Gretchen: Damn you and your codependent ways. Fine. Whatever. Just keep her and her gold-digging hands away from my man. There’s plenty of other billionaires going to be there that night.
Which brought Edie to the question she’d been trying to tiptoe closer to. Is everyone in the wedding party going to be there?
Not everyone , sent Gretchen, along with a frowny face.
Edie’s heart thumped in her chest. Oh?
Gretchen: Yeah, Brontë and Logan are overseas for some business thingie. Bron started to give me details but I stopped caring about halfway through. Needless to say, they’ll be in Germany? Sweden? Something over there.
Edie: Oh. Anyone . . . else?
Gretchen: Girl, just come right out and ask it! Magnus and his brother RSVP’d. You can tap that ass when you get here.
Edie: I’m not sure if I hate you or I love you.
Gretchen: I get that a lot. It’s both.
Edie texted Gretchen a smiley face and then put down her phone, thinking. Her heart fluttered with excitement at the thought of Magnus being at the costume party. Would he pay attention to her? Or ignore her like the last awkward party they went to together?
And at what point was Bianca going to let her kiss the damn man?
***
Edie: So how are Lady C and Lady D this week?
Magnus: They’re good. Thanks for asking.
Edie: Great! Glad to hear that. Are they still in separate rooms?
Magnus: I’ve been switching them out like you suggested. Today they were in a room together for the first time. No fighting, either. They are doing fine.
Edie: Wonderful! I’m so glad. Please let me know if you have trouble with either one.
Magnus: Will do.
Edie: Thanks for letting me sleep over the other night. Sorry I had to displace you.
Magnus: No problem.
Edie: Okay, see you around.
Magnus: Bye.
Edie stared down at her phone, confused and a little pissed. Magnus had been fun to hang out with last weekend. He’d flirted with her to the point that she thought she’d break Bianca’s rule and kiss him. Hell, she’d break all the rules and climb him like a jungle gym. She’d spent the night in the man’s bed. They’d had a moment, damn it. They’d had several of them, or so she’d thought.
But that text conversation? That was all business. Cold, impersonal, and he made her feel a little stupid for trying so hard.
She’d thought they were friends. Was she completely off about that? Maybe she’d read him wrong all this time.
Well . . . fuck him. She wasn’t going to be the one who reached out all the time. Let him give it a shot. If he wanted to be friends with Edie, he was going to have to try a little.
***
Magnus felt like a dick as he reviewed Edie’s friendly texts. He’d blown her off deliberately. It wasn’t her—it was the entire situation with Levi and Bianca and the stupid games they were playing. They were setting Edie up as a clueless pawn and himself as an evil mastermind, and he was fucking tired of that shit. If Levi wanted to see Bianca, he could ask her out like a goddamn adult, not ask Magnus to distract Edie so he could sneak off.
It was childish, and he was going to have no part in it. Edie deserved better, and she deserved someone who wanted to go out with her because she was warm and funny and had a soft heart when it came to animals, and the most incredible, kissable mouth.
Not someone who was dating her simply to distract her. He’d gotten a glimpse inside Edie’s mind in the last week or two. She was like a piece of dark chocolate that came in those candy boxes—bitter and brittle on the outside, and filled with sweetness within.
She deserved someone who would appreciate that sweetness. Not these stupid games Levi and Bianca were determined to play.
He tossed aside his phone in frustration, enjoying the clatter it made on his desk. He was alone in the office, and that made him even more frustrated. True to form, Levi was sulking and avoiding work.
Fuck him. Fuck everything about this. Magnus threw up his hands and went to the workout room to blow off some steam.
***
“Please, please tell me you’re not going to wear that outfit,” Bianca said to Edie, chasing after her sister with a makeup brush. “Look. I still have glitter and a long dress! We can make you a princess, too!” She blinked big, pleading eyes at her older sister.
Edie shook her sword at Bianca. “Arr. I’m going to be a pirate.”
“Pirates aren’t sexy! You want to be sexy tonight, don’t you?”
“I can be a sexy pirate.”
“Not with a peg leg, you can’t.”
“It’s the perfect solution,” Edie said, tapping her sword against the peg her knee was propped up on. “With this thing I can sit in the corner and be in character, and no one’s going to expect me to dance or be social or anything.” She flipped down the eyepatch over one eye. “You can be the hot one.”
“But . . . but . . .”
“No buts . I’d just trip over that dress you got me anyhow.” Apparently Bianca had thought that Edie could wear a glittery green slinky mermaid costume, complete with red wig and seashell bra. And while it would have been hilarious to be the mermaid to Gretchen’s Ursula, it also would have meant a lot of attention and a lot of walking and mingling, and that was not her idea of fun. So she’d hit up a thrift store and made her own costume out of a ragged black asymmetrical skirt, a few plastic Halloween props, and a red-and-white striped blouse that hung off of one shoulder and was probably from the eighties’ Flashdance era. A retro pirate was still a pirate, after all.
“Can’t we at least glitter up your cheekbones?” Bianca asked, holding up her makeup brush.