These Games We Play Novels & Stories

“Rule #1: Don’t fall for the roommate. Rule #2: Seriously, don’t fall for the roommate.” *** After an incident that shattered her confidence, Phoenix wants nothing more than to disappear. So, when her twin brother makes her a crazy, bizarre but deliciously sinful offer, she slips on a uniform and takes her place as his twin ‘brother’ at Harrison Park Academy — a chance to restart and feel in control, just until she feels okay again. But HPA has its own rules—and none of them account for bathroom phobias, shared dorms, or accidentally locking eyes with your ridiculously attractive new roommate. Justice is intense, loyal, and way too perceptive for her comfort. Worst of all? He’s the one person she can’t seem to avoid… or stop thinking about. He’s just irritating enough to make her blood boil. But he’s also kind in the quietest ways, and she’s falling, fast. Now Phoenix is navigating locker room close calls, midnight showers, secret crushes, late-night parties with their sister all-girls’ school across the lake and an escalating rivalry between the athletes and the academic elite. Her lies are stacking higher than her jump shots, and with each game, the stakes get heavier. Everyone thinks she’s just another boy chasing a spot on the team. But she’s playing for more than victory. She’s playing to feel like herself again. She’s playing to forget what happened last year. And if anyone finds out who she really is, it won’t just be her cover that’s blown— it’ll be her entire world. Phoenix is one step away from getting exposed. And when you’re living a lie? One wrong move is all it takes to lose the game. How long can she keep playing it straight?

"Let's just say I'm tired of playing games and want to quit this? I want to be close to you because I like you. I want to know if we both like each other or I just misinterpreted your actions?" "No, you're right," she admitted. "But just this afternoon you said I was a complication you didn't need." "Over-analyzing is second nature to me. It helps me more often than I care to count. But not this time." "It doesn't seem like that," she said deliberately. "Maybe you just realized that there is no good chance of success in a relationship with me." "I don't care about the future. The only thing that matters is what's here and what's now." He stepped towards her, then another, until he could almost inhale the scent of her skin. "What can you say, Lara?" He asked hoarsely. "Are you ready to take a risk with me?"

Alex’s life is a wild whirlwind at this rich hockey school. He’s a poor scholarship kid, but he’s killer on the ice. Damien, the hot, cruel team captain, hates him — but can’t stop touching him while claiming he's not gay. He slams Alex hard into the boards and whispers dirty words that make Alex’s body burn with heat and shame. Then Lila, Damien’s crazy childhood friend, wants Alex for herself. She has dangerous secrets that can destroy him if he says no. But Jax arrives — a kind, sexy hockey star who truly cares. He wants to protect Alex and make him his. Now Alex is trapped between hate, obsession, and desire. One wrong move and he loses everything. This steamy MM hockey romance is full of hot hate-to-love tension, dirty obsession, and a love triangle that will leave you aching.

I sell burritos in a horror game. All the ghosts would come to my place and buy a tasty burrito after they got off work. That was until one day, my ex-husband, who was obsessed with abusing me, joined the game as a player. He brought a group of people to my store and trashed the place. They ruined all the ingredients I had. When the Bosses finished their overtime and saw their pre-ordered burritos on the ground in pieces, their eyes became dark, and they were immediately infuriated. The Patchwork Monster was so angry that the stitches on its body were beginning to break. It started ripping the players apart. The Eight-Armed Maiden’s hair fanned out and pierced many players. The Wedding Dress Maiden suddenly became a giant and started eating the players one by one. The Bosses were willing to work overtime and maintain the operations of the dungeons overnight just so that they could have a burrito. That night, all the players were sleeping when they were forced to join a horror game.

22-year-old Serena is a student at the University of California Art Institute. She has an uncontrollable desire for sex and would offer it as a price to get anything she wanted. She meets Vincent, a young billionaire, playboy, and crypto investor at a club and they both have a one-night stand. Unknown to her, Vincent is her new boss at her new job. He makes her fall head over heels for him, using his charm to manipulate her. 28-year-old Vincent is a dropout from the University of California Arts Institute. He made his money through crypto and forex trade. He meets Serena in a club and they both have a one-night stand. Serena turns out to be his new Secretary, but Vincent uses the opportunity to get closer to Serena, manipulating her for his sexual gratification while having true in-depth feelings for her. Will Serena's sexual history ruin her chance for real love? How long will Vincent manipulate Serena for his sexual gratification? Will she escape the grips of Vincent, or will she find solace in their twisted sex life?

My parents and my younger sister, Mable Munroe, are diagnosed with severe illnesses one after another. As I stare at the astronomical sum of medical bills, I can only grit my teeth and deal with them by taking on ten part-time jobs in one go. After stirring awake from collapse caused by exhaustion, I realize that I can hear the thoughts of everyone around me. My mom, who's too busy coughing up blood, has something else going on in her mind. "This low-quality fake blood really is disgusting! Why isn't that stupid brat giving us her salary of the day? I need the money to buy new bags!" My dad, who's already crippled from his disease, thinks, "I'm about to get cramps from all the cripple-faking I have to do! Once Talia clears my debt, I'm going to get myself a nice proper massage for a few days straight!" Meanwhile, the weakened Mable has already cooked up a plot in her mind. "Hurry up and tell that broke boyfriend of mine to stay awake from me! I want Talia to break up with him on my behalf! That way, I'll be able to reel in my next boyfriend without any guilt!" As I stare at my family, I choose to not expose their lies. Instead, I retrieve all the money that I've planned on paying their "medical bills" with. Later on, I track down Mable's boyfriend, Kyle Hargrove. There, I can hear his thoughts echoing loudly in my mind. "Did Mable get her sister to send the message that she wants to dump me? I'll have her know that I'm the only son of the richest man in town! Mable and that family of hers shall live in regret for the rest of their lives!" A bold thought pops into my mind all of a sudden. I twist my ankle on the spot and use the opportunity to collapse right into Kyle's arms.

A sizzling, modern reimagining of Beauty and the Beast – with a billionaire twist!Lily Frazer would do anything to save her father’s struggling arts center - even take on the infamous billionaire Calder Cunningham.When Lily breaks onto the Cunningham estate, she only wants to find and reason with the arrogant, brooding Calder. Then the worst happens, and she finds herself trapped with him, stranded at his palatial mansion during a terrible storm.As it turns out, Calder is willing to give her the money he promised, but there's a catch: she must win it from him. And the games he has in mind aren't exactly . . . innocent.Can Lily survive his wicked games of cat and mouse?Due to explicit scenes, this steamy romance is rated 18+.His Wicked Games is created by Ember Casey, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

Frustrated by the mounting tuition fees, Zella was desperate to open an online wife service through social media. At first everything went well, she got a man with a fantastic fee. But after the contract ended, she began to regret it and wished time would turn back to when she didn't know the man.

Ethan Hale never thought desperation would drive him here. He was suffering from a failed engagement, rent was overdue and his pride was hanging by a thread when the discreet contract landed in his lap. A year of surrender to a man who can buy and break anyone? Insanity. Dominic Blackwell isn’t just anyone. He’s ruthless. He’s magnetic. He’s a billionaire with a hunger for control that borders on obsession. And he wants Ethan… body, mind, and soul. What begins as a business arrangement quickly turns into something darker, something Ethan swore he wasn’t capable of craving. Every touch leaves him raw, every command strips him bare, and every night pushes him deeper into a world where pain and pleasure blur until he can’t tell the difference. Ethan told himself he was straight. He told himself this was just about money. But Dominic has a way of dragging out the parts of Ethan he never dared to face: the fantasies, the submission, the need to be owned. One year. That’s all Ethan agreed to. But in Dominic’s arms, rules are broken, lines are crossed, and one year might not be enough to survive…or to let go.

Dangerous, sexy, and arrogant, badboy billionaire, Dominique Gray always gets his way; in the boardrooms and even in the bedroom. His arrogance is twice the size of his bank account and he walks like he owns the universe. Running away from her past and the life she’d hoped to forget, Robyn Denver fled from Italy to New York City, hoping to start afresh as a practical nurse in one of the most prestigious hospitals in the state. A new life, a new place, and a new identity. Everything is going as planned, not until Robyn crosses paths with Dominique Gray, one of the country’s most influential and powerful figures. He’s everything she’d vowed to stay away from, but yet she hates the fact that he brings out the woman in her she’d locked and long suppressed. He’s alluring, manipulative, domineering, all of everything she loathes, but yet she can’t resist the billionaire’s charms. Dominique wants the one thing he knows he can’t have, but yet he’s not willing to back down. Robyn Denver is everything challenging and feisty, and one thing Dominique Gray loves is challenge. After a heated and passionate one night together in a masked charity event, Robyn walks away with Dominique Gray craving for more. But what happens when Dominique Gray wants the one thing Robyn isn’t willing to give? Her heart. And when the past Robyn has been running away from disrupts her new life, will Robyn let her heart cherish the one best thing in her life or will her past keep them apart? *** CONTENT WARNING: This story is rated for a mature audience and includes explicit sexual content, sexual language and violence.