5. Troy

When it cameto arcade games, I was a kid in a candy store. At the best of times, I wanted to play all the games, but now all I wanted was to make sure Alexi had the best time because I had some making up to do.

I stopped when I found the right machine, the familiar design on the arcade cabinet taking me back to my childhood. Light-blue lines on the dark-navy panel and that specific font they used for the game name.

"This is the first game I ever played," I said.

"How old were you?"

"Eight, I think. Wren used to take me to an arcade in Chester Falls when I was little. I had to stand on a plastic stool to reach the controls."

Alexi put his beer on the table next to the game and moved the joystick on the left side.

"It must have been nice having a big brother."

I detected a little sadness in his voice. As far as we knew, Alexi was an only child, abandoned by his biological parents when he was young. He'd lived in group homes and then with foster parents until he met Charlie and Kris.

"Even though there's a considerable age gap between us, Wren always took time to hang out with me when he didn't have football practice. Of course, me being me, I wanted to figure out how all the games worked."

"Naturally." He rolled his eyes. "Okay, so how does this one work?"

I set my beer next to his. "We're the dragons, and we have to save our dragon girlfriends from the evil masters."

"Girlfriends?" he chuckled.

"No rainbow-friendly version back then, I guess." I leaned into him and whispered in his ear. "We can save our boyfriends if you like."

He took a sharp breath and paused before letting it out slowly. "Let's save our…boyfriends then."

"When I press the start button, bubbles will come down on the screen. You use the joystick to move your dragon and these buttons to burst the bubbles."

"Gotcha."

I pressed the Start button with my hand on the joystick, ready to go.

"Oh," I added. "We can also shoot at each other."

It took a second for the words to sink in before Alexi moved his dragon away from mine and toward the bubbles.

We shot them down one by one, keeping an even score for the first level.

"That wasn't too hard," he said. "Are you going easy on me?"

I winked.

His eyes zeroed in on my lips before he looked away, running his tongue over his bottom lip. I was the one who couldn't look away. We were close enough that I could see several freckles at the corner of his lips.

The sound of my dragon being shot brought me out of my dirty thoughts involving Alexi's lips and tongue.

"Shit." My dragon crumbled to dust. All I could do was watch Alexi laugh as he burst bubbles and increased his score until he was finally killed by one of the bubbles of doom.

"Not bad for a newbie, right?" The smug sideways look he gave me made me want to kiss the hell out of him. Whose idea was it to come here again?

"Beginners luck."

"If you say so." He bumped my elbow with his. "Maybe if you focus on the game, you can do better."

"I think it's time I taught you a lesson."

He laughed. "Don't threaten me with a good time, Mr. Mason."

Fuck. And now I was full-on hard.

I pressed start and declared war. The soundtracks of the hundreds of games around us and the people shouting as they played were music to my ears.

The rumors about Elite, the future sale of the company after graduation…none of that mattered anymore.

Alexi elbowed me as his dragon tried to shoot mine, but I had years of practice. I wasn't going to let his perfectly kissable lips or his green eyes distract me this time.

My eyes were on the screen, laser-focused.

I elbowed him back. "Stop cheating."

"I'm not cheating. You take up too much space with your big muscles."

"There are many advantages to having muscles."

"Like what?"

I lowered my voice. "My dragon can lift yours, push him against the wall, and show him who's in charge."

He groaned as his dragon had a near-miss with a bubble of doom. "My dragon isn't as weak as your dragon thinks he is."

"Of that, I have no doubt."

We battled for our dragons, smack-talking and drinking beer until Alexi accepted defeat.

"You're pretty good at that," I admitted. "I wasn't expecting to have to fight so hard."

"I've had some practice."

"You have?"

He bit his lip, fighting a smile. "Yeah, I used to play with a friend, but we never went all the way."

"All the way…" My mouth suddenly became too dry.

"To the end of the game."

Were we still talking about the game? Fuck, being around Alexi made me go dumb, but there was no way I was going to keep my distance now.

Hadn't my brother asked me to keep an eye on Alexi? I was only being a good friend.

A friend who wanted to be more, but a friend nonetheless.

I followed him to the bar, where he insisted on buying the next round of sodas and a couple of burgers.

"I'm so addicted to these. I need to figure out where the campus gym is before I can't fit into my clothes." He took a large bite of his burger.

"You're fine," I chuckled.

"Let's meet in six months and see if you still agree."

There was nothing I would ever not like about him. He could be skinny or chunky, tall or short. The sweet, somewhat innocent but life-weary Alexi had gotten to me when we'd first met, and I hadn't been able to let go since.

"Tell me more about your obsession with arcade games," he said.

"At first, I just loved playing with Wren. I thought it was the coolest thing to hang out with my big brother. When Wren moved to San Diego to play football, I was so upset I threatened to run away to go live with him."

"Did you ever try?"

I laughed. "Yeah, but you can't get far when all you have is a couple hundred bucks and you live in a small town where the bus service is as reliable as a chocolate teapot. Besides, my parents were called as soon as I tried to buy a ticket to San Diego. I genuinely thought I could take just the one bus."

"Oh my god, that's adorable."

I finished my burger. "No, it's not. It's brave and adventurous."

"Sure, sure."

"Anyway, my parents bought me my first computer so I could play those games at home and on the internet with Wren. Soon, the fixation was about how they worked, the software and programming."

"You're graduating this year, right?" I detected a little tension in his voice.

"Yeah."

"What are you going to do once you graduate?"

"I'm…not entirely sure."

"When we met, you were passionate about building software that could change people's lives. I thought by now you'd be a Nobel Prize winner," he said. "Or at least work for the CIA or some other security organization."

"I've thought about it. Sergei offered to put me in touch with the head of national security in Lydovia. He thinks I could help them."

Alexi stilled. "You'd…move to Lydovia?"

"Yeah, I guess I would."

"Just for the work experience, right?"

"Don't know. If there was a good enough reason for me to stay, I would."

Alexi looked down at his empty glass, his skin turning a pretty shade of pink.

If he hoped he was a good enough reason for me to move to a different country, he'd be right, but I couldn't tell him that.

Fuck knew what was holding me back. We were two adults, and we'd known each other for years. My original excuse had been that we were young and he had just been thrust into the limelight.

I hadn't wanted to take advantage of his vulnerability, even though I'd seen the interest in his eyes that night we'd talked. He'd needed to feel something other than an obligation to be the perfect new son for his parents.

What was my excuse now?

If I kissed him and he punched me, I'd be nursing a black eye and a broken heart, but I'm sure our friendship would survive. Alexi was that good of a person.

"Come on, let me take you back to your dorm," I said.

"I had a great time today, Troy. Thank you for bringing me here."

I unlocked the car, but he didn't get in. Those eyes stared at me. Waiting…

"Lexi…"

"You say it like you want to say more." I heard the hope in his voice.

"I…maybe…" I let out a breath. "I don't know how to say it."

He smiled. "You'll figure it out."