Page 132 of End Game

He gestures toward me with both hands. “That. Exactly that.”

Micah laughs as he sits down, and I decide there is no productive response.

“So what are the next steps?” I ask Cami instead.

Her attention returns to me, and some of the defensiveness disappears.

“Alexis is sending me the launch information and the requirements. I’m supposed to look at the scope, figure out how much time I think it’ll take, and send her a proposal.”

“Based on what you normally charge?”

Her nose wrinkles.

“No. Apparently based on what I should be charging.”

Griffin smiles into his beer as he takes a sip.

She narrows her eyes at him. “Stop looking smug.”

The conversation moves for a few minutes after that—Griffin asking what the project actually involves, Micah wanting to know whether she’d still keep her existing clients, Dex volunteering to become her “creative director” despite having no qualifications beyond only a laptop and being chronically online.

But through all of it, Cami keeps smiling.

We tell her she’s talented frequently enough that I’m fairly certain she has started categorizing our opinions as biased data.

Alexis looked at something Cami built without any of us and told her it was worth more.

I hadn’t realized until now how badly I wanted someone outside this house to tell her that.

Cami is still talking about the project when she unlocks her phone again.

Third time.

Nothing has changed since the last time. I know because I watched her check then, too.

Her knee has also been bouncing for the last several minutes.

She’s excited, but with a disadvantage on patience.

Dex reaches over and pats her arm. “For what it’s worth, I think your social media shit is very impressive.”

“You ask me how Instagram works at least once a week,” she counters.

Cami is laughing when she looks down at her phone.

“Oh!” Her head comes back up. “And Alexis invited all of us to dinner.”

Dex, halfway through opening a bag of gummy worms, stops. “All of us?”

“Yes.”

“At their house?”

“Yes.”

“With all five of her guys?”

“Yes, Dex.”