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folk and alternative, provided the soundtrack to my life. I figured the least I could give them in return was top billing in my kitchen.
    Once the computer was liberated from its packaging, I sat cross-legged on the couch and loaded up the game.
    What greeted me on the screen was utter chaos. A city burning, a fight between some villagers and an army, and the guy from the packaging—the one with calves like Gerard Butler—emerging from the ashes.
    When the smoke faded, Gerard stood alone on a patch of grass. Minor chords over a steady drumbeat emanated from the computer’s speakers. Icons and numbers flashed in front of me, forming some kind of dashboard I hadn’t the first clue what to do with.
    What now?
    You’re a young, single female sitting in front of her computer at midnight on a work night, a sneaky voice in my head piped up.
    Trying to play a computer game.
    And the only person to give you an orgasm in the last revolution of the Earth around the sun is you.
    The first four results for “Oasis game” in my search page were top notch reviews.
    The fifth was “cheat codes.”
    There were so many things I could be doing right now. Pilates. Reality TV. Hell, maybe I could even return the computer and get my dress back.
    No. As much as this sucked, cheating would be worse.
    Returning to my new notebook, my gaze roamed the virtual countryside. This time, I noticed something in the corner of my screen.
    Somehow I managed to put two plus two together, and virtual me scampered over the virtual terrain. I found food, stole a donkey, and rode it to a village, where I fought a guy with a massive beard who looked like he should be on the cover of a romance novel.
    Finally a banner unfurled across the bottom of the screen, declaring my title was “peasant.”
    “That’s a promotion ? What was I before, dirt?” I glanced at the clock. “Holy shit.” It was three am. I had to be up at six thirty to be at work by eight for a full day of meetings.
    I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and fell into bed.
    You better be worth this, Max Donovan .
     

 
     
    Chapter 5
    Flying monkeys. Nice.
     
     
     
     
    By Wednesday night I’d mastered the basics of Oasis: things like how to fight, run, and train flying monkeys to do my bidding.
    My couch was also going to have a permanent dent in it from my ass, thanks to the hours I was logging there.
    I was hunched over the computer in my lap, working my way up from squire, when my cellphone startled me. I hit the speaker button.
    “Hey, Mom.”
    “Paybear. Just wanted to call and see how things are going three days into the new job. You busy?”
    “Nope. Just trying to become a knight,” I mumbled. Gerard found a burst of speed and circled the last two enemies, attacking from the rear. Ilyana, a hot warrior chick who joined us while we were crossing the biggest desert ever, appeared from nowhere to deal a deathblow to the final opponent.
    I pumped a fist in the air as the victory cut scene flashed and endorphins flooded my brain. 
    “What was that honey?”
    “Oh. Sorry. Just said I’m having a quiet night.” I moved the computer off my lap and stood to stretch my legs. I lifted the phone to my ear, taking it off speaker.
    “How is life as an associate?”
    “Oh, you know. Day drinking and name dropping.”
    My mom laughed, like I knew she would. “What’s it really like?”
    Avery’s ominous words my first day about high expectations came back to me. The onslaught of meetings and requests since then had only reinforced the fact that being an associate was a whole other level.
    “I’m figuring it out. There’s this one client who would pretty much make my year, but he’s being…difficult.”
    “Knowing you, I’m sure you’ll get him.”
    The kink in my neck was about as bad as the ones in my fingers, but I tried to work it out anyway.  “I’m going to try.”
    “I’m so proud of you. You know that, right?”
    “Yeah.” A smile pulled at my mouth despite