“Anything else?” he asked sarcastically.
“Yes. I’d like to be paid now.”
***
A short time later, the check was handed to Bianca, who left with grumpy Edie. By that time, Magnus was grumpy as fuck, too, and his irritation was directed at his brother, Levi, who seemed to be over the moon at the moment. Levi had a blissful look on his face, and his hair was a mess, as if someone had been running her hands through it.
Once the women were out of the house, Magnus turned to his brother. “Did you nail her? Can we be done with this shit now?”
Levi linked his fingers behind his head and just gave his brother a happy smile. “She’s wonderful, isn’t she?”
“Actually, she’s kind of a beat down,” Magnus said. “Edie, that is. Which is why I want to be done with this.”
“We can’t,” Levi said. He yawned and padded to the kitchen and opened the door to the fridge. “I’ve barely gotten to know Bianca. Two hours wasn’t enough time with her.”
“It was enough time to fuck her.”
Levi gave his brother a tight-lipped stare. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
Jesus. Not this again. “So . . . you didn’t fuck her.”
“She’s not that kind of girl. We talked. I got to know her a bit more.” Levi picked up the milk and began to drink straight from the carton.
Magnus stormed up to his brother and swiped the milk out of his hand. “First of all, don’t do that, because it’s disgusting. Second of all, this wasn’t about getting to know the girl. This was about getting her out of your system.”
Levi didn’t even look hurt at Magnus’s pissy mood. He just gave his brother a beatific smile. “I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to get Bianca out of my system. She’s special.”
“You say that about every girl you fall for.”
“This one’s different.”
“You also say that about every girl you fall for.” Magnus closed the milk carton and reached past his brother to put it back into the fridge. “Except instead of just getting this one out of your system, you’ve decided to be her friend, and meanwhile, I get stuck with a wildcat and a pissy cat whisperer.”
“You should woo her,” Levi said.
“The cat?”
“The cat lady.”
Magnus gritted his teeth through his smile. “I don’t want to woo anyone. I want to push forward on our goddamn project. You know, the one you promised to work on with me?”
“And once Bianca and I are settled, I will.”
Settled? What the fuck did that mean? Magnus fought his anger, since it was useless when it came to Levi. His younger brother had selective amnesia when it came to anything that didn’t pertain to his current interests. “How long do you think that’s going to be?”
“I don’t know,” Levi said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “I need to see her again outside of the house. Away from her sister.” He looked over at Magnus. “You should ask Edie out on a date.”
“On a date,” Magnus repeated flatly. “Why would I do that?”
“Because you want to work on The World and you can’t without me?”
Magnus gritted his teeth. It wasn’t that he couldn’t work without Levi—it was that out of the two of them, Levi was the creative thinker. Magnus was the doer, the details man. He could get a lot done on his own, but without Levi’s ideas, he was rudderless. “You’re fucking killing me here, man.”
Levi turned to his brother and put his hands on Magnus’s shoulders, his expression contrite. “I know. And I really am sorry. I promise once we get Bianca out from under Edie’s control, we’ll get back to working on the game. But for now . . . I really do think you need to ask Edie out on a date. Take her out for several hours so that’ll give me alone time with Bianca.”
“She’s not twelve, you know. She can go out on her own without her sister being involved.”
But Levi shook his head and patted Magnus on the shoulder as if he were a child. “Bianca’s very devoted. She won’t leave Edie if she thinks Edie needs help.”
“Edie seems pretty capable, if you ask me. She’s got a limp. That’s it. It’s not as if she’s missing her arms and legs.” Even if she was, he was pretty sure Edie would still find a way to cut him down to size. “I’ve never met anyone more capable than her.”
“Did you want that IP or not?”
Magnus threw his hands up. “I give up. Fine. Fuck. Whatever. I’ll ask the cat lady out for a goddamn date. Just shut the hell up about Bianca, all right?” He stormed up the stairs, because if he saw Levi’s smug little smile, he was going to punch someone out. He automatically headed up to the fourth floor for the office, and then paused at the door. He couldn’t work—he was stuck until Levi sat down and worked out some of the basic kinks of the program with him. Damn it. Swearing, he jogged back down the stairs to his own room. Might as well run on his treadmill for a bit.
When he opened the door to his room, though, he saw the cat taking another shit on his bed. It looked over at him and hissed furiously.
Magnus hissed back at it. Damn cat. Damn brother. Damn Edie. Why was everyone determined to make him lose his mind? Why was he the only sane person in this circle? Why was it that he was the only one who wanted to work?
Scratch that. Edie worked, too. At least they had that in common.
He dragged his jeans off and tossed them into a corner, then pulled on workout shorts. As he climbed onto his treadmill and began to jog, he picked up his phone and voice-texted Jenna, the assistant. “I need several cardboard boxes, two cat trees, some wet cat food, and a litterbox. Tonight.” He looked over at his bed, now with two piles of shit on it, and added, “And a blanket.”