Wicked Games (Hartley Grace Featherstone Mysteries Book 3) by Gemma Halliday (books for students to read TXT) 📕

"It's casual Tuesday," I quickly covered for him.

But she barely glanced my way, all of her attention on Chase. "I've had a few other news outlets contacting me, you know? For interviews."

"Oh?" Chase asked.

She flipped her hair over one shoulder. "Of course, it's all just been so distressing that I haven't given an interview to anyone yet. But, I could give you my number and we could arrange a time?"

Chase gave her a wide grin. "That would be great."

Yep. Swell. My stomach did another uncomfortable flutter as Chase pulled out his phone to punch in Sophia's digits.

"You know, you look just like her," Chase said when she finished rattling off numbers.

"Her?" Sophia asked.

"Athena," Chase told her. "The character in Connor's game."

Sophia smiled, even though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Well, I was his muse."

I bit my lip, hesitant to tell her that she was actually just the face of his advertising, Connor not having created any of the game at all.

"I was wondering, Sophia," I said. "Did Connor ever mention a guy named Tyler to you?"

Sophia's little bow of a mouth pulled down in a frown. "No, I don't think so."

"Tyler McGowan?" I tried again.

She shook her head. "Sorry. Who is he?"

"Just someone who Connor worked with," I said, not wanting to be the one to ruin her image of her late boyfriend.

"I don't really know a lot of Connor's co-workers," she said, her eyes roving the room where several of them seemed to be in attendance. "Coders. Engineers. Not really my crowd, you know?"

"Sure," I agreed. I didn't point out that Connor had been one of those too. Well, at least in theory.

"Why do you ask?" Sophia said. "I mean, about this Tyler guy?"

I opened my mouth to answer but realized she had her full attention on Chase again, addressing the question to him.

"We were just curious," Chase answered for me. "Tyler said he worked with Connor on Athena's Quest."

Sophia shrugged. "I'm sure a lot of people worked with Connor on the game. It's a huge deal for VizaSoft."

"You think they're going to release it still?" Sam asked.

"Of course." Sophia frowned again. "Why wouldn't they?"

"Well, I just thought that with Connor gone…" Sam trailed off under the model's icy glare.

"Connor would have wanted his fans to play it," Sophia said with conviction. Then she paused. "Besides, VizaSoft is already looking at film licensing."

"Film?" I asked. "You mean, like, someone wants to make an Athena's Quest movie?"

Sophia nodded. "They're in talks with a couple of studios. My agent says I'm a shoo-in for the lead. I mean, I am Athena after all, right?"

"Right," I said, wondering just how much money was on the line now that a movie franchise was on the table. And how much of that would have disappeared for Connor if his secret about a teenager actually creating the game had gotten out. "Uh, Sophia, do you know if Connor's manager is here?" I asked.

"Jason?" She nodded. "Sure. That's him." Sophia pointed to a guy in his mid-to-late thirties in a dark suit. Despite the fact we were indoors, he wore a pair of dark sunglasses, and his black hair was pulled back into a sleek low ponytail at the nape of his neck. He reminded me of the human equivalent of a ferret—all sleek and slim and looking like he could wiggle out of any tight spot.

"Thanks," I told her. "We wanted to pay our respects."

She shrugged again, as if not caring in the least what we wanted with Connor's manager.

"Nice to meet you," Chase told her, giving her another wide grin before we stepped away.

Once we were out of earshot, I leaned over. "Laying it on a little thick, don't you think?" I mumbled.

Chase lifted one eyebrow at me. "What do you mean?"

"You know all the big toothy grins and fanboy eyes you made at the girlfriend."

The corner of Chase's mouth lifted. He leaned in closer and whispered in my ear. "Don't tell me you're jealous, Featherstone."

I blew a puff of air out through my lips. Pffft. "No! Of course I'm not…I mean, why would I be…I mean, it's not like you and I are…"

"There's Pruit," Sam said, thankfully saving me from having to finish any of those thoughts. She grabbed my arm, steering us toward the man in the suit who was sipping from a paper cup near the exit.

I licked my lips, willing my cheeks to cool down as I avoided looking at Chase's teasing grin.

"Mr. Pruit," Sam said, hailing the man's attention.

He turned an expectant gaze our way. "Yes?"

"Hi, I'm Sam and that's Chase, and this is Hartley Featherstone."

The man gave us a blank look.

"We left a message for you with your receptionist," Sam continued. "Hartley is Connor's cousin."

His eyes slowly went from Sam to Chase to me. I wasn't sure if he'd ever received the message, but his face showed no signs of recognition. Instead, the overarching emotion written there was pure suspicion.

Smart man.

"Uh, hi," I said, extending my hand his way.

He just looked at it. "Connor never mentioned a cousin."

"No? Oh, well, we weren't super close. I mean, we weren't distant either, but you know, not like that close." I bit my lip, realizing I was babbling.

"Anyway," Sam jumped in. "We were hoping to talk to you about Connor."

"What about him?" Jason asked, rocking back on the heels of his shiny black dress shoes as he stared down at us.

"Did you two get along?" Sam asked.

Jason frowned. "What kind of question is that?"

I licked my lips. "It's just that, well, Connor told me that you could be a little controlling."

His eyes pinged from one of us to the other. "He told you that."