Page 41 of The Mourning Throne
Lex tapped his fingernails against the counter and watched it swirl. Ollie’s had mixed with snot and spit and something else. There hadn’t been a clean line. Just… mess.
Wait.
Did this place have the fuckingcompany logoetched onto the side?
Porcelain cup. Nice engraving. Minimalist font.
If every office had ten of these… not to mention the break rooms, the meeting lounges, the open desk clusters—
Lex squinted.
He couldn’t do the math fast enough without a calculator.
It was a huge chunk of money going into something as stupid as coffee cups.
DVC used the Styrofoam ones. Squeaky and annoying, barely heatproof, but cheap as hell. Like drinking out of a damn packing peanut.
But then again—Styrofoam was single use. These could be washed. Environmentally better. Long-term investment.
His brain might as well have been soup.
Fuck. I’m too tired to care.
Turning, cradling the cup like it might breathe life into his soul, Lex watched Morgan’s fingers fly over whatever legalese document they were on now. Pages turned. A pen clicked again, then underlined something.
Then Lex's attention shifted—landed on Gabriel.
And for a split second?
Gabriel lookedso muchlike Steve that Lex couldn’t believe it. At all.
That distinctive sloped nose. The way he mouthed words as he read. Side profile sharp and soft all at once.
Wearing the same damn expression Wendy had when Lex broke it off. Officially. In person.
Gabriel looked pissed off beyond reason.
Lex shook his head, hard.
Jesus, he should’ve slept longer than an hour.
Seven cups ofexcellentcoffee later, Lex stepped out of the too-quiet office feeling almost revived. The sun was warm, the birds were chirping, and his mind wasn’t hellbent on playing terrible tricks.
It was a good day again.
They’d barely been in the meeting for forty-five minutes. Long enough to smile and sort out a plan that didn’t make Gabriel look like he wanted to hurt them. But now they were free. They could’ve gone back to the hotel.
Lex had a betteridea.
“Do you want breakfast?” Morgan asked as he tossed the briefcase into the back seat of the rental car.
“Can we go shopping?”
“Shopping for what.”
Lex grinned, already pulling out his phone to look up the nearest designer stores. “Clothes. I wanna look spiffy.”
Morgan rolled his eyes, but he didn’t argue. Didn’t answer either, which Lex decidedwasn’ta no. He climbed into the passenger seat, bouncing his knee as they drove, the city filtering in through the half-cracked window. The air smelled like fresh bread and the lingering tail end of morning rain.
