Page 11 of One Lovely Lie

“Really?” I wrinkle my nose. “Which one? That’s not the problem.”

“Is it Yungblud? I heard he’s going to be in Munich…”

I shake my head with aggravation. “Fuck Yungblud for just one minute.”

“But I love Yungblud—”

“Jesus Christ, Daniel. I’ll take you to the fucking concert!” I snap. “That isn’t the issue. I fucking love Yungblud too. It’s the fact that Thaxton invited me to go with him.”

“Ah,” Daniel says as if it’s already been fully explained to him. “I see. Right. Magnus Black—the serial heartbreaker. Would it have really been so bad to just go to the fucking concert with him?”

“Of course!” I scoff, wanting to laugh at Daniel’s naivety. “Because going to the concert is like a date. Dates lead to relationships. Relationships lead to commitment. I don’t do that.”

“You can’t tell me you never want to settle down, Mag. That’s ridiculous. You’ll have to pick one of them at some point.”

I roll over to my other side until we’re face to face. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and bury my nose in his neck. “Why would I when I have you?”

“You don’t have me. Not like that.”

He tenses underneath me which is unusual. He never does that. He loves our snuggles. This is weird. Why is he acting so weird? First, the confrontation yesterday, and now this?

I shake the thought from my head. Nope, bury that shit. Daniel’s here holding me and that’s all that matters. We’ll deal with whatever this is later.

“You’re my best friend. That’s all that matters. As long as I have you, I don’t need anybody else.”

And I don’t. If my parents’ fucked-up relationship taught me anything, it’s that romantic love doesn’t exist. It ruins everything. It leads to complications and expectations that I could never meet. It ends with drinking yourself into a stupor because your husband is too busy fucking his secretary when he’s supposed to be on a business trip.

The only love I’ve ever had is holding me right now. There’s nothing better than having a best friend.

He’ll never leave me. He’ll always love me. I can always count on him.

If I have Daniel, I don’t need anybody else. Ever.

Chapter 4

Daniel

I can’t fucking do this anymore.

This party in the woods was supposed to be fun, a way to let loose after the first week of the semester, but I’m stuck staring at Magnus as he makes out with a girl from the nearby boarding school. Magnus always says he’s an equal opportunity lover—man or woman—it doesn’t quite matter to him.

But it matters to me. Why does he have to be so fucking hot and so fucking perfect and so fucking everything?

“Here’s a drink,” Avery says, handing me a cup of something pink and bubbly that’ll probably fuck me up.

Oh, well. Drink up.

I down the entire thing in one go, praying that I get drunk sooner rather than later so this party can just breeze by. I even tried to look extra good tonight, trading my school blazer for a nice button-up shirt and some dark jeans that I know make my ass look great. Not that I can even compare to Magnus.

He looks like heaven and hell all wrapped up in one. His dark jeans that frame his ass perfectly, tight black t-shirt that hugs his muscles, and leather jacket give him that air of not giving a single fuck.

Goddamn, he’s just so—

“Here’s another.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re still here?” I ask, jumping as Avery hands me another drink that just happened to magically appear in thin air.

Avery looks good tonight, well,Averygood. His sense of fashion is a bit unusual, but he’s charming in his own way. He’s wearing a flannel t-shirt, denim overalls, and a cowboy hat. I’m not sure if he was told this was going to be a costume party or if he had this outfit planned already.

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