Games Night

Then someone in the flat above hers ruined her flat and Zehra had to move in with Adrian.

Since then every time Logan went round Adrian's it was torture: Zehra obviously wanted to join in with her boyfriend; she obviously shared similar interests, and in another life Logan was sure he'd fucking love to play video games with the stunner, but she was Adrian's girl, and all he (Logan) could think about whenever she was in the room was how much he wanted to make her cum. He loved Adrian like a brother, though, and would never do anything to hurt him...

But then the memory of that moment when Zehra had stood in his way hit him like a fucking truck; the feeling of her huge tits pressed against him. Her eyes locked with his. Her lips only the slight incline of his head away from meeting his own. For a brief moment he could feel her heart pounding through her chest. It had matched his own, and Logan had also seen, in the moment he had fought to resist the urge to kiss her, a flash of hunger in her eyes.

And his fears had been confirmed: she was hot for him as well.

Jesus...

The sooner Zehra moved back to her place the more relaxed Logan could feel next time he and Adrian had their weekly meet-ups.

"So who was that?" Adrian asked Logan as they left Starbucks. "Another ex?"

"Who? Erin?" Logan shook his head. "God no. She's already got a boyfriend. Peter's a nice guy and a good client. They're both in my D&D group."

"Nerds," Adrian said, in a tone of voice that told Logan his friend was fully aware of the irony.

Logan gave his friend a bemused expression, before ruffling Adrian's hair affectionately. "One day I'll get you to roll up a character and you'll find out what you've been missing."

"Maybe, maybe not," Adrian said. "Just don't get the appeal of it. Give me an RPG on the PC. I don't want to use my imagination. Zee gets it. She keeps talking about streaming someday. You think she should? I do..."

Adrian continued to talk about his girlfriend. Logan sighed: the day had been going so well...

*****

Meanwhile a couple of miles away on the other side of the city Zehra was nursing a drink at the Paradiso Costiero, a nightclub only a few miles from her boyfriend's flat; just a simple Stella, the only one she was allowing herself today, as money was becoming tight and she no longer had the budget she once did to indulge herself here (fucking DWP!). She had been nursing the bottle for some forty minutes now, listening to the people enjoying a chill afternoon drink before the place turned the lights down and music up for the evening.

"I'm going to ask you this as your friend and true companion in this world, but what the fuck is wrong with you, Zee?"

Zehra looked up from the polished surface of the bar to smile reassuringly at the blonde on the other side; Rhian Carter was a refugee from the good ol' US of A (Albany, New York, to be exact), and had been living in Coytoss for some two years now. Zehra had gathered, after conversation with the delightfully cheerful woman, that she had fled the disastrous collapse of an engagement so bad that only fleeing a continent could offer Rhian peace and shelter. What exactly that event had been Zehra could never pry from Rhian's lips. One day, perhaps.

"Just watching the pennies," Zehra lied.

"That super rich boyfriend of yours not gonna lend you some change for a drink or two?"

"He's not super rich, he's just comfortable."

Rhian scoffed. "I've walked past that complex he lives at. Those are some fucking nice places to crash. 'Comfortable' my ass. Sure it's the insurance that's holding up your place being fixed up?"

"Trust me: if I had my way I'd be back in my shitty flat."

"Why?"

Zehra groaned. Where to start?

"Is it a man? Is it your boyfriend?"

"Yes. No."

"Ah," Rhian nodded, all-knowing as she cleaned a glass. "Let me guess: best friend?"

"Is this a trope I'm not aware of?"

"Does seem to be," Rhian said. "Spent a few years at a place where every girl was fucking their boyfriend's best friends." She paused. "Or their sons... yeah that place was wild. So what's the deal with your boyfriend's best mate?"

Straightening herself, perched upon the stool, Zehra looked at her friend. "I can't get him out of my mind, Rhy," she said. "Is it bad of me that all I can think about every time I see him is how I want to have sex with the guy?"

"Is he hot?"

"Fucking gorgeous! He's like all my favourite guy features wrapped up into one! He's built: and I mean fucking BUILT! He's got this great smile - which he never gives me, by the way - and he's funny - but not to me - and he's got this nerdy side: he plays games with Adrian every Thursday evening. They just play games for hours... and all I want to do is take him to bed. What does that say about me?"

"Sounds like you've got a crush."

"It's more than a crush! I'm like..."

"Besotted?" This coming from the woman now taking her seat beside Zehra. Long dark hair - a definite shade darker than Zehra's, though the newcomer's skin was significantly less tanned; almost a pale white - tied back into an elaborate bun that still allowed a fair amount to trail in a vaguely downwards direction, hiding what Zehra knew to be a very elaborate back tattoo that the woman's choice of top should have shown off if her hair was not in the way. The arm tats were on full display, however, and the woman placed both arms on the bar as she gave Zehra a wide apologetic smile. "Sorry I'm late."

"You've got to stop staying late at the office," Zehra said. "They're not going to reward you."

Dani Cohen shrugged, sending black hair cascading over her shoulders. "I don't mind it."

"Gives her more time to spend with that cute newbie," Rhian commented slyly.

Dani immediately began to blush. "I just think he's funny," she muttered. "Speaking of people doing their jobs: I'll have an apple spritzer, thanks." Rhian rolled her eyes as she headed off in the direction of the necessary ingredients for Dani's order.

"What does Jake think of all of this?" Zehra asked, supporting her head with one hand to look at her friend with a knowing smirk; she knew quite well what Dani's boyfriend of some three years now would think of his girlfriend staying late with the hot new employee.

"We're just friends!" Dani insisted. Her blush said otherwise, although Zehra was sure that the twenty-eight year old hadn't done anything with this colleague of hers.

(Yet.)

"Well at least you're 'just friends'," Zehra muttered. "Meanwhile Logan's been making it very clear he can't stand the sight of me."

"You sound disappointed," Dani observed.

"I just think we could be good friends..." Zehra muttered, surprising herself - she hadn't drunk that much yet! - but on reflection realised she meant it: Logan seemed like the type of guy she could be good friends with. Great friends maybe. Friends with benefits perhaps, if Adrian wasn't in the picture.

Maybe even boyfriend material.

But the guy seemed insistent on throwing shade her way every time he saw her, and Zehra had no idea why. It would be wonderful if she could get to know him; if he only let her. He seemed like a decent guy when she watched him interact with Adrian. Why not her?

"Just good friends?" Dani teased. A knowing look in her eye.

"Just good friends," Zehra insisted, and wondered why she felt so disappointed with that.

"Hey, Zee! Why's your boyfriend on the news?"

Rhian's comment, as she walked over with Dani's drink, directed Zehra's attention to the large TVs hanging at periodic locations around the nightclub. During the day they were often tuned to BBC News, and she focused on the one closest to where she sat at the bar.

"That's not Adrian," she said. "That's Steve."

"Adrian's twin," Dani clarified for Rhian's confused expression. "They don't talk."

"Some history with their parents," Zehra said, knowing full well how it felt to have baggage in the parental department. "Ade hasn't spoken to Steve for years." Watching the news report, with Steve's mugshot beside the reporter's, Zehra added: "Looks like he's broken out of prison again."

"Wait..." Rhian frowned, leaning on the bar with a face that told the other two women she was furiously factoring in this new information. "Your rich fintech boyfriend, who's banged models-"

"-Instagram models," Zehra corrected.

"Model-y enough, girl," Rhian muttered. "Anyway: your IT wiz boyfriend has a criminal twin brother?"

"Yeah."

Rhian blinked.

"I know how to pick 'em," Zehra said, smirking.

She sure did: this latest boyfriend came with a ticking time bomb of a best friend. Looking at the face of Adrian's twin, who reminded her so much of the guys she used to date, all she could think about was her boyfriend's reaction if he ever found out she was hot for Logan.

Or, heaven forbid, she ever cheated on him with Logan.

Zehra reckoned Adrian would have a face that looked very much like Steve's angry mugshot.

*****

"Any chance you're going to unglue yourself from that phone?"

Lounging on the sofa in front of the TV, Zehra looked up from the screen of her phone to give her boyfriend a scowl. This was the third time he had made a joke today about her being glued to the mobile, and she wasn't going to give him the same answer she had given him the previous two times: namely that she was waiting on responses to fifteen different job applications, as well as waiting for the promised update regarding the current delays to fixing up her flat.

Either response would be a great help in moving her out of her boyfriend's place, especially on a night like tonight. Another Thursday night gaming session where she would suffer Logan while her boyfriend figuratively sucked his dick. Zehra wondered how insufferable Logan could be this time, and how Adrian would just wave it off with a 'be nice, Lo'.

A calmer, more logical part of her mind was telling her she could just escape and go drinking: she didn't have to spend that much; just a drink or two and she could stay out for a few hours before coming back and ignoring the two men on her way to bed. Another part of her pointed out that Adrian might get upset if he thought she was avoiding him because of Logan, and Zehra did not want to be a wedge driven between them. She loved Adrian and wanted him to be happy and if Logan did that then... well... she would have to think of something else rather than scurry off and hide in a nightclub. Shame Rhian didn't work Thursdays, and Dani was perpetually working late at her office; as much as her friend protested, Zehra was certain Dani just wanted to spend more time with the new colleague, Gareth.

God... was that what she was doing here? Instead of escaping somewhere else she was staying in her boyfriend's flat just so she could see Logan? Be near Logan? What the fuck kind of logic is that? She couldn't stand the guy! She hated him! Loathed him! Lusted for him-

...fuck.

"You OK, babe?"

"Yeah! I'm fine!" Zehra lied, as she tried to reconcile this disturbing epiphany of hers. Did she really want to be around a man who was so unpleasant to her? This wasn't some shitty new-age pick-up artist trying to neg her or anything; Logan genuinely seemed like he didn't want her to be around whenever he was. Again Zehra had no idea what she had ever done to deserve any of this, other than just existing. She would quite happily give him what he wanted, except there was that issue with her flat, and money was tight for her these days...

But she could just ask Adrian for some cash, right? Was she so proud that she wouldn't ask her comfortably rich boyfriend for a bit of extra cash to go out tonight? But what if he thought she was deliberately avoiding Logan (which she was); what would he think of her? Of Logan? Zehra didn't want to ruin their friendship. She could just stay here and keep quiet-

-oh shit. She was actually doing mental gymnastics to convince herself to stay in just to see her boyfriend's best friend. A man who was so unpleasant to her she wanted to punch his fucking face in. This was stupid! Logan was gorgeous, yes, but also made it quite clear he wanted nothing to do with her so why was she seeking every opportunity to be in the same room?

Zehra wasn't sure who she was more annoyed with: Logan, for obvious reasons, or herself.

"You don't seem OK."

"I'M FINE!" Zehra snapped, and immediately regretted her outburst. Adrian didn't deserve her shit. He was kind and considerate. "Sorry." It was a pale apology; muttered as it was.

"No worries," Adrian said, with the patience of a fucking saint. Standing by the kitchen counter with a look that told her he was ready to give her all the time she needed to tell him what was on her mind.

She really didn't deserve him. Or maybe she did. Zehra knew only that she needed therapy.

"You know I wish you'd give Logan a chance."

Twisting her torso to look up at him, Zehra gave her boyfriend an incredulous look.

Adrian smiled warmly at her. "He's a decent guy, really."

"Could have fucking fooled me," she muttered, turning around before she said something that she would regret. Her temper was beginning to rise, and Zehra didn't want Adrian to be a target of it.

"Babe... I'm trying to understand... what's your problem with him, anyway?"

That did it. "MY PROBLEM?!?" Zehra snapped, spinning herself around on her ass to face him properly. Her phone gripped tightly as she glared at him; Adrian stood by the kitchen counter, a drink in his hand (the one he'd made for her was still untouched - she'd been too busy waiting to drink any coffee); his face that annoying innocence he'd wear whenever he knew her temper was flaring up. "HE'S THE ONE WITH A PROBLEM WITH ME!" Taking a deep breath, Zehra tried to calm herself before continuing: "I don't know WHAT I said to that man, but he has treated me like SHIT since the moment we first met. I've done NOTHING to him!"

He raised his hands. "No one's said you have, babe." Adrian sighed. "Look, I'm just trying my best to understand what's going on between you two. I thought you'd get along; you're so similar it's unreal. Maybe that's what drew me to you when I first met you."

"What? Because I'm apparently Logan with tits?"

"That's not what I meant. Look; he's been my best friend for years now. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you reminding me of Logan told me that you would be someone I would want to have in my life for years too."

That dampened the anger. Zehra began to feel a little ashamed of herself for her outburst, and Adrian's confession helped ease her down from her mountain of anger that Logan had managed to build in her mind. What her boyfriend said was kind of sweet (although she still felt like he'd just called her 'Logan with Tits'). "You really mean that? About me being the kind of person you would want to be with for years?"

He nodded. "Of course. I don't think I've ever felt this way about someone before, Zee."

"Ditto," she said. Smiling. A bit of a limp reply, she mentally chastised herself; Zehra was not a person to whom describing their feelings came naturally, unless the feeling was rage, in which case she was quite adept at describing what it was that was making her angry.

"All I'm asking, Zee, is you give him a chance-"

A knock on the door cut Adrian off before he could reignite her anger, and for the first time she was actually glad to watch Adrian open the door and hear his dorky greeting to his best friend.

"And Lo there he is!" Adrian threw open the door and gestured for Logan to step inside. "Come on in: I've got some sausage rolls in the oven."

"Are you actually baking?" Logan said, his face shining brightly with genuine mirth. Then his eyes spotted Zehra still sitting on the sofa, and his smile began strangely fixed. "What's going on, Zee? Why are you letting my mate here intrude on your turf?"

"Sorry, I wasn't in a mood to make you menfolk a sandwich each," Zehra snapped.

"Zehra's a really good cook," Adrian said, which didn't help matters (although quite true: she was a fucking GREAT cook, although actually useless at the traditional Turkish dishes her father had taught her; which amused Adrian no end).

"Damn, Zee! Why are you not in the kitchen?"

Deciding the best course of action would be to ignore him (giving him the finger didn't count), Zehra turned around and flopped back onto the sofa. Checking her phone as she listened to the guys talk about Elden Ring; which bosses they were stuck on and what builds they loved. Zehra smirked when Logan talked about dying twenty-seven times to Malenia; she smacked that bitch up in half that number of attempts (without a bleed weapon). Listening to them helped take her mind off of her disappointedly empty inbox: none of the companies she had spent all day composing cover letters to, completing their ridiculous web-based CVs, and researching ethos and members so she could sound like she gave a fuck about them; none of those companies had replied with so much as a 'fuck off'.

Well fuck them.

"I'm telling you mate; Mohg is the best boss," Logan was saying as he walked past where Zehra lay to sit upon the other sofa, which offered the better view of the TV; she wasn't so cruel as to sit in prime-time gaming seats, as much as she wanted to show this insufferable ass how much ass she could kick with twinblades. Logan's boss name-drop bothered her, though: that was also her favourite boss in the game; it was just a great mixture of interesting mechanics and attacks that didn't have delays so long you could jerk one out, cum, wipe your hands, and still have enough of a chance to dodge the attack (fucking looking at you Margit!)

"Love the second phase," she found herself saying, wondering why she was bothering; why did it matter to her if Logan wanted to exclude her from his evenings with her boyfriend? Why was she making an attempt to actually talk to him?

And he surprised her by actually replying like a genuine human being: "I know! What a blast! I mean, once you get past the bullshit unavoidable damage." As he spoke it was as if a mask had been taken off: Zehra could see a different man underneath, and for the first time realised what it was that Adrian liked about Logan. His smile was so warm; so genuine, that she felt herself smile in response; like she wanted to share this joy he was feeling, this enthusiasm for a subject that they both enjoyed, and give it back to him twice as much.

Then a different look appeared in his grey eyes. That scared look she had seen before.

"Zee, have you been watching Twitch to try and pass yourself off as a gamer? No way you've fought all the way to Mohg. You watched a stream, didn't you?" As Logan spoke that glimmer of a man beneath was smothered by a patronising smirk, and again Zehra wondered what the fuck was his problem with her. All she wanted was to talk to him. Just look at him. Be close to him.

Touch him.

FUCK! There her mind went again, into the same fucking place it always went whenever she thought about Logan! She DID NOT want to fuck this man! She was in a fucking relationship with his best friend, for crying out loud!

"It's not fucking unavoidable if you know what you're doing, fuckface," she snapped.

"Zee, Lo, please guys..." Adrian sighed. "We haven't even started and you two are at it. Can't we just have one evening where you both aren't insulting each other?"

"Look mate, if your girl's talking shit about fighting Mohg-"

"I HAVE fought him you fucking asshole!"

"She has, Lo. I've watched her."

"AND I killed Malenia after twelve runs!"

"Yeah, with Rivers of Blood like a filthy casual, no doubt."

"Wasn't that the weapon you used when you killed her first, Lo?"

"Mate, whose side are you on?"

She couldn't help it: "MINE! He's my boyfriend!"

"Fuck off! I've known him longer than you have!" Logan spat. "You've only been in the picture for six months, you daft slag!"