Page 33

Four Months Later

Wrex squealed in a mixture of delight and fear as the character he was controlling ran away from the killer. I started laughing, watching him try to avoid being downed as the sounds of Dead By Daylight barked from the TV.

Never in a million years did I think I'd be playing video games with a guy I was romantically interested in, let alone an Orb I was dating.

I was such a champion for video games as not only an art form but also as an outlet, that I tended to keep it to myself, whether out of necessity or fear of being labeled weird.

Matty had enjoyed video games, but only after I'd tried to get him to join me.

And even then, he never really got into the ones I tended to like.

But watching Wrex go full in with playing Dead By Daylight was searing a permanent place into my heart.

He'd taken a long time selecting his character, opting to play as Yun-Jin Lee but taking the extra time to select an appropriate outfit that he deemed acceptable.

I was a Feng Min main myself, and I dabbled in perfecting an outfit, so I totally understood.

It was just nice to see Wrex get fully invested into everything.

Things between us were going really well.

It'd been months now of our slowly but surely dating, and I couldn't have been happier.

We saw each other eve ry weekend, usually, just like we'd planned.

And if we weren't feeling the weekend or wanted some time to ourselves, we made sure to communicate as such and opted for a quick lunch or a dinner during the work week instead.

Or course, our sex life was still rampant and just as intoxicating as it always was.

We sure as hell didn't need any sort of help in that department.

It was nice being able to take things slow, to revel in having our own space.

I was able to game with my online buddies again on the weekends that Wrex and I weren't spending time together, or doing a gaming session after work.

I was equally enjoying my alone time and enjoying the time I spent with Wrex, which was only measured and doable because of the slow pace we were taking.

Neither one of us were sleeping with anyone else, something we'd talked about ad nauseam and made sure to check in with each other that nothing had changed between us.

Everything was aligning perfectly in my life.

Work was going great as well. ORBIT had tackled five separate Orb causes since the warehouse incident, attacking pertinent issues within the virces, ausserknoch, zoudd, tythwig, and eamesr communities.

We were currently working on a growing issue concerning the lycanthe, which Francyn was all giddy about solving by any means necessary.

ORBIT was going so well that we were gaining more support than we knew what to do with.

So much so that I'd been approached by my boss for a very particular promotion that was slowly in the works.

I hadn't talked about it with any of the board members yet, or Wrex, because I was still waiting to hear from Cassandra if I was getting the consideration I was banking on.

But if I did get it and things did move forward, I had the potential to not only change things for Orb kind in D.C.

I'd be able to change things for every Orb in the country .

“Damn!” Wrex screeched as his character went down, the killer finally catching up to him and downing him on the ground, bringing me back to reality.

We were taking turns playing as our corresponding survivors, since there was currently no local co-op within the game and I only had one system that had a purchased copy of the game. I placed a hand on his bare thigh as the killer picked up his character to take him to a hook.

“You're picking this up really fast,” I praised, soothing my palm across his thigh. With the beginnings of a smile, Wrex placed his hand on top of mine. “Are you enjoying it?”

“Yeah, this is a blast.” He said, removing his hand so he could operate the controller effectively again. “Is this game what sprouted your desire toward creatures? Because some of these killers are very Orb looking.”

The killer placed Yun-Jin on the hook, her scream ripping through the air as the current killer, which was The Oni, did look very creature-esque. I'd never considered if my love for DBD had any inclination on my attraction to Orbs. Wrex was too introspective for his own good.

“Honestly, maybe.” I said with a slight scoff that transformed into a light laugh. “I mean, looking at The Oni, I probably wouldn't turn him down if he offered up his ass to me.”

Wrex purred seductively, catching my eye in just the right way that made his blue eyes sparkle more than they usually did. “Do I sense a roleplay in the future?”

Laughing, my answer was cut off by the sound of my phone ringing where I'd left it on the couch.

We'd opted for sitting on the floor of my living room in our underwear when I'd suggested showing him one of my favorite games of all time.

Normally, my phone didn't ring too much on Saturday mornings, so my growing curiosity made me stand from beside my boyfriend to cease its ringing.

I could feel my blood thicken as I looked down and saw Cassandra Tate's name scrawled across my phone's screen. This could be an update for the job I was trying to secure, otherwise why would my boss bother me on a Saturday? A little too quickly, I grasped my phone and answered it.

“Hello?”

“Wallace, good morning.” came Cassandra's even tone, more sprightly than I would have imagined for her at ten in the morning. “I’m sorry to bother you on the weekend. I didn't wake you, did I?”

“Of course not,” I verbally waved off her assumption. “It's fine. What can I do for you?”

“More like what can you do for the country,” My eyes widened at that mention, my heartbeat rapidly increasing as sweat started to form on my face.

“Does that mean…”

“Dawson signed off on your consideration,” I could practically see the smile across her face. “Congratulations, Wallace. You're one step away from being the democratic nominee.”

“Holy shit!” I yelled too loudly, spurring a turned head from Wrex as I started pacing in front of the couch. “I mean, thank you. This is incredible! Thank you so much for telling me so quickly.”

“We'll talk next steps Monday at the office.” She giggled, happy for me as my heart threatened to exit my overwhelmed body. “Congrats again, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.”

“You too, Cassandra. Thanks again.”

I ended the call and barely had enough awareness to toss my phone on the couch.

Worry was etched between Wrex's eyebrows as he stood up from his position on the floor, his character having been hooked too many times and sacrificed to The Entity, his character unable to continue in the match.

He walked over to me and grabbed my shoulders, ending my pacing.

“Is everything alright? ”

I nodded, shaking my head as an incredulous smile broke out between my lips. “Everything is absolutely perfect.”

“That was your boss?” I'd told him about Cassandra enough times by now that he recognized her name. “What was that about?”

“I’ve been...working on a potential promotion of sorts behind the scenes for a few months. I haven't said anything because there was no guarantee until I got this call from her. There's still no guarantee, even now, but it's more of a possibility than it's ever been before.”

“I haven't seen you this worked up about something since we talked about living together last week,” Wrex hummed, soothing his too-warm grey hands up and down my arms lovingly. “This isn't anything like that, I assume?”

“Well, that depends,” I said, smirking wickedly as I pulled him closer to me, our bodies melding together like they were perfect cutouts of each other that had finally found their counterpart.

Staring into my loving boyfriend's sky blue eyes, my lips twitched knowingly.

“How would you feel about living in The White House?”