Free Solace by Sierra Riley Page B

“Than I ever did in person.”
    Shane could understand that. He’d never had a problem talking to people. At least, not before he was deployed. He would have gone up to anyone. Now, he wasn’t so sure.
    Things were easier in game. They just were.
    “I logged the most hours in Afghanistan. When I got done with work for the day, I’d come back to my bunk and just play until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. I guess it… I don’t know. It was a good way to…”
    “Not think about everything else?” Aaron supplied.
    “Yeah,” he agreed.
    His main character in Shield and Sanctuary was still a soldier. Well. A warrior. But when he killed “people,” they respawned. When he “died,” he respawned, too.
    He didn’t have to worry about how he was going to get through the next day. He didn’t have to worry about what he’d do if the enemy showed up at their doorstep.
    The soldiers who’d given him shit for playing had the same thing. They all did. If a soldier didn’t have a way to escape, he just shored up completely.
    Shane had gotten close to that point. And he’d probably swung the pendulum too far the other way, too, playing for hours and hours just to keep that shit as far away from his consciousness as possible.
    “If you ever need help leveling one of those alts, I can run you through some dungeons,” Aaron said, interrupting his thoughts before they could take a darker turn.
    “Nah, man, I wouldn’t ask you to do that. But hit me up sometime and maybe we can knock out some quests.”
    He picked up the pen he kept on that same desk and tore off the top sheet where he’d scrawled a list of components he still needed to make the armor he wanted for his paladin.
    On the clean sheet, he wrote down his handle: A way for Aaron to reach him when he was online. He offered it up to Aaron, and the man took it. Soft fingers just brushed Shane’s, and he felt a little shiver of heat race up his arm from the point of contact.
    Aaron must have felt it too, because he was blushing again.
    “Thanks. I’ll do that.”
    And Shane genuinely hoped he did.

10
Aaron
    A s soon as Aaron stepped through the door of his small apartment, he knew what his destination was going to be.
    It wasn’t all that different from any other Saturday, only instead of going out for a walk, he’d come from Shane’s place after arriving bright and early to help him and Buttercup make a good chunk of progress in their obedience training.
    He kicked off his shoes, nudging them neatly into place with his toes before padding into the kitchen. Washing out the coffee pot, he filled it back up with clean, filtered water and started the coffee maker with three scoops of dark roast—extra caffeinated.
    While it brewed, he changed out of his pressed shirt and pants into older, baggier clothes; just an old t-shirt and a broken-in pair of jeans. Leaning over his computer desk, he launched the client for Shield and Sanctuary and entered his login credentials.
    Then, after fetching his cup and making some toast, he sat down with every intention of just spending the day doing whatever he pleased in game.
    By this point, he felt he’d earned it. He’d played only a handful of hours since starting Shane and Buttercup’s training, and while he didn’t regret it at all, it was nice to have a day to himself where he could unwind.
    As he waited for his character to load into the game world, though, he found himself thinking about his “client.”
    Shane was so good-natured about some things. He acted like nothing ever bothered him. But Aaron had seen a few glimpses of Shane that proved otherwise.
    He wished he’d open up. Even just a little. And, Aaron had to admit, he didn’t just wish that because he was his trainer. He found himself wanting to know Shane.
    He opened up his friends list, hoping Shane would be around. But he wasn’t. He hadn’t been since they’d first talked about it two weeks ago, and Aaron couldn’t help but wonder if