Page 85 of Succumbed

“Yes.”

Cass squeals while Ruby just nods back at me. “I thought so.”

“Girl, I’m so happy for you!” Cass chirps.

“Yeah,” I scoff. “Sure. But it can’t go anywhere, even if you were right and I was considering something more. They’re a package deal, all three of them, and Declan is definitely not in.”

“But you like him,” Ruby presses.

Yes. “He’s an ass, Roo.”

“A biteable ass,” Cass offers.

I arch a brow at her.

“What? I have eyes. Dude’s a ten.”

Ruby snorts while I push right past Cass’s comment. “Hotness aside…yeah, I guess you could say I like him. I’m intrigued by him, I think.” I stare off into the distance, picking at the blanket as I try to corral my thoughts. “It’s so rare for me to go toe-to-toe with someone and feel evenly matched, you know? When we’re not sniping at each other, we’re building something incredible.”

Heaving a sigh, I swipe my fingers under my eyes. “But I must be making it all up in my head because he went and called me a mistake.”

“He called kissing you a mistake,” Ruby corrects. “He’s a shithead for it either way, but let’s be clear.”

Smiling softly at her vehement defense of me, I incline my head. “You’re right. I feel tied up in knots and I don’t even know what he wants. That’s not how a healthy relationship works.”

“And you want that,” Ruby presses.

The thought is almost terrifying. I haven’t had a long-term relationship in years, not since grad school. My business always came first, and I liked it that way. Attachments are…messy. In my experience, family was a source of pain and weakness, not strength. And while Declan, Lincoln, and Shane seem to have created something that was the complete opposite, it seemed like the exception to prove the rule.

“I can’t even imagine what that could look like,” I murmur, eyes glazing as my mind whirs.

“Probably a lot like the last few weeks,” Cass says. “Except maybe in one house, instead of two.”

Before Linc, I would’ve scoffed at the suggestion of moving in with someone I had a romantic connection with. I couldn’t afford that kind of distraction, and I had no desire to weave someone so intimately into my life. Trusting someone to that extent was a foreign concept.

“Lex, stop panicking.” Ruby’s voice cuts through the rushing in my ears. “You’re in control, you know. Pretty sure those two would give you anything you wanted.”

“Not if it meant losing Declan.” I know it without a doubt–Linc and Shane will never put me before their brother. And I’ll never ask them to. I love how they support one another, how they’ve created the family they want and need. Interfering with it is out of the question, despite what I may want. “He wants nothing to do with me.”

“That’s not true,” Cass exclaims, snatching her phone. “I can prove it.”

I glance at Ruby, brow raised. She shrugs.

“Got it!”

“Got what?” I peer toward her phone.

“Voice memo from Declan’s interview. He was very complimentary.”

He was? It’s nearly pathetic how pleased I am to hear it. “I’m failing as a feminist,” I sigh, dropping my head back on the couch and closing my eyes.

“Feminism is personal,” Cass quips, “and your particular brand is effective as fuck when it comes to lifting other women up and helping them achieve their dreams, so fuck it. Fall in love with the alphahole if you want. You deserve it. And any feminist who thinks otherwise can get fucked.”

She’s too intent on her phone screen to notice me staring at her, jaw slightly dropped. “Alphahole?”

Cass flaps a hand as Ruby snorts. “Doesn’t matter, listen to this.”

She taps the phone with her thumb, and Declan’s rough voice fills my living room.

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