Page 6 of Savage Temptation
I’m a lightweight, so that’s no easy thing.
My eyes scan the room, falling on Atticus’s nightstand where a headset rests.
So it wasn’t in his office.
I inhale a breath, gather my courage, and walk over to the device. It’s heavier than I expected, but considering all it can do, I’m not surprised.
Again, I steady myself. The liquid courage I drank tonight has done me no favors in the stealth department, and the last thing I want to do is to break Atticus’s genius contraption.
I only know how to do what I’m about to do theoretically, from watching various videos of the Playground showcasing its capabilities.
I put the headset on, insert the earpiece, fasten the goggles over my eyes, and hit ‘ACTIVATE’, but instead of going to the main screen, it brings me to what Atticus was last looking at.
I’m at a beach. There are balloons. I think there’s a party.
My party…
There’s a table full of presents and cards, all of which I’ll open later in the eventing.
This doesn’t make sense. Of all the events he could recreate, why my graduation party?
I watch as the scene unfolds, looking around as people interact with each other. I’m impressed with how real everything looks.
Atticus’s virtual reality Playground is supposed to take the feeds from all the gathered footage and patch together an event as best it can. Whatever details and scenery are missing, the Playground fills in, making the edits indistinguishable.
I look over and am shocked anew when I see myself standing alone with a miserable look on my face. My body grows, and it takes me a moment to realize that the avatar I’m controlling is moving closer to the grumpy me. I thought I was fixed in place, but it appears that the Playground is replaying a scene.
I approach myself, which is a crazy head trip, because it all looks so real. My face brightens when I see me…or whoever my avatar looks like. I assume it’s probably Atticus.
“I have something I’ve wanted to tell you,” my avatar’s voice says, and sure enough, it sounds like Atti.
“Oh, yeah,” virtual reality me says back.
I cock my head to the side, trying to remember the conversation, but it’s lost on me. It’s weird looking down at myself. Seeing me through someone else’s eyes.
“What are you doing here?” Atticus’s voice sounds muffled now.
I definitely don’t rememberthatpart of the conversation. I hardly remember talking to him at all.
I hear Atticus’s voice again, but before I can catch what he’s saying, the light of the beach is replaced by darkness. I blink, and suddenly I’m not looking at myself. I’m looking at Atticus.
Not avatar Atticus—the real deal!
Fire roars through my veins, threatening to melt me from the inside out. He’s fixing me with those dark eyes of his, looking at me with an expression I’ve never seen before.
He’s mad, no—enraged, his jaw tense and predatory. Even his teeth are bared.
Fuck, I can’t believe he’s here—that he’s looking at me likethat.
“Why are you in my bedroom?” he snaps, his eyes ablaze as he grips the VR prototype.
“Um, I’m sorry—”
He sets the device down and runs his long fingers through his dark brown hair. How long has it been since I’ve been this close to him, close enough to smell the whisky on his breath? To lean in and kiss his full lips.
Wow—this is not the time, girl!
“What did you see?”
