Page 87 of Her Devils

My finger is hovering over Lenley’s contact when my phone starts ringing, almost making me crawl out of my skin. It’s a miracle I don’t drop my phone on the hardwood floor of the living room.

It’s Ken, so not the call from Team USA.

“Hello?” I answer.

There’s something strange in Ken’s tone as he asks me where we are.

“We’re home. I just finished at the gym, and Peyton and Chan are still working out. Why?”

He doesn’t answer my question. “Tell them to finish up and hit the showers. Meet me at the Angels’ HQ in twenty minutes. Don’t be late.”

“Wait, what—”

He doesn’t give me the chance to ask him what’s going on, but judging by his tone, it sounds important, and my curiosity is definitely piqued.

I run downstairs to tell my teammates to get their asses into the shower and hit the road.

***

Lenley

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I’M SO EXCITED THATI can barely sit still.

I was at the Angels’ HQ all morning for a meeting with the main shareholders, and I exercised my vote for the first time.

I meet Kyle’s gaze across the boardroom table, and he rises from his chair before coming to sit by my side. “I’m not mad at you, darling,” he assures me. “Stop looking at me like that. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

I know I haven’t, but I can’t fight the feeling that I disappointed him by voting in favor of Mom’s proposal and directly against him. “Are you sure?” I ask.

He covers my hand with his in a paternal gesture, and I feel even more guilty because for all intents and purposes, Kyle Penn has been my father since the day I lostPapà.

“Lenley,” he soothes, “I’m absolutely positive. Nothing could change the way I feel about you. You voted the way you saw fit, and it was perfectly within your rights to do so. I might disagree with the outcome, but it isn’t the first and it won’t be the last time I lose a vote in a shareholder meeting. It happened a few times when Patrick was alive too.”

I gasp, surprised to hear that. “Really? I never knew that.”

Kyle squeezes my hand. “You were too young to understand stuff like that, but yeah, absolutely. Your dad and I disagreed a few times. Sometimes I won, sometimes I didn’t. I just wish I got my way the last time I lost a vote against him, because then he would still be with us.”

I don’t understand. “What do you mean?”

Kyle sighs, letting go of my hand. “The last vote we took was about that modification he wanted to test on his wingsuit. I thought it wasn’t safe, but Patrick was adamant. He convinced your mother to vote with him, and that swayed all the rest of the votes.”

I lower my gaze, feeling the impact of his revelation. “I wish you had won that vote too.”

He nods. “We all do, but we never could have predicted what would happen. My vote was purely based on the financial aspects of his decision. We had invested so much on the original patent, both on manufacturing and marketing, that making a significant change to it was too risky, but it doesn’t matter now. Unfortunately, we can’t change the past.”

I have no time to dwell on his words any further, because the boardroom door opens.

Darrius enters the room, followed by his sister and his teammates. “What was so urgent that we had to run over here? I’d just left after finishing up in the wind tunnel. And what aretheydoing here?” He glares at the Cove Devils as they step into the room with Ken.

“Welcome, everyone.” Mom smiles, ignoring Darrius’s less than professional tone. “If you could take a seat, we have a few things to announce.”

At her words, it’s like a game of musical chairs. All the guys except my stepfather rush to take the only empty seat on one side of me. Jameson wins the race, and that leaves Peyton, Channing, and Darrius to sit across from me.

“So what’s up, Gina?” Darrius asks. “I have somewhere to be, and I’d be extremely grateful if we could get started.”

Mom ignores Darrius’s less than ideal delivery, her smile unwavering as she looks at the door. “Ah, JeanLuc. This is who we were waiting for. Take a seat, and we can start.”

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