Written in Stone (Heart of Stone: Book 3)

Chapter 14: Ed

Chapter 14: Ed

Soph must have been worried because several days later I got a call from Aaron.

"Your girl messaged me. Don't worry; she wasn't hitting on me this time."

I bit my tongue and shut my notebook, hiding the latest set of lyrics I'd been agonising over.

"My girl has a name, and considering how she feels about you, I'm more concerned about what's made her resort to contacting you, rather than whether she might be hitting on you."

"Huh." He laughed. "Well, anyway, she—sorry, Sophia—is trying to plan a surprise evening for you. She clearly doesn't know how much you hate surprises, but fear not, because I—your closest friend—have your back."

I smiled into the phone and rubbed the bridge of my nose. Their feud was tiring, but I'd learnt to source amusement from it rather than irritation. Besides, Aaron had screwed me over by kissing her, so he didn't get my support in their war.

"She knows what kind of surprises I like and don't like," I told him. "She knows quite a lot about me, actually."

"The size of your dick doesn't count."

"Hm, you say that, but there are only a few people in the world who do know that. Your sister's one of them."

A scoff sounded on the other end of the phone. "You fucker. That was a cheap shot."

I leaned back into my chair. Stretched my legs beneath the desk. "Go on. What's Soph planning, then?"

"Want me to read her message? Here we go: Hey, asshole. Are you in London any time soon? I want to arrange something for Ed, but don't spoil it by telling him."

"And yet here you are, telling me."

"Yes, because you hate surprises."

Drumming my fingers on the edge of the desk, I stayed silent and waited for him to continue.

"I told her that, by the way," he said. "I said, Ed hates surprises. If you cared about more than his bank balance, you'd know that."

I heaved out a sigh. "You really are an arsehole."

He chuckled. "Chill, she knew I was joking. At least, I think she did. She told me to fuck off, but I assumed that was just her unique charm."

As I opened my mouth to reply, my phone buzzed against my ear. I lowered it to check the notification.

Soph: Aaron's going to ruin the surprise anyway, so I need to get there before him. Drinks at ours with him and Lacey next weekend. Then dinner at Piazza. All cleared with Mark. Love you x

When I lifted the phone to my ear again, Aaron was still rambling about Soph's attitude. I left him to it and typed back to Soph.

Me: Did you literally just come off the phone with him or do you have a sixth sense? He's talking to me right now

Soph: That prick! I knew he'd try to beat me to it

"Ed? You still there?"

I put him on speaker while continuing to type. "Yeah. So drinks at mine and then Piazza?"

Silence. Then another scoff. "That fucking...."

Even though he couldn't see me, I raised an eyebrow and paused typing. "Careful how you finish that insult."

"I hope the pussy's good, at least. Then again, you've not fucked around enough to know for sure."

I sent my message and reopened my notebook. "Don't be bitter just because she wrote you off after one kiss. I'll see you next week?"