Ther Birthday Present

The day after meeting Paul, she'd rented a small van and he and her had made the trek to Riverside and retrieved the remaining boxes and had driven them back to the Red Dwarf. Along the way, he answered her questions concerning this new game. It fascinated her and after unloading the boxes into the shop's storeroom and locking them in a cage, Paul invited her into the business's main area and got several small decks of cards. Within an hour of playing, she had gotten a grasp of the main mechanics and strategies. Before leaving, she purchased four of the smaller, 60-card decks and four of the bigger, 100-card sets, as well as deck boxes, sleeves, and other accoutrements for playing the game.

As he rung up the purchase, he told her that if she were really interested in playing the game, she could try it online at MTG Arena and she could come there on most evenings and play against others. Tapping the larger decks, he told her with a grin that Tuesday's were commander night there.

Arriving home, she discovered that Mike had gotten home from his business trip and after they had made enthusiastic love, she'd shared with him what had transpired. As she lay naked against him, enjoying the feel of his body and he massaged her gluts, he had told her this may be an opportunity to build a relationship with Craig.

Taking a sip of the hot coffee she heard his voice in her mind. "Find a common ground," he had said.

Over the next several weeks, during her free time she immersed herself in all things Magic. She did research concerning the game and found it completely captivating. She loved the storylines of the different characters and she'd sit for hours at the large glass table on the pool deck and study the cards and having her laptop next to her, would look it up and see the numerous ways they could be used in the game. She studied the cards from the one box she had there at the house and found that many of them along with being valuable, were immensely powerful in the game.

She quickly became hooked on the commander format and became a regular at the Tuesday night matches, at the Red Dwarf. She found that most of the attendees were men, across a wide range of ages and all of them it seemed, were happy to have her join them. She then chatted with girlfriends she knew that loved science fiction and fantasy, and got them involved in the game, by teaching them to play and soon they too joined the group at the game store.

Craig would see her sitting at table in a bikini and enjoying a glass of wine, while she examined her collection and she invited him to play a game with her, but each time he derisively waved her off, saying he didn't have the time.

Having heard him up late several nights, she knew that he played the online version of the game and made the decision to find some way to meet with him over the online variant of the game. Doing an internet search, she downloaded MTG Arena and set-up an account. When asked to create a username, she smiled and typed in BlackLotus and added 1271, for the address of the street she grew up on. She selected a powerful necromancer named Liliana Vess, as her avatar for the game, as she thought she looked just like a model.

After learning the online game, much of her free time was consumed playing against the computerized online opponents and other human players. One evening after Craig had left for the evening, she snuck into his bedroom to learn his online handle. His desk was cluttered with several stacks of cards, a few decks, and his laptop, with its lid closed. Looking around without trying to move anything she couldn't see anything and then on a whim decided to open the computer. When she did, she discovered that written on a yellow post-it note attached near the keyboard was written:

MTGA: CraigS545454

Smiling wickedly at the discovery, she whispered, "I have you now, you little shit," and gently closed the lid.

Proud that she had successfully pulled off the spy mission, she went to her laptop in the master bedroom and set about locating him in the game. When she did so, she saw that he had attained Mythic experience. "What the hell is that," she whispered and decided to do yet another Google search.

In doing so, her experience in marketing kicked-in, as she discovered that MTGA had several paid services that could boost your game experience, to make one a better player. 'How ingenious,' she thought, scrolling through the information. She watched a podcast from what had become her favorite MTG advisors on attaining Mythic and after taking several notes, decided to do so as well. "I'll beat him as an equal," she said and set about the task at hand.

Taking a sip of from the mug and thinking back, she realized it had been a long hard grind. Several times, she had invited him to play when she saw he was online, and he had kicked her ass. His decks were quite good, and she realized that this was where he was spending some of the money he was given.

A few months later, it was Friday evening and Mike was away. Her friends weren't available, so she had decided to just play MTGA. She lounged in front of her laptop, naked except for a pair of lacy panties and sipped a high ball, her favorite drink.

She saw that Craig had joined the portal and again asked him for a match. When she saw the acknowledgement, she chuckled wickedly and cooed, "Welcome to my web, said the spider to the fly."

Playing the game over the past several months, she realized that the competitive part of her personality had reawakened. Unlike her friends, she tended to not do a lot of trash talking when she played in-person, but MTGA allowed her to be as salty as she liked.

"Let's do three games," she typed in and his reply was a terse, "Okay."

He decided to play a deck that was a single color, blue in this case, while she chose a powerful, two-color deck in red and blue. With a grin, she lustily said, "I'm going to eat your fucking lunch, my boy," as she took a long pull from her drink and sat the glass on its coaster.

Always courteous with her opponents, she greeted him by using the in-game messaging and selected 'hello.' As usual he never replied. Shaking her head, she put on her game face and went to work. In the first two games of the match, she easily won, as she was able to ramp quickly, deploy her forces and then began countering spells he tried casting. Her deck had several copies of a powerful planeswalker card, and she was able to bring her out as well. Craig was as competitive as his father if not more so, and she knew this must've steamed him.

The third game was different; however, as she wasn't ramping as quickly as the first two games, but she was able to deal damage as well as she received it. It was a hard-fought battle and she leaned over her laptop cursing each of his plays and snarled, "Try this on you little shit," as she attacked during her turns.

Both only had only a few lives left, when her opening suddenly appeared. She had held back all her mana and didn't cast anything and passed to him. He used a timeout to consider his move and when he cast a powerful sorcery, she was able to counter it and when he attacked with his bevy of flying creatures that she normally wouldn't have been able to block, cast an instant that destroyed all creatures on the board. She was amazed that the word balloon 'Nice' popped up above his avatar.

Chuckling and relishing the moment as it became her turn, she said, "And for my next trick, watch this." She dropped a land to bring her mana total to ten and cast one of the dragons she had in her hand. Normally, it wouldn't be able to attack due to summoning sickness, but one of the enchantments she had previously played, gave all creatures she cast haste, when they entered the battlefield. Immediately, the word balloon 'On no!' appeared above his avatar and she swung in for the kill.

She silently thrust her fists into the air enjoying the victory and at the same moment she heard a muffled curse and a loud banging sound coming from the adjoining room, down the hall. Standing with a smile, she donned her silk robe and stepped out into the hall. Before she knocked, she took a breath and putting on a concerned straight face, rapped on the door with her knuckles and asked with concern, "Craig, are you alright?"

"Yeah," came the dejected response.

When she asked to open the door after he'd acknowledged it, she peered in, asking "What happened, honey?"

She saw that MTGA was up on his laptop and leaning back in his desk chair, he apologized for the outburst and said, "I guess I overreacted when somebody beat me."

Controlling the urge to smile, she said soothingly, "No problem. I was scared something bad might've happened," and smiling finished with, "I'm going to bed. Sweet dreams," and softly closed the door.

She softly walked back to the master bedroom, closed the door and throwing her hands up in the air, enjoyed this moment of victory. Hopping up and down and dancing around, she softly giggled and jubilantly repeated, "I did it! I did it!"

As she had gained experience playing the game, she had enjoyed each victory, but this time she felt she had achieved a significant accomplishment -- she had beaten her stepson and...

- - - - -

"Son of a bitch," she exclaimed aloud, as she'd inadvertently put two and two together. As she sat at the kitchen table and realized that this was the root of her the desire, she now felt building within herself. She guffawed loudly, picked-up her mug and drained the last bit of the coffee it contained. Setting it back down on the table, she stood and made a cup of the hot brew to take to Craig. As she did so, she again allowed her mind to wander for a bit.

A Few Days Ago...

Part of maintaining a home was paying bills and running errands. She knew they were wealthy enough that she could've hired assistants to do things for her, but even though she didn't enjoy the housecleaning and other things that ensured their home was maintained, she enjoyed being busy. It helped her deal with the loneliness of Mike being away. Chuckling, she recalled it also gave her time to think about her budding new pass time as she drove.

As she'd finished some of the grocery shopping, her phone rang as she was loading the last bag into the cargo area of the pilot. Answering the call as she pushed the button to close the tail gate, she had seen the number was from her real estate agent. Putting the phone on speaker, she said cheerfully, "Hi Bekah. I hope you have some good news for me."

The bubbly female voice on the other said that she did and asked her if she was sitting down. Laughing she responded, "I'm opening the driver's side door now and I'm climbing in behind the wheel," and finished with, "What'cha got?"

The agent told her that her mom's house had a prospective buyer, and they were offering her asking price of $650,000. Gleefully smacking the steering wheel, she shouted, "Hallelujah!"

They chatted for a bit and Rylie gave her permission to begin the sale. After she ended the call, she called Mike to share the good news with him. Fortunately, she caught him between meetings, and he congratulated her. She asked if he would have time to talk later and he agreed to call her that evening.

As she drove home, she felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She loved the place, but it was no longer her home. As she backed into the driveway her phone chimed again. Looking at it, she saw it was from Paul at the Red Dwarf. Putting the SUV into park, she answered the call and she again brightened as he gave her the good news that the appraisal was complete and that he had a business offer for her.

"Would it be possible for you to come to the store tomorrow for a while," he asked.

"Absolutely," she stated and before hanging up said, "See you at 10 am."

As she unloaded the bags and brought them into the kitchen, she saw that Craig was on the patio deck. He was shirtless and wearing swim trunks. He was pacing with his phone in one hand next to his ear and the other one gesticulating about. 'Looks like he's having a conversation with Beverly,' she thought.

Beverly was a little, red-headed leech that was Craig's longtime girlfriend. She'd only met her once and that had been enough. As she set the last of the bags on the kitchen counter, she walked to the open glass door leading to the patio just as Craig swore loudly, "Well fuck you too, you bitch," and flung the cell phone. It shattered as it hit the concrete and the pieces skipped into the pool and scattered across the pavement.

Concerned, she stepped out on the deck as he slumped onto one of the padded chaise lounges, completely defeated. Walking to him she said hello and asked, "Is everything okay?"

Stiffening as he looked up at her, it appeared he was going to explode again and then he paused, his shoulders slumped as he heaved a sigh and replied, "Beverly broke up with me."

Trying to be empathetic, she sat down next to her stepson on the lounge chair and put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Oh shit! I'm sorry Craig"

He explained that things had been slowly falling apart over the past several weeks, as everything they did had to center around her. He explained, "I had called her to see if we could do something fun for my birthday," and after pausing to take a breath, he said flatly, "She told me that she had found someone else and that she felt we weren't compatible anymore."

He put his head down for a moment and when he raised it again and brushed the headful of black hair away from his face, she could see tears trickling down his cheeks from his gray eyes.

Patting his back, she said it would be okay and after a moment, leaned in conspiratorially and jokingly whispered, "I hope you don't mind me be catty, but she was a little bitch," which caused the moment to be lightened as they laughed.

She removed her hand from his back and placed it in her lap and said brightly, "Since tomorrow is your birthday and you now have no plans, would you like to join me and a couple of my friends?"

She went onto explain that they could have a small birthday dinner here and that her friends could come over afterwards and they could finally play some commander together. He looked skeptical, but she reached out and touched his forearm and pleaded, "Come on it'll be fun, and my friends are dying to meet you."

On hearing that he acquiesced and said, "Okay."

Clapping her hands, she discussed what he would like for dinner, and she suggested pizza, as she had picked up dough and the other ingredients at the market. Craig sighed and said, "Oh man. It's been ages since we've had homemade pizza," and recalled how they used to make their own pizza in the wood-fired oven that was a part of the pool deck's kitchen area and bar, as a family.

"Pizza it is then, and I'll make them," and smiling sheepishly, she inquired, "I need a couple of small favors though."

She went onto explain that she was asked to meet with the owner of her game store in North Palm Desert the next day and she didn't know how long the meeting would take before coming home to make the birthday dinner. "Could I ask you to straighten thing up here and clean the patio kitchen?"

Nodding in agreement, he said, "I'd be happy to," and with a smile added, "What's the other favor?"

Glancing at the pool, she responded, "Well we can't have pieces of your phone scattered everywhere," and chuckled, "Would you mind picking up the debris?"

Laughing in agreement, he agreed. Joining in the mirth she leaned over and kissed his cheek and said thanks and then observed, "You and your father are so much alike," and rising finished with, "You both have fiery tempers."

As Craig rose to begin searching for the pieces of his destroyed phone, he agreed. After she had changed and was lounging in the sun, he told her he was finished and mentioned he was going to go buy a new phone.

The next morning, she woke early and drove to her gym to work out. The work out helped to calm some of her nerves concerning the meeting with Paul. Afterwards, she'd driven home to shower, dress and eat a quick breakfast before driving to the Red Dwarf. She was dressed in some tasteful, yet casual business attire, but had declined wearing heels, as she knew she'd do a lot of walking that day. Before leaving, she'd jotted a quick note to Craig thanking him again for cleaning the house on his birthday.

Once she got to the game store, promptly at 10:00 am, she met with Paul, who shared some amazing news with her. While they stood next to the locked area of his storeroom where her boxes were stored, he asked her a question to which she responded, "Let me speak with Mike and see what he thinks," and then volunteered to help around the shop that day as repayment for all he'd done.

She met members of his sales team, helped customers with purchases and chatted with people who had dropped by to play a few games. Some of them she knew from commander night, so she sat by them as they played and had friendly conversations with them, picking up a few tips and tricks as she did so. Paul also showed her how to do appraisals and for part of the day, she sat behind the counter examining several stacks of cards, people had dropped off to traded and sell. By 3:00 pm, as she stepped outside, she'd felt it had been a good day, when the humidity hit her. Paul had made a comment about it during the day, but had shared the store had a dehumidifier, to protect the paper products.

Climbing into the pilot, she cranked the air conditioning to maximum and began driving home. She called Craig and let him know that she was on the way home and then called Mike to share the news with him. He congratulated her and she expressed how grateful she was for his advice, as they discussed the conversation she'd had with Paul.

She beat most of the commute traffic on the drive home and thankfully, pulled into their garage by 4:15. On stepping into the house, she saw the kitchen was spotlessly clean, the living room had been dusted and the wood floors swept. She saw Craig through the open glass doors and saw he was dressed in a light blue tee shirt and khaki cargo shorts. Stepping through the doors, she was amazed to see that he was putting the final additions on arranging the table for their dinner and that the pizza oven was ready, with the coals red and glowing. Above them, the ceiling fan was spinning and doing its level best to beat back the humidity.

"Holy shit," she blurted and continued with, "The birthday boy has been busy!"

She walked up to him and hugged him lightly stating, "I don't want to get you all sweaty," and then gratefully acknowledged his work and after they chatted for a bit, she told him she was going to get cleaned-up and then start getting the birthday dinner ready for them.

After rinsing off quickly, she dressed. Standing in front of the full-length mirror in the walk-in closet, she examined herself. She'd decided to go braless and had donned a snug plum-colored tank top, which exposed an enticing amount of her midriff and a matching golf skirt. It was short enough to display her shapely legs, but not too short to moon someone if she had to bend over. 'Speaking of which,' she thought and turned around and glanced over her shoulder. She wiggled her hips and then lifted the skirt to expose her butt. She wore a filmy, black lace thong. She patted her cheeks and then smoothed the skirt. She went to her vanity in the master bath and put on some make-up, before putting on her sandals. She stepped in front of the mirror again and ever the model, admired herself one more time. Satisfied she exclaimed, "I told them sexy," and walked out onto the pool deck through the sliding glass door of the bedroom.

When Craig saw her as she approached, he exclaimed, "Holy shit, Rylie! You look amazing."