Steve drops into the chair opposite me and places the envelope down on my desk.
“Should I be more worried about that?” I nod towards the envelope. “Or about that look on your face?”
His frown is deep, his eyes narrowed. “It’s not about the business.”
“Okay…”
“You might be pissed with me, Max.”
I chuckle. “Okay…”
“Remember when you told me about deleting your avatar in the game?”
I nod, and he goes on.
“Well, I had one of the tech-heads track down the IP address for Genevieve from the server. I knew she might delete her account too, and I didn’t want you to lose her.”
I groan. “Fucking hell, Steve. I know this came from a good place but just imagine if this got out… and not to mention the ethical implications.”
“I know, I know,” he says quickly lifting his hand. “But you’re my friend and, frankly, I’m sick and tired of you moping around.”
I grin, appreciating the way my oldest friend feels like he can be honest with me. His own smile takes some of the sting out of his words, letting me know he only has my best intentions at heart.
“We can’t make a habit of this,” I mutter, unable to mask the excitement bubbling up in my voice, even if I know it’s wrong.
But this is my woman we’re talking about, the woman I thought I’d lost.
“So who is she?”
Steve shakes his head. “Like you said, there are ethical concerns. So I told my techy to print the details and put them in this envelope without even looking at them himself.”
“Is her real name in there?”
“If she didn’t use an alias when signing up for the game, then yes, it is.”
I bite down, a war raging inside of me. One half of me wants to shred the envelope and pretend Steve never brought it in here, but I can’t deny the excitement coursing through me, ordering me to grab the envelope and tip out the contents right this second.
“Steve, you need to tell me—”
“This has never happened before,” he says firmly, reading my concern. “And it will never happen again. But shit, man… I’ve seen how much this has affected you. And when you spent time with her, even if it was only in the game, I noticed a change in you.”
“A change?”
He gives me a no-bullshit look. “You were happy. As much as we’ve achieved in our lives, as hard as we’ve worked, I’ve always felt like you find it difficult to savor. More difficult than most.”
If this came from anyone else, I’d tell them to go fuck themselves with their psychobabble crap, but Steve knows me too well for that.
“Maybe that’s true,” I allow.
There’s no maybe about it. He’s right. Spending time with Gen is easily the most fun I’ve ever had.
Whether that’s sad or not, it’s the truth.
“So no one else knows who she is,” I say.
“No,” he replies quickly.
“And this will never happen again, under any circumstances.”
“Never. I only did it because I care about you.”
I offer my friend the closest thing to a smile I can muster. “You’re a good man, Steve.”
He pauses, chewing the inside of his lip. “Are you going to open it?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure I should.”
Liar, a voice whispers, coming from that deep compulsive place I’m finding it more and more difficult to ignore.
Steve stands. “Well, I’ll leave you to make up your mind. And Max…”
“I know. This never happened. And it really will never happen again.”
“Good.” Steve sighs. “We’re on the same page there.”
He turns and limps away from the room. Emotion pricks me as I watch him go, as I remember the look of profound joy on his face the day he got his injury. He was jumping around like a loon while I stood there, smirking softly, trying my best to savor the moment.
But even that, becoming richer than I ever could’ve dreamed when I was a kid, was nothing compared to the joy I shared with Gen.
My fingers twitch.
I reach out and grab the envelope.
It’s wrong. It’s a violation of her privacy. This is exactly the sort of shit companies get busted for.
But my desire for Gen overwhelms my concerns, and I quickly take out the single page.
It has her IP address, her email, and her name.
“Fuck.”
Her name.
“Oh, fuck.”
I recognize it instantly, and suddenly my heart is a heavy hammer in my chest, thundering deafeningly.
I almost wish I’d never opened it.
Chapter Seven
Madelyn
I sit at my computer, the cursor hovering over the Star Search icon. My ribcage feels like it’s going to collapse around my heart as I think about last night, deleting my account. I did it on a sudden whim, as my avatar stood in my – in our – ship alone.
But now I’ve truly severed my ties with Smolder, with the man who said he’d want me no matter what I looked like. If he wants to make a new account and contact me, he won’t be able to.