Not that I would have been more satisfied with watching video-game love scenes. No matter what, it still wouldn't have been real. But what a kick-ass fantasy. I wanted to run my hands over those hard muscles, feel his power. Feel him. Kiss him. Touch him. Let him strip me naked and… Yeah.
I sighed and took another sip of soda. I was insane, getting hot for a computer-generated hero. But he was mine. Lily and Mia had made their own custom sidekicks. As gamers, we’d chosen literally everything but their names. Which seemed weird to me but was a relief, too. Knowing myself, I would have named Alex something boring… like John.
Alexius of Velerion was anything but boring. I couldn’t imagine a guy as gorgeous as him being into me outside of a game. I was a woman who never met a cheesecake she didn’t like. Who spent most of my workday solo. Read more than partied. Played video games. I spilled some soda on my pants, and I rubbed at the soft material. Yeah, I was sure Alex would get hot and heavy for a woman in pj’s decorated with cartoon penguins.
“I know,” Lily said, but I couldn’t miss the pout in her voice. “But Jamie’s going to finish tonight, and soon we’ll be done, too.”
“Remember that game when Jamie destroyed that entire squadron of Dark Fleet Scythe fighters to rack up all that XP?”
I smiled. God, that had been amazing. The Dark Fleet had set up an ambush. I’d been leader of my own Volantes II fighter squadron, but they’d tricked us into chasing them into a ravine and killed every single one of my squadron except me.
I’d destroyed them all, every single Scythe fighter left, but I still felt guilty about it. I’d led my squadron into a trap. I’d been in command. And they’d all died because of my poor judgment.
I’d moped for a week until Mia reminded me that it was a game. Just. A. Game.
Damn, but sometimes it didn’t feel like we were playing. I got so deep into my headspace when I was in a battle, it felt real. Too real sometimes.
I’d doubled my score from that mission alone, pushing me to—tonight, hopefully!—beat the game or graduate before Mia and Lily. So overall, as far as that specific mission, that disastrous battle had been a total win. But I still fell asleep thinking about it almost every night. Wondering where I’d gone wrong. How to prevent it for next time. Because I was going to play this game again. Unlike Mia, I didn’t even try to convince myself I’d choose any other part to play. I loved being a fighter pilot. I loved my speedy little ship, the Valor. It was a Volantes II, the Starfighter fleet’s most deadly short-range battle fighter. I wanted to be one again. And again. And probably again after that.
“When we start over, all our stats will be wiped out. Even worse, we’ll probably have to build new guys. I like Darius. I want to keep him.” Lily, bless her heart, was really, really stuck on Darius.
Like I could talk.
Alex shouldered his giant rifle-looking weapon on the screen as part of the animated loop, and I practically drooled.
“I totally get that,” I agreed because she wasn’t wrong. I flew side by side with Alex. He was tall, gorgeous, with eyes that sparkled like emeralds. His bright eyes were intense, and that jaw, it was so square it had probably been chiseled from granite. I, of course, admired his tight ass and broad shoulders in the black Starfighter uniform. He had obsidian hair, gorgeous olive skin, and a perpetual five-o’clock shadow. He looked like a mythical warrior on steroids, and the image of him standing next to the digital representation of me—full thighs, full breasts, and all those curves made by cheesecake—he looked like a giant god on my computer screen. Although my matching black outfit did seem slimming.
If he were real, I’d want to see under that uniform in a bad way. My nipples got hard just thinking about stripping him down and having him talk dirty to me.
“We have to finish. It will literally drive me crazy if Jamie doesn’t win tonight.” Mia’s objection was from her heart. She hated losing and got beyond frustrated when things didn’t go well. She was an analyst for some computer company in Europe, and brilliant didn’t even come close to accurately describing her brain power. I had to wonder if she had a photographic memory. She kicked ass in the game and, I was sure, in real life.
The game was amazing, and playing with my friends… it was fun. Each of our Starfighter roles was important to save Velerion and defeat the evil and devious Queen Raya. We were all crucial to finishing that bitch. Yeah, it sounded hokey, but God, the game was incredible. I was emotionally invested. Big-time. I actually hated the imaginary evil queen. How dare she mess with my peeps?
Especially my personal Velerion. She wanted to kill Alex and all his friends. So naturally I wanted to crush her like a worm under a steel work boot.
Tonight? Tonight I was going to win with Mia’s and Lily’s help.
Well, them and our three completely fictional, sexed-up alien hottie sidekicks.
“We know one thing,” I said, adjusting my headset one more time, itching to get started.
“What?” asked Lily.
I stared at Alex. “The gaming industry finally figured out how to market to women.”
Mia and Lily burst into laughter, and I watched my monitor with anticipation as all six of our avatars, us ladies plus our three super-sexy aliens, filled the bottom of my screen. This part always took for-freaking-ever, but since this would probably be the last time we played together with these characters, I didn’t mind. And it would be the last time because I was going to beat this game.
Whoever built the game was really into words that started with a V and a whole lot of Latin. And I knew because I’d been on every wiki, fan page, and chat I could find. The Vega System? Real. The rest?
I didn’t care. The whole world was obsessed with Starfighter Training Academy, and the three of us were no exception.
“All right. Fine.” Lily gave in, as we’d known she would. We couldn’t keep replaying the same battle sequence forever. I’d finish the training academy. They’d soon follow in a game or two, and we’d start over. “I looked at all the player boards, and apparently these guys are one and done, although I haven’t heard of anyone actually completing the program. It’s so unfair.” Lily was whining now. “I don’t want to give up Darius. I think I love him. I guess after all three of us win and start over, I’ll build a giant golden god with bulging muscles and dark brown fuck-me eyes.”
“Darius is not going to like that.” Mia was teasing Lily now that we’d all agreed it was time to win this game and defeat the Dark Fleet once and for all.
“Again, fictional character,” I reminded not only Lily but myself. I was sad to see Alex go. I read lots of romance books and was fine jumping from one hot hero to another, but in this game I was stuck on my guy. I didn’t want a different wingman, either. I was seriously going to miss him. His perfect skin. His hard ass in those tight pants. The deep voice yelling at me to stop diving at an enemy fighter as we hurtled through space at near light speed. Apparently even fictional alien men were bossy. I didn’t tell either of them that Alex made me wet or that I fantasized about him when I pulled my vibrator out of my drawer and worked those batteries.
“I know. I guess I need to find a real man and get busy. I’m pretty sure my vagina has cobwebs,” Lily complained.