“I can reach out to a few of the coordinators. When they reached out a month ago to arrange the setup for the day of the ceremony, they sent over a few contacts to work with. I’m betting we could get to working on something if you wanted to go to the ball.”
“Really?” I sat up again in the chair.
This could happen. A smile started to form as I thought about possibly having the chance to talk to Odette.
“Yes,” Beckett leaned down, his eyebrows knitting together. “But if we do this, you must talk to her. You can’t be your usual shy self.”
He had a point.
If I were going to take this risk, I couldn’t be the shy guy who had no idea how to talk to someone he had a crush on. But on the other hand, I couldn’t be CovertRetriever either, the gamer that was a household name that even Odette knew about.
I had to be Ryker, but a new version, mixed with a little bit of me and my gaming persona. Someone who would actually talk to Odette.
Talk to her.
Be in the same space as her.
“Earth to Ryker,” Beckett waved a hand in my face.
“Let’s do it. But we are going to need to pull together some details to give to the coordinators. We’ll also need a backstory in case we talk to people. I already saw online that there are rumors of CovertRetriever being at the award ceremony, so I’m assuming people are going to think I’m at the ball too.”
As much as I wanted this to be a test run of me potentially being myself in the space I’d been living in, I couldn’t just out myself. We needed to play it safe to an extent.
“This is a lot more intricate than I intended.” Beckett backed away from me.
“You’re the gamer and I’m your assistant—or friend or something.” I continued. This could work. We could pretend to be different people. I could talk to Odette, be near her, and spend time with her. Maybe. Hopefully.
Who the fuck cared as long as I got a chance to talk to her?
My knee was bobbing up and down again; this time from excitement. This could actually be a thing.
A good thing.
“Icannotbe the gamer.” Beckett held his hands up in a big ‘X’, finally bringing me out of my thoughts again.
“Someone’s got to be, and I’m too suspicious.” I threw back at him.
He leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling before speaking.
“Fine.” He gritted out. “But what names should we put down for the ball? If the rumors are already starting, you know there will be people trying to figure out who is who under those masks and find out who you are.”
I hadn’t thought about that. I’d figured we’d need a backstory, but I was realizing that we’d still need to hide our identities. Did I risk having my last name on the guest list, out there in the world, for others to get hold of if it got leaked?
There was another option, though.
One I didn’t love, but it could work.
“My first name.”
Beckett’s eyes went wide again. Today was a day full of surprises for this man, and I was grateful that he wasn’t just my manager but also my best friend. He was in it for the long haul at this point.
“Well, shit.”
“No, Ryker, no last names. Just Cash for me, and we can use your middle name. Make it harder to find out who we are, and it’s not like either of us will accidentally use either name anyway when talking.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t ever call you Cash. I’m not your mother.”
I rolled my eyes at him. I hadn’t used my first name since high school, going by my last name strictly for my whole adult life. “Are you sure about this?” Beckett asked. “I know I’m the one who’s kind of egging you on, but we’ve never done something like this, and I want you to be absolutely sure this is something you want to do and that it’s not just something to go against your parents or a fluke idea for Odette.”
