Page 79 of Succumbed

“Don’t be afraid of your emotions, Linc. Don’t run from telling the people you love you care about them.” Her arms tighten briefly around me as her gaze unfocuses momentarily. “You, Shane, and Declan share something beautiful. And deep. You’re family, but it’s almost more than that.”

Shane smiles at me, stepping up behind Lex. He’s not quite close enough to touch her, but she loosens her arms just enough to lean back against him. Her eyes don’t leave mine, and she tugs on my waist to bring me closer.

“I’ve never seen loyalty like yours,” she murmurs, eyes locked on mine. “The way you support one another…it’s something else. You should celebrate it.”

“We do, in our way,” Shane offers. He trails his fingers along her arm and smirks up at me. “Dec and Linc have never been free with their deeper emotions.”

Before I can tell him off, Lex laughs. Shane’s eyes glint as he grins, bending over to rest his chin on her shoulder.

“Gee, that’s a shocker,” Lex drawls, smile dropping slightly.

“Hey,” I protest, gripping her hips gently. “I’m in touch with my emotions.” Sometimes.

“Oh, yeah, totally,” Shane agrees too readily.

“Sure you are, sweetheart,” Lex smirks, voice syrupy sweet.

“Fuck off, both of you,” I groan.

“No.” She pulls me closer, a mischievous grin lighting her features. “Don’t wanna.”

Tightening my arms around her, I catch Shane’s eye as he straightens to give me more room. I see nothing but warmth and affection reflected back at me as I snuggle Lex, our bodies pressed together. She fits perfectly in my arms, under my chin. Perfectly in our lives. My body goes still at the thought, a vision of a future with her playing in my mind. Lex and Shane laughing in the kitchen. The three of us on the couch, her feet in Shane’s lap and back against my chest. Maybe Dec wouldn’t complain about us sitting on top of him on the couch if Lex was there, too.

My eyes widen and my breath stutters at the force with which I want those visions to be real. Shane’s lips tip up into a small, knowing smile. He nods slowly, as though he can read the thoughts tumbling through my brain.

Lex leans back and looks up at me, her eyes bright. I struggle to breathe normally as I look down at her, wrenching my gaze from the safety of Shane’s.

“If I’d known you were going to abandon me to do all the painting when you invited me to join this little home reno, I would’ve been harder to convince,” she teases, oblivious to my epiphany.

Shane scoffs, saving me from having to answer. Lex turns to look up at him over her shoulder, arms still looped around my waist.

“Something amusing you, Mr. Kelly?”

“We’ve been gone for five minutes, tops.”

“Eight,” she counters, looking back at me with a smirk. “Definitely more than five.”

Pushing past the overwhelmed feeling swirling in my chest, I conjure a playful smile. “You miss us already, beautiful?”

Something flickers in her eyes, maybe surprise or confusion, before she scrunches her nose and backs away, mischief in the curve of her lips.

“Nah, just needed more paint.”

She snags the open gallon from the floor near my feet, turning on her barefoot heel and sauntering away. Shane chuckles as she disappears down the hall, looking over at me with a wry grin.

“You going to tell her?”

I clear my throat, looking down as I pick up the full paint tray. “Tell her what?”

Shane is quiet as he gathers another gallon of paint and some extra rollers. I can feel him looking at me, twin holes boring through my skull as I make for the door.

“Your brother may make a habit of bottling everything up, Linc, but you never have. Would be a shame for you to start now.”

My steps slow and I pause in the hall, watching him draw level with, then pass, me. His ice blue eyes meet mine, his chin jutted out slightly in challenge.

“What about you?” I throw at him, deflecting shamelessly.

I need to take the attention, the pressure, off me. My thoughts are tumultuous, ideas for the future tangling with the practicalities of the present.

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