Page 49 of Structure of Love

I lifted a hand. “Barbarian that I am, how about I tank?”

“Sounds good, do that.” Gage moved our miniatures into order. “I’m right behind him.”

It took us a minute to get into some kind of order, and then we marched inside about thirty feet before we were thrown into combat. The first round went quick as they were slimes and easy enough to defeat. We kept marching.

While our characters were doing things, I took a good look around at the group. It wasn’t often you met friends you trusted enough to run a business with. Even more rare you chose to hang out with those friends even on your off hours. They really loved each other, didn’t they?

Even in a game, they worked well together. The way they immediately supported each other in combat spoke volumes. It made me happy to see Gage had this kind of camaraderie, which was rare to find as an adult. I was lucky as hell to have people like this for myself, too.

Was it wishful thinking to hope I could be friends with Gage’s friends, too? If I dated him long enough, maybe it would happen. I hoped it would. I genuinely liked them.

Riggs’s voice brought me back to the present. “And now you’ve entered a huge cavern. There’s people chained to the walls on all sides. In the center, there’s a very strange-looking woman with a rose-shaped head, and she doesn’t truly resemble a human being. Ladies, gentlemen, nonbinary monarchs, I present to you: the fuckery. Roll initiative.”

I rolled. “Nat twenty.”

“Excellent.” Riggs made a note. Once he had everyone’s down, he looked around at us, then nodded, as if confirming something. “Logan, you’re at the top of the round. Whatcha doing?”

“Hitting this motherfucker.” I rolled, and wow, my dice were on fire tonight. “Altogether, that’s a twenty-three.”

People let out a whistle or an excited “Yeah!” and looked to Riggs, expecting something major.

He smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. Not trustworthy one iota.

“She ducks.”

“I beg your finest pardon?” It had been a hot minute since I’d played, sure, but anything over a twenty should’ve hit!

“You’ve got a free action. What do you want to do?”

“Cry.” It was an honest answer, if nothing else.

Riggs laughed evilly. “Gage, you’re up next.”

“How the hell am I supposed to top a twenty-three?!”

“I’d suggest praying.”

So, uh, I guessed we were about to get our asses handed to us. Hopefully Riggs wasn’t completely evil?

Cohen: New rule. Riggs can’t be mean

Asher: Seconded!

Logan: Where did you even get the idea that we had to roll LOW to hit the BBEG?

Riggs: Saw it on an insta reel, actually. Had to try it

Gage: You mean had to torture us

Riggs: None of you died, I want to point out

Logan: It was a near thing. Very near thing

Riggs: Ah, that was fun. We should do it again sometime

Logan: Is he normally evil like this?

Asher: I wish I could say no