“Kind of.” She sat down next to me and leaned in. “It was a rumor before, but now it’s confirmed that they are in the building.”
Oh.
“Weren’t they supposed to be at the ball last night, too?”
“I think that was a fluke, or someone was trying to out them.”
CovertRetriever had been great at keeping their identity a secret, so it wouldn’t surprise me that fans or even people in the industry wanted to know who they were. Why keep yourself a secret for this long with this big of a presence unless there was something else behind the mask?
“Everyone seems a little too excited. What are they expecting? This person to just walk out onto the same floor we are on?”
“You never know.”
I gave Jemma a pointed look as she shrugged. We both knew that was never going to happen. CovertRetriever was good at keeping themselves alone and in a dark room, at least that’s what most of the video acceptances looked like. A dark room with their mask on, a voice changer, and nothing more to give any indication of who they were.
“I wonder what would make them actually show up tonight?”
“I’m guessing you,” Jemma shrugged.
“Me?”
Why the fuck would anyone come to an award show because of me?
“Why not you? They play your games, you’re here tonight, and this whole thing is to honor you.”
“When you say it like that.”
“Exactly.”
I sank back into my chair. I knew my game had impacted the industry greatly, but there was something about the fact that CovertRetriever was here, meant something to me. It also scared me that I was impacting someone’s life to where they chose to come to an event, despite their anonymity. I rubbed my fingers together, trying to think of anything else besides being here.
But the only thing that popped into my head was what had been lingering in the back of my mind all day.
The masked man from last night.
Ryker.
I looked around the room again, trying to find him amongst the sea of faces. I tried to conjure up what memory I still had of his face, but couldn’t find it in those that were here so far.
“If he’s going to be here tonight, he’ll find you.” Jemma’s voice brought me out of the trance.
“You think?”
“Yes.” Jemma downed half of her glass as the lights started to dim. An indicator that the show was going to start soon.
“How can you be so sure?”
“One,” she started. “He knows exactly who you are, based on what you told me last night.”
I’d told her every single detail from the moment she’d left me.
“And number two?”
“Beckett is sitting at the table behind us.”
My head snapped over to where she was motioning. A man sat there in a grey suit but was alone. No one else was with them,but their table was set for the two, as ours had been. He picked up his hand and gave a little wave before I turned around.
My heart fluttered at the thought just as the theatre went dark and the host walked on stage.
