Lola & the Millionaires: Part One (Sweet Omegaverse #2)(68)
“Morning, love,” Caleb murmured as he passed.
Wes looked over his shoulder at me and we blushed at the exact same moment. I’d sort of…hit on him the night before. Not that Wes didn’t deserve to be hit on. But from me of all people?
“Hey, sweetheart,” Wes said, voice cracking slightly and his cheeks turning even redder, then he turned back to his skillet.
“Hey, sex on the beach, can I get another slice of bacon?” Rake asked, grinning.
“Fuck off,” Wes and I shouted at the same moment.
I could see Leo’s smile from my stool as I leaned into Rake’s side and passed him a broken piece of my own bacon. No one mentioned the night before, aside from Rake’s playful teasing, and every chance one of the men had, they touched me. Casually and in passing, but each moment was a subtle reassurance. I was safe here, and in spite of the weakness they’d seen from me last night, I was accepted.
Painless, I thought. Or nearly there.
“So it’s not a professional grade photo, I know, but this is my friend, Baby,” I said, showing Zane a shot of Baby one of her guys had taken. She had a cheesy grin on her face and her hand was raised to show the bite mark on her palm. “She’s got one on her bottom lip too that you’d see with the highlighter effect. And one on the side of her breast, which would show with the right shirt.”
“Jesus, five bite marks? They practically tenderized her,” Zane said, eyebrows jumping.
We were at our desks taking a brief brain break from copy editing and photo touching when Baby sent me the photos I’d asked for. I was hoping to recruit Baby and her plethora of bondmarks for the highlighter makeup concept.
I swiped the photo quickly to Seth, and Zane whistled. Yeah. Seth was like…model pretty. I’d noticed it before too. “He’s got a mark as well. They’d look good in a shot together.”
“I mean, obviously we have Rakim on board, but most of the other models we found who were interested in the shoot have scars or birthmarks rather than bites,” Zane said. “It would be nice to have their bondmarks. She’d be great for the purpose of the shoot, and he’s gorgeous.”
“Hey. She’s gorgeous too,” I said, pulling back.
“Sure,” Zane said with a shrug. Right. Zane probably wasn’t real concerned with Baby’s looks in general. “Hey, so…has Betty talked to you?”
I dropped my phone to the desk and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, glancing between Zane and my computer screen. What had I forgotten? Or was Betty pissed with me?
“Nooo,” I said slowly. “Why? What’s up?”
“It’s nothing,” Zane said, too fast. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he sighed, staring into the distance. A moment later, he gave in. “Okay. It’s not nothing. But it’s something you need to keep to yourself if I say anything, okay? Just like…just between you and me. And then Betty when she says something, but don’t say I said something. Act surprised. Well, not surprised, just act the way you act when I tell you—”
“Zane, ohmigod, what?” I laughed and stared at him, eyes wide.
Zane leaned in and double checked the room. There was no one but us, just as there had been no one but us when he started rambling incomprehensibly. The other girls had all gone out for Thai food, but I had a packed lunch—thanks, Leo—and Zane said he was fasting.
Which was concerning too.
“So, Wendy really likes your work,” Zane whispered.
“Oh. Good,” I said, nodding, still not entirely sure where this was going.
“It’s just, I don’t know if you noticed, but Wendy has issues with some of the magazine staff.”
“Cyrus you mean?”
“Yeah, well, yeah, that’s a personal thing, but actually, it’s way more widespread than that. It’s just, you know, Designate has been around for forever. And for every policy or layout or point of view Wendy successfully convinces the magazine to reinvent, there’s like fifteen more that Voir won’t let her touch. Like the paper model instead of focusing on digital content to bring us out of the dark age.”
“Oh.” My eyebrows jumped. I’d wondered about Designate’s general lack of digital content in the past, but Cyrus had jumped on board with the idea of the gold leaf challenge. “Yeah…that makes sense.”
“Basically, Matthieu Segal has his boot on Wendy’s throat and is keeping the magazine five years behind in media format,” Zane said, and I was glad he was rolling his eyes and missed my stunned expression.
That didn’t sound like the Matthieu I’d seen, but I had to remind myself that I knew him in his home, not in his office.
“What does this have to do with me?” I asked.
“Well, right, so it has to do with Wendy’s interest in you. Wendy is…taking special note of those working here who are actually forward thinking, coming up with fresh content and not just relying on tired old tropes. There’s nothing concrete yet or anything, it’s just…you know, if she ever leaves Designate, the next thing she’d do would probably be to start her own magazine. She’s a big deal.” Zane watched me, his expression on lockdown as he waited to see my reaction.
“She’s a major deal,” I said immediately, my voice bright as I nodded. I scrambled to speak, to sound excited. Zane was talking about a serious betrayal to Designate. I may only have been at the magazine for a month, but David pulled a favor with the very people whose backs I’d be sneaking behind if I took this offer seriously. And how long from now would it be before Wendy was ready to leave Designate? All that time I’d be here waiting and knowing that I was going to walk out on Cyrus?