“Because Magnus has a lot of stairs and you were at the house by yourself. Of course I’d worry. What if your knee gave out on you? I’d never forgive myself.”
Now Bianca was making her feel bad. Edie hated lying—she’d told Bianca that she was staying with Magnus’s cats while he went to the convention—but she wasn’t sure how her sister would take the news. “I can handle a few sets of stairs, Bianca. No big deal. I’m not completely incompetent.”
“Of course not.” Bianca sounded offended that Edie would think it. “Excuse me if I worry about my sister after not seeing you for a few days. I’ll just . . . leave you alone.”
Edie sighed. At this point, she was probably supposed to apologize to Bianca for being bitchy and soothe her hurt feelings. But she didn’t feel like it. Being with Magnus had been nice, because he’d accommodated her knee without making her feel like she was broken. Bianca always made her feel like . . . less. And she hadn’t realized it until just now. “Can we do this later? I’m kind of tired and I’d just like to snuggle with the cats for now, if that’s all right.”
“Sorry if I’m bothering you.” Bianca turned and headed back up the stairs. “I’ll just go upstairs by myself, then. Like I have been for the last few days.”
Edie rolled her eyes.
***
Bianca nibbled on a delicately painted fingernail. She didn’t like this. Not at all. Why was Edie blowing her off? Edie normally needed her. She needed Bianca to drive, and to help her with the business. She relied on Bianca and couldn’t get things done without her. Edie leaving for four days and not even asking Bianca to take care of the cats?
It made her unsettled and unhappy. Of course she was concerned about Edie. Her sister tended to overextend herself when it came to helping people and their cats, to the point that she usually had to ice her knee at the end of the day. She always put herself last and needed someone like Bianca to think about her. Because that was who Bianca was—a selfless, devoted sister and assistant.
She frowned at her reflection in the mirror and smoothed her hair, then put on a bit of lip gloss. Her eyes looked tired today, so she carefully put on a pair of fake lashes, added some mascara, and fluttered in the mirror. Better. Now prepared, she shut the door to her room and turned to her computer, then dialed Levi on Skype.
He answered right away. “Bianca! I’ve missed you.”
She gave him a tiny, coquettish smile. “I’ve missed you, too.” Actually, she hadn’t. Levi was clingy to the point of being irritating, and he wanted sex all the time, and Bianca was a firm believer in not putting out unless there was a ring on her finger. The only redeeming thing in his favor at the moment was that he had a lot of money. Then again, she’d met a lovely man named Cooper at Gretchen’s engagement party, and while he wasn’t the greatest to look at, he owned a chain of coffee shops and seemed content to worship her from afar, which was better than Levi’s grating handsiness and constant texting.
“You’re so beautiful,” Levi said dreamily, staring into the screen. “I can’t think of anything but you.”
“Thank you,” she told him politely. Then she bit her lip in dramatic fashion and set out the bait. “Levi . . . I’m troubled. I don’t know who else to turn to.”
His eyes widened. “What do you need?”
“I’m just . . . troubled about my sister. Has Magnus said anything about the time she spent at your place?”
Levi tilted his head like a dog, curious. “What do you mean? She was at the convention this week.”
“Convention?” Bianca kept the prettily confused look on her face, even though she wanted to seethe. Someone was lying to her. Her! After everything she’d done for her sister. She selflessly looked after Edie and drove her everywhere. It felt a bit like betrayal, but she squashed that feeling down. “What convention?”
“She was with Magnus at FanBoy Con this last week. Wearing cat ears and everything. He said he hired her as a consultant for a new project.” Levi shook his head. “They were holding hands. He’s really got her fooled.”
Bianca gasped. “He’s still stringing her along? That’s . . . that’s not called for. He’s only supposed to distract her while we go out.” And since she wasn’t all that interested in Levi at the moment, deceit wasn’t necessary. “Doesn’t he realize he doesn’t have to do it all the time?”
“Magnus likes to go whole hog when it comes to projects,” Levi said ruefully. “You should see how much he’s hounding me to work on this new game. Just the other day—”
She held a hand up, indicating that he should be quiet, and he did. “Levi, sweetie, don’t you think this is cruel? Edie’s my sister. She’s fragile. She’s going to be devastated when she finds out all this is a lie.” She fluttered her lashes and then shook her head sadly. “You’re going to have to tell your brother to back off for now. We don’t want my sister getting too badly hurt. Her last boyfriend . . .” she trailed off, then changed tactics. No need to talk about that. “I am Edie’s caretaker, Levi. If she suffers, it affects me. It hurts me. Do you understand?”
“I do! I’ll tell Magnus to back off. But what about us?”
“We’ll figure something out.” She gave him a sad smile. “I don’t like the thought of our happiness at my sister’s expense.”
“I’ll fix this,” Levi swore.
“Thanks, sugar,” Bianca said. She blew him a kiss and then cut off the Skype chat. Oooh, Cooper was on. Maybe she’d say hello to him.
***
Magnus pulled up to Buchanan Manor in his Maserati. He’d been expecting to have a private conversation with his friend, hopefully about a new cat-friendly apartment he could ensconce Edie into. But when he parked, he noticed that there were several other cars lining the long, curving driveway, and all of them were shiny with wax and read like the auto section of the Robb Report: Tesla, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, and his brother’s Aston Martin were all parked. Okay, so there was a meeting here today.
What the hell was Levi doing here, though? Unless it was something to do with the wedding? Surely it hadn’t been called off? He pocketed his keys and headed to the door. The butler let him inside, and into the mazelike house.
The other men were waiting in Hunter’s stark office. He knew from dealing with Hunter in the past that the man preferred to do most of his work from his home office, though he knew Hunter had an office in the city as well. As he entered the room, he saw the other men in the room were the other groomsmen, with the exception of Reese and Logan. Asher, Cooper, Sebastian, and his brother, who sat in the back with his arms crossed, a sullen expression on his face.
Magnus took a seat with the others, feeling a bit like a guilty schoolboy. The grim look on Hunter’s face didn’t help. “Hello, boys,” Magnus said, keeping his tone easy. “Surprised to see all of you here.”
Asher didn’t make eye contact with Magnus, but that didn’t surprise him. Sebastian glanced over, but he seemed preoccupied. Only Cooper gave Magnus a friendly smile. Everyone else looked too damn uncomfortable.
“Good, you’re here,” Hunter said, tone curt. He folded his hands on his desk. “I asked you all to come here today because you are all good friends and business associates of mine. I’ve asked you to be in my wedding. I trust all of you. And you know that Gretchen is the woman I love and intend to marry, and she has her heart set on a big wedding with lots of pomp and circumstance. And because I can’t refuse her anything, I’m going to give her the big wedding she wants. Which is what brings me to today’s meeting.” He dragged a hand over one cheek, as if rubbing a scar. Then, he glared at them. “Quit sticking your dicks in the bridesmaids.”
Sebastian snorted.
Asher just grinned.
Magnus said nothing, but his fists clenched at his side. Is that what this was about?
Hunter spoke again. “One of the women is dropping from the bridal party, and my wife-to-be is extremely upset. Gretchen has been frantic all day, and I told her I’d take care of it.”