Good Game (The System, #1) (94)

Aleks leans forward, bringing himself to Decker’s eye level. “You’re playing on my server, Decker. I make the rules here.”

“No, these are my rules. This is my game.”

“Then why are you three steps behind?”

“I’m not,” he shouts.

“Oh? Are you sure?” Aleks nudges past him and stands in front of the desk. He begins clicking around, and I watch as he opens The System’s VOD channel. My eyes fall on their latest upload, timestamped ten minutes ago. The video has twenty thousand views already.

“What the hell?” I’m the only one to speak as we all stare at the thumbnail.

It’s three men, their faces blacked out with a white question mark in the center, and they’re each holding a mask.

One red. One blue. One green.

NightBlade32. EnglishCoffee. Shield3d.

Aleksander Knight. Parker Covington. Jackson Lau.

The video title burns itself onto the back of my retinas.

We Are The System

“What is this?” Decker shoves Aleks out of the way, staring up at the screen.

“It’s their face reveal.” I don’t believe the words as they spill from my lips.

They outed themselves.

They unveiled the mystery.

“Why? How?” Decker looks absolutely lost.

“Because we control our own narrative.” Aleks moves to stand next to Parker and Jackson. They’re a mirror of their thumbnail. Three confident kings, staring down at the courtier who thought he could usurp them.

The wires connect.

“Oh my god. You knew.” A laugh leaves me. “You knew it was him.” More laughter spills from my body. Decker looks at me like I’m drunk. “They’ve been playing you this whole time, stalling you.”

I don’t believe it. I don’t know how they did it.

“No. No, that’s not possible.” Panic leaks into Decker’s eyes.

“Oh, it’s very possible.” Parker whistles. “You should’ve seen half of what we were able to find.” His gaze darkens, and it shocks me. “Actually, I’m sure you can imagine.”

“You lost, Decker. Man up and get the fuck over it. You have no cards left.” Aleks holds his hand out to me, pulling me flush against him, resting our hands on my shoulder. “And if you ever think about using Stevie again, you’ll see exactly what The System is capable of. Because this? This is easy mode. But I won’t hesitate to switch to permadeath.”

Decker’s upper lip curls, but he doesn’t say anything.

“Let’s move out.” Jackson doesn’t wait, just turns and begins walking out. Parker tucks his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and follows behind, Sydney striding beside him. I give Decker one last look as Aleks guides us out of the warehouse.

The fox thought he’d entered the chicken coop only to find himself in the lions’ den.





THIRTY-TWO




* * *





STEVIE




I sit between Aleks and Sydney in the backseat, listening to the boys relay the entire ordeal to Phoebe, who is howling with laughter.

“Oh, I wish I could’ve seen the little wanker’s face,” she hoots.

Apparently, it was Phoebe who figured out it was Decker and not Chase. The analyst, it seemed, had skills and connections that exceeded the norm.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I whisper to Aleks.

He looks down at me, an apology written in his eyes.

“Because, if you’d have known it was Decker, you would’ve known what we all did. That he was going to release the information, no matter what. I didn’t want you to shoulder the weight of our decision to reveal ourselves before Decker could.”

“I wouldn’t have—” Aleks levels me with a look. “Fine, yes. I would’ve.” There is a seed of guilt within me, threatening to grow. “It’s not fair. It wasn’t your choice. He forced your hand.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, babe.” He rubs my thigh, and like always, it calms me slightly. “It was my choice. We could’ve buried this if we wanted to. We spent all morning going over the logistics, what it would mean, and we all agreed on it. I made the decision to film the video and show the world who I am because I wanted to.”

“But last night—”

“Last night, you showed me that I didn’t need to be afraid anymore. That I had grown. That I am powerful in my own right. I am Blade, and I’m a fucking force, baby.” He grins at me, a true smile.

“He’s right.” Jackson looks back at us from his seat. “We’re The System, we’re family, and we stand together. Anyone who threatens us will learn exactly what we are capable of to keep each other safe.”

“And we are capable of so much,” Phoebe grins.

“We basically threw Decker a reverse Uno,” Parker pipes in. “Plus, now I can actually compete in live Speedrun tournaments. The masks were holding us back; we’re going to reach a whole new level now.”

Everyone seems so…happy. It’s throwing me off balance. I almost feel like I’ve entered a parallel universe.

“As peaceful as the anonymity was, it was also suffocating. I’ve spent ten years on the run, basically. The three of us had each other, but we couldn’t let anyone else into our lives.” Aleks looks at me with pure adoration. “I have you now, and I wasn’t going to keep you hidden just because it could expose my identity. That’s not the relationship I want, it’s not the future I want.”