“I don’t see how,” she teased. “You look like you’re about to put someone’s eye out with that thing.”
“Very funny,” he said, but he kissed the top of her head in front of everyone and she felt any apprehension she had disappear.
Magnus’s suite was impressive, with a fully stocked mini-bar, a tiny kitchen, and a living room area in addition to a massive bedroom and posh bathroom that was probably bigger than Edie’s portion of her townhouse. There was also a convention goody bag and a big bouquet of flowers on a nearby table, welcoming Magnus to the convention. All in all, Edie was impressed. In the gaming world, Magnus was apparently a big deal. She felt pride for him, but also a little trepidation, because if all the girls here at the convention were like the ones below, was he going to regret having her along?
As she explored, Magnus thumped into one of the chairs and furiously texted. Edie unpacked her small bag, put on a knee-brace under her jeans (since it looked like this convention would involve a lot of walking) and changed into the Warrior Shop T-shirt that had been in the welcome bag as a show of solidarity. She braided her hair into two small pigtails and then sat on the bed, watching Magnus as his frown grew more and more thunderous.
“Something wrong?” she asked eventually.
He glanced up, some of the glare he was shooting at the phone slipping away. “Just my fucking brother. He’s not here yet. He should have been here before us but he says he’s still a few hours out. Our panel’s at five and I’m going to kick his ass if he doesn’t show up on time.”
She frowned. Levi seemed a bit . . . unreliable. “Can you do the panel without him?”
“He’s one half of the Warrior Shop creators. People are going to be looking for him.” Magnus rubbed a hand over his face, clearly frustrated. “He’s the ideas guy. I’m just the business guy.”
Edie doubted that very much, but she didn’t argue. “Anything I can do to help?”
“No.” Tension oozed from his voice.
“What if I shoved my breasts in your face and then gave you a blow job?”
He glanced over at her and grinned. “I admit, it wouldn’t help, but I’d still enjoy it.”
At least he was smiling now. Edie toyed with one of her short braids. “How about we raincheck that until later and we go check out the convention for a bit?’
“Or we could do that,” he agreed, pocketing his phone and extending his hand to her. She got up from the bed and took it, and smiled when he leaned down to kiss her again. She could get used to all this attention.
***
And people thought cat ladies were weird, Edie mused as she watched a “knight” with purple hair fight a man dressed as a pink unicorn in a duel to the death. So far today? She’d seen a lot of weird. She and Magnus had strolled through the convention, admiring booths and seeing the sights. Magnus explained that it wasn’t an official gaming convention, but there was still a big “gamer presence” here at the con, and every time they passed a crowded booth, they paused to see what the fuss was about. Whenever it was video-game related, she could practically see the wheels in Magnus’s head turning. It was interesting to watch him, knowing that he was seeing what others found interesting about games and mentally stowing away that information for later.
There was food, of course—Edie’s favorite—and at one booth, Magnus had bought her a pair of cat ears to wear on her head. It had made him smile despite his constant frowns as he checked his phone, so she’d agreed to it. Magnus had been approached several times by more fans, all of whom he gave autographs to (thankfully not on body parts) and answered questions for. Inevitably, someone would ask about Levi, and Magnus had to make excuses for his brother. He was running late. He’d had car trouble. He was sick. Each time Magnus gave an answer, he delivered it with a smile, but his hand tightened on hers, and she knew he was stewing at the fact that Levi wasn’t here.
Then it was time for Magnus’s panel. The enormous room was packed, but Edie managed to find a seat in the audience between a Brony and a Sailor Scout. From her vantage point, she watched the men on the panel discuss Warrior Shop , its infamous buyout for two billion dollars, and what the Sullivan brothers had planned for the future. Magnus quickly had the panelists—and the audience—won over with his charisma and humor, and when he deflected questions about his upcoming projects, it was good natured.
They asked questions about Warrior Shop , the ideas behind it, the creativity, the coding, and Magnus talked for what felt like hours, discussing how he and Levi had coded it while in college, then shopped it around to investors, and when that failed, they’d put it up on the Internet themselves by maxing out their credit cards to pay for everything.
Occasionally a creativity question would come up, concepts about the game, the story behind the characters, and Magnus would deflect those questions with a smile. “My brother, Levi, could answer those if he were here, but unfortunately he’s stuck in traffic.”
And each time he avoided a question, Edie gave a little wince of sympathy. Where was Levi? Why was he hanging Magnus out to dry when he should have been here assisting him? Why was it that Magnus always had to cover for his brother?
When the panel was over, Magnus and the others got a standing ovation, but Edie’s heart hurt for Magnus. She could see the lines of tension on his face and knew they had to do with his brother. Why couldn’t Levi be reliable and devoted . . . like Bianca?
Then again, Bianca was sometimes devoted to the point of smothering, so maybe there was a happy medium somewhere out there.