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MAGNUS
“Hey. Good to see you.” I had no idea who I was talking to as I raised my hand in greeting and gave the guy the same empty smile I’d flashed around since we got there. Leila was like an anchor pulling me down, but I forced myself through it and managed to smile at her once or twice.
She had jumped at the invitation to the party. No surprise there. I had been counting on that. She never could resist the opportunity to be seen by the sort of people Ari rubbed shoulders with on a daily basis.
“This place is gorgeous! We should get a place like this.” She pressed her body against mine and gazed up at me. “Shouldn’t we?”
“I’ll think about it,” I replied before scanning the room. Evelyn was there. I felt it. Her energy hung in the air and pulled at me like an invisible fishing line. I just hadn’t seen her yet.
When I found Olivia and Connor glaring at me from the center of the room, I knew she couldn’t be far away. I was right. Evelyn stood in the center of the group, holding an empty champagne flute in front of a dress that made her skin glow and highlighted every curve of her body. I missed her the way I would’ve missed my right arm had someone chopped it off. Every fiber of my being told me to go to her. To touch, kiss, and claim as mine because that’s who she was.
Not yet. Soon, but not yet.
First, we made our rounds. It was fucking torture, not being able to go to her after craving her for a week. I tried to catch her eye, but she refused to make it easy for me.
I swear, you’ll understand.
I hadn’t told a soul what I’d planned from the moment Ari mentioned a party. I had to trust she’d stick around long enough to see how this would play out.
What didn’t help was the filthy looks coming from my friends. Even the guys looked disappointed, though that was better than the girls’ fury. They would understand in time. At the moment, I only lifted a glass in their direction after picking up a drink from one of the two bars set up at opposite corners of the vast living room. Barrett was nowhere to be found. They were probably trying to keep him away from Evelyn or else risk her scratching his eyes out. According to Lourde, Eve still refused to speak to him.
“Where’s Ari?” Leila stood on her tiptoes but didn’t have my height advantage, even in mile-high stilettos. “I want to meet some of his model friends.”
“That’s not what we’re here for.” I gestured to the room and all the people around us. “Besides, there they are. You couldn’t swing a Gucci purse at this party without hitting a model.” She was so fucking boring. How did I never see that back in the day before we were married?Easy. She had your dick in her mouth most of the time. It sort of eliminated the need for conversation.
“Hey.” I was surprised at the sudden appearance of Lourde, who had cut her way through the mass of pretty bodies when I wasn’t paying attention. She barely lifted a hand to greet Leila—too busy staring daggers up at me to offer a warmer greeting. “Can I have a second?”
“I’m gonna go powder my nose, anyway,” Leila announced before squeezing my arm. I pretended not to notice when she strained upward, trying to kiss my cheek. No fucking way. I wasn’t going to make things worse.
“Sure, I’ll be right here.” Knowing her, she would probably blow some guy in the bathroom.
“What are you doing?” Lourde demanded, punching my arm. Weak, ineffective, but it got the point across. “Are you trying to prove Barrett right?”
With Leila out of the way, I could drop the act a bit. “Just do me a favor and let me do what I need to do. Can you trust me?”
She side-eyed me. “I don’t know, to be honest with you.”
“Fine. Fair enough. Just do me a favor.”
“What?” She narrowed her eyes.
“Find Barrett, get him out here when I give you a signal. That’s all I need. All right?”
“Uh, and make this a bigger disaster than it is? Newsflash… Evelyn is devastated. You were supposed to step up tonight and make things right. I’m not going to encourage a fight between you and my husband.”
Evelyn had her back turned to me now. I needed her to look at me. I needed her to see there was a purpose to all this. “There won’t be a fight.”
“All I’m saying is, if one breaks out, I better not get any blood splattered on me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
She rolled her eyes before marching back to the group, where there was nothing but dirty looks being thrown my way. I’d had plenty of those looks thrown my way in the past, so it didn’t bother me. Besides, I only cared about Evelyn. She was so beautiful. It must’ve taken everything in her to show up here.
“Hey, baby.” Leila practically slithered her way up my body, standing on tiptoes to brush her lips against my ear. I shivered like a snake was touching me. “I was kind of hoping you would come find me so we could have a little fun.”
For fuck’s sake. I invited her to one single party, and suddenly we were back to quick fuck in a bathroom status? I only shrugged while looking across the room and nodding to Lourde, who looked skeptical but nodded back before walking off to find her husband.
In the meantime, I snagged a glass of champagne from the bar and stepped onto the nearest chair, earning laughter and a few surprised looks from people who didn’t know me well enough to be surprised in the first place.
