Page 9 of Ghost

Luna

Ghost disappears with Steel,and I’m finally able to focus on the chapter I’ve been staring at for the past thirty minutes. I finish taking notes when a message pops up from Rider in my online gaming app, asking if I’m in the mood to play tonight.

There’s someone else I’d rather be spending time with, but Ghost is ignoring me and MIA as usual, so I take what I can get and let Rider know I’ll log on for the raid he’s coordinating.

It’s better than sitting alone staring at a wall.

I’ve been lonely lately.

The clubhouse has been quiet since the Iron Sinners kidnapped Steel’s old lady and her brother a few weeks ago. They were thankfully rescued without being harmed, but the club has been on high alert ever since. An attack on the president is as bold as it gets, and thatmeans fewer parties, less visitors, and more time to sit and stew with my pent-up sexual tension.

Reina keeps trying to convince me to screw one of the guys and work it out of my system, but that’s the problem. I can’t, and I won’t.

The Twisted Kings are off-limits. The second I fall into bed with one of them, things are bound to get complicated. Besides, the only one I have any interest in couldn’t care less about me.

So instead of worrying about getting laid, I focus on work and school. And in my free time, I play my online multiplayer game with Rider, giving me an escape from life at the clubhouse.

Rider joined my guild around the time I first moved to Vegas, and we both enjoyed raiding and player-versus-player gameplay. Slowly, we spent more time together and talked about our lives outside the game. And now, he’s more of a friend to me than some of the people I live at the clubhouse with.

With Rider, it’s simple. We play and keep each other company. No complications and no strings. He doesn’t even know my real name.

It’s perfect.

Behind my character, I can be anyone I want. I can hide in plain sight like I do in Vegas. I can pretend my past doesn’t exist and just be an elf on the screen, with purple hair that matches mine in real life.

Rider: You’re burning through your cooldowns, little owl.

SnoOwl: Are you telling me how to play now? Watch it, or I’ll point out that you’re running low on mana… AGAIN.

Rider: Isn’t that you pointing it out?

SnoOwl: Maybe.

His character stops moving on the screen, and I watch as his mana bar regenerates with the potion he just consumed.

SnoOwl: You’re welcome.

Rider: I was already on it.

SnoOwl: I’m sure you were… or maybe you were distracted by my new chainmail dress…

My elf is wearing something short and revealing as always. I enjoy dressing her up, even if this outfit does nothing to protect her. Still, it’s a standard piece of gear for my character because God forbid men who play women in game have to look at somethingnot revealingwhile battling monsters.

Not that I mind it.

This outfit shows off my character’s glowing, purple runes.

Leaning back in my chair, I kick my feet up on my desk and tap my fuzzy, pink slippers together. My wireless keyboard is on my lap as I kite the boss, moving around him and waiting for my cooldowns to reset.

Rider: With a dress like that, you should hit up Timbershire after this raid and see if you can get some gold.

SnoOwl: Very funny… We both know I’m not that kind of lady.

Rider: Technically, you’re an elf.

SnoOwl: I’m not that kind of elf then.

Timbershire is one of the places in game where people gather to strip their characters down to their underwear and talk dirty. Sometimes, Rider and I go there to laugh at how ridiculous it all is, but I never participate.