Page 123 of Mask and the Magnolia

Evie shimmies down the ladder and comes to stand next to me, admiring her work as he answers, “I thought so, too. Turns out my father had it boxed up and thrown into the attic under twenty years of academic records.”

I frown as I turn to face her. “Why?”

“No clue.” She shrugs then giggles a bit. “It probably scared him. That bitch is powerful and you know how well my dad handles a woman with balls bigger than his.”

My best friend is not wrong about that. Carter isn’t loyal to Dolly, and he won’t grant her a divorce, but he stays out of her way and does what she says for the most part. He likes to talk a big game on campus but I’ve seen them at Evie’s house and he does not like a woman with a backbone and ambition.

It’s a huge part of why my best friend wound up with her own contract of doom. Carter was preplanning in case his daughter was a mini version of his wife.

Too bad for him, she is.

”Okay,” Eve says, startling me as she rushes into her kitchen and rummages around before reappearing in the living room next to me. “Let’s celebrate.”

I frown but can’t help but laugh as she hands me two glasses and tries for five minutes to pop the cork on the champagne bottle in her hand.

“Celebrate what?” We both jump when it shoots off the bottle top, breaking the neck as a fountain of bubbly spills all over the floor.

”This,” Evie squeals as she fills our glasses and motions to her new place. “And…” She grabs the collar of my sweater and points to the pink teeth marks that are almost healed. “This! You already mated so I’m going to guess that you went into heat for the first time in your entire life, and those four dangerous, broody men of yours rocked your world during it!”

My cheeks heat but I can’t do anything other than giggle like an idiot because my best friend is right, and she’s doing her adorable little happy dance and that always makes me laugh.

But before I can answer, someone knocks on Evie’s door.

“I ordered us pizza, it’s fine.” She grabs her wallet from the coffee table then searches for some cash as she answers. “Don’t tell me you aren’t hungry, I know what the post heat afterglow?—“

Eve freezes as she pulls the door open, her eyes wide as she backs into the room slowly. My heart starts to race as panic surges through me, my mind instantly going back to the night Camden attacked me.

Except, it isn’t him.

No, it’s not the devil I was expecting, but one who decided to catch me by surprise.

”Sorry to show up unannounced,” my father says as he comes in and stands a few feet in front of me. “It’s been rather difficult tracking you down the last few weeks, and this was my last resort.”

Eve looks at me as he busies himself with removing his gloves and scarf, her eyes wide as she mouths,Do you want me to stay?

I love her for that.

My father has never laid a hand on me, we both know I'm not in any danger of that happening, but the Dean is clearly pissed and my best friend doesn’t want me to have to face him alone.

But I don’t want her to have to face him at all.

So, I give her a subtle shake of my head then nod toward the hall so she knows she doesn’t need to stay but I want her close.

Not that she’s thrilled by that plan, but she gets it, and that’s why Eve says, “I’ll let you two catch up.” She starts backing away as my father ignores her and takes off his coat. “I’ll just be in my bedroom. Building my new furniture. With hammers. And a nail gun.”

I bite my lip to hide my smile at my best friend’s not so veiled threat, watching to make sure she does go into her bedroom where she leaves the door cracked a bit.

Thank god I’m not completely alone.

After everything that’s taken place over the last few weeks, the good, bad and in between, I’m not sure I could handle whatever it is Byron Reynolds has in store for me without some form of moral support.

Knowing Evie will race out here with a claw hammer raised over her head like a battle axe at the first sign of trouble is oddly reassuring.

“Now then,” he says as he drapes his coat over the back of a kitchen chair, his eyes shrewdly taking in every inch of the apartment that sits almost an hour outside his and Carter’s kingdom. “I heard you’ve been having some trouble as of late.”

I watch him skeptically, my guard firmly in place since I doubt he’s asking that because he’s concerned about me. “Such as?”

“Don’t play stupid, Magnolia. You know how much I despise it when you do.”

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