“Oh,” I leaned back in my chair, hands crossed over my chest. “This is most definitely a fluke idea for Odette, but you’ve put it into my head that this could be a thing.”
Beckett cursed under his breath. He took a deep breath before continuing.
“What if this blows up in our faces, Ryker? I may be your manager, and know what I need to know about your gaming, but I’m not you. I’m not a gamer. What if someone tries to ask me what I play?”
I ran a hand over my face again.
He had a point. It wasn’t only putting down names no one knew, but we’d physically be there.
“I’ll give you a rundown of terminology before the event just in case, but we can always keep to ourselves, try to find Odette.”
“You make it sound like you’ve been thinking about this for a long time.”
“I haven’t,” I countered.
“Okay, but what if we do all of this, you get to talk to her, and something happens?”
“Like what?” I tilted my head to the side in question.
“Who the fuck knows, Ryker, but what if Odette finds out you’re not being truthful about who you are? If she asks why you’re doing this, then let’s think about those consequences, and not just you outing yourself.”
That would be the hard part—to not let Odette know who I really was. Even though I wanted to go to this event as myself, I still had to hide everything about my life. Right now, though, this was the best plan I could figure out to be able to just be me. For me to find her and hopefully have a moment as just Ryker and Odette. Not CovertRetriever and the creator ofLeague of Witches.
“I hope it doesn’t ever come to that, but this is all we have, and you’ve planted all the seeds I need to say yes to this crazy scheme.”
“Fuck me.”
I turned back around to my computer, ignoring Beckett’s last comment. His tone gave him a way that he regretted saying anything today.
“I mean,” I continued as Beckett turned to leave my office. “Even after all of this, how likely is it that I’ll see Odette again after that weekend, anyway?”
THREE MONTHS LATER
“Holy shit.” Jemma covered her mouth.
Holy shit was right.
I looked over Jemma’s shoulder at the scenery behind her.
“Belvedere Castle,” I spoke the name quietly, like it was a secret.
The castle was much more than that. It was in the middle of Central Park and a part of the city’s history. I hadn’t traveled much outside of the country, but there was something about the castle that seemed like it probably wouldn’t be able to be topped, no matter where you went.
“You can’t be serious,” Jemma whispered to me as we both moved to stand on the sidewalk where the pedicab driver was waiting for us. “There is no way there is a castle like this in New York.”
“Belvedere has been around for more than a hundred years and is the focal point of Central Park.” The driver spoke up before he pedaled away, and another arrived shortly afterward.
We’d been picked up at the hotel in New York City that the award show had provided for us. There were some last-minute rules implemented for the masquerade ball, such as we had toput on our masks when leaving our room and could not remove them until we were back.
Then a limo driver picked us up and drove us to Central Park, where a row of pedicabs awaited those attending the ball.
I hadn’t expected that when we’d been picked up at the hotel, we’d only be traveling a few minutes down the road to Belvedere. The bike ride in was magical with lights cascading from trees as we made our way to the entrance of the castle. I’d seen it in passing a few times, having been from the city, but I’d never ventured up to it before.
“This is crazy,” Jemma stated in disbelief as she stood next to me, admiring the sight in front of us.
“Welcome to the city.” I nudged her, taking in the sight before us as well. It was stunning; the castle was filled with a soft glow as people were walking up. Lights hung from the trees, and it looked like we were about to walk straight into a fairytale.
“You know,” Jemma started as we continued walking up to the castle with others following behind us. “I forget sometimes that you’re from the city.”
