I don’t know what I was expecting when I parked at the sprawling campus of the tech conglomerate, Blackstone Entertainment Group. Their motto “you’ll be BEGging us for more”, referred to their games which had a fairly addicting quality. I had to catch up on my computer game education before taking the job, and as soon as I got out of my car I knew it had been woefully inadequate. BEG was about to go public on the New York Stock exchange. I was hired on as their full time lawyer. I had a skype interview with the CEO, Alaric Blackstone, and was hired soon after. I don’t know who gave them my name in the first place, and I didn’t ask. The free ticket out of New York had been a welcome one. It was the end of September and New York was gearing up for winter, it was still in the eighties in Silicon Valley.  Our neighbors were other tech giants, such as Microsoft and Google. The campus for BEG was about the size of a college campus. They had Segways parked near the lot, and bikes. An employee only need scan their ID to rent one for the day, for free. I walked into the glass walled building and was sent into a completely different world. People whizzed by me on skateboards, roller shoes, Segways, or on one of those new rolling boards. I had no idea the name of them, but it was like a Segway without the part you held. I couldn’t believe the amount of safety issues I witnessed on the short walk from the doors to reception. Their liability insurance overhead had to be off the charts.

    It looked like everyone was getting ready for Halloween a month early. Unfortunately I mentioned this to someone walking by in a t-Shirt and shorts with tall socks. He had a number on his back and was carrying a small plastic broomstick. When I asked about his costume he said, “Very funny, I’m the seeker for the arts department quidditch team I’ll have you know.” And left with his nose in the air. Yes, apparently people at this company had departmental teams for a sport I had never heard of. They took these teams very seriously.

    I went up to the front desk, “I’m Alexis Carter, I’m here to see human resources.”

    The receptionist wore a superman t-shirt and jeans, she had blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and dark rimmed glasses. It wasn’t just how people were moving around the campus, but their clothes and the design of the campus itself. Inside the building there were mismatched chairs, including bean bag chairs and yoga balls. Computers were set up and some people were actively playing games that BEG created. I even saw a few of the competitor games as they took notes. I was literally a fish out of water wearing a pants suit and carrying a briefcase.

    The man from human resources came up in converse sneakers, jeans, and a blue and white t-shirt which proudly stated, “Keep Calm I’m the Doctor”. The guy in HR was also a doctor? I was horribly confused.

    “Ms. Carter, are you ready?” He said with a welcoming smile. He had messy brown hair and a soft face.

    “Yes, Alexis please.”

    “I’m Derek, well, allons-y.”

    I perked up a little at that, “Oh, parlez vous francais?”

    He blinked, “What, no,” he pointed at his t-Shirt then took a long look at me, “I can’t appropriately explain it, in such a short amount of time. We’ll take the elevator down to my cube.”

    I followed him a little confused about what he was talking about. The elevator looked like a hot mess. It was covered in scribbles someone was sitting on the floor actively drawing with a marker.

“How are the specs for the new chip coming, Evan?” Derek asked the man who was sitting so close to the wall his nose was practically touching it.

“R and D is too loud,” Evan replied exasperated, “Fire on the first floor, just easier to work here. The movement helps me think.”

Derek didn’t seem the least bit surprised or worried about the news of a fire in the stand alone building of research and development. It was all the way across a long grassy quad which housed recreational areas, including a glass enclosed pool, basketball courts, a soccer field, and a skate park. The R and D building was also concrete, built more like a bunker and definitely stood out from the rest of the campus’ glass walled structures.

The elevator dinged and Evan looked up, “Hit six for me on your way out?”

“Sure thing,” Derek said pushing the button.

When we stepped off the elevator someone shot out of a slide that appeared to go all the way up to the top floor. It was a clear tube that wound it’s way through offices and down.

    “Very popular at lunch time,” Derek said enjoying my confusion.

    We passed one section that had a sign that said “App Crack”. The sign was shaped like butt cheeks, it was complete with sound effects. Above it was a scroll putting the sound effect to a different person. In addition to a few movie stars the CEO of the company was listed after a very loud farting noise. Another for the art department which looked like graffiti, the whole of their department was covered in doodles including people actively drawing on the walls, as Evan had been in the elevator. The Graphic design department had TV screens which showed animations announcing their area.

I had done research on BEG before accepting, I knew what I was getting into. At least I thought I did. The CEO was young, Alaric Blackstone was only twenty-six. He had created the idea for the flagship game, Quest Genesis, at sixteen. Then had a beta out by eighteen. He was a genius, who left high school bored and fourteen and had enrolled at MIT on scholarship. He had recently hired his older brother, Malcolm, age thirty-two as his CFO. I would mostly be working with public relations, Jayc Deacon, to make sure the brothers didn’t say anything too obscene to the media, or throw too wild of parties. I didn’t think that people in the science fiction and gaming community were like that, but then again it wasn’t a world I was familiar with. The more I saw the more I realized that I had my work cut out for me. Alaric tended to boast about the addictiveness of his apps and games. Malcolm was known to be quiet and out of the picture, but Jayce seemed to enjoy a good controversy. I worried that he was one of those PR people who thought that there was no bad publicity. Most video game companies were working with grassroots mother campaigns to prevent game addiction. Jayce had boldly stated in a recent interview, “If our games were crap then people wouldn’t play them as much as they do.” He had shrugged with an air of unequivocal dissonance. The man simply “didn’t give a shit if you couldn’t teach your kid limits and boundaries”, another exact quote. The longer we walked the more it became clear; I was the only adult in a company that employed thousands, and made billions.

    Derek set us up in a conference room and I filled out paperwork for employment. He made copies of my documents and when he came back two men were with him. I recognized one, Alaric and stood to shake his hand.

    “Nice to finally meet you,” he said taking it and covering it with his other one, “This is my brother, Malcolm.” Alaric jerked his head towards his brother who gave me a stiff nod.

    I returned the gesture, not having a hand to give him as Alaric still claimed my hand and most of my attention. He was dressed in well worn (not faux aged) jeans that hugged his hips, he wore a black t-Shirt that stated “This is my Uniform” in white lettering. He and his brother both had dark hair and clear blue eyes. Alaric’s hair was long and pulled back tightly into a ponytail at the base of his neck, but Malcolm’s was cut shorter, and combed over, that length where clippers wouldn’t be enough. Malcolm walked with a slightly uneven gate, he swung his right leg out just a little bit and as he sat down and pulled up his own pant leg, I could see why. He had a prosthetic from at least the knee down. Malcolm wore most of a suit, he had dress pants and a dress shirt. The shirt was plain white and opened at the collar, he had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

    “So your team will be Mal, who is spearheading the IPO and Jayce our head of public relations.” Alaric explained. “I might have questions from time to time, but I’ll try not to pester you too much.” Alaric added a quick wink, the felt more friendly than flirtatious.

    “She hasn’t signed the paperwork yet,” Derek pointed out giving Alaric a sideways glance.

    “Multitasking Derek, you know it’s Ric’s favorite past time.” Malcolm seemed amused at this. He was leaning back in his chair sizing me up. He reached down to adjust his prosthetic, based on the movement I altered my original perception, it was an amputation above the knee. He raised an eyebrow at me and I cleared my throat going back to the W-9 in front of me.  

Alaric put two binders on the conference table, “I have a meeting, but this explains the current scope of B-E-G. If you have questions you can take them to Mal. You good?”

“Yes, thank you,” I stood and shook his hand again before he left.

“Here is your badge,” Derek slid it across the table, “Access chip is inside. Gets you in the building, the cafetaria, gym, your computer and any departments that you have clearance for. Should be most of them except for R and D.” Derek slid another card at me, “and your login in for Quest Genesis.”

“Why?” I looked at the log-in I knew of Quest Genesis it was the massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) that brought in the bulk of the profit for the company. It competed easily with other MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft and EverQuest.

“Because it is an integral part of this company and its social climate. You just entered a whole new culture Ms. Carter.” Malcolm explained leaning forward, he braced his forearms on the table and gave me a gravely serious look. His blue eyes seemed to narrow as he delivered what he felt was a vital piece of information.

“Alexis, or Lexi, please.” I tried not to blush or be embarrassed by his scutiny, but it was difficult.

“As you wish,” Malcolm said quietly leaning the chair back on two legs, Derek hid a snort. I was once again lost in their culture and probably some obscure science fiction reference.

“Do you have a computer?” Derek asked.

I pulled my computer out of my bag and set it on the table. Derek opened it up and tapped a few keys.

“If you need my password-,” I started.

“Nope, I got it.” Derek said distractedly and I didn’t want to know how he did that. “This will barely run the game.” He held a hand out the computer in disgust.

Malcolm leaned over and tapped a few keys. He stopped suddenly and patting his pockets before pulling out a pair of reading glasses. He adjusted them then scratched at the right side of his temple moving the hair he had combed over there. A scar peeked out, bumpy and jagged it seemed to cut all the way back to his ear.

“I’ll give her something,” Malcolm decided finally closing my computer with a snap. He pulled off his reading glasses impatiently and dropped them to the conference table. He handed the laptop back across the table and for the first time I noticed the military tattoo on his forearm peeking out from under the rolled up sleeves of his dress shirt. I took the laptop and put it back in my bag. “I’ll walk Ms. Carter up to her cube Derek. Thanks.” I didn’t like how he emphasized “Ms. Carter”, but I gritted my teeth and let it go. The man was all kinds of prickly in the personality department and I felt grateful that my work with him would be limited.

Even I knew Derek was being dismissed. Derek didn’t tell Malcolm off, or even look to broken up about it. He just gathered his things and left.

“You do realize that you are entering a whole other world right? This isn’t your average corporate law. You may have meetings that require a suit, but wearing one, will get you nowhere if you need information from the employees.” Malcolm’s voice was annoyed hiss, and it put my back up.

“You’re wearing a suit.” I pointed out resisting the urge to hum to myself just to annoy him.

“I’m wearing part of a suit because I’m CFO and generally it makes people here more afraid of me.”

I wasn’t afraid of him, I was certainly annoyed by him, but as we left the conference room I did notice a few people start typing faster or scurry out of the way, “So you and Ric have good cop, bad cop relationship?” I barrelled on trying to breakdown his grumpy exterior.

Malcolm ran his hand along his chin which was scruffy with a day or two’s worth of beard. “Something like that.”

He flashed a quick grin and I swear two people gasped in surprise. Well that hadn’t been too hard at least.

“Around here I’m known as the big bad wolf. I’m the guy who tells R and D that if they burn the whole building down they’re shit out of luck.”

“And you use that phrase exactly?” I winced at his choice of words, diplomacy and tact were nowhere to be found in this company. It would be an uphill battle.

“Research and design is FUBAR to begin with, and they need a leash. Yes I use both of those phrases, regularly.”

“Who is FUBAR?”

“Fucked up beyond all recognition. And we wouldn’t change R and D for anything. They get results, but the insurance on that one building, we’re going to have to move them off campus to their own location if they keep it up.” Malcolm blew out a breath and it was clear he hated that idea, “It would destroy the community here.”

On the top floor were the executive offices. Mine was directly across from Mal’s and Jayce’s.

“Jayce is in New York working on PR for the launch, so you’re stuck with me until Friday. You can leave your bag in your office. I want to get you started on Quest Genesis. Take some time to get settled then come over whenever you’re ready.”

I put my bag down and looked at my view of the quad, people were running around doing different activities or working in the shade.

There were no passwords for me to input in my computer only a slot for the company badge they had given me. I used it to look up Quest Genesis. I knew it was a MMORPG, massive multiplayer online role playing game, but other than that I had no idea what it entailed. It wasn’t all about mages and warlocks, but it was space themed. There were different alien races that had different skill sets and could do different roles in one of the two factions.

I got engrossed in the story and lost track of time.

“What are you doing?” I jumped and looked to Malcolm who was leaning in my doorway. He had his hands in his pockets and a scowl on his face.

“Sorry I was just researching Quest Genesis.”

He slowly came over and looked at my screen, “on Wikipedia?”

“Y-yes?”

“What was the last video game you played, Ms. Carter?”

“Ms. Pacman at Johnny DiMarco’s fifth birthday party.”

“Is Johnny DiMarco your nephew or relation of some kind?”

“First crush,” I said with a grimace, even though he knew where I was going with that. He rubbed at the scar on his temple. I was already certain that was a sign of annoyance, “alright bring a pad of paper and a pen and let’s do this.”

“Okay.” I followed him like a puppy, he stopped short a woman was about to go into my office as we were leaving and I collided with his back. He didn’t even look over his shoulder to see if I had managed to break my nose. If he had known me at all he would have checked. Before I began working at my father’s firm at the age of sixteen I had to practice for hours on end wearing heels just so I wouldn’t fall and break my neck. I was clumsy, so very clumsy and I did my best to hide that fact.

“Mr. Barnes is on the phone.” The woman said slipping a piece of hair behind her ear and looking down at her feet.

“Thanks, Cass, patch him through. He’s mad, right?”

The woman nodded and scurried away.

I was surprised the poor woman didn’t wilt in front of the big bad wolf, but Malcolm seemed to gentle his voice when talking to her, try to add some humor. I don’t think Cass saw it.

Malcolm gave me the silent command to sit on the leather couch in his office by pointing at it. I was tempted to completely ignore his rude demand but in the end curiosity got to me.

He had two computers on the coffee table in front of the couch and cables ran from them. Both went into separate big screen TVs mounted on the far wall. Wireless keyboards and mice were ready and waiting. One television showed the log-in screen for Quest Genesis, the other was a ship floating in space. I went to the log-in screen computer and typed in the code that Derek had given me. I selected create a character and reread the descriptions I had been reading before.

Malcolm finished the call quickly and sat next to me. He tried to adjust his leg without me noticing, but it couldn’t have been comfortable walking on it all day.

“Okay, so you have two factions, the Alliance of Planets or-,”

“The Free Merchants,” I interrupted, “which are you?”

“Free Merchant.”

“Of course,” I selected the Free Merchants as well, even though I would have preferred the Alliance. The Merchants did a lot more shady dealings and tried to get around the law.

“Good choice,” Malcolm walked me through setting up the character and soon I was in the beginner quest line.

The game was actually very interesting and I found myself getting sucked into the story. Malcolm guided me through the first quests and explained anything I might not understand. He used his character make sure I didn’t die too often and even sent some items my way to help boost my leveling.

Around eleven he brought something else up on his screen, “What do you want for lunch?” He started to punch in his order to the cafeteria who had someone who would deliver the food. I tore myself away from the screen and started to read through the list, there was just about anything you could think of offered.

“You have this on your desktop of both computers, and there’s an app we can download for your phone. For the execs.” Malcolm explained. He stood up and went around the table to sit in front of my computer, I took his place and started to construct my lunch order.

I picked a wrap even though I wanted a cheeseburger deciding it wouldn’t be as messy. I also went for a chocolate milkshake and onion rings. I wasn’t the kind of girl who went on dates and just picked at a salad. I ate full meals, and exercised like a banshee twice a day to counteract the calories.

He continued to tap commands into my computer after I had sent in the order.

“A guild for the execs. You, me, Ric, and Jayce. Our brother Killian is in there too, but he never plays, not the gaming type.”

“I wouldn’t figure you for the gaming type either.” I said moving back in front of my own computer.

“I’m not really, but I like Genesis. You’re expected to play twenty hours a week, and this can be done at work.” I must have been gaping at him because he pressed on, “If you don’t understand the game and the intricacies of how it works then how can you argue the intellectual property?”

I had no response for that. It was a very valid point. “Fine, I’ll work on my character, but I can’t guarantee I’ll get very far.”

“The guild will help.”

We talked as we ate lunch and to my surprise he was pretty easy to talk to. One on one he seemed to shed the big bad wolf mentality. He was just annoyed at life in general and confused at how lacking my pop culture knowledge was. It seemed to boggle his mind that I only knew the most basic of things about Science Fiction, Super Heroes, and other media.

“Thor’s the blonde one with the hammer right?” I asked as we discussed comic books.

“Is that the whole of your comic book knowledge, that Thor is blonde and has a hammer?”

“Well I know Spidey is whiny and full of angst.”

“Valid point. Okay so in addition to your Quest Genesis I want you to watch three hours of Netflix, and I mean focus on sci-fi and superhero got it? No Sex in the City.”

“That show makes New Yorkers look bad.”

Malcolm raised his eyebrows, “does anything make New Yorkers look good?”

I thought about it but couldn’t come up with an obvious reference or situation where we looked particularly good so in the end I pointed out, “Californians don’t have much better of a reputation.”

“Fair point,” Malcolm allowed and his lips shot up in half a smile that almost looked more like a grimace.

“So what did you do before BEG?” I asked knowing there was very little information about him out there before the company, and many questioned his qualifications.

“You’re observant,” He said dodging the question, then he held up a hand when I tried to respond, “people here aren’t. Not of other humans anyways.” He paused for a second before continuing again, “Sure they can tell you the first million digits of Pi without blinking an eye. But they can’t tell you what it means when another person is frowning. Alaric is just like them, and Jayce is just crazy enough that it doesn’t bother him. What I mean is, no one has noticed my leg in the first five minutes, or my tattoo. I’d like to keep that information private. Those who may have eventually noticed are too afraid of me to bring it up.” A veritable book from the stoic man. I was almost stunned into silence.

I had a feeling he liked it that way. He liked the fear he elicited because it kept people at an arm's length away at all times. “That’s fine,” I replied and wondered if the man might have PTSD or something else affecting him other than the leg. It made me feel compassion towards him and a certain camaraderie. I wondered if I had PTSD, but of course going to a therapist to discuss my issues was hardly an option.

“What about you? You up and left New York in a hurry.”

“I did, no shame in admitting it. I was working for my father’s company. His partners son was my fiancee.” I hoped that would be enough, but his searching eyes and appeared to soften sucked me in.

“Was?”

“Yes, was. So this seemed like a fresh start, and I could really use one.” I didn’t tell him the whole story, and I could have but he would have thought I was using it to get information about him so I left it at that. I also didn’t want a pity party, and he was very close to giving it to me. Damn those eyes.

The whole story wasn’t pretty, but it was something that would come out in the end. Trip Haywood III worked with our fathers at the firm. It was always decided that one day Trip and I would be married. I don’t know that I was ever actually in love with him, or if it was just an eventuality in my life that I had accepted. The abuse started as verbal, or emotional. When I caught him cheating on me, and confronted him about it. The abuse turned physical that night and I bailed. My parents tried to convince me to give him another chance, that he was just drunk and had bad night. Every single person in my life from my friends to my parents explained how hard he had it, and how it was a fluke, he would never hit me again.

I wasn’t going to hear it, I wasn’t going to stay. So I left. How quickly everything changed. There were threatening calls and emails. I changed my e-mail and phone number. I made sure no one in my family had it, not even my older brother, Mark, who had broken off contact with the family long before. I actually considered calling him now. Even though I knew he would never tell anyone where I was, I worried that he still lived in the city and someone might find a way to get the information from his phone. It was part paranoia but mostly understanding of how my father and his partner ran their firm and the slightly illegal ways they often found information. I knew the lengths they went to for incriminating photographs, conversation information, or confidential e-mails. All I could think about every time I started to dial Mark’s number was all the ways my father and his partner would try to get that information from mark.

I filed a restraining order and with all of the e-mails and voicemails even Trip’s bankrolled lawyers couldn’t get him out of it. It didn’t feel like enough. I felt like I had to put a whole country between the two of us to feel safe again. It was almost working, I had managed five hours of sleep the night before, and only woke a handful of times completely panicked.

Malcolm waved his hand in front of my face.

“You okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine, sorry, got lost there for a minute.”

“You went white looked a little panicked.” He looked downright concerned.

“Sorry, I’m fine.” I took a big gulp of the chocolate milkshake and worked hard to not physically shake myself out of the stupor.

Malcolm switched the TVs again and put on a movie I didn’t understand. It took him five minutes to realize I was completely lost.

“You’ve never seen Star Wars?” He paused the movie.

“Ah wait!” I snapped my fingers excited that I may know the movie, “Is this the one with William Shatner?”

Malcolm forcefully hit his hand to his head.

“As a kid I wasn’t allowed to watch TV or movies. I had to study a lot, and prepare for advanced placement tests. When I got to college it continued, I just didn’t have the time.” I felt the need to defensively explain. My childhood had been a long string of private tutors, then, a private high school to graduate at sixteen and get into Harvard early admission. I played no team sports, but my mother had made sure I had a personal trainer to maintain my size two physique.

“You poor unfortunate soul.”

“Well it’s not that bad.” I sniffed indignantly.

“The Little Mermaid, you haven’t seen The Little Mermaid?” Malcolm sputtered.

“Fantasy wasn’t part of my life as a kid. My mom only let me read historical books, fiction was prohibited. And Little Mermaid I know that’s Disney, but no I haven’t seen it.”

“And what did your Dad think?”

I held my hands up in a “who knows” gesture, “until I was getting ready for school he didn’t really pay me any mind. I wasn’t intellectually interesting until I was looking at colleges.” I brushed it off as I always did. I’m sure there was some deep seeded need to hugged and loved, but I just didn’t feel it. Any creativity I might have had growing up was squashed quickly and effectively replaced with the cold facts of the world around me. I was numb to the emotional distance my parents had always shown me, and unfortunately not the least bit surprised that they still fully expected me to marry Trip, “once I stopped my tantrum.” That’s right, they thought taking this new job and moving my life to California, was just a blown out of proportion tantrum.

Malcolm looked horrified as most people did when I explained my upbringing, “in their defense,” I started only to be stopped by him holding up a hand for silence.

“Nope, I don’t want to hear it.” He shook his head, “I’m starting to get angry, and you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

He once again waited for me to get a reference I was never going to grasp. He explained the Hulk, and then unpaused Star Wars.

Once the lunch period was over we switched back to Quest Genesis it was two when I was ready to call it quits, “don’t you want me to do some real work today?”

“This is real work,” Malcolm argued pointing to my now level five Biturian Headhunter I named Kalgari.

“I mean lawyer work.”

Malcolm shrugged, “eventually but we’re kind of waiting on Jayce to get back for that, see what he has planned. I have all of the investors, you can start on that tomorrow. I’m going to talk to Alaric about expanding your pop culture knowledge, maybe go to his place on the weekends to watch shows. If  you’re amenable to that.”

“Works for me,” I said standing. The more I was involved at work the less time I would have to work myself into a panic at home. I didn’t have any friends out here and I doubted I would have any soon. I packed up and Malcolm closed down the computer I had played on. He put it in a brand new case and handed it over to me.

“Take this home, use it.”

I gave him a mock salute and clicked my heels, “yes sir,” much to the horror of his secretary. He bit the inside of his lip and a muscle twitched at his jaw. He was working very hard to not blow up at me. I should have been worried, pissing off the big bad wolf so purposefully on the first day. It wasn’t the best way to make a good impression, but I could tell that he didn’t know how to let loose. I was the same way and although I would admit there was a time and place, everyone needed an outlet. For the first time I felt mostly carefree, I wanted to bask in that freedom and how it made me feel. I’d have to pull out my professionalism again. I turned to Cass and thanked her for bringing us lunch. Making small talk with her was like pulling teeth.

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Oh almost a month now,” Cass said never taking her eyes off her computer screen.

“Do you like working for Mr. Blackstone?”

“Oh yes he’s very nice,” Cass said blushing. Apparently the fear factor of the man didn’t stop people from finding him attractive. Both he and Alaric were good looking guys, you could see they shared similar genes, but only on the surface. Underneath they were very different. Alaric was a big kid wrapped up in a twenty-something package. Malcolm was more serious than a heart attack. He had a permanent scowl on his face, spare for the few smiles he had given me that day. I decided to turn it into a game. Make Malcolm Blackstone smile three times in one day, most of the time against his will. I debated telling Cass about my game, but figured it would make her very uncomfortable.

“Did you grow up in California?”

“No Iowa.” Cass cleared her throat and leaned in, “What is New York like? I’ve never been.” I could tell that she was embarrassed by her question, but her curiosity got the best of her.

“Big city, very different than LA though. How about we eat lunch together tomorrow?” I suggested.  “I’d love to hear about Iowa.”

“Corn,” Cass offered with a sad laugh, but at least it was a laugh, “but sure, I’d like that.”

I went back into my cube and got to work. There was an interoffice memo system and I already had a few messages from IT and Derek.

DerekHR: Let me know if you have any questions about the health insurance.

This was sent around nine am. I probably had a million questions about the health insurance, my parents had always handled it and I this was my first time picking my own. I would never admit that and worst case I would research the heck out of every option.

DerekHR: Didn’t see you at lunch, hope you settled in ok.

That was nice of him. He probably worried I ate alone. I decided to send something back to that.

AlexisLEGAL: Thanks Derek. I’ll read through the health insurance information and let you know. I was a hermit for lunch and ate with M. Blackstone, but will be in the cafeteria tomorrow.

Derek’s response was almost instant.

DerekHR: As the head of HR I am legally bound to remind you that you are ENTITLED to take lunch. Please do.

AlexisLEGAL: Good HR-ing (did I do that right?). Explain “allons-y” to me. Apparently my education is lacking.

DerekHR: HR-ing, yes exactly. Check out “Doctor Who” on Netflix. You’ll get to it eventually. It’s a good show to be familiar with if you plan to eat lunch in the cafe.

I left at five and took my new computer home with me. I had found a townhouse that overlooked the ocean to rent and had taken it unseen. It was a risk, but one that seriously paid off. It was a gated community with a private beach. Most importantly, it made me feel very safe. I kept to myself and that was the only paranoia I would allow. The more people got to know me the more they might talk and my location might spread.

At work they had strict confidentiality rules, especially in regards to social media so meeting and working with people there I wasn’t worried about. Their facebook was internally managed and only employees had access to it. It was called BEGbook and it was on it’s own servers and privately managed and owned by BEG. It was a cool bit of technology that allowed people to be social without sharing it with the world. I let Malcolm download that app, and the lunch ordering app on my phone. As the project progressed I knew I would be using the lunch app more and more. I was surprised to see contact requests on the social media app from Alaric, Malcolm, Derek, and even the man who had been working in the elevator, Evan. I sent one to Cass knowing she would never send me a request.

I made popcorn and switched on the television I pulled up Doctor Who and found myself captivated by the show. Once Netflix said “Are you still watching?” I forced myself to switch to Quest Genesis. Okay, maybe I still had the show going in the background, I needed more geek information as soon as possible. As soon as I logged in a group conversation popped up:

Noxidi says “Hey there she is! How was your first day?”

Kalgaria says “Not bad.”

Tharial says “Alaric here, Nox is Jayce, and Larkian is Malcolm.”

Kalgaria says “Right that was confusing for a second, I was just going to level so I tear myself away from netflix.”

Larkian says “Expanding your geekiness?”

Kalgaria says “Getting in touch with it really, I had no idea it was there.”

Tharial says “Harry Potter is the gateway fandom. It’ll suck you in.”

Kalgaria says “I’m sucked into Doctor Who ATM, I’ll have to do Harry Potter over the weekend.”

Three messages came in at the same time, all said the same thing, “Read the books first.”

Tharial says “read the books this week, or what you can when you finish we’ll watch all eight movies one weekend.”

Larkian says “That’s not really weaning her in slowly brother.”

Kalgaria says “That sounds fun actually. I better go level.”

Noxidi says “We’ll help, Mal can you transpo.”

We fell into a good rhythm, killing small animals and checking their bodies for loot. Then we would run quests and they would explain larger battles.

My second day of work I went wearing an old pair of jeans and a plain green t-shirt, although I was starting understand Derek’s shirt from the day before, “Keep Calm I’m the Doctor”, I still didn’t own any.

Also rather than twisting up my auburn hair I left it down, rather than wearing contacts I put on my glasses which were plain black squares. I wore my running shoes and hoped I would fit in a little bit better. It was almost nerve racking to go into a my place of business dressed like that, and I had to keep reminding myself “When in Rome”.

“Hey Derek,” I said with smile as I entered the building. He stopped and did a double take.

“What?” I asked looking down at myself.

“Took me a minute to place you,” he admitted, “so did you watch Doctor Who?”

“Yes, and I’m hooked.”

“Your favorite episode so far?”

I shuddered as I answered, “The Empty Child. Scary as heck, but hey Captain Jack, that was awesome.”

“He shows up more, and gets a spin off, Torchwood.”

“Excellent.” I gave Derek a high five and put my other arm in front of the elevator to stop it closing. I managed it well enough with only a slight wobble in my balance. Malcolm was standing there staring at me. I had the borrowed laptop over my shoulder in the bag he had given me. The bag was colored brightly with the BEG logo on it.

“Um, hi are you new here?” Malcolm teased coming into the elevator. He wore the dress shirt and nice pants again and I noticed a cane poking out of the top of his messenger bag. I gave it a discreet push and Malcolm thanked me readjusting his bag.

“Brought too much work home with you Mr. Blackstone,” I said to cover it up, “You’re going to break that bag.”

“It’ll hold,” Malcolm replied. We rode down with Derek first, then back up to the sixth floor. “So Doctor Who binge?”

“I slept with the lights on,” I admitted, “That kid in the gas mask was creepy.”

“Yes, but it was very good, so you’re not to the Vashta Nerada yet?”

“Is that some kind of alien that will freak me out?”

“Yes, we’ll watch more this weekend wherever you’re up to, but definitely start the Harry Potter series, Ric can’t wait to show them to you.”

“I have downloaded all seven books on my phone. And plan to read whenever I have time.”

“I’ll give you a reprieve on some of your Genesis hours.” And Malcolm winked, actually winked. Not something I would have expected from him. I turned to Cass who seemed just as I stunned as I was.

“Were you a dog trainer in your last job?” Cass asked keeping her voice in an undertone.

“What no, why?”

“Seriously looks like you’re taming the wolf.” Cass put both her hands over her mouth stunned by what she had said about her boss. When I started to laugh she did too and we laughed at that far longer than we should have. If Malcolm heard the comment he pretended not to notice.

I found it much more comfortable to work in my jeans and t-Shirt. I also found without my eyes drying out from the contacts it was easier to read the legal papers. The glasses felt weird on my head at first but soon I didn’t notice them. I had managed to send back some of the questions Malcolm had peppered in my inbox the night before, there were tons of contracts to go over. There were different standards that each investor wanted, in terms of advertising and the direction BEG would head in after going public. Some was possible, but some wasn’t. I scheduled time with Malcolm after lunch to explain some of the finer points and where we needed to put our foot down.  When it was time for lunch I had an alarm set so I wouldn’t miss it and Cass and I walked down together.

“So what did you do before working here?” I asked.

“I was a waitress. I only finished high school so, I can’t get a promotion for awhile. I’m looking at community colleges and online course though.”

“Does Malcolm scare you?”

Cass thought about this for a minute. She was willowy with dark blonde hair. She had a smattering of freckles and tended to wear skirts and blouses. Malcolm didn’t seem to comment on her attire, probably finding it appropriate for an executive secretary.

“No, he’s a good guy. I know his reputation and he is intimidating, but I’m like that with most people.”

I nodded my understanding and we went out into the beautiful California day, “man it’s nice out, still eighty.”

“Yeah will be for awhile yet, should be a rainy winter though.”

“That’s okay, we need it.” It was kind of feeling like home. I still had a lot of adjusting to do, but at least I knew people, even if they were only co-workers.

Heads turned when Cass and I entered the dining hall, and not because we were exceptionally good looking. I was the new girl and an executive, people took notice. We were met  by a curly haired redhead named Vincent, who introduced himself as Cass’ fiancee. She blushed deeper than usual. I gave in that day and had a burger and sweet potato fries, I’d have to work out after work, but it was worth it. There was a state of the art gym above the cafeteria and I had my exercise bag in the car.

    BEG had a lot of employee benefits, in addition to the free lunches there were breakfast stands as well. Coffee, and energy drinks were stocked in every break room along with healthy and not quite so healthy snacks. The gym, and pool were free to use along with all of the other recreational facilities. They had apartments on campus for people transitioning to the company, or interning.

We sat by the windows and were soon joined by more of their friends, from all different departments.

“We’re in the same guild on Quest Genesis,” Cass explained. “so we eat together and plan raids.”

“Oh and does that mean you compete on the same teams? Someone mentioned Quidditch, which I just learned about this morning in the first Harry Potter book.”

“No those are departmental. You’ll play with the execs,” Cass said not realizing that this was news to me.

“Excuse me?” I stopped my milkshake halfway to my mouth. I was not athletic unless it was a solo sport. I ran, rock climbed, or rode a bike I might swim laps from time to time, which could be a team sport, but in general, I viewed exercising as a solitary activity. I also have no coordination it had taken me months to get comfortable wearing heels, I had to practice at home and fell often.

“Yeah, Alaric is seeker, Jayce is keeper, Malcolm is a beater, and they bring in their brother Killian as the other beater. You’ll be a chaser and that’s good, but you’re still short two.”

“Last time they brought in voice actors from Quest Genesis to be their other chasers.” Vincent added, “they lost pretty early in the season, no one has time to practice.”

“They killed it at the online tournaments though.” A guy named Hank said, he worked in the art department.

“And Alaric is amazing at Magic the Gathering,” a woman named Beth added with a small sigh.

“I don’t know what online tournaments you mean, or what Magic the Gathering is.”

“It’s a card game,” Cass blurted out before I could get told off.

“I have so much to learn,” I rubbed at my temples, there was so much new information, I thought I would spend most of my time hiding in my office reading contracts. Although I could, I knew that Malcolm was right, the culture of the business was vital to understanding the documents.

Malcolm pulled up a seat next to me, and Alaric took the seat across from him.

“Please don’t make me join the Quidditch team,” I told them as soon as they were settled. I didn’t care that I half whined, half begged the request. It didn’t bother me that Malcolm hid his snigger with his own cheeseburger. I was not a sporty kind of girl.

“We need you,” Alaric added puppy dog eyes to his request, making it very hard to tell him no, “even with you we’re short players.”

“Yeah don’t worry about it,” Malcolm threw in. He nudged me lightly. “Even if you stink it’s fine, it’s more about having fun anyways. Plus I’m next to useless.”

    I knew Malcolm meant because of his leg and I felt for him.

    “Can you run?” Alaric asked.

    “Yes, I like to run, but the rest of it, they have broomsticks, and add throwing a ball and not running into people. I don’t think we have the insurance to put me on the field,” I was mostly joking, but the next day when we got on the field I put my head down for one second and smacked into Malcolm so hard he lost his balance and crashed to the ground. His right leg looked inverted at a ninety degree angle and I realized I had knocked his prosthetic loose.

    My first instinct was to apologize profusely, but I held back as he quickly fixed his leg and took Alaric’s hand to get back up.

    “Head up,” Malcolm reminded me, lifting my chin with a finger. “You’re quick on your feet, you just need better reflexes. Maybe I should randomly throw stuff at you across the hall to help.” He grinned devilishly as if he thought this was an inspired idea.

    I rolled my eyes at his retreating back and slowly followed him back to the field.

By Friday I had a routine. I would get to work early and play Quest Genesis. Malcolm would log on for a little then I would work on the questions he had about contracts that were coming in. Most times in the afternoon, after I ate lunch with Cass, he would come into my office and ask me to explain my answers.

    The legalease and latin frustrated him, and Friday afternoon was no different.

    “Why can’t they just write ‘don’t be a dick’?”

    “Because that’s not legally binding, they have to think of every way you could be a dick then prevent you from acting that way. Based on the history of this company that list isn’t short.”

    “Awesome.” He pulled off his reading glasses and dropped them on the table. He rubbed both of his eyes and leaned his elbows forward on his knees.

“Did you break him?” A handsome blonde man was standing in the doorway, he had green eyes and wore a perfectly tailored suit.

“I think I might of,” I said standing.

“Jayce Deacon.”

“Alexis Carter.” We shook hands and Jayce sat on the other side of Malcolm. He wrapped a brotherly arm round him and gave him a quick squeeze. I felt like I already knew this man, having spent at least fifteen hours talking to him over the game.

“Tell Uncle Jayce what the mean woman did to you.” He sounded just as I pictured without the computer connection in the way. A nice guy who could be condescending when he felt the situation called for it.

“I hate lawyers,” Malcolm muttered darkly, and completely serious. It didn’t offend me. But I still gasped and put a hand to my chest.

“Why I do declare,” I said in a horrible imitation of Scarlett O’Hara, “I believe this rogue has insulted my delicate female constitution.”

    Malcolm paled and stood to take both my hands, “I’m sorry Lex, that came out wrong.”

This face oozed out concern and apology. I had never seen him that way, added to the     fact it was the first time he had called me anything other than Ms. Carter. It felt weird.    

“Relax,” I laughed and pulling my hands away went to the mini fridge for bottles of water all around. “Most lawyers can’t stand themselves. It’s the nature of the beast. It’s highly intellectually stimulating sure, but we’re right up there with car salesmen.” I handed him a bottle of water but kept my distance moving around him to hand Jayce one as well.

    “Please tell me you brought a bagel, or dozen back with you?” I said sitting in the arm chair across from the couch.

    Jayce laughed, “what you don’t like Cronuts?”

    “Jay, I still don’t even know what that is.” I gestured wildly with my water and rolled my eyes. Jayce had been easy to talk to, they all were. They would carry on conversations at night that sometimes had no purpose other than what Alaric called, “shooting the shit”.

    “But you have learned what a TARDIS is? And a snitch? And you ‘aim to misbehave’?” Jayce waggled his eyebrows.

    “I want a TARDIS of my own, a Snitch seems like a horrible idea for a game played on dangerous flying broomsticks. Especially considering how young these kids are. Do the parents just not care?” Both men stared at me blankly so I pushed it aside, “I don’t know the last reference, but I’m starting to think it might be true.”

    Jayce held out his fist and I knocked mine against it, the BEG form of a handshake, celebration, or acceptance of one's ideas. I was thinking I should write a BEG survival guide slash dictionary for outsiders like me who might join the company.

    “You two have a lot to catch up on, I’ll see you both Saturday.” Malcolm stood slowly excusing himself.

    “Knocking off early?” Jayce asked.

    “Killian,” was all Malcolm said and Jayce nodded sagely.

    “Killian is the third brother right?” I asked once Malcolm was gone.

    “Alaric’s twin. He’s an interesting one. I’ll let you judge him for yourself.”

    Jayce took me to R and D that day. It was something I had requested numerous times and Malcolm flat out refused to take me. Once we got to the building I could see why, his picture was plastered all over it with a big x through his face and the words “No Admittance”. One the concrete walls someone had spray painted a portrait of Malcolm and a wolf beside it. The words in an eery font declared, “Beware the Big Bad Wolf.” Apparently he and R and D were in a scuffle over budgeting, among other finer points about how R and D was run. As a lawyer it was easy for me to see why. There were literally people jumping off balconies and setting things on fire all in the name of progress, science, and as they so eloquently declared “Why the hell not?”. That was the motto for R and D, why the hell not.

    “Hey!” I said before I could stop myself, exiting the elevator while Jayce wildly made a grab for my arm to stop me, “what do you think you’re doing?” Evan, the man I met the first day drawing in an elevator, was hooking himself into a harness while others looked down four stories below.

    “Testing a new jet pack,” Evan said as if I asked him the time and was just a little bit stupid for not knowing it.

    “A jet pack, inside?” I sputtered.

    Evan shrugged, “Bob came out just fine.” Evan indicated a blackened crash test dummy propped up in the corner behind him, his legs unattached and sitting next to him.

    “Are those scorch marks new?” Jayce pointed to a blackened wall then grinned at the stupefied look on my face.

    “Seriously? You’re the PR manager what if he dies?”

    “Evan,” Jayce said in mock seriousness, not even looking a little bit worried at my frenzied and hostile tone.

    “Yes Mr. Deacon?”

    “Did you sign a liability release?”

    “Every morning,” Evan scoffed then held his arms out indicating where he worked and the environment we were currently in.

    “To infinity!” Jayce said snapping to attention in a perfect salute.

    Evan mimicked the stance and pushed a button on the harness he nose dived off the balcony while yelling, “And beyond.”

    I grabbed Jayce’s arm in shock with a gasp, and Jayce had the audacity to grin back at me. We watched as Evan pulled up in time and came back level with us. He had a big grin on his face until one of his engines went out. I watched in horror as he plummeted and only gained enough control to land with a minor thud.

    Everyone on the ground cheered.

    “I need to get out of here,” I said heading back to the elevator with my hands on the sides of my face so I could only see straight in front of me. I thought the rest of the company was a legal nightmare, but R and D was a whole different circle of hell.

    Jayce was enjoying my discomfort far too much, he was actually giggling as we left R and D. “Your picture will be up there next. You’ll get a new nickname too.”

    “I can hardly wait,” I said through gritted teeth.

    “They have another name for Malcolm, other than the big bad wolf. They also call him Dad.”

    I had a feeling what my nickname would be. Of course someone had a video on their work social media with one tagline at the end, “Welcome to the company, Mom”. It had been shared hundreds of times, and I was pretty sure the whole company had seen it.

    I dropped my head to my desk and willed the nausea to pass. Malcolm had been right, R and D was FUBAR. It was the geeky genius version of a frat party and there was no reigning them in. Later that day there was an announcement that the rights to Evan’s jetpack were being sold to NASA for a cool twenty-five million dollars. Insanity for the sake for progress and no one, not even those that had to clean up the messes would do anything to change what it was. I had to accept that I couldn’t change R and D, and more over I didn’t want to. It was then I realized that I was quickly becoming one of them.