PLAY Read Online Free PDF

my tiredness. “How are you feeling this week?”
    “Not great yesterday, but better today.”
    I frowned. “Did you go into work?”
    “Yes, Payton.”
    “Mom, that’s what sick days are for, you know. You’ve only been back a few months. Go easy.”
    “I will, sweetie.” Her voice said she thought I was being overprotective, but my mom liked to think she was invincible. Once I’d thought so too. “We still on for brunch Sunday?”
    “You bet.”
    “Can you do me a favor and drop me at my meeting tomorrow after work?”
    “Of course. Seven pm?” I checked my calendar. If I was in the office by seven and worked through lunch, I should be able to make it out by six.
    “You got it.”
    After hanging up, I moved to stand over my computer. Research had told me the game had ten levels. I was on eight.
    What if you finish and nothing happens? All the sticky had said was PLAY , after all.
    Donovan’s smirking face danced in my mind.
    I’d come this far. There was no way in hell I was going to back down.
    Ignoring my sore butt, I plunked down on the couch and set the computer back on my lap.
     

     
    By Thursday morning, I was a mage. I barely enjoyed the rush of satisfaction after beating a nasty level because I was still one hurdle away.
    I spared a quick glance away from the screen to take in Charlie’s horrified face when she entered my office. “You look like an extra from The Walking Dead . Did you even have time for mascara?”
    “Of course I did!”
    She leaned over the desk and pressed a finger to my cheek, recoiling when she saw the black marks on her skin. “Tuesday’s mascara doesn’t count. Payton, what’s wrong with you? I’m worried.”
    I blew a piece of wavy hair out of my face. Maybe I hadn’t had time to put on makeup this morning, and my shirt didn’t really go with this skirt, but I could remedy both those things.
    As soon as I finished the game.
    “Portfolio update is this afternoon,” I said through my teeth. “I need an update on Donovan by then. I don’t think ‘I’m playing his game’ will be acceptable.”
    “Don’t you have any other leads to present?”
    “Nope,” I admitted. Because I’d been pouring all my time into Donovan, I didn’t have a plan B. Management would freak if I had no new clients and no prospects. And Avery…I couldn’t think about the look on Avery’s face when I bombed. “It’s too late to start scouting now. Charlie, I need to close this deal, and I can’t do that unless I get through the last level in this stupid game!”
    Charlie eyed me with pity. “Well, I guess there’s only one thing to do.”
    She shut the door before coming back around the desk to perch behind me. After a quick scan of my screen, her fingernail pointed to one of the meters in my dashboard. “Increase your resistance before you fight your way through that wall. They’re going to come at you with archers, so you need to be able to take a lot of damage. See that gate? You need allies that can break down that, or the walls. What do you have—giants? Something big and burly. Dragons or anything that can fly would work too.”
    I looked at her in awe. “Who are you?”
    “My brothers played a lot of video games.” She tapped the screen. “Flying monkeys. Nice.”
    By twelve forty-five pm, we’d broken through the gate and conquered the city and the oasis. “Success” appeared over the red banner unfurling across the screen. The wave of accomplishment I felt was on par with the rush I’d gotten when I graduated business school.
    “We did it!” Charlie exclaimed, her expression dissolving into delight.
    My cell was already buzzing. I didn’t question how he knew I’d finished, just as I didn’t question that it was him.
    “I’m going cross-eyed, I have blisters on my hands, and I haven’t washed my hair in three days.”
    Donovan’s low laugh came down the line, sending prickles down my spine while reminding me just how annoyed I was. “You say that