Damien’s brain went blank for half a second before snapping back online. Mia was on her knees between his legs. Her breasts were bare. Her lips were swollen. His pants were around his ankles. And her ex-boyfriend was ninety seconds away with a baseball bat.
"Mia." His voice came out sharper than intended. "Get up. Now."
She blinked. The haze in her eyes cleared slightly. "What? Why?"
"Tyler is coming."
The name hit her like a slap. All the warmth drained from her face. She scrambled to her feet so fast she tripped over her own sandals and caught herself on the armrest.
"How do you know that?"
"I just know. Please get dressed."
She didn’t question it. Something in his voice told her not to. She grabbed her bra from the floor and clipped it on with shaking fingers. Her sundress came next. She pulled it over her head so fast the fabric bunched around her waist before she tugged it down.
Damien pulled up his boxers and pants. His erection was dying fast. Nothing killed the mood like a guy with a baseball bat showing up uninvited.
[Threat update: Tyler Knox. 24 years old. 5’10". 175 lbs. Aggression level: Extreme. Current weapon: Aluminum baseball bat. Estimated arrival: 60 seconds.]
[Emergency Quest: Survive the encounter with Tyler Knox.]
[Reward: +100 EXP, +$1000, Unlock Skill: Self-Defense Level 1]
[Penalty for failure: Hospitalization or death.]
[Host current Strength: 7. Target Strength: 9. Host is at a disadvantage.]
Strength 9 versus his 7. Tyler was bigger. Angrier. And had a weapon. Damien had a leather jacket and a semi-hard cock. Not exactly a fair fight.
"Does he have a key?" Damien asked.
Mia froze. Her eyes went wide. "Oh God. Yes. He still has a key. I never asked for it back."
"Where’s the back door?"
"There isn’t one. It’s a studio. One entrance."
No back door. No fire escape. One way in and one way out. They were trapped.
[Threat update: 45 seconds.]
Damien scanned the apartment. Small kitchen to the left. Living area with the couch. A bed in the corner. A bathroom door next to the closet.
The bathroom. No exit but maybe a lock. Maybe enough time.
"Bathroom," he said. "Now."
"I’m not hiding in my own bathroom."
"Mia. He has a bat."
"I don’t care. This is my apartment. He doesn’t get to just walk in and—"
"Mia." Damien grabbed her shoulders. Looked her in the eyes. "He is coming here to hurt someone. If he sees me here with you, he’s going to hurt me. And if I go down, I can’t protect you. So please. Get in the bathroom. Lock the door. Call 911. And let me handle this."
She stared at him. Her lower lip trembled. Then she nodded, turned, and ran to the bathroom. The door closed. The lock clicked.
[Threat update: 20 seconds.]
[Host has no combat skills equipped. Self-Defense Level 1 is locked until Emergency Quest is completed.]
[System recommendation: Use environment to your advantage. Improvise.]
Improvise. Right. Damien looked around the apartment for anything he could use. The kitchen had a knife block. He pulled out the largest one. A chef’s knife. Eight inch blade. Heavy. He wasn’t going to stab anyone, but the sight of it might make Tyler think twice.
Then he set it on the counter. If Tyler came in swinging, a knife wouldn’t help against a bat. The reach advantage was too big.
He needed something with reach. Something he could block with.
His eyes landed on the bar stool by the kitchen counter. Metal legs. Heavy. If he held it by the legs, he could use the seat as a shield and the legs as a weapon.
He grabbed it and positioned himself between the door and the bathroom. Three feet of clearance. Not much room to swing, but also not much room for Tyler to get a full swing either.
[Threat update: 10 seconds.]
[Host adrenaline spiking. Stamina depletion: 5% per minute under stress.]
[Pheromone Release is still active. Target Tyler Knox is male. Pheromone effect on males: Reduced aggression. Estimated reduction: 15%.]
Fifteen percent less aggressive. Not much. But maybe enough to turn a bat swing into a shove. Maybe enough to buy a few seconds.
Footsteps in the hallway. Heavy. Fast. Angry.
Then the door handle jiggled.
A key scraped into the lock. The tumblers turned. The door swung open so hard it slammed against the wall and bounced back.
Tyler Knox stood in the doorway.
He was about 5’10". Stocky. Gym-built arms straining against a tight gray t-shirt. Red faced. Eyes wild. One hand gripped an aluminum baseball bat so tight his knuckles were white.
He looked at Damien. Then at the bar stool in his hands. Then back at Damien.
"Who the fuck are you?" Tyler’s voice was low and dangerous.
[Pheromone effect: Active. Aggression reduction: 15%. Insufficient.]
[Tyler Knox aggression level: Extreme. Weapon: Armed.]
Damien adjusted his grip on the stool. "I’m a friend of Mia’s."
"Friend." Tyler stepped inside and kicked the door shut behind him. "You don’t look like a friend. You look like a guy with his pants down in my girlfriend’s apartment."
"Ex-girlfriend." Damien kept his voice level. Calm. The way he used to calm down drunk customers at the bar. "She’s not your girlfriend anymore. You ended it."
"I ended it?" Tyler laughed. It was not a funny laugh. It was the kind of laugh that came before something broke. "She’s been cheating on me for months. I found the texts. I found the photos. I know everything."
[System perception analysis: Tyler Knox is lying. No evidence of infidelity found in Mia Chen’s communication history. Subject is projecting his own guilt. Tyler Knox has been cheating on Mia Chen for 3 months with a woman named Brittany Lopez.]
Son of a bitch. He cheated on her, and now he was showing up with a bat because he convinced himself she did the same thing. Classic projection. Damien had taken enough psychology electives to recognize the pattern.
"She didn’t cheat on you," Damien said. "And you know it."
Tyler’s grip on the bat tightened. "Shut up. You don’t know anything."
"I know you’ve been sleeping with someone named Brittany for three months."
The words left his mouth before he could stop them. The system had fed him the information, and his mouth just ran with it. Stupid. Incredibly stupid.
Tyler went completely still. The red in his face deepened to purple. His nostrils flared. His chest heaved.
"How do you know that?" Tyler whispered.
"I just do."
"Did she tell you? Did she hire you to spy on me? Who the fuck are you?"
[Tyler Knox aggression level: Extreme → Lethal. Weapon raised.]
Tyler raised the bat above his shoulder. His eyes were fixed on Damien’s head. No hesitation. No second guessing. He was going to swing.
[Emergency Quest update: Combat imminent.]
[Activating emergency adrenaline boost. Host Stamina temporarily increased by 3 points. Duration: 60 seconds.]
[60 seconds of enhanced reflexes. Use them wisely.]
Tyler swung.
The bat came down in a diagonal arc aimed at Damien’s left shoulder. Without the adrenaline boost, Damien would have taken the hit. With it, his body moved before his brain caught up.
He stepped left. The bat whooshed past his right side and cracked against the wall. Plaster exploded. The impact vibrated up Tyler’s arms and staggered him.
Damien swung the stool. Not at Tyler’s body. At his hands.
The metal legs connected with Tyler’s right wrist. A sharp crack. Tyler screamed and dropped the bat. It clattered across the floor and rolled under the couch.
Tyler grabbed his wrist. His face contorted in pain. But the anger didn’t fade. If anything, it got worse.
"You broke my fucking wrist!" he screamed.
"It’s not broken. It’s bruised. Walk away Tyler."
"I’ll kill you!"
Tyler charged. No weapon. Just rage and body mass. He lowered his shoulder and drove into Damien’s midsection. They crashed into the kitchen counter. Damien’s back hit the edge. Pain shot through his spine.
Tyler tried to grab him by the throat. Damien caught his hands. They grappled. Tyler was stronger. His fingers closed around Damien’s neck. Pressure built. Air cut off.
[Host Stamina depleting. 40 seconds of adrenaline boost remaining.]
[System recommendation: Target the injured wrist.]
Damien grabbed Tyler’s right wrist. The one he’d hit with the stool. He squeezed. Hard.
Tyler howled and his grip loosened. Damien shoved him backward. Tyler stumbled and hit the edge of the couch. He fell over it and crashed onto the cushions.
Before he could get up, Damien grabbed the bat from under the couch. He held it with both hands. Not swinging. Just holding it pointed at Tyler.
"Stay down," Damien said.
Tyler looked at him from the couch. Blood trickled from a cut on his forehead where he’d hit the armrest. His wrist was swelling. His chest heaved. The rage in his eyes was still there, but it was mixed with something else now.
Fear.
[Tyler Knox aggression level: Lethal → Suppressed.]
[Tyler Knox fear level: 62% and rising.]
"You don’t know what you’re doing," Tyler spat. "You don’t know who I know. I have friends. I have connections. When I tell them about this—"
"Tell them what? That you broke into your ex-girlfriend’s apartment with a bat and got your ass kicked by a barback?"
Tyler’s jaw clenched. The word barback seemed to register something. His eyes narrowed.
"Wait. I know you. You work at The Vault. You’re the busboy."
"Barback."
"Same thing." Tyler laughed. It was hollow and bitter. "She left me for a barback. That’s what this is."
"She didn’t leave you for anyone. You left her. Remember? By text. At 2 a.m."
Tyler’s mouth opened. Then closed. The reality of what he’d done seemed to hit him for the first time. His shoulders sagged. The fight drained out of him like water from a cracked glass.
The bathroom door creaked open. Mia stepped out. Her eyes were red. Her phone was in her hand. She looked at Tyler on the couch, then at Damien holding the bat, then at the hole in the wall.
"911 is on the way," she said quietly.
Tyler’s head snapped toward her. For a second, the rage flickered back. Then he looked at the bat in Damien’s hands and thought better of it.
"You’re really calling the cops on me?" Tyler said. "After two years?"
"You showed up at my apartment with a baseball bat, Tyler." Mia’s voice was steady. Cold. The same tone she used on grabby customers at the bar. "You broke my door. You attacked someone. Two years doesn’t give you the right to do that."
Tyler stared at her. Then at Damien. Then at the floor.
He stood up slowly. His wrist was purple and swollen. The cut on his forehead was still bleeding. He looked pathetic. Like a child who threw a tantrum and broke his own toys.
"I’m leaving," he muttered.
"Smart choice," Damien said.
Tyler walked toward the door. He paused with his hand on the handle. Without turning around, he said, "She’ll get bored of you. She gets bored of everyone."
Then he opened the door and walked out.
The door didn’t close properly because the lock was broken. Damien set the bat down and pushed it shut as best he could. Then he leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor.
His hands were shaking. His neck throbbed where Tyler had grabbed him. His back ached from hitting the counter. And his adrenaline was crashing hard.
[Emergency Quest: Survive the encounter with Tyler Knox. COMPLETE.]
[Reward: +100 EXP, +$1000 credited to system wallet.]
[Skill unlocked: Self-Defense Level 1. Host can now effectively defend against physical attacks. Reaction time improved.]
[Adrenaline boost expired. Host may experience fatigue and soreness for 2-4 hours.]
[Level up progress: 120/100 EXP. Host has leveled up!]
[Level: 1 → 2]
[Stat points awarded: +2 to distribute freely.]
[New System Shop items unlocked.]
[New Daily Quest will be generated within 24 hours.]
He leveled up. From the worst experience of his life. The system gave him EXP for surviving a baseball bat attack. What kind of game was this?
Mia sat down on the floor next to him. She was shaking too. Her knee touched his. Her head leaned against his shoulder.
"I heard everything," she whispered. "Through the door. How did you know about Brittany?"
Damien closed his eyes. "I can’t explain that."
"You know a lot of things you shouldn’t know."
"Yeah. It’s been a weird day."
She laughed softly. It was a broken laugh. The kind that comes after everything goes wrong and you don’t know what else to do.
"Thank you," she said. "He would have hurt me if you weren’t here."
"He wouldn’t have gotten past the door if you’d changed your locks."
"I know. I kept meaning to."
"Mia."
"Yeah?"
"Change your locks."
She laughed again. Stronger this time. She lifted her head and looked at him. Her dark eyes were still red, but the fear was fading. Something else was taking its place.
The system pulsed.
[Daily Quest: Seduce Mia Chen. Progress: 92%. Quest timer: 33 hours and 14 minutes remaining.]
[Note: Quest can still be completed. Emotional bond with target has strengthened significantly. Trust level: 68% → 89%.]
Mia’s hand found his. She intertwined their fingers. Her thumb traced circles on his palm.
"He’s gone," she said quietly.
"Yeah."
"The cops are coming."
"Yeah."
"We should probably put on shirts."
"Probably."
Neither of them moved. They sat on the floor of her ransacked apartment. Broken lock. Dented wall. A baseball bat on the ground. A bar stool on its side. And two people who had known each other for eight months but were only just now seeing each other clearly.
Mia turned her head and kissed his neck. Soft. Gentle. A kiss that said thank you and I need you and don’t leave all at once.
Then she pulled back. Her eyes were serious. Determined.
"Stay," she said. "After the cops leave. Stay tonight."
[Target Mia Chen. Arousal level: 91%. Trust level: 89%.]
[Daily Quest: Seduce Mia Chen. Progress: 92% → 94%.]
[Quest timer: 33 hours and 12 minutes remaining.]
Before Damien could answer, a system notification flashed red.
[WARNING: New threat detected.]
[Tyler Knox has posted on social media about the encounter. He has identified Host by name and workplace. He has labelled Host as a "home-wrecker" and posted Host’s photo from The Vault’s staff page.]
[The post is gaining traction. 142 shares in 4 minutes.]
[Chad Sterling has seen the post.]
[Chad Sterling has shared the post with the caption: "LMAO the barback strikes again "]
Damien stared at the notification. His stomach dropped. His name. His photo. His workplace. All over social media. And Chad Sterling, of all people, was amplifying it.
Mia was still looking at him. Waiting for an answer.
He looked at her. Then at the red warning pulsing in his vision.
[Threat level: Social. Economic. Physical.]
[Multiple hostile parties now aware of Host’s identity and location.]
[System recommendation: Increase quest completion rate. Gain EXP. Gain skills. Gain power.]
[Because they are coming for you.]