“Why would she be reaching out?”
“Parker will be at the award ceremony.”
“That really isn’t news to me since the award ceremony is for game creatorsandstreamers.”
Jemma was rocking on her heels in front of me.
“There is more, isn’t there?” There was always more with Parker, and it was why I tried to keep my distance from him as much as I could.
“Parker wants to do a spotlight with you before the award ceremony.” The words quickly jumbled out of her mouth.
“No.” My response came out just as quickly. I didn’t care that he was in the same profession as me, and I had to be cordial; I would notwillinglyput myself in the same space as Parker. Itwasn’t just that he was my ex and that it was best to keep my distance, but his extroverted personality spiked my anxiety.
“I told her that, but I wanted to let you know that it’s on his mind.” And that’s when I understood what Jemma meant in telling me this.
“Ah,” Parker was most likely not going to take no for an answer; he never did, especially when it was something he really wanted. I needed to be prepared in case he sought me out, because most likely, he would.
He’d done it before, and I handled it, but that’s when we spoke to Melody, his assistant, and told her that he could not do that again. I guess she took it as ‘ask us first’ rather than a permanent no from me.
“We can find someone to keep you more occupied than him.” Jemma turned back around, still looking a little skeptical about the bomb drop.
“I already said no to that, too.”
“But you never know.” She opened the door, trying to lead us out of the house. “I heard a rumor that CovertRetriever might actually be there, and not just video in.”
“No one even knows who that is, and stop circulating the rumor mill with gamers.”
“Maybe you could find out.” She threw me a wink and headed out of the house. I followed behind her, shaking my head.
There was no way that I was going to be searching for someone to date at the Gamer Awards, let alone actually try to meet CovertRetriever. They’d been an anonymous gamer for years, focusing solely on my game,League of Witches.Everyone wanted to know who they were, but it was crazy to think that I would ever meet them when all they wanted to do was be unknown.
Right?
“Ryker!”
I spun around in my chair and pushed my headphones off in time for Beckett to skid to a halt in front of me.
“What did I tell you about shouting my name when you come over?” I ran a hand through my long brown hair and gave him a stern look before grabbing the envelope he was waving around. I was in the middle of editing a stream I had done earlier, but Beckett knew better than to say my name while I was working. But that never seemed to stop him.
“Sorry, man, but look at the envelope.”
I took a better look at what I’d grabbed from him.
The Gamer Awards invitation.
I tore open the envelope, and not only was there an invite, but a nomination announcement with it. We’d received an email months ago confirming our attendance at the awards ceremony, with the promise of more information to come, and there were rumors that the event coordinators had gone a different route with inviting everyone to the event. These invites were not what I had in mind, though.
The dark green envelope looked like it’d come straight from the forest and had traveled thousands of miles. My name wasscribbled in silver lettering. The card inside had The Gamer Awards in big red letters across the top.
“I’m nominated for best streamer this year and an honorary award for best gameplay forLeague of Witches.” I looked up to Beckett, who was all smiles as he puffed out his chest, clearly a proud manager. Looking down at the invitation, I read the next part. “It looks like they are honoringLeague of Witchesfor its five-year anniversary, too.”
“Fuck yeah,” Beckett snatched the invitation out of my hand. “I expected the nomination, but the honorary award? It’s about fucking time with how you play that game.”
“And only that game,” I added.
Beckett nodded in agreement as he read over the announcement further.
I’d been gaming for most of my life and was one of the most successful streamers around. Unlike most online personalities, I preferred to remain anonymous in my streams.
