Page 41 of Wild Card 13

“Lucy.”

I pointed at her with my coffee cup. “Don't do that.”

“Do what?”

“The thing where you notice something and then pretend you didn't.”

Across from me, Freya leaned back in her chair and looked between us. “Oh, good. We skipped directly to the weird part of the morning.”

“Lucy looks tired,” Bea offered.

I dropped my gaze to the sticky bun sitting untouched on my desk. “I am tired.”

“And you look upset,” she added.

“I am not upset,” I lied through my teeth.

Silence. The kind only good friends could weaponize.

I lasted approximately three seconds. “Fine. I'm annoyed.”

“There she is,” Freya snickered.

I groaned. “Sarah assigned me permanent Buzz duty.”

Freya's laugh exploded through the office so loudly a passing operations assistant glanced through the glass wall.

Bea immediately closed her eyes. “Oh no.”

I pointed at her. “Thank you. That is the correct response.”

“Permanent Buzz duty?” Freya repeated.

“Player monitoring.”

“That sounds worse.”

“It is worse.”

“Why you?”

“Because Sarah hates me.”

“Sarah loves you,” Bea assured, her eyes softening as she locked eyes with me.

“Sarah tolerates me professionally,” I whined back, breaking the eye contact as quickly as I could.

“She bought you a notebook last week,” Freya chimed in.

“That proves nothing.”

Freya was still laughing. “You have to babysit Buzz Burns?”

“I have to professionally monitor Buzz Burns.”

“That's somehow funnier.”

“Freya.”