“I don’t want to be a bother.”
The woman just grinned and jogged away. Behind Caitlyn came the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. Great. Who else was going to witness this?
Darius Dimitriou sat down beside her, resting his forearms on his knees. He was even taller than Joe, who must be close to six-four.
“Does Sona know about your condition?” Mr. Dimitriou must have heard what Caitlyn told his wife.
“She does, and my doctor released me for this.” Caitlyn looked up at him. “Please don’t make me go back home. I can do this. I promise I’ll eat more.”
“Forceyourself to eat more, you mean? Drink this first.” Mrs. Dimitriou handed over a small carton of orange juice and began peeling the wrapper from a cheese stick. “It’s obvious this embarrasses you. If you don’t want the others to know you’re recovering from cancer, you can simply say you have blood sugar issues.”
“Sounds like it would even be true. I’m Darius, by the way.”
“And I’m Eve.” His wife handed over the partially unwrapped cheese stick.
“I’m Caitlyn Hahn.”
Darius repeated her name, looking thoughtful. “You work for Ezreal, right?”
“Yes.” Caitlyn took a bite of the cheese, already feeling better after the juice.
“What are your plans when you graduate?” he asked.
“I’m a music major, so Icouldteach.” Caitlyn shrugged. “It’s the most logical thing to do. My father likes to tease me about being a cruise ship entertainer, but there is actually quite an extensive list of jobs relating to a music degree.”
“But what do youwantto do?” Eve asked.
Caitlyn opened her mouth and then closed it again, saying nothing. It would come across as self-serving if she told them she would love to work full time for REKD Gaming. Her time as an intern under Ezreal Wallach’s tutelage had been an amazing experience.
“Whatever you decide, don’t forget game developers need musicians too. I know of one in particular who’s a music department head and speaks highly of you.” Darius winked at her before rising to his feet.
“Will you be all right now?” Eve asked, taking the hand her husband offered her.
“Yes. Thank you.” Caitlyn stood, no longer unsteady.
“I look forward to seeing you at our game tonight,” Eve said.
“What game?”
“REKD, of course.” Darius grinned. “The six interns against the rest of us.”
Caitlyn frowned, both excited and intimidated at the thought of playing with two of the men who’d helped create the online arena video game. “Aren’t there only four of you?”
“Joe will play with us. You interns will have to rotate since there are six of you. See you at dinner.” He lifted a hand in farewell before he and his wife went up the stairs.
Caitlyn took her time following them. Now she would have to find out where Zoe and Sona had gone.
Caitlyn enteredthe gaming room hesitantly. After intercepting a couple of assessing glances from Noah, she wasn’t sure what to expect. He seemed to be softening toward her, which she found encouraging from a professional point of view. She couldn’t give in to her heart’s wish for it to be more than that.
The room was big, of course. It seemed like everything in the penthouse had been designed on a grand scale, yet the founders and their wives were so...normal. The biggest surprise to Caitlyn was that it didn’t appear to be an act either. She was glad. It would make it easier for her to do her job if she weren’t perpetually intimidated by Sona and Kayn.
The gaming room looked like an oversized theater room with two rows of recliners. Upon closer inspection, she realized they also had a small PC at each chair. Noah and Finn hadalready taken seats on one row and had made a monitor come up from the side of the chair.
“Let me get these rows set up,” Kayn said, stepping into the room and messing with some buttons on the wall.
The front row of chairs moved back toward the large screen, turning as it did. When it stopped, the two rows faced each other.
Caitlyn glanced at Max, but he nodded for her to take the chair, saying, “I’ll catch the next game.”
