Out of Character by Annabeth Albert

Chapter Twelve

Milo

I wanted Jasper to win, but not only for the reasons he thought. Rather, I wanted him to win because I liked the way he smiled when he won, liked the looseness in his step, liked the way he’d joke with me in between matches. Every win made me buoyant, riding high on his good mood. I hadn’t forgotten about him needing points for the prize card, but I was having fun simply hanging out at the tournament, meeting his friends, watching him play. I liked seeing the hustle and bustle of the tournament, but also liked the way Jasper reigned over it, gamer royalty almost.

Everyone seemed to know him either from the vlog he was on or past tournaments and events. And they all liked him. He was…popular. Which shouldn’t have been that surprising—he’d always been an easy-to-like guy, but high school was not kind to nice guys like Jasper. Yet he’d survived, no thanks to me. And now here he was, thriving. He’d found where he belonged, and I couldn’t stop the ache in my chest as I wished I could say the same for me.

“Move to attack.” Jasper narrowed his eyes. I’d watched and played enough Odyssey to know this was likely his Hail Mary move, a last-ditch effort to stay alive before Naomi did him in. And her smug smile said she knew it as she moved her cards into position to block.

“Any responses?” She sounded bored, probably already looking ahead to her next match.

“Yup.” One by one, Jasper flipped his cards over, playing the scrolls to transform them into bigger attackers. Freaking brilliant. I’d seen him pull similar moves all morning, and I was still impressed. It was like watching a soccer star zip down the field, avoiding the defense and scoring the winning goal against all odds.

“Oh, f—flying monkey butts. Really?” Naomi thumped her own head. “How did I not see that coming?”

“Because I’m good.” Jasper smiled, energy infectious, making Naomi smile back even as she groaned.

“Yeah, you are.” After considering the board for a long minute, she stuck out her hand. “Good game.”

I managed to wait until Jasper was packing up to hurry over. I smacked him on the shoulder. “You did it!”

“Yeah, I did. Ow.” Jasper rubbed his shoulder.

“Oops. Too much?” Sometimes I didn’t know my own strength. Or maybe he didn’t want me touching him. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Your enthusiasm is appreciated even if your hands might need a warning label.”

“Sorry.” Feeling bad, I reached out and massaged his lean shoulder. And damn. I was woefully unprepared for how good touching him deliberately like this felt, heat rushing through me. He tensed before groaning and going more pliant. For a second that stretched into an eternity, the rest of the crowded ballroom fell away, and it was only us, him melting under my touch and me catching fire.

Then someone coughed and I remembered where the heck we were. My hand fell away right as someone jostled me from behind. “Pardon me.”

“No problem.” Heart still hammering, I moved out the way so a guy with a red deck bag could pass.

“Sorry,” I said again to Jasper after the dude was gone.

“No problem. But you might want to warn a guy before you go handing out massages like that.” Jasper’s voice was light, but not particularly flirty. Still, though, something about his tone made my skin all toasty as I followed him to his next match.

“I…uh…might wander the vendor booths while you do this round.”

“Sure.” Jasper sounded distracted, but that probably had more to do with his next opponent, a middle-aged guy, than me. The weird energy thrumming between us was undoubtedly my own hallucination, and I tried to push it from my head as I made my way through the various stalls.

They featured cards galore and accessories like dice, but also T-shirts and things like magnets and buttons. I’d had no idea the level of merch gamers could collect. It reminded me of those dudes back at college who did their whole room as an ode to their favorite sports team. And posters. One booth had a long line of people waiting to buy art, and a woman with long, gray hair was signing each poster or small print.

“You in the market for a McMurtle?” Eugene appeared out of nowhere, entourage in tow.

“A McWhat?” My response got a big laugh from Eugene and his friends.

“She’s Sylvia McMurtle. Famous Odyssey artist. Does a lot of the art for cards and other merch. Lives near here so she comes to the local events sometimes.”

“And people pay for her signature?” I got that the cards could be super pretty, but it still made my head buzz that someone could get that popular simply from some drawings.

“And how.” Eugene quoted a price for a print that made my jaw fall open.

“Wow.”

“Yup. How’s your boy doing? I think I’ve locked up a spot in the quarterfinals, but we’ll see.” Eugene all but blew on his knuckles as he humble-bragged.

“Jasper’s kicking butt. He’s probably one of the best players here.” Aside from wanting to talk up Jasper out of loyalty, I wasn’t kidding. I’d far rather watch Jasper than any other player, so that had to count for something.

“He’s all right. Bet he at least adds to his transforming card collection with his points.”

“Yeah,” I said weakly. Crap. If all went well, Jasper wouldn’t be adding to his own collection, and for the first time all day, my stomach rebelled. Funny how hanging out with Jasper calmed me down on more than one level. But now bitterness sloshed around in my gut and made my throat tighten. I didn’t like keeping Jasper from getting something for himself.

Maybe there was something I could do. Something more than simply playing Neptune, which was more about his group. Something for him. It was strange the way he made me want to take care of him. But it wasn’t really a nurturing sort of feeling. Like, I wasn’t turning into my mom. More like I wanted him to ask—to demand something from me, something that only I could give him. Not for the first time, an erotic parade of images danced through my brain. There wasn’t much I didn’t want to give him. He wouldn’t ever ask, of course, but that didn’t stop me from wanting.

“There you are!” Almost like my fevered thoughts had conjured him, Jasper came striding toward us.

“That was fast.” Heck. No way had he pulled out a win that quickly, but I didn’t want to let my disappointment show.

“Yup.” Then Jasper grinned, and I drank in his smile like I was chugging down electrolytes after a two-hour match. I might never get enough of seeing him beam.

“You won?”

“You doubted?”

“Nah.” I went to clap him on the shoulder, but both the memory of earlier and Eugene’s speculative look had me pulling back before I could touch him.

“Liar. And I missed a top-eight finish by five points!” Jasper bounced on his feet, all but dancing. He was so damn excited. And it was for me. It was humbling. I’d spent so much of my life being a selfish ass, while Jasper was the opposite. He did so much for others, and it seemed to genuinely make him happy. But unlike his sister and the kids at the hospital, I wasn’t so sure I was worthy of that much goodness.

“Wow.” I wanted to tell him thank you, but not with an audience. And even those words wouldn’t be enough to describe everything happening in my brain.

“Come on. Let’s go check out the prize wall.” Jasper tugged on my arm before he seemed to realize that we were all but holding hands right there. He dropped his hand, but I didn’t need any enticement to follow him anyway.

“Pick out something pretty.” Eugene laughed as he waved us away.

I followed Jasper, but my head was still a churning cement mixer of weighty feels. I wanted to be bouncy like Jasper, but the not-worthy feeling kept rising to the top of the mix.

“Maybe you should…” I finally mumbled.

“Should what?” Slowing down, Jasper turned toward me.

“Should pick out something for yourself.” Unable to meet his gaze, I studied the carpet, tried to catalog all the various shades of brown.

“Hey, a deal’s a deal. What’s with the sudden attack of guilt?” As always, Jasper wasn’t afraid to call me on my bullshit. And yeah, that’s what it was. Guilt. Obviously, I wanted the cards, but I also didn’t want to keep being a crap human.

“I don’t want to use you,” I mumbled. “I mean, clearly I need your help. But…”

“But?” Jasper stepped closer, almost as if he were about to touch me.

With want gathering low in my belly, my hands clenched and unclenched. “You worked super hard today. Thank you.”

Jasper exhaled hard, like I’d whacked him again. Emotions skittered across his face, but none I could label. Then, almost like he’d come to some unspoken conclusion, he nodded. “Well, I had appropriate motivation. And thank you.”

“I mean it. I appreciate this.”

“Good.” Jasper resumed his journey to the big booth at the back of the room. “Remember that come the costume ball.”

“I will.” I wasn’t supposed to look forward to wearing the costume with a room full of bigwigs, but the ball no longer seemed like such a punishment.

“Oh, heck.” Jasper’s face fell before I could finish sorting myself out. He pointed at the glass case at the front of the booth. “Only one of the two cards they advertised is left.”

Crap.To have had him play so hard and come up short sucked. I gave him an awkward pat on the arm. “It’s okay. One is better than none.”

“Yeah. Here’s what I’m going to do.” Jasper rubbed his hands together. He was so damn good at not getting knocked down long. “I’ll get the one Frog Court card, then I’ll use the remaining points on another premium rare. We can hope to maybe turn it into another card for you via a swap or something down the road.”

“We? You’re going to keep helping me?” I’d been worried all day that this was as far as his assistance went. I couldn’t ask him to keep giving up time to help me with my quest. But if he was offering…

“Guess this quest is growing on me.” Jasper’s crooked smile took all my anxiety and made it into something far warmer.

“Good.” I couldn’t help but hope that I was growing on him too, softening his dislike, redeeming myself in some way.

Jasper exchanged his points for the cards, but it wasn’t until we were back in the car that he took the Frog Court card back out, holding the plexiglass case up to the light. It was a lot of case for a single card, but maybe if Bruno had displayed his cards like this, I would have better understood their rarity.

“Wow, it’s so pretty.” Jasper’s awestruck expression was even more intoxicating than his usual smile. Something about his tone and the light in his eyes made my mind flit back to my earlier thoughts. He could have asked me for anything right then. Anything.

“Yeah, it is.” My voice came out too husky, and I wasn’t looking at the card. “Thank you.”

“Didn’t think I’d say this, but it was my pleasure.” He turned toward me, and maybe he hadn’t been expecting how tight the quarters in the Mustang were. Maybe I’d been leaning too close. Maybe our bodies knew more than we did. Regardless of the reason, our faces were suddenly centimeters apart. I could feel his breath, warm in the chilly air.

I inhaled sharply, but I didn’t move away. Neither of us did. He opened his mouth slightly, pink tongue darting out to lick at his full lower lip. And all the want that had been simmering inside me all day finally bubbled over. I might die if I didn’t get to know what he tasted like. I might die if I did, but it was a chance I had to take. Closing the distance between us in a graceful move despite my frantically beating heart, I brushed my lips across his. And waited.