Page 93 of The Grand Duel

“The trip will be fun, you know. I think Edna was right. You deserve a break.”

His nostrils flare, a bitter smile following. “I don’t. But I do appreciate what you’re trying to do. It will keep Edna happy if nothing else.”

I shake my head as he reaches for the door handle. “You’re a pessimist.”

“No,” he says defensively, standing on the other side of the threshold.

“You bloody are. Why not embrace it? You said you would.”

He sighs, his throat working on a swallow. “I’m going, aren’t I?”

“Just.” I shake my head as he steps back, putting distance between us. “I’ll see you in the morning, Charles.”

“In the morning, Lissie.”

NINETEEN

Charlie

“And you didn’t think to invite us?”

I lounge with my head laid back against the sofa in my best friend’s office. “It was a last-minute thing. And when I checked the booking and saw that it was some brand-new wellness resort hotel, I?—”

Elliot snorts a laugh.

“Fuck you,” I tell him, lifting my head and pinning him with a glare.

“Since when did you start booking wellness breaks?” Mason asks, his own smile growing.

I shake my head and rest it back again. “I didn’t book it.”

“It’s the girl.”

“Lissie,” I correct.

“Tell me she’s going with you? It’s the only plausible explanation for not making it all about the three of us.”

“You act like you don’t hang out the back of your fiancée’s ass, Montgomery,” Mason quips. “As if you’d go away without her.”

“Because you’d go away without Nina,” Elliot replies sarcastically.

“You’re right, I absolutely wouldn’t.”

“She isn’t going with me,” I interject. “They think I need the short break and so are sending me alone. I’ll be back Thursday morning. Lissie will be working out of the head office for a couple days.”

With the feeling that they’re giving me a look or sharing one between themselves, I lift my head. “What?”

“You’re sending her to the head office?” Mason asks.

“Yes. She’ll be working from my office.”

Their brows rise, and I roll my eyes.

“Will you both stop doing that and fucking speak?”

“She’ll be working with Arthur, Ollie, and Will,” Elliot tells me.

“What does that matter?”