Page 5 of Gamers' Omega

“Excuse me, waiter?” I heard from behind me.

“Hold that thought,” I said. “Work calls.”

Ian laughed. “You know us, we’ll be here a while.”

“Yep,” I chirped, then scurried off to help the other table.

It was another round of drink refills and two delivered orders before I made my way back to my group of gamers—carrying their pizza and plates on a tray.

Beck and Freddie glared at the board while Ian and Tony seemed to be scouring the rulebook.

“Uh-oh?” I guessed as I set the pizza on a clear section of the table.

Beck nodded. “Ian thought he was gonna make a big move, but it ended up being a big clusterfuck.”

“Says the man who thought he could grab that narrow strip of territory,” Ian shot back.

Tony picked up his phone, swiped the screen, then let out a sigh of relief. “When a battle is lost and a player forced to retreat, if the retreat would force them into a third player’s territory, then the losing player shall retreat as far as their own continuous non-infringing territory.”

Beck sighed and moved several pieces across the board.

“You’d think they’d be able to put that in the rulebook,” Ian groused.

“They probably didn’t have idiots do things like that during test plays,” Freddie stated.

“Hey!” Beck cried.

Freddie laughed. “Not you. Ian was so intent on preventing you from taking that strip, that he left his rear flank wide open.”

Beck studied the board, then burst into laughter. “I guess that’s instant karma.”

“What are you…?” Ian started, then he groaned. “Oh, fuck me.”

“Not here,” Beck laughed. “But I will when we get home.”

My jaw dropped.

“How many knots do we think Ian can take tonight?” Tony teased. “He did just tell us to fuck him.”

I choked on air.

“Chill, guys,” Freddie laughed. “I think you broke poor Eric.” He turned to me. “Sorry about them. Sometimes they forget themselves when we’re out in public.”

I motioned at the four of them. “So you’re all…”

Ian grinned and threw one arm across Beck’s shoulders. “Yeah, we’re a thing—a textbook example of drinking while gaming, upping the stakes, and eventually we were a quad.”

I glanced at the other three to make sure Ian wasn’t fucking with me.

Tony shrugged. “Pretty much as he said.”

I swallowed, then nodded. “Guess it’s more common out here than I expected.”

“Huh?” Freddie asked. “What do you mean?”

“Owen… the GM. Two of his cousins are in poly relationships, too.”

Beck chuckled. “Never knew that.”