“Hey.” Kiera’s voice cut in beside her, warm and concerned. She nudged Maggie with her elbow, eyes searching her face. “You okay? You look like you’re about to light something on fire.”
Maggie barked a laugh, sharp and flippant. “Just admiring Gwen’s type. Guess I should’ve started wearing one-piece swimsuits and quoting poetry about now.”
Kiera frowned, glancing around. “What? Maggie?—”
Before she could finish, Pete swooped in, tiara lopsided, cheeks flushed from her last round of shots. “Are we talkingabout Lillian?” she crowed, catching only half of what Maggie had said.
Maggie stiffened. “Unfortunately.”
Pete threw an arm around Maggie’s shoulders, nearly knocking her off-balance. “Best person you’ll ever meet. Dead serious. She’s solid. Kind. Smart as hell. No drama. She’s like…” Pete searched for the word, her drunken brain working hard. “Like if a golden retriever could do advanced calculus.”
Kiera laughed, but Maggie just tightened her jaw.
“Great,” she muttered. “Perfect. Exactly what Gwen needs. Thanks, Pete.”
Pete didn’t catch the bite in her tone, already weaving toward the DJ booth to request another terrible song.
Maggie forced a smile, but the jealousy was simmering hot in her chest, too loud to ignore.
Across the room, Gwen was still in that corner with Lillian, smiling like Maggie wasn’t even there.
The music was pounding, bodies pressed together on the dance floor, lights strobing in dizzy colors. Maggie had finally let herself get pulled into the crush, hair flying, her skin damp with sweat and liquor.
And then she caught it.
Out of the corner of her eye — Gwen by the bar, Lillian leaning close, her manicured hand brushing Gwen’s. A quick flick of white, small and rectangular. A hotel key card.
Maggie’s stomach dropped, heat flooding her chest so fast it made her dizzy. No way. No way Lillian was that bold. No way Gwen would…
She didn’t even think. She turned, found the nearest warm body — a man in a cowboy hat, grinning at her like he’d won the lottery — and grabbed his hand.
It wasn’t about him. It wasn’t about fun.
It was about Gwen. About making sure Gwen saw her —saw that Maggie could still burn brighter, command attention, take up more space than anyone else in the room.
Her pulse thudded in her ears, wild and reckless, as she let the stranger spin her, her laughter sharp and glittering.
All the while, her eyes kept darting back toward the bar, waiting to see if Gwen was watching.
Cowboy Hat spun her again, his grin sloppy and delighted. Maggie laughed too loudly, head tossed back, tiara sliding down her hairline. Her pulse was still hammering from that flick of a key card, the image burned into her mind.
She was mid-twirl when two familiar bodies pressed in on either side of her — Danica, sash glittering across her chest, and Kiera, already laughing as she looped an arm through Maggie’s.
“Excuse us, sir,” Danica said politely, even as she shouldered Cowboy Hat out of the circle. “We are too gay for this.”
Kiera tugged Maggie closer, her voice pitched high over the music. “Come on, dance with us instead.”
Maggie blinked, then barked a laugh, too sharp around the edges. “I was only trying to get close enough to steal that hat.”
“Clearly,” Kiera deadpanned, shimmying beside her.
Danica spun her in a messy circle, her laugh bright and earnest. “The hat was hideous anyway, babe.”
Maggie let them pull her in, their laughter tugging her out of her spiral, even if just for a beat. She moved with them, matching their silly spins, their flailing arms, letting the tension ease by inches.
Still, her eyes darted back to the bar. To Gwen. To Lillian.
Her friends were keeping her anchored, distracting her, but the jealousy sat hot in her chest, fizzing just under the surface.
