Page 64 of Succumbed

Declan scoffs. “He is. No accounting for taste in our gene pool, apparently.”

“You’re missing out.” Jax levels a finger and stern glare at Declan. “That shit’s delicious.”

“Fruit does not belong on pizza!” Declan protests as Linc and Jax high-five.

Those two are going to be trouble.

Shane takes the seat next to mine. He reaches over and engulfs my thigh in his hand, kneading gently. Never have I been more pleased to be wearing shorts.

“Rough day?” he asks quietly while PizzaGate rages behind us.

I slide my hand over his, squeezing as I relax against my chair. “I’ve had better.”

He searches my eyes with his ice blues. Before he can respond, Declan storms over to the table and yanks a chair back, the legs screeching across the tile.

“Can we please discuss this interview I have in two weeks?”

“Of course.” I take a sedate sip of wine. “Have you drafted your recommended questions?”

His forehead bunches. “I thought your team was doing questions.”

“You were supposed to draft ones that would help tell the story from your perspective,” Linc chimes in, dropping into the chair on my other side.

Jax sits across from me and a couple of chairs down from Declan. He glances back and forth between us, a slight smile on his face as he sips his beer.

“Right,” Declan clears his throat. “That makes sense.”

I nod. “You met with our media team earlier this week. How’d it go?”

“Fine.”

Shane’s fingers start tracing light patterns on my thigh, the distraction of his skin on mine enough to keep my temper from rising.

“They mentioned you had concerns about being conversational. Would you like to do some Q&A now to practice?”

I watch, stoic, as Declan breathes deep and forces himself to relax. It’s obvious he’s nervous, frustrated, and I wish he would put words to the emotions running through him. The last six weeks made it clear that Declan doesn’t know how to ask for help. Thanks to insight from Linc, I also surmised Solum’s leader carried tremendous guilt for what he perceived as their lack of success. It kills him that he needed Athena, needed me, to make this dream come true. If he kept trying to do things on his own, when he had entire teams at his disposal, the failure I suspected he worried about would be inevitable.

Declan glances at me, then Jax. Sighing, he looks down at his hands. “I know how important this interview is.”

We all wait for him to go on. Jax catches my eye and winks, then takes a gulp of beer.

“Fine, yes. We can practice.”

“Good. I have some of our team’s draft questions pulled up. Linc, Shane, our analysts sent a report based on the last round of tests. They had a few suggestions. Why don’t you review those while Declan and I work on messaging?”

“Yeah, I saw the email come through on the way over.” Linc gets up to grab his laptop from where he left it on the island, then plops down next to Shane.

“I want in! Put me to work, Lexi.” Jax quips.

The guys all freeze and look at me in slow motion. Lincoln mouths the name back to me in question, a slow grin covering his face.

“Take notes, Jackson,” I order. “Declan, why don’t you pull up a doc so he can save them on your machine?”

“Sure…Lexi.” Declan raises a brow as he hands his laptop over.

Is Declan teasing me right now?

Jax chuckles. “Tried to call her Auntie once and she nearly killed me. Convinced her Lexi was a decent compromise.”

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