Page 34 of Playing Games with My Billionaire

Lindseywasburstingtoask me questions, and I just played dumb.

Finally, she said, “Trev! Internet installation in a property that you don't even own. A jet with a stewardess whose name you know. A private resort in the Caribbean. Please! Enough fun and games. Who are you, anyway?”

I had to laugh since she’d nailed it. “IamMr. Fun & Games.”

Lindsey was starting to get upset with me, but before she could speak again, I held up my hand to cut her off.

“No, seriously—that's what they call me in the media. Mr. Fun & Games. You can Google it. Really!”

It’s time for me to explain that I was not just some game developer in the employ of a large corporation. I had to tell her Iwasthe corporation.

“I was raised by two parents who understood the value of education. I was their only child, so they kind of encouraged me to find my own way.

“One day, my dad sat me down and he said, ‘Son what are your strengths?’ And I think I was about fourteen! I looked at him. I didn't understand the question, and he saw that. He said, ‘You think about it. What are your strengths, and what are you strong at? Let's talk tomorrow.’ And my dad left it at that.

“But the next day he came back to me and he said, ‘Okay, show me your list.’”

I had to laugh when I told Lindsey that part. “That's a good memory of him for me,” I explained.

And I got a little tear in my eye. Lindsey took my hand.

“Well, I didn't really understand what he was aiming for. He asked the question a different way. He said, ‘Son, what are you good at, for example, in school?’ When he saw that I understood that better, he said, ‘Let's talk about it tomorrow.’”

I looked at Lindsey. “It was like the 1,001 Arabian Nights of Scheherazade now that I think back on it.”

I made Lindsey laugh with me this time. “So on the third day, I had written down what I thought I was good at. Dad saw math; he saw computer science because I had taken some classes in school. He said, ‘Good. Now keep that list and tell me what you love doing. What are you passionate about? What makes you lose track of time when you're doing it?’

“I must have looked at him with a funny look on his face he said, ‘Yeah. What is it you’re doing that when you start doing it, you lose track of time and you don't hear your mother calling you for dinner—what is it that you're doing that engrosses you? That grabs your attention so much? Think about it and we'll talk tomorrow.’”

I laughed again.

These memories are so close to me.

With emotion in my voice (I heard it, so Lindsey must have), “Then dad came back to me the next day and he says, ‘Okay, son, let me see the list.’ Dad said to me—and I think he already knew the answer because I was a tall, gangly, weakly teen, and much taller than he was by that point—he looked at me right in the eye and he said, ‘What are your biggest weaknesses or fears?’ and he just slapped the table, got up and said, ‘We'll talk about it tomorrow.’ It was one more day in the Scheherazade tales!”

Now Lindsey laughed with me. “Your dad was good to you. Made you think. Knew you pretty well, I’d say!”

I nodded and chuckled. “I had to tell him about the school bullies. The next day, I said I was afraid of them because I couldn't fight back. I admitted to Dad that I was tongue-tied when they jeered at me. And Dad talked me through it. He said, ‘Why do you think they are heckling you, bullying you?’

“I had already thought about this quite a lot as you might imagine. As a fourteen-year-old, I was losing sleep over what to do about it all on my own.”

Lindsey squeezed my hand.

“So I told my dad that they were all stronger than me physically, but that I was much smarter than them in class. Well. Long story short, I think Dad was already prepared for what was coming. But I only know that from hindsight. He didn't let on that he knew any of this except for what I had told him. I really trusted him. And he never betrayed my trust.

“Dad got me set up with some martial arts and some strength training at the local gym. He just walked me over there, signed me up, and paid for a membership for me. He said that he expected me to go there every day after school and before class if I could get up that early. He required me to go to every class that I was enrolled in, and I did.

“Then he looked at my computer science and asked me again, ‘What is it that you get lost in? What are you passionate about with this stuff?’ I told him about apps and gaming, and that I had made a short game and some kids liked to play it. He might not have understood what I was talking about now that I look back!”

Lindsey laughed with me again.

“Dad just said, ‘Okay let's get you some better training.’ He found me a night school class run by some college students in town, and encouraged me to develop a game app. And I was off and running, doing what I’m still doing today.”

Lindsey was silent for a minute or two, obviously lost in my story.

“I founded and own the company that markets, sells, and upgrades the games that I create. We only sell what I create myself, and that’s well over a dozen games by now. They are all sold internationally, and they are all still popular because my teams keep upgrading and maintaining them.”

I told her the name of my company, and that she could get online and look it up whenever she wanted, and that she could talk to my friend and partner Eric with any questions, too.

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