Page 52 of Guarded Love

I leaned in close to Olivia and was going to ask her to introduce me around, but the look on her face stopped me. “What’s wrong?” I called out over the music.

Her mouth fell open as she stared across the living room. “Oh. You’re kidding.” She turned to me with wide eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?”

I frowned at Lourde’s sudden gripping of my arm. At first, I was afraid it was something to do with the baby, that she was feeling unwell. Soon, it was clear she was reacting to something happening behind me, toward the front door.

“He didn’t. What the fuck is he thinking?” Ari’s face went red when he reached us, and it was clear he was about to storm off until Olivia grabbed him by the arm and shook her head.

Nobody had to tell me what they saw. I felt him the way I had at the reception when he was staring at me from across the room. Every beat of my battered heart echoed with his presence. A heart that now threatened to burst out of my chest because he was there, behind me, and I would see him again. Even though it seemed like he forgot it existed, I hadn’t forgotten him. There was no way I ever could.

The problem? There was somebody else I hadn’t forgotten. Somebody who, when I dared look over my shoulder, I found on Magnus’s arm. She hung there like a shoulder bag, clinging to him, wrapping both of her arms around one of his as they slowly made their way into the room. Her blonde hair shone, and her skintight dress left absolutely nothing to the imagination. It was so short it barely covered her ass. When a guy wandered past and very openly admired, she only gave him a flirtatious pout behind Magnus’s back.

He broughther.Leila. The woman he supposedly hated and wanted nothing else to do with.

He wasn’t attempting to push her away this time.

“I don’t understand.” Olivia groaned. “He wasn’t supposed to bring her.”

My head snapped around so I could glare at her. “Excuse me? You knew he was coming, and you didn’t say anything?” Connor joined us, probably because I was starting to raise my voice, and he looked as confused as everyone else.

“Don’t get upset,” Pepper begged. “We were only trying to help.”

“Help?” I laughed when all I wanted to do was cry. They were supposed to be my friends and had schemed behind my back. “How in the hell is this going to help?”

It seemed nobody had an answer to that. They could only stand by and look guilty while Magnus strolled around the room, strutting like the king of the world with his queen on his arm. All I could do was wonder how it was so easy for him to move on. Exactly how long was I supposed to hang around and allow myself to be humiliated before I could make a graceful exit?

Forget any time of escape. Fuck this. I was never meant for this kind of life. “I need to go. I can’t be here. He wasn’t supposed to come.” This was a mistake all along.

“Hang on a second. Don’t run off.” Connor touched my shoulder, shaking his head. “We were all sort of in on it.”

“We thought if we got you and Barrett and Magnus together, the three of you could work things out.” Lourde’s eyes shone with unshed tears. “We didn’t know he’d show up with her.”

“He’s out of his fucking mind,” Ari growled out. “That’s the only explanation.”

“I’ll have a talk with him,” Connor promised, sounding more like a threat.

“We only wanted to get you two back together.” Pepper stroked my back almost frantically. “I’m so sorry. We figured if Barrett saw you together and saw how much you care about each other, he couldn’t keep acting like a dick.”

Olivia snorted, folding her arms as she glared across the room. “We forgot what a dick Magnus is. That’s the problem.”

They weren’t trying to humiliate me. Slowly, the idea began to soak through the shell of wounded pride. “You were trying to help.”

“That’s all,” Lourde promised. “I thought for sure… I mean, after everything he said at the penthouse… that it was only Barrett keeping you apart. And Magnus would never want to get in the middle of you two, so he stepped aside. I don’t know how I got it so wrong.”

“We all did.” Pepper leaned her head against my shoulder. “I’m sorry. You’re worth more than him, anyway.”

If only it was that easy—deciding I was worth more than him and moving on.

I now knew there’d be no such thing as moving on from him.

“Now we had definitely better keep him and Barrett away from each other.” Connor shook his head in disgust. “Or maybe we shouldn’t bother. Let Barrett knock some sense into him.”

“Why would he want to?” I countered with a bitter laugh. “Compared to finding Magnus with me, this is Barrett’s dream come true.”

At least one of us would be happy.

24

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