Game of Love (The Remingtons, Book One: Love in Bloom Series)

Chapter Eleven, Game of Love

Chapter Eleven

THRIVE WAS BUZZING with the news of their release date remaining firm and Dex not backing down to KI's manipulations. The more Dex thought about their release date, the more he believed they were doing the right thing. Dex had never given in to peer pressure. Not in high school when the rest of the kids on his robotics club team had wanted to amp up their robot with materials not included in the approved list and not when he was developing his first PC game in high school. Even Siena had tried pressuring him into being a cooler teenager. And then there was Ellie, with her quiet support, her caring nature, and her belief that every moment counted. She wasn't like any of the other girls he knew in school. Ellie didn't push him to go to parties or dress a certain way. She didn't care that he chose not to play football like his older brothers had or that he never had much to say. Hell, she never asked him for a damn thing. Except once, when she'd asked him to love her forever—and he'd been all too happy to hand over his heart. Which she'd carelessly shattered.

Thinking about Ellie brought conflicting feelings. He was falling for her all over again, and the same old fears prickled his nerves. Would she really be there when he got home tonight? Was he acting like a fool, setting himself up for heartbreak again? Intellectually, he knew he should have learned from experience where Ellie was concerned and treaded carefully. Dex wasn't stupid, at least not academically, but matters of the heart were a whole different game. He'd left pieces of his heart on the lawn of her foster family's house. Crumbles of it formed a path from that house to his, and at the time, he hadn't known how to respawn. If only it were a game and he'd have had a save point in place to which he could retreat—erasing the nights he'd spent with her, the love that had grown toward her. But life didn't come with save points, and his father would allow him no time to dwell on anything—good or bad. You're either all in or all out, his father had told him. He'd looked at Dex with that harsh stare of his, dark eyes piercing his already broken heart, and said, You're better than that, son. You're a man. Suck it up and move on.

He'd sucked it up, but he'd never really moved on.

"I like Ellie." Everyone had left the meeting except for Regina and Mitch. Regina stood beside Dex as he logged off of his computer.

"Yeah?" He waited for the but. Dex hadn't dated much in recent years, or introduced many women to Regina, but the few times he had, Regina had nitpicked them until he lost interest. She'd been right each time. She had a sense about those things.

"Yeah."

He lifted his eyes from the computer screen and put his hand on top of hers. "But?"

Regina turned and faced him, then pushed herself onto the worktable and swung her black Converse, leaning back on her palms. Her eyes roved over his face.

Dex waited for the but. She's too weird. She's moody. She's too something. He could come up with a litany of things Ellie was too of. Stubborn would top that list, followed by complicated and moody. But all of it made her the beautiful, frustrating package that she was.

"No buts." She narrowed her eyes. "Do you need there to be a but?"

There it was. Her need to protect him.

"I don't think so. It's complicated." Complicated didn't begin to scratch the surface. "We're not really like that, Regina. We're friends." Even after how much she'd hurt him in the past, he still wanted more with Ellie. But no matter how much he wanted there to be more, Ellie still had her guard up. And it was probably a good thing, because Dex's ability to safeguard his heart against his love for her was quickly becoming nonexistent.

She slid back onto the floor and touched his arm again—a habit she'd begun when he used to stare at the computer screen and "Uh-huh" her, only half listening to whatever she said. Now he looked up at her raccoon eyes. Regina was a runner, just like Ellie. He'd always known she was, but she didn't physically run. She hid behind her tattoos and makeup. Maybe that was what had endeared her to him. In many ways, she was a lot like Ellie.

"Sometimes friends make the best lovers," she said and headed for the door.

"It's not like that," Dex hollered after her.

"Maybe it should be," Mitch added.

He'd forgotten Mitch was even in the room. He looked around his monitor and met Mitch's gaze. He sat with his feet up on the table, his hands clasped behind his head.

"Listen to Mr. I Will Never Date over there," Dex teased.

"I'll date. You find me a woman who understands my working until four in the morning, getting up at noon, living and breathing Metacritic, and having nightmares about glitches and missed release dates." He scratched his scruffy neck.

"Maybe if you shaved once in a while, you'd find someone who would put up with the rest of you." Dex pushed to his feet and watched his friend turn his attention back to his keyboard. "Why don't you go home? We're no longer a three-person team, Mitch. It's okay to take a night off. The testing team has this under control."

"Nah. Not now, but soon. I wanna check out the forums and see what the fans are saying." He typed something, then sat back with a whoop! "Rock it out, Thrive! We can't wait." He scrolled down. "Hurry up!" He clicked on something else. "World of Thieves II is gonna blow away KI's game."

"See?" Dex breathed a sigh of relief. "Suit yourself, Mitch. Lock up?"

"Yeah, yeah." He waved him off. "Give Ellie a kiss for me."

Dex glared at him.

"What?" Mitch threw his hands up in the air. "She's hot. If you won't kiss her for you, I figured you might for me."

"G'night, Mitch." Dex played it cool, sauntering out of the office at his typical relaxed pace, while his insides were churning a mile a minute. He'd thought about Ellie all day. When she'd shown up at his apartment the night before, he'd wanted to take her in his arms and never let her go. He wanted to kiss away the pain and fear he'd seen in her eyes. But one wrong move and she'd be gone. He hadn't been able to keep his distance. He'd fallen back into the guy he'd been the last time she'd seen him. The guy who adored her too much to let her suffer alone. The guy who wanted nothing more than for her to be in his arms, placing no demands upon her, and allowing himself to open his heart, regardless of what she might do to it. But he wasn't a kid anymore, and she was no longer a lost girl. She was confused, and she was going through a hard time, but she was a woman, not a girl. And the feelings he'd been repressing for so long were pushing his friendly facade to the side and quickly moving to something much bigger. Hotter. He had to be careful or he'd get burned.

On his way out of the office, his phone vibrated with a text from Sage.

Hey, bro. You okay? How'd it go with Ellie?

Sage had been the only person Dex had told about the time they'd spent together as teenagers. He'd had to tell someone, and Sage wasn't the kind of brother who would give him shit or tell him to get over her. Sage was thoughtful and empathetic. He'd listened to Dex tell him what he missed about her, what he loved about her, and what he found more frustrating than an interminable glitch in one of his projects. Sage had always been wise beyond his years, which was why Dex had turned to him when Ellie had shown up four years ago. Sage had been there to help him pick up the pieces of his heart again, but Dex had never quite recovered from the desolation she'd left in her wake. What the hell am I thinking?

He looked at his cell phone and hadn't a clue what to say. He went with the safe route of tucking away his feelings and sticking to the facts as he texted Sage. I'm cool. She's staying with me right now. Don't ask. No clue where anything is going. He didn't even know how to text about Ellie without showing his emotions. Sage's response made that loud and clear.

Dangerous territory. I'm here if u need to talk.

He texted quickly. Thx. Dex headed backto his apartment with his shoulders hunched forward to ward off the eveningchill, wondering if they'd ever had a chance at something more. Had the hurtthrough the years stolen any chance of a future together? Could they find theirway through the missing years and navigate the circuits of change that hadtaken place and finally uncover their grown-up selves? And if they made it thatfar, would they forge a new path together, or would it all be too much? It'sEllie. It's definitely too much.-