Page 77 of Succumbed

My head drops, fingers clenching as I gaze at the floor. “Am I?”

She’s silent for a beat. “I didn’t think you were, Declan, but what else would you call this? Turn around and face me.”

“I can’t.”

She scoffs. “Can’t, or won’t?”

“Does it matter?” I mutter, heart slamming against my ribs.

I want to face her, want to turn around and challenge her until we’re both vibrating in tension and can’t keep our hands off each other. My eyes pinch closed as I imagine slamming her against the wall and burying myself in her. Not happening, Wilde. Get it the fuck together.

“It fucking does to me.” Her voice is low, controlled. Cold. “You’re brilliant, cunning, fucking strategic and talented as hell. You have more potential than most of the people we invest in, if you’d only be willing to reach out and take what you want. Whatever you want.”

I can’t listen to this. If I do, I’m going to make another mistake. I’ll do something else to jeopardize more than just our professional relationship. Shane and Linc’s faces loom in my mind’s eye and guilt flares.

“See you next week, Lex,” I say, resisting the urge to glance over my shoulder as I stride for the door.

Before she can reply, Linc and Shane appear before me. Their eyes flit back and forth between my hard expression and Lex’s face behind me. They both freeze, Linc’s brows furrowing as Shane’s smile flattens.

“Everything okay here?” Linc asks.

“I’m fine,” I snap. Fucking idiot, go on and make it worse.

“Dec–” Shane starts.

“Let him go,” Lex interrupts. “We’re done here.”

I ignore the confusion on their faces as I take the out she offers. Pausing at the door, I can’t resist a final glance at her face. I regret it immediately, heart plummeting at the sight of her closed expression. She’s put her walls right back up between us, and I’m to blame.

Swallowing my pride, I give her a pleading look. “Lex, thank you for…everything. Today would’ve been a disaster without you.”

Her nostrils flare as she breathes sharply. “It wouldn’t have happened without me in the first place, Declan.”

The ghost of a smile traces over my lips. God, I love her fire. “True enough.”

The guys are looking between us in concern, Shane’s mouth pulling into a frown. Leaving Lex to share what she will, I turn and head for the lobby to wait for Shane and Linc. If I linger any longer, I’m only going to make things worse.

A cold stone settles in the pit of my stomach as I walk away. From the beginning, I predicted Lex would tear us apart from the inside out. I was convinced nothing good could come of letting another outsider into Solum, into our lives. But today proved she isn’t the one to blame. A chasm is opening between me and the two most important people in my life, and I don’t know how to close it. I’m fucking it all up.

Getting closer to Lex, letting her in? I can only see it leading to heartbreak. She will only be with us through the Summit, anyway. If keeping her at arm’s length is how I keep us all together, so be it.

Chapter 23

Linc

“How long do you think it takes to fall in love with someone?”

Shane goes still as he bends to pick up another gallon of soft gray paint, his entire body freezing mid-reach. I scrub a hand over the back of my head and clear my throat.

“It’s a rhetorical question,” I add. Mostly.

He scoffs, straightening. “Right. Rhetorical.”

“It is. I’m just…wondering.”

“You’ve never been in love before.”

It’s a statement; he knows I haven’t. He’s known me nearly my whole life, seen every relationship I’ve ever attempted. So I don’t answer, just splash more paint into the pan at my feet.

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