Games Night

"He really gets under your skin, doesn't he?" Adrian said, appearing to be somewhat amused.

She sighed. Where to begin? From the moment she first met Logan on her second date (second date! Adrian hadn't waited long before introducing her to his heterosexual life-mate!) she took an instant dislike to the man: he was an arrogant piece of shit who considered himself God's gift to women, and enjoyed regaling them all of tales of conquest, listing all the women he fucked in all kinds of places. He was the type of Coytoss guy her mother had warned her about growing up. Not that she blamed them: she was fucking gorgeous, and she knew a people around her thought Adrian was punching above his weight being in a relationship with her, but what was the alternative? A guy like Logan?

And that was the thing: she would *totally* be with a guy like Logan. He might be an arrogant piece of shit, who was consistently rude to her (and Adrian almost constantly turned a blind eye to what his mate said to her), but Logan was everything Zehra found hot in a guy. Physically, at least. Being a personal trainer Logan worked out, and his body showed it: all lean muscle, with a great tanned complexion with just the right amount of tattoos for Zehra (too much was freaky); totally different to Adrian's 'hot nerd' appeal. Logan was a typical jock, and Zehra was normally wet for jocks.

But he was just an absolute ass to her. So fuck him.

Not literally. Even though...

Fuck.

She forced those thoughts out of her mind. Not in front of Adrian! Good God, girl!

"He's crass and rude," she said, trying to take her mind off of Logan's hot body. All lean muscle and tan and perfect shapes... "I don't like the way he looks at me."

"Babe, I've told you before: you're not his type."

It annoyed the fuck out of her that she found this annoying as fuck: she was a bombshell; five feet and eight inches of tanned, toned body with knockout curves, a great head of hair, gorgeous eyes that she knew captivated men, a pair of dick-sucking lips (as described by many a previous boyfriend) and a fantastic pair of natural tits. She had legs for days and ass that didn't quit: her boyfriend's hands had actually managed to work a slow, stealthy venture down there as they had spoken to each other, and were now cupping her fabulous cheeks like he owned them; a slice of typical dude-ness that Zehra didn't feel like correcting right now. She enjoyed being wanted like this by her boyfriend; who, at 5' 11" and skinny as a rake, wasn't like most of the guys she fucked in the past; Adrian looked like the type of guy who worked where he did: programming for one of the UK's leading fintech groups, RynJob (whose name you had to pronounce very carefully).

Although, to be fair, Adrian had perfect twenty-twenty vision (no nerd glasses) and did on very few occasions join her working out (when she could afford to go to the gym), where he would work out for a bit, not sweat at all, and build no muscle mass. She found it endearing.

"Why not?" She persisted, although why she'd want a guy like Logan to find her attractive she had no idea. It wasn't like she wanted to fuck him or anything. She definitely had never thought about Logan while masturbating. Oh no! Definitely not. Maybe. Perhaps. A few times.

This morning.

"I'm sex on two amazing legs! I must be right up his street!"

Why *did* Logan's lack of interest in her annoy her so much?

Adrian chuckled. "Babe, Logan isn't interested in women in relationships. He's not that kind of guy. Definitely not a Zane Fisher." Zane was Logan's colleague at CoyFit, who (so the rumours said) was fucking each and every one of his exclusively female clientele; all of them married, or in relationships. Their partners were completely oblivious to why their girlfriends/wives kept having one-on-one personal sessions with the handsome six-foot-plus hunk from the UAE.

Despite also offering personal sessions with only the female members of the gym, Logan was the complete opposite in attitude to Zane; he only fucked single women. He wore it like a badge of honour, which was kinda hot, Zehra had to admit (having had several boyfriends cheat on her before, she was not the biggest fan of infidelity).

"Careful babe: you know Logan hates being compared to Zane."

"I know. Am I a bad friend for enjoying teasing him?" Adrian said sweetly. "I mean they *are* both so similar; they both liked to play the field. Just... different kinds of fields... I suppose."

"Yeah... you're right. He does like to play a lot," Zehra said, making a playful (!) reference to the whole reason why Logan would appear tonight at Adrian's place. She had been introduced to Thursday night gaming on her third date, when Adrian had invited her back to his place to join in. It had been her first time inside the very expensive inner city single bedroom flat, with its large balcony overlooking the junction; its large bathroom with huge bathtub-cum-shower unit; the open kitchen that bled into the living room, with a huge 60" OLED hanging from the wall opposite large, comfy sofas which Adrian and his best friend loved to sink into playing games on that massive screen; and the bedroom, where she and Adrian first had sex, after Logan had left. Being a good girl she had brought her own packet of condoms (past experience told her you can't rely on Coytoss men to carry protection), and she and Adrian burned through five of them by the time she left: two at first, two more in the middle of the night when they had both woken up with intense horniness for each other, with the last one in the morning (and is there a better way to start the day than with morning sex?)

"So do you," Adrian said, and though Zehra knew he was referring to her own love of gaming it was the fact he had again compared her to Logan had caused her to frown. Adrian saw it, and his head tipped to one side in that annoying way of his to placate her. "Babe..."

Thankfully the sound of the front doorbell saved him from being chewed out again for doing what she hated him doing: comparing her to Logan Evans. Relief from avoiding an argument with Adrian swung back to annoyance again when she accompanied her boyfriend to watch him open the door to the man they had both been talking about.

Logan Evans was not that much taller than Adrian; just entering the six-foot club (but not the -plus club, like many of Zehra's previous boyfriends); but Logan was totally unlike Adrian in his build: every inch of him was packed with muscle, from his thick arms and legs, to a wide chest and shoulders; Logan delighted in taking his shirt off as quickly as possible whenever he was round (although to be fair he claimed to feel the heat as much as she did), and so Zehra knew how muscular his abs were: proper six-pack, with definitions between the muscles you could lose a penny in; with an enticing bulge in the close-fitting gym shorts that Logan always wore whenever he came over on a Thursday evening (although again, to be fair by the end of the night he was often sweating like a pig in Adrian's furnace of a flat).

"And Lo there he is!" Adrian said, repeating his bizarre greeting that involved the nickname of his best friend. Zehra found it cute initially: now it was just annoying.

"Adrian!" Logan replied, imitating Sylvester Stallone in Rocky calling out for his girlfriend.

Zehra couldn't help but smile as she watched the two men embrace; manly back-slaps involved before things could get too emotional. What was it with men and slapping each other whenever they hugged?

"How've you been?" Adrian said, holding his slightly taller best friend; his arms skinny like twigs next to Logan's crushing biceps.

"Not bad," Logan replied, and a familiar smirk appeared on his lips that told Zehra there were fresh tales of conquests he would insist on regaling them of. Sure enough: "Got a few stories I'd love to tell you."

"I'd love to hear them!"

Strangely he did: Adrian loved to hear how much of a player his best friend was, and since he'd started dating Zehra, Adrian had confessed to her that it was mainly thanks to Logan's stories of sexual conquest that had given him the courage to approach a girl he fancied in his first year of uni. She had become his first girlfriend (albeit a short-lived one), and Logan's stories had given Adrian the resilience to bounce back when that relationship went south.

In short: Logan inspired Adrian.

That was sweet, Zehra had to admit.

"Hey Zee!" Logan said, finally noticing her keeping out of the way behind Adrian. "Still sticking around?" It was his normal way of greeting her: like Adrian was too good for her, or something, when anyone with half a brain would see that Adrian was punching way above his weight with a girl like her. Not that there was anything wrong with that, Zehra hastily thought as she gave him (Logan) a forced smile.

"Hey Logan," she said, refusing to call him 'Lo' like Adrian did. Although he (Logan) was a low kind of guy. Low in standards. Low in humour. Low in worth. "Still coming around?"

"At least I've got a flat to go back to," he said with a wicked grin.

Fuck. So he'd heard about that. Zehra shouldn't be too surprised: it had probably been Adrian who told Logan; not like her boyfriend could stop himself from gossiping with his best friend. A leak in the flat upstairs when Zehra had been staying over at Adrian's one evening had seen her go back to her place in the morning to find it submerged under several inches of water. With her carpets ruined, and her furniture, AND most of her expensive electronics, AND insurance would not cover it for a while (until legal shit with the occupants of the flat upstairs that caused all of it was finalised and who was to blame properly sorted out - those guys or the landlord who hadn't fixed the pipeworks for decades)... well, it had all been a fucking mess, and Zehra had stayed at Adrian's place since then. Otherwise she would have made an excuse to get out of their Thursday night gaming session, like she had been doing since she'd started dating Adrian and Logan had made it abundantly clear he didn't like her.

Unfortunately tonight, Zehra had no place of her own with which to offer retreat from Logan and his smug smile, and his sarcastic comments, and his just... general Logan-ness; instead she was stuck here, with her darling boyfriend and his best friend, as they settled on the couch already debating what game they were going to play for the first stretch of the evening; and it would be a stretch: they often played games until the early hours, neither working on a Friday (Adrian worked obscene hours Monday-Wednesday, with Thursday a more relaxed day and Friday the beginning of a long weekend, while Logan set his own hours, preferring not to work on Fridays at all).

Zehra was... currently between jobs. Having been 'let go' at her last gig after a falling out with the boss. Not her fault, of course. Just a difference in opinions. Her boss pulled rank and tossed her out with the minimum severance packages that had already been sunk into replacing her shit that the burst pipe in the flat above had ruined. All the replacement gear was currently in a storage unit, until such time as her flat had properly dried out and all the damage repaired.

Whenever that would be.

Until then she was shacking up with the boyfriend, and, more times than she'd like, his bestest mate. Logan flashed her a smirk from where he lounged on the sofa, his bigger frame seeming to make Adrian even thinner than normal. "Hey, Zehra, mind getting us menfolk a drink?"

"Mate, don't be like that," Adrian said, with nowhere near enough chastisement in his voice for Zehra's liking; though her boyfriend did have the good grace to look over at her, where she was perched on the side of the kitchen counter watching them both, and mouth 'I'm sorry' at her.

Settling her shapely ass on the counter, Zehra folded her arms and regarded Logan with a cool expression. "How about you get it yourself? Or is your arse going to be melting into that sofa?"

"It's a little hot in here, mate," Logan said, returning his attention to the game. "Don't want her to lose any more clothes. Might lose my lunch at the sight of more of her bod."

"Lo, be nice," Adrian said, giving Zehra another apologetic smile. "You fancy Smash Bros?"

"Course. So when's the flat gonna be fixed?"

"Are you talking to me?" Zehra said.

"Anyone else's place got trashed lately?" Logan said. Looking at Adrian he added "doesn't look like your fucking her for her brains."

"Guess he must be fucking me for my looks," Zehra said, thinking she had scored a point.

"So you're admitting you're a bit special in the head?"

"Lo, please. Can we not antagonise each other?" Adrian said with a sigh. "I just want to play a few games tonight without you two snarking at each other. Can we do that?"

"He fucking started it!" Zehra said, mentally wincing as she heard her own voice rise a little.

"How old are you supposed to be?" Logan said. He hadn't really looked at her so far: most of his attention was fixed on the TV, where Adrian was selecting Smash Bros from the menu. "You sound like a fucking child saying that. 'He started it!'" His impression of her was whiny; a far cry from her own deep, husky voice.

"You gonna to let him say that to me?" Zehra asked Adrian with a look of incredulity at him.

"Lo, please," Adrian said. His attention was clearly more focused on the game than chastising his best friend. "Do you want to join, Zee?"

"What? She plays?" Logan finally looked at her, only to give Zehra an expression that made her want to walk over and slap him. "Bet you think you're a fucking girl gamer. Do you stream with your tits out?"

"Dude!" Adrian said, although with nowhere near enough outrage for Zehra's tastes. "Jesus that was uncalled for... Hey, do you want to swap every three or five?"

"Five. Doubt anyone would want to see her tits, though."

"Adrian, are you just going to let him say shit like that?"

"Lo, stop teasing my girlfriend," Adrian said, and if he could have done so with less effort she wasn't certain. "Any preference for level?"

Trying not to grind her teeth in frustration (her dentist was constantly harping on about that habit of hers whenever she had a check-up), Zehra got up and tried to escape into the kitchen, to pour herself a drink while she listened to the game, and Adrian and Logan's snarky comments to each other as they played; although Logan's snark towards Adrian was so soft as to be brotherly. It was clear that Logan and Adrian enjoyed each other's company as two men who had known each other for decades could, which made Zehra even more annoyed that, for whatever reason, Logan seemed to have it out for her. Taking every available opportunity to insult her, rile her up and generally piss her off, and all Adrian seemed to ever do was make the least effort possible to chastise his friend's behaviour!

Fucking hell! Zehra couldn't wait for her flat to get fixed up by the insurance company so she could move back in and put some space between herself and her boyfriend's asshole friend!

"Where's that drink, Zee?"

"Fucking get yourself a fucking drink, you lazy cunt!" Zehra called back, which only seemed to make Logan smirk; as if the whole thing was some big joke to him. Like her temper was the end punchline to some comedy sketch show he was running.

"Zee, please," Adrian said, clearly distracted trying to beat his friend at Smash Bros. "Although while you're there do you mind grabbing me one of the Peroni's from the fridge?"

For one brief moment Zehra contemplated telling Adrian to shove it; then she sighed and said "Sure," opening the fridge and pulling out one of the green bottles; pausing mid-pull, she looked over at the two men, sighed again, and asked (because she was, deep down, a good person) "Do you want anything, Logan?"

"Mate, you got any Stella in there?" Logan asked Adrian, rather than the woman standing right in front of the open fridge. When Adrian nodded Logan called out "I'll have some Wife Beater!"

"Figures," Zehra muttered as she retrieved a bottle of Stella Artois as well. Then a second one for herself. Hating that somehow Logan and she shared taste. Knowing full well that the two on the sofa wouldn't raise their derriere's from the fabric for hours now, Zehra (again, because she is, very deep down, beneath thick layers of rage, a nice person) took the bottles over and placed them on the coffee table in front of their knees. She even popped the caps off on the glass edge of the table; a trick she had mastered back in uni and seemed to make guys hard, for some reason.

Settling back into the other sofa with her own bottle of Stella, Zehra tried to focus on the huge screen on the other side of the room; she also tried not to back-seat-game her boyfriend's skills, hoping he was too engrossed in playing to notice her wince each time he made some daft move. Logan, on the other hand, and she hated to admit this, was a half-decent player, and very soon he was running rings around Adrian, winning again and again until, after about an hour, Adrian sighed, leaned back, and said "new game?"

"Mate, you're just pissed I keep beating you," Logan said, but not unkindly; and it was this fact that pissed Zehra off the most. It was like Logan was two completely different people: a kind sort of guy with her boyfriend, and a misogynistic asshole with her. Maybe Logan was just like that around women. Perhaps he was secretly the type of guy to be listening to shaved heads on the Internet talk about red pills and men's rights...

"Nah I'm just tired of Smash Bros," Adrian said, obviously lying. "What else do you fancy?"

"How about we ask the gamer girl?" Logan said, suddenly turning his attention to Zehra. "Any game you recommend? Animal Crossing? Cooking Mama? No-" he snapped his fingers, as if hit by a burst of revelation; "Candy Crush!"

Relaxing on the sofa, Zehra held a fist up towards him, while her other hand mimed rotating a crank, slowly raising the middle finger from her clenched fist.

"Nah, you're a Fortnight girl, aren't you?" Logan persisted. Adrian rolled his eyes, apparently not wanting to stop his friend. "Do you play with a controller? I bet you do. You probably find a keyboard intimidating."

"Well it does have all those buttons..." Zehra said, irritated with herself for rising to his bait. "I heard you can change them if you want. Just in case you're finding it hard with the arrow keys."

"Guys, please," Adrian sighed. "Anything you want to watch, Zee?"

What about play? Zehra was momentarily annoyed when she realised that Adrian never let her play when Logan was around: it was always just the guys. OK, to be fair they had been doing this game night thing for years before she entered the picture, but she liked gaming, and she was a damn sure better player than Adrian! Her boyfriend knew that: they frequently played together when it was just the two of them, but as soon as Logan entered the picture it was always just the two guys, with her sitting here on the peripheral watching them have fun.

Fuck them. She was tired anyway. "I don't care. Play COD or something..." She said, standing up and turning to the bedroom door (though from where they were sitting it wasn't possible to see the door itself; hidden down a short corridor at right angles to the living room/kitchen, with the bathroom door opposite.)

"Typical fake gamer girl," Logan said. "Only naming the big franchises she knows."

"Fuck you, Logan," Zehra snapped.

"Zee, please," Adrian said. He suddenly seemed tired; hand massaging his head as he listened to them bicker. "Are you going to bed? It's barely ten!"

"Yeah," she said. Arms folded. Glaring at Logan. "Fancy an early night."

"Erm... goodnight then," Adrian said. "I'll try not to wake you when I come in."