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Muchlaterthatday,after working a closing shift at the shop, Andy walked out to the parking lot to find her bike had been outfitted with a board hitch at some point over the course of the evening. Tucked inside it was the foam board she’d used that morning in Luke’s condo pool. With a sticky note attached.
This is a loaner from the shop. Practice your paddle.
—Luke.
P.S. Sorry for being a dick.
The hastily scribbled Post-it — as brief as it was — went a long way towards dispelling any lingering resentment over the way things had ended between them earlier. The manhadbeen a dick.
But she’d also tactlessly brought up a subject that was clearly a sore one for him. Namely, his father.
He was the worst kind of asshole...
Jesus. What did that even mean?
With the next two days off from work, Andy spent more than a few anxious minutes mulling over the implications, imagining Luke’s dad as some sort of monster who preyed on small children.
Of course, it didn’t help that she stayed up late Tuesday night after doing her laps to play a new dark fantasy MMO with her friends. At one point in the game, Andy, PJ, and Carson came upon a village under siege by slave traders. Hulking orc-like beasts raided the settlement for children to sell off like chattel.
Spotting one particularly vile specimen shoving a kid to the ground outside a tavern, Andy drew an arrow from her quiver. She had an affinity for playing archers, and her avatar was badass, notching that arrow with the speed and fluidity of Legolas fromLord of the Rings.
Still, even as Andy’s hand flew over the keyboard, there was a split second where she hesitated, gaze locking on the boy being pinned. A boy who reminded her of Luke with his filthy cap of blonde hair and long, gangly frame. A boy who was being viciously abused.
Scowling, Andy’s fingers flew into motion once more.
CarNageson:WTF! End him!
The slave trader’s head rocked back just as Carson started bitching at her, the bolt penetrating a wide grayish-pink forehead.
CarNageson:pwned!
Yeah, she’d owned the cretin alright. Landing in the dirt like a log being felled, the marauder’s face was splattered in thick droplets of blue-black gore.
The boy — now free of the heavy boot holding him down — sent a furious kick to his tormentor’s ribs before scampering off to escape the melee.
Andy cracked a smile at the kid’s savagery, then directed her avatar to take out another slave trader who was creeping on Carson’s mage.
Cavilsgrrrl:Duck!
The mage — still throwing nukes at a creepy witch doctor — dropped to a crouch, and Andy’s arrow struck the sneaking slave trader true in the chest. Unthwarted, the villain advanced.
Shit. This one was juiced. Andy keyed in the command to notch another arrow, but before she could let it rip, PJ came to the rescue. Her avatar — a tall golden-haired Valkyrie with muscles to rival Ronda Rousey’s — launched a torch straight at the beast’s face.
Whatever ale he’d managed to douse himself with from the tavern immediately took light, and in seconds, flames consumed his already grotesque features. He fell to the ground screaming and writhing.
PunkJ669:Eat fire, Pigboy!!!
CarNageson:Thx. Got this. Free kids and check them for the mark.
As Carson’s mage finished off the witch doctor, Andy and PJ hustled to the children in the wagons. Under heavy blows from their swords, the locks fell from the vehicles. One by one, Andy and PJ inspected each child’s back for the prophecy mark before letting them run off into the night.
PunkJ669:That’s game 4 me. Gotta log. Mama duties.
Mama duties.
It still boggled Andy’s mind that her oldest friend — who happened to be a year younger than her — was already married and mother to a boy almost out of elementary school. Granted, young Max was PJ’s stepson, but still. It was funny to think how settled the wild girl Andy had known in junior high had become. Andy smiled.
Cavilsgrrrl:No prob. GG. Tell M and B hi 4 me.
