Page 129 of Damaged Mogul
“Sheesh.” I borrow her word. “Tough crowd.” I chuckle. “I wanted to be a rock star. That was instant bad ass factor and guaranteed chick magnet. Cliché, I know.”
She giggles. “I doubt getting girls was ever a problem.”
“I had my awkward years.”
“That’s a blatant lie. You?” She waves a finger up and down my body. “No way. I’m sure you were born with swagger.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but the swagger came much later.”
“Do tell.” She wiggles her ass on the blanket, getting in a more comfortable position.
“Unlike pretty boy Beckett?—”
“Is that his nickname?”
“That’s what we call him,” I say. “You have to admit, it suits him to a T.”
“Not that I want to badmouth him, because I like Beckett, but you’re right. It’s the perfect nickname.”
“There you go.” I wink. “Pretty boy Beckett is a natural born singer. I can’t carry a tune to save my life. After many hours of practice and too much money thrown out the window in the form of lessons, I had to come to the conclusion, I wasn’t much of a musician either. So, I decided to focus my energy on my hobbies, creating music playlists and tinkering with computer codes?—”
“Creating music playlists? We share something in common.”
“We do.”
“Sorry, you were saying.”
“During my senior year, I became obsessed with this new girl who transferred to our school. I overheard the blonde complain that her boyfriend spent too much time gaming. I wasn’t much better, but her boyfriend didn’t know it bothered her. I did. I also overheard her lament to her friends about inequalities in the gaming world. There should be cool computer games for girls who didn’t want to play bang ’em and shoot ’em down or sports games. This girl was totally out of my league––pretty, rich, and unattainable. She even had a rich girl name––Blair Elizabeth Marie Collins. None of that stopped me from trying to catch her attention. I went home determined to win her over. For hours after I was done with my homework, I would tinker around with codes until I created a game I thought girls would love.”
“What did you end up with?”
“RodeoDoll.”
“What’s that?”
“Mom’s favorite movie wasPretty Woman. She must’ve watched that movie a thousand times. She always said every girl dreams of meeting a man who tells her she can shop to her heart’s content on his dime. So that’s what I did.”
“You sent Blair on a shopping spree on Rodeo Drive?”
“I created a virtual experience.”
“Oh.”
“Hours of hard work paid off. I was so proud of myself when I created an online game that would answer her prayers. RodeoDoll allowed you to create your own doll avatar based on a photo you uploaded on the app or you could create a fantasy version of yourself, go virtual shopping in the most luxurious shopping areas around the world, dress up, decorate your deluxe virtual suite located in one of the best ZIP codes, and socialize with other like-minded fellow players. Basically, with RodeoDoll you could live large without the sticker shock.”
“That’s so cool.”
I shrug. “I thought so.”
Lily frowns. “Blair didn’t like RodeoDoll?”
“I didn’t have what it takes to get the girl.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve always been tall, but awkward—my long legs were always in the way. I also had a bad experience with an overzealous coach who constantly pushed me so hard, I’d end up puking my guts out at football practice. That only made me the target of ridicule. My teammates didn’t spare me. So, sports and I were distant cousins. On top of that, my social skills weren’t sophisticated—some might say they still aren’t. All that to say, the prissy princess lifted her nose at my game, and chose the mayor’s son instead, who happened to be a star quarterback. To make matters worse, Blair didn’t turn me down in private. She did it in the middle of the cafeteria during lunch.”
“That’s cruel.”
