Sean shrugged and pulled the vape pen out of his pocket, taking a hit and handing it to Kayleigh. “It’s the good stuff this time. Might as well go out on a high.”
Sitting on a bench outside the bar, they passed the vape pen around and took a couple of hits each.
“So, what do you think?” Sean asked, blowing his curls back from his eyes. “Has Diablo Games expanded into the world of children’s entertainment?”
“I don’t know what to think,” Kayleigh said. “But I’ll tell you what, his being here is weird. He looked legit surprised to see me. I don’t think it was part of the game.”
“The game,” April said, sitting up straight on the bench.
Kayleigh and Sean looked at her, waiting for further clarification.
“The trivia game. We need to get back in there. We are in first place, goshdarnit, and I want that first prize.”
Throwing her head back and laughing, Kayleigh said, “Then let’s get back in there and make it happen, little lady.”
Chapter Eight
Day 5
Wednesday started like any typical day, with April and Kayleigh enjoying a coffee while waiting for Sean to pull himself out of bed and begin his morning routine of pushing himself as close to the running late limit as possible.
“Can we talk about what happened at work now?” April asked.
“Do we need to? I might be bored, but I can do without hearing about the place for a few more days.”
“It’s important, Kaylz. I wouldn't bring it up otherwise.”
Shutting off her phone with an agitated sigh, Kayleigh turned her attention to her friend.
“Okay, go ahead.”
“Well, when I arrived on Monday morning, Stacey was at my desk within a matter of seconds, telling me that Gallagher wanted a meeting in his office.”
“I told you he’d set his sights on you with me not being there this week.”
“Honestly, I thought he was going to fire me, but that’s not what he wanted at all. The conversation was mostly about you.”
“About me?” Kayleigh said, genuinely surprised.
“Yes. Gallagher asked if I knew about them offering you a promotion, which I told him I did. He seemed quite excited about that and suggested that I talk to you about taking the position.”
Kayleigh groaned. “What an asshole. I told him I’d think about it and let him know after my vacation.”
“Well, have you?”
“Have I what?”
“Thought about it.”
“No. Well, not really. I have given it some thought, but the fact is that the timing is awful.” Kayleigh picked up her coffee mug and swirled the brown liquid around before taking a drink. “My head says that taking a promotion would be the smart way to go, but my heart says that I should wait to see how things play out with the game. What if this leads to something big, and I’m able to make it as an influencer?’
Hanging her head, April nodded her agreement. “There was a little more to the conversation, though,” she said, head still bowed.
“Like what?”
“He wants me to talk you into going to dinner with him. He—”
“Stop right there. He has already tried that on me. I’m not going out to dinner with that loser.”
“No, it’s not like that. Gallagher said that I could go, too, since I would be your assistant if you took the position,” April said, biting her bottom lip as she delivered the bombshell.
Almost choking on her coffee, Kayleigh coughed violently, sending a spray of java out through her nose. Heading over to the sink, she tore off a square of paper towel and wiped her face. She gripped the edge of the sink and fought to hold back her anger, her knuckles turning almost as white as the porcelain. “You have to give him credit. He certainly knows how to play us like puppets.”
“I didn’t make any promises or anything. I told him that I would deliver the message. That’s it. If you don’t want to do this, I’ll go to Gallagher’s office today and tell him you aren’t interested.”
Sitting back down, Kayleigh studied her best friend and took a moment to think about all the things April had done for her over the years. When Kayleigh had first started at FinaCol, people in the office had made fun of her appearance and her country twang. Goth girl hillbillies were not the in thing, but April never took notice of any of that, choosing instead to invite her to lunch on that first day. Despite their differences, they had instantly struck up a friendship that Kayleigh knew would last forever. She also knew that April was more in the habit of looking out for her friends than she was, and Kayleigh felt like it was time to balance the scales of friendship a little.
Reaching out and taking her friend’s hand, Kayleigh asked, “What would you get out of being my assistant? Assuming I was interested in the promotion.”
April tried to downplay her excitement, but the glint in her eyes was a dead giveaway. “I don’t know for sure, but it would definitely mean more money, plus a nice desk like Stacey has.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes. Maybe. Oh, I don’t know, Kaylz. I want what you want.”
“And I’ve only ever wanted you to be happy. One of the reasons why I’m so passionate about making it as an influencer is so that I could make enough money to buy this place and then maybe put a down payment on the empty townhouse next door. You know, as a place for you and Sean to live.”
“Are you kicking us out?” April joked, trying to hold back the wave of emotion sweeping over her.
“Do you want to be in your thirties and still living with your bitchy best friend?”
“Depends on whether or not the rent goes up.”
They laughed and hugged, rocking side to side as the tears started to fall.
“I love you, Apes. Tell Gallagher to arrange something for tomorrow night. Let’s see what he has to offer. At the very least, we’ll get a free meal out of it.”
Sean arrived at the bottom of the stairs and skidded to a halt, debating whether or not to go back upstairs when he saw his roommates hugging and crying. He was not one to put his emotions on display, and he felt uncomfortable when others did so in his presence. Before he could make a decision, April caught his eye and gave him a wave and a smile, signaling that all was well. He waved back, shower water dripping off the sleeve of his Siouxsie and the Banshees shirt. I need to get my act together, he thought, as he knelt to tie the laces of his boots before heading out the door.
NOT PREPARED TO MISS the next clue as they almost had yesterday, Kayleigh kept her laptop open and on the feed while she went through her daily social media routine. She let her Instagram followers know that she would be catching Martians Alive over the coming weekend, while also asking for recommendations for movies that she could watch while on vacation. Most of the responses she received were about movies that she had already seen, but there were a couple of titles that were new to her, which she jotted down so as not to forget. A great memory was not one of her strongest traits.
Throughout the course of the morning, the robed man had not made an appearance, and the girl had barely moved. Kayleigh stared down the feed, looking for the little glitches that Sean mentioned as the sign that they were looking at a video on loop. In truth, she had no idea what she was looking for, so it was impossible to tell if what she was seeing was live or a recording. Staring at the screen was doing nothing but making her eyes stream, so she blinked away the tears and turned on the TV in hopes of tracking down one of the movies recommended by her followers.