Even Odds (7 page)

She must have given him her deer-in-headlights look, because at his words, they both stopped moving. “Unless you don't want to see me again?” Caleb asked, averting his eyes and rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

“Oh no, that isn't it.” She tried to articulate the reason for her sudden shock. “I was just surprised. I don't do this sort of thing a lot. I didn't think you'd want to see me.” God, she sounded like she was fourteen years old. She rubbed the top of one foot with the toes of the other through the shoes, feeling uncertain. “But . . . yeah, go ahead and swing by. I'm at 402.”

“Oh. Good.” He smiled, his whole demeanor seeming to lighten up.

“I'm taking the shift until one.” She thought about her schedule the next day. “Actually, I'll see you at the tournament, right?”

“Right. Eight o'clock.” He raised an eyebrow. “I forgot I still get to beat your ass in
StarCraft
.”

“You can try.” Their banter was comforting already. How could she enjoy this man's company so much, when they'd barely spent any time at all together? She pulled the hoodie down over her head, and the soft warmth of the fabric felt almost like an embrace. An embrace that smelled like Caleb.

She couldn't get too attached, though. This was one weekend. After this, she would never see him again. The thought sent an odd pang through her, which she didn't want to analyze. This was just a possible by-product of a one-night-stand. It didn't mean anything, even if he did smell amazing and had just given her the best fucking she could remember in a long, long time.

———

The walk back from
Isabel's hotel gave Caleb time to think. For half the walk, he just thought,
Shit, it's fucking cold out here.
For the rest, he tried to make sense of his emotions. Usually, after he took a woman to bed, he felt like things were complete between them. There was rarely any pressure for more, or any misunderstanding about the purpose of their encounter. With Isabel, it was clear that they'd gotten together for sex, but then the request to see her tomorrow had just popped out of his mouth, surprising him as much as it had evidently surprised her. While walking across the pedestrian bridge near the convention center, he stopped to look out at the highway beneath him, the cars roaring below even though it was after midnight. Boston wasn't as busy as other big cities; things actually closed down at reasonable hours, especially on Thursday nights, but the highway never slept. Every car was someone with their own story, their own destination. Some were probably headed home, but others were likely headed to work on an overnight shift, and some were probably on their way to new locations altogether. He was at a crossroads, standing between stages in his own life. It wasn't time to get involved with someone. This business with Isabel was supposed to be a no-strings affair. Maybe they'd spend more time together this weekend, but only because it was nice to have someone to hang out with when he needed a break from the convention.

He zipped his jacket up the last few inches to his neck and thrust his hands into his pockets, finishing his walk over the pedestrian bridge to the Marriott. His breath fogged in the air as he walked, each step like crossing through a cloud, obscuring the amber-hued streetlights. Stepping back into the brightly lit hotel lobby felt like stepping out of a dream and into the harsh light of day. Isabel, too, felt like something imaginary, a figment fading behind him with the darkness of night.

Back in his hotel room, though, she came flooding back in stark relief. Once he'd restored the bed to some kind of order, he realized the bedsheets smelled like her, a not-quite-perfume scent, and he was going to get a damn hard-on sleeping in this bed. Shit. He hadn't set up real plans with her, but he was looking forward to seeing her again at some point, no matter what.

And that meant he needed to know where she really worked.

The Marriott Wi-Fi was fast enough that he had his unfortunate answer within a minute. Isabel Suarez had been working for PI Games for the past four years. After working as a level editor for a couple of years, she'd been promoted to level designer, and then again to design manager for their two most recent puzzle games,
Bump
and
Squish
. Caleb stared at her headshot on the PI Games website, her expression confident but uninterested, her whole demeanor that of cool professionalism, a world away from the passionate woman he'd just taken to bed an hour earlier. He felt like she had shown him part of herself that she'd never have shared if she knew there was a possibility of him becoming her coworker.

More out of habit than out of any real hope, he opened a new tab and checked his Gmail. A few coupons, a newsletter, and nothing else. No email from PI Games.

He felt a surprising lack of emotion at the sparse in-box. He thought he'd have heard by now. It would be tomorrow at the latest, sure, but it was probably best that he continued with the idea that he shouldn't get his hopes up. He didn't have the job. He had never had the job. He wasn't getting the job. Honestly, this evening with Isabel was a temporary lark, a weird coincidence, and the closest he'd likely get to being part of PI Games. There was probably a dirty joke in there if he had the heart to make it.

He wasn't a betting man, but even if he were, he wouldn't bet on his odds.

DiceCon on opening day
was a lot different from DiceCon on setup day, Isabel realized as she walked across the pedestrian bridge to the convention center. The building was magnificent, overwhelming in its size, something ridiculous like eighteen times larger than a football field (she couldn't quite remember the exact statistic). The large LED screens out front were advertising DiceCon, and the area in front of the building was beginning to fill with scalpers milling about and an ever-growing line of attendees waiting to be the first to mob the expo hall.

The bracing cold took Isabel's breath away, even wrapped as she was in Caleb's hoodie, and she rushed to get into the building. She skipped the line and flashed her vendor badge at the door guard, who waved her inside. She had a half hour before the doors would open to the public.

Even after seeing the expo hall the night before, she was overwhelmed all over again by the sheer scope of the place. Of course, bigger events like Comic-Con in San Diego probably dwarfed DiceCon, but she'd never been out there, so this was the biggest convention she'd ever seen. Looking out through the glass windows in the lobby at the mammoth room below, she felt small, a feeling that didn't diminish as she crossed through the doors and surveyed the hall from the top of the escalators. Since the night before, the rest of the booths had finished setting up, and the giant room looked ready for business.

Players Incorporated, or PI Games as it was more widely known, was insignificant compared to major game design companies like Blizzard or Square Enix, but DiceCon and other similar conventions gave them the visibility they needed to stay safely afloat. Their booth was therefore smaller than many others, but they had a decent location, not far from where Final Fantasy would surely be giving away tons of swag and attracting boatloads of gamers. They were also within sight of the Livestream broadcast, a simulated living room set up on a huge platform overlooking the entire convention. When she was stuck at the booth for her shifts, at least she'd be able to watch the broadcast.

By the time she had
Squish
booted up on the display iPads and the booth cleaned from setup the night before, the doors were opening. Isabel glanced up in time to see the throngs making their way to the escalators, from this distance an indistinguishable mob of people descending in two long columns to the space below. She checked the clock. She hoped Dan would be here on time and hadn't been up the whole night partying, as Matthew had warned her he'd done at previous conventions.

Realizing she was still wearing Caleb's hoodie, which she'd put on this morning along with her work outfit, she pulled it off, revealing her red PI Games polo shirt. As she pulled the hoodie past her face, she caught Caleb's scent and paused to breathe it in. The night before, she may or may not have kept it in bed with her when she fell asleep. In the light of day, that seemed ridiculous and kind of embarrassing, the sort of thing she'd never admit to, but it hadn't seemed strange at all last night. It had seemed warm and fuzzy and good smelling and comfortable. She tossed the hoodie over the back of one of the chairs and turned to see Dan hustling up to the booth.

“Sorry I'm late.” Dan arrived a few steps ahead of the crowd. “I was standing in the bag-check line for ten minutes before I realized there was a separate entrance for vendors.”

Isabel had a hard time believing his excuse. “Haven't you been here before?”

“Yeah, but I never opened.” He unzipped his hoodie and tossed it behind the black curtain at the back of their booth where they were hiding the storage boxes. Like her, he was wearing his PI Games polo shirt and looked more professional than usual. He even wore khaki pants instead of his traditional old jeans. He brushed his red hair out of his eyes and looked around the booth, making sure everything was in place. “How was your night?”

She glanced at him, and sure enough, his lips were twitching in an attempt to hide a smile. So much for keeping things confidential. Well, at least it wasn't Lloyd. Best to just bite the proverbial bullet, as it were. “I guess Matthew told you why I left the party early?”

Dan nodded. “He had to. I went looking for you when I met the Wingdings game designer. I knew you'd want to meet her, but I couldn't find you, and then Matthew told me you'd already left.” Dan opened his water bottle and took a swig, then shrugged. “Based on Matthew's count, it looks like you and Lloyd are neck and neck for the win.”

Isabel didn't have time to ask more about Lloyd's progress—and was sort of glad she didn't—before people started to trickle by the booth, and she moved into convention mode. The next hour flew by: although Friday wasn't the biggest day of DiceCon, the crowds were steady, and Isabel and Dan were both busy showing
Squish
to everyone who stopped long enough to play. Every positive response and email newsletter signup was a boost of confidence, since she'd been the design manager for
Squish
and its predecessor,
Bump.

“Looks like things are pretty busy for you today,” a familiar voice said nearby.

Isabel looked up from where she was opening a second bag of buttons and saw Caleb in that hideous neon shirt. Her stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch as the events of the previous night came flooding back to her.

Best to remain professional. She looked over at Dan, who was showing the game to a young man on one of the display iPads. “Hey. Yeah, we've been doing well. Got a lot of signups, and we sold a few shirts.” She gestured to the three-by-three grid he'd helped assemble the night before, which already felt like a week ago. So much had happened since he'd rescued her from Ikea hell. “I see you're going back to the glories of glow-in-the-dark yellow.”

“Living the dream.” He looked down at his shirt, then up at their banner. “PI Games. I've heard of you folks.”

“Oh yeah?” Isabel identified something unsettled in Caleb's tone. “You don't sound happy about it. You hate our games or something?”

“What? No. I love your games. I've played most of them.”

“Really?” Surprising, since their company wasn't that big. “I didn't think many people had heard of us.”

“I like puzzle games.” Caleb picked up a button from the basket and turned it over in his hand. The button depicted the player avatar from
Bump
and
Squish
, a plucky hero with spiked hair and disproportionately large hands and feet, doing battle with one of the game's monsters. “Your games are never just shooting or dungeon crawling. They always have puzzles to solve, and I appreciate that.” He attached the button to his lanyard.

“So what's your day look like today?” There, that was polite, vague chatter, right? It wasn't like she was asking to see him again.

“I've got this gig until noon, and then I'm going to hide this shirt and hit the big booths before the crowds tomorrow. Then I might take a nap before dinner and the tournament tonight. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night.” His eyes twinkled with his own joke, inspiring Isabel to roll her eyes even as she felt her cheeks heating in a blush. “What about you?”

“I've got the booth until one, and then there's a panel I want to hit this afternoon, but mostly touring the big names today, same as you.” There was a good chance of them running into each other. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, she liked seeing him, but on the other, it was probably going to get weird.

Just then Dan sidled up next to her, smiling mischievously. “Why, hello there. Isabel, who's this nice person?” Isabel glared at him, but he ignored her glare. Without waiting for her answer, he extended a hand. “I'm Dan. I work with Isabel.”

Caleb shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Dan. I'm Caleb. Isabel and I met at the party last night.”

“Oh, that's nice. It's always so good to meet new people at a party.” His grin was so wide, his tone so smug, that Isabel gave him a gentle smack on the back of the head.

“Just ignore him, Caleb. Dan's an asshole.”

Caleb changed the subject. “So what do you do at PI Games, Dan?”

“I'm a level editor.” Dan held up his iPad displaying the
Squish
title screen. “
Squish
is our latest game. Just came out last month.”

“I've played it, actually.” Caleb nodded. “Good game. I was just telling Isabel how much I enjoyed it. I've got to run, though. Isabel, I'll see you at the tournament tonight.” He turned to face her, smoothly ending the conversation with Dan. “You want to make any wagers on the outcome?”

Isabel shook her head, smiling. “I don't think that's a good idea.”

“Fair enough. See you tonight.” Caleb walked away, giving her ample opportunity to admire the way his ass looked in his cargo pants. Nice. Once he was out of sight, though, she realized she hadn't returned his hoodie. She'd have to remember to bring it to the tournament tonight.

Dan let out a long, low whistle behind her. “I've gotta say, Isabel, I didn't think you had it in you.”

Isabel turned back to Dan, who was chuckling. His amusement annoyed her. “What?”

“I didn't think you'd really go through with this.” He shrugged. “No judgment. You surprised me, that's all.”

She hadn't intended for her time with Caleb to become public knowledge, and when she thought about what it might mean for her career, she felt a wave of discomfort. She might be exaggerating, though. PI Games wasn't Pixel Dream. Her coworkers were comfortable with her. Maybe it was time for her to start trusting them a little more. “Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do.” She took an iPad from the display table and stepped forward to try and make some sales.

———

Isabel tried to stay
away from the PI Games booth after her shift ended, mostly to give herself some space from work and put off answering any questions Matthew might have about the night before. She attended a really fun panel on classic board games, ending up with a giant list of games she needed to find on eBay. She could only stay away from the booth for so long before curiosity got the better of her, though, and returned to the main expo hall later that afternoon when her panel finished. The convention was as busy as ever, the afternoon crowds even thicker than those of the morning. When she approached the booth, Matthew was selling a shirt to a boy while Lloyd explained
Squish
to an interested-looking redheaded woman. She hadn't even realized he knew how to play.

The boy wandered away with his shirt, leaving Matthew free. “Did you have a nice lunch? Dan told me you had a visitor this morning.” Matthew waggled his eyebrows.

“I thought the purpose of these conventions was to make friends.” Isabel tried to keep her tone casual. “What about you? Make any friends yet?”

Matthew raised one shoulder in a partial shrug. “I got an invitation to a club tonight from a hot guy. Maybe we can ‘make friends' like you and your boy toy did last night.”

“He's not my boy toy.” Isabel looked around the booth. “How have sales been?”

“Pretty good,” said a voice over her right shoulder, making her jump. Lloyd had come over from the other side of the booth. Isabel turned and took a step back, giving herself some space from him. He picked up the list of names from its clipboard. “We've got about a hundred email addresses to input, and we've sold a dozen or so copies of
Squish.
I guess people really like your little game.”

“I'm glad.” Isabel tried not to fixate on the condescension in his voice when he said “little game.” He probably didn't even recognize his own tone.

“I saw your point total this morning. Guess you're putting in overtime for this scavenger hunt.” Lloyd leaned against the booth divider and crossed his arms, smirking. “I'm surprised you were able to open up the booth this morning after getting so little sleep.”

Isabel's stomach twisted, an anxious knot balling up in her gut. How to respond? Brush it off with a laugh? Deny everything? No, she didn't want to do that. She was working on being more comfortable in her own skin. She flashed him a broad, unapologetic smile. “You don't need the details, but I play to win, Lloyd. How was your night? I heard you were pushing pretty hard yourself last night. That first-class upgrade must mean a lot to you.”

Matthew laughed, but Lloyd only tipped his head to the side and shrugged. “All right, all right. If that's how you want to play it. One night's easy, though. But there's a lot on the list, and I've got to say, I just don't think you're up for it.” He dug the paper out of his back pocket and scanned it. He'd been checking items off. “According to Matthew's totals, I'm right on your tail. You've had a good first day, but I think you can kiss your lead goodbye.” He rested a hand on her shoulder in mock comfort. “Don't take it too hard, though. We're all proud of you for getting this far.”