Page 76 of Declan

“Information broker?”

“She’s my Tex, I guess you can say. When I need intel, there are a few people I use, but she’s the best—my go-to person. Ash introduced me to her.”

Declan looked down at me as the elevator opened and he smiled.

“Got your own Tex, huh?” he asked, leading me into a large room and I halted.

Holy shit. Zane Lewis had it going on. Gray walls, chrome accents, a maze of cubicles, and in the middle of the large room was a glass-enclosed room, that was right then tinted for privacy.

“What’s in there?” I asked.

“Command Central.” Declan chuckled, obviously not missing the wonder in my voice.

I’m sure I sounded lame but it wasn’t every day a girl caught a glimpse of a set-up that rivaled NASA.

“That’s Garrett’s domain. He’s our in-house intel specialist.”

“So you have your own Tex,” I noted.

“We do. Garrett runs most of our work, but we call in Tex when we need an extra set of hands.”

That must’ve been nice. I had to wait for Beth and sometimes the wait was long depending on what else she was working on.

“Come on, the guys are waiting in the conference room for us.”

And suddenly my palms started to sweat and my heart rate ticked up. Declan wasn’t the kind of man to gossip, but Brooks, Kyle, Max, and Thad all knew I’d taken off on Dec, and for the first time in my life, I found myself concerned about what someone else would think of me.

Especially Thad.

He’d texted me twice after I left. Both times to update me on Emmy’s pregnancy. Thankfully, all was well. I could almost feel Thad’s relief in the last message he’d sent. What he hadn’t done was bring up Declan, my absence, me contacting Emerson, nor did he ask where I was or how I was doing.

Just information.

At the time, I’d appreciated it. Now I felt like a bitch.

I’d successfully pushed everyone away and I didn’t know how to mend those fences, if I should, or if I was even ready to.

I let go of a heavy sigh, knowing I was lying to myself again. Obviously, I was crying out for help or I wouldn’t have sought out my father. Which meant I was ready to mend some of what I’d broken.

I just didn’t know how.

“I got your back. No one’s gonna say anything to you or push you to talk to Emmy.” Declan incorrectly read my exhale.

Though it was a good guess. And it felt great he had my back. But it was time I started coming clean and opening up.

“I don’t know how to approach Emmy,” I admitted, and Declan’s hand spasmed in mine. “I don’t know how to tell Thad I’m sorry for the way I treated him. And I’m worried that he won’t forgive me and there will always be a rift because I put it there.”

Declan brought us to a stop outside of a closed door and looked down at me. “What you just said.”

“What?”

“You already apologized but if you feel you need to say more, say what you just said to Thad and that will be the end of it.”

“I was a bitch to him.” I reminded him of something he couldn’t have forgotten since he was there to witness it. Not to mention, he’d been on the receiving end of my bitchiness, too. Him more than anyone else. “And since we’re on the topic. I’m sorry I was a total bitchface to you.”

“A bitchface?” he asked, smiling.

“Yeah, that’s worse than a bitch but not quite the C-word.”