key, or are we going to play the I heard from a friend of a friend?” It was probably Judith who let her into the beta. Or Scott. He was a half owner of Rinslet, and a silent investor in Aces. He kept the latter quiet mostly to let us rise on our own merits, and not at all because he didn’t want his name associated with our game.
Chloe shrugged and her smile never faded. “Let’s just say Santa visited early, but my feedback is firsthand. Are you following the early reviews?”
“Duh.” The bad was exactly what I expected—people hated it either for the smut content or the diversity, and frequently both. But the good was really good. “But what did you think?”
“It’s incredible. Seriously. It’s visually stunning, the fight mechanics are spot-on, and Sonya and Jeremy did a bang-up job with the side quests. We get to see the main story soon, right?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
She raised her eyebrows. Yeah, we both knew I was full of it. She wasn’t going to tell anyone.
“As long as bug fixes go well this round and next, we’re opening up the first twenty levels in two weeks. Main story and all.”
Chloe grinned. “I have a huge favor to ask. Feel free to tell me no, but I will beg if it’ll help.”
“As long as it won’t get me fired, or arrested or killed I guess, ask away.”
“Santa only brought me one beta key. I don’t suppose next round I could get a second one for Jordan.”
Jordan was Chloe’s boyfriend, and someone else I had mad respect for. I’d been hired to replace Jordan when he was fired over a bullshit public scandal, so we’d never worked together, but the guy was wicked talented and a blast at parties. “Only because it’s you and him,” I said.
Her grin spread. “You’re the best. Seriously. I owe you.”
“I’m not keeping score, but if I were, right now we’re more than even.” I jerked my thumb at the computer equipment she’d helped me secure. “Tell him to check his email in a couple of days.”
We chatted a little longer as we helped her guys finish unloading the SUV, mostly gossip about who’d been promoted and who had moved on to other things, and I was on my way.
Manit had been a great week. The beta. Addie.
Whispers of her perfume, or whatever it was, teased my memories. I may not be able to describe a scent, but I knew exactly how she looked, and the woman did amazing things to a lightweight camisole with a button-down open over it.
She should join us tonight at the club. To celebrate. She was part of the team, after all. And she was probably even more fun outside the office than in. She had that quiet girl next door attractiveness, with just the right blend of life experience and naïveté. I didn’t know quite how she made that work, but fuck I liked it.
I dialed her at the next stop light and put her on speaker.
“Hello?” Her voice was sweet and hesitant. I bet she was insatiable behind closed doors.
Or wanted to be. “Hey, it’s Dustin. What are you doing tonight?”
“Not a clue. Nachos and bad sci-fi movies? Am I being graded on my answer?”
