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I rolled my eyes at her teasing tone. "Yeah, sure, Princess. The only place I have power is at the head of the nerd table."

A laugh burst from her lips, and she slapped a hand over her mouth as if to contain it, her eyes sparkling with amusement. I couldn't help but laugh in return.

"But… yes, and no. I help direct the story loosely, but I write it alongside what you guys choose to do. You wouldn't believe how many times the guys have taken my best-laid plans and thrown them out the window. Reminds me of someone else I know…" I smirked, raising a brow at her.

"I can't say I blame them. It's freeing to make your own decisions without some grumpy guy telling you what you can and can't do." She shrugged, a slight smile on her face. "Though I'd imagine Leighton does ruin everyone's plans."

"Actually, it might surprise you, but L is a pretty decent tactician. It's actually Rich running around with a white knight complex trying to get every kitten out of every tree. It's amusing, but means I have to make sure there's someone for him to save periodically."

She straightened up, crossing her arms over her chest and shooting me an incredulous look. "Mister Bossy? I don't believe it. That man has such a tight grip on controlling everything, I'm shocked he hasn't given himself an aneurysm. He's so stuck on whatever he decides the plan is, he can't see when he's out of line."

"Well… I can see where you're coming from. But he has a lot of people to be responsible for in his position. We all do. But in the game, in fantasy, you can be whoever you want to be. It's my job to make sure everyone gets their chance in the story."

Victoria leaned toward me, reaching a hand out to turn my face toward her. My breath caught in my throat, not sure what she was about to do.

"Okay, you've been body snatched. Where's the real Az?" she said, her face inches from mine. "I'm not sure how I feel about this alien replacement. At least I knew what to expect with the original."

"Princess, the last time you saw the real Az, you were introducing him at the Gala. And for that, I'm sorry." I leaned back slightly and sighed. "I've… been working through stuff."

Victoria heaved a sigh and turned her gaze to her lap. "Yeah, I guess me pointing you out as my attempted kidnapper that night probably didn't help any. For what it's worth, now that I know the truth, I really am sorry about it."

"It… was a traumatic night for you. It doesn't take much brain power to realize it'd be easy to mix up the memories. Sitting in jail, and then coming out to all this… Well, I have a habit of letting emotions lead more than logic. You caught the raw end of that with this."

"Well, this got heavy fast." She laughed nervously. "Maybe we should go back to this story planning that youinsistRich is gonna fuck up."

I cleared my throat and returned to the game notes spread out in front of us. "That's because he's going to, you'll see–"

"How about a wager, if you're so sure?" She interrupted a hint of humor in her tone. "Twenty bucks, mister control freak stays on task."

"Twenty bucks? At least make it interesting, Princess. A hundred says he throws the party off course." I laughed.

She tore her gaze from her lap and grinned at me. "Oh, I don't think a hundred makes it interesting." There was a mischievous glint in her eyes. "How about we up the stakes?"

I eyed her suspiciously. "What's interesting look like to you, Princess?" My mind flashed back to her coming undone in my hands at Temptat!on.

"If I win, you have to do whatever I say for an entire day, and tell everyone we see how obsessed with me you are." She replied, raising a brow in challenge.

"Alright, and what do I get if I win?" I asked, shaking my head. It wasn't even the worst terms I'd ever agreed to.

"I'll stop calling you Az-hole." She shrugged.

I made a show of mulling her offer around a moment before shaking my head. "It's kind of grown on me, and now the boys use it too. Try again, Princess."

She leaned back in her chair, her eyes squinted as she considered what to offer when she lost the bet. After severalminutes of silence, a smirk painted her face, and she jolted toward me, leaning so close our noses nearly touched.

"Fine, if you win, and I still don't think you will, I will call you whatever you want me to for twenty-four hours, and…" She paused, her tongue flitting out to wet her lips.

"And?" I breathed.

"And we can finish what we started in the back of your club."

My brain was filled with static at her words, and before I could form a coherent response, the doorbell rang.

"That's probably the pizza," Victoria smiled, pulling away. "I'll get it. You finish working on the next session."

Still in a stupor, I watched her as she strolled from the dining room. The only thing I could think about was how I would make sure Rich derailed us the next time we played. Not that it would take much prodding on my part. He really let loose when we played the game. I wasn't sure how we'd managed to shift things between us so quickly, but I had to admit, I was more than thrilled we had. My mind was starting to get carried away with the things I hadn't let myself admit I wanted to do to the Princess when her scream tore through the manor.

My chair clattered to the floor as I bolted upright and raced toward the front door. Victoria was standing just inside the entry with the door swung open wide. I skidded to a stop behind her, my eyes following her stare to find Jace sprawled out on the porch, gutted.