Even Odds Read Free Page B

completely different animal that loomed on all sides. Maybe that was giving her this sense of underlying anxiety, or maybe it was just nerves about the convention itself, or about the StarCraft II tournament in which she’d be competing on Friday.
    Isabel shook off the thought. She knew it wasn’t the tournament making her stomach churn. That kind of anxiety she could handle. It wasn’t about her body, or her looks, or the fact that she was a woman. Once the game was under way, it was all about performance. She loved the heady rush of competition however it came, the focused desire to win. Prizes were secondary to the adrenaline of the chase.
    After a harrowing trip full of twists and turns, impossible one-way streets, double parking, and pedestrians everywhere (didn’t they know it was freezing out?), the hotel shuttle driver pulled up in front of the DoubleTree. A concierge with a large luggage cart met them, and after a shuffle with the luggage they stepped inside the capacious lobby.
    At least there was one advantage to being the only woman on this trip: no having to share a room. The guys were going to have to share. Or so Isabel thought—to her surprise, the clerk at the desk handed them keys to four separate rooms.
    â€œWill isn’t putting you guys all in one room?” She helped Dan navigate the luggage cart around a turn to the elevator. “I thought we were on a tight budget.” Their company owner had a tendency to splurge on luxuries for holidays and celebrations, but this was neither.
    â€œThat’s how it was supposed to be, but Lloyd paid to get his own room, so Dan and I decided to do the same. Better for after-hours, if you get my drift.” Matthew nodded over to Lloyd, who grinned his creepy shark grin again. Isabel repressed a shudder of disgust. She’d dealt with far worse than Lloyd when she was at Pixel Dream, like that asshole Ryan. As the elevator slid upward, she shivered at the memory of him cornering her in the server room, his face glowing an eerie green in the dim light, commenting on her breasts and how nice it would be if she’d show them to him, his spidery hands reaching for her in the darkness.
    Unfortunately for Isabel, the problem with sexual harassment suits is that they weren’t always believed, especially when it was well known she’d dated someone else on the programming team. The Pixel Dream HR rep had convinced her she wouldn’t be a good character witness against Ryan and urged her to take a settlement and seek employment elsewhere, rather than pressing charges. She’d been young and dumb and scared, and putting it all behind her seemed like the best route. Now, twenty-seven years old and wiser than her fresh-out-of-college self, she regretted not making the bastard pay. Sure, her settlement had paid for a decent down payment on a small house, but she never got the satisfaction of standing up to the guy. Isabel still let herself sink into drawn-out daydreams at times of all the things she’d spew at Ryan if she ever encountered him again. Or the swift kick she’d deliver to his balls.
    They divided up when they reached their block of rooms at the end of the sixth floor. Isabel had the first room, Matthew and Dan were in the next two rooms down, and Lloyd was across the hall. She hoped the walls were thick enough that she wouldn’t have to listen to them and whomever they brought back to their hotel rooms late at night, as they were all apparently intent on making this a weekend of sexual conquests.
    Matthew dug his key card out of the paper holder. “Let’s meet in my room at five and go over the plan for the next few days. Sound good?”
    They all agreed and stepped into their own spaces. Isabel opened the door to her room and sighed in pleasure. Oh yes. This would do nicely. She walked inside, breathing in the clean hotel room smell. If only she could always stay in nice hotels, rather than her