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“Oh.” I forced a smile. “Wow. That’s so…” Impressive. Heroic. The perfect embodiment of the Rogers family’s commitment to selfless philanthropy that was helping people live longer, better lives every day.
Meanwhile, I was busy… what? Zooming with grad students for an exorbitant fee? Waiting for Smitty to message me back? Working on one tiny component of some artificial intelligence that might or might not prove useful in diagnosing cancer a decade from now, if the sun didn’t implode before then?
Ugh. I forced myself to delete the self-pitying thoughts from my brain. I was on edge and off my game today.
“That’s incredible, Carter,” I said sincerely. “You two make a great team.”
I poured myself two cups of coffee, securing one inside an insulated tumbler with a lid and filling my favorite Grogu mug with another.
Hux shifted his gaze from the computer and eyed the two cups in my hands. “Expecting company?”
“Huh? Oh! No, this is me attempting to convince myself that I was in bed early last night. That whole op was nothing but a bizarre dream,” I said blandly.
I waited for him to make a snarky comment, but he didn’t. His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t laugh or smile, and I shifted my feet awkwardly. Hux always got my jokes.
“Okay, well.” I cleared my throat. “Thanks, for… you know.” I felt the weight of everyone’s stares, and I couldn’t bring myself to say the duck. “Letting me know about Rodrigo.”
I turned my focus to Champ and not the man sitting in front of his computers, exuding magnetic sexuality while low-key glaring at me. “I’m going to prep for my presentation. I’ll be back up here by one. Will that work with the op?”
Champ closed his laptop and stretched. “Yep. We’ll go over the plan and have you start after that. Appreciate it.”
I nodded and moved to leave but then stopped. “Wait, I almost forgot. That guy in New Mexico? The horse breeder? He said something in a HOG forum last night about traveling to Santa Anita. That’s a horse racetrack in California. According to the website, there’s a big race coming up, but it’s next weekend, the same time as HOGCon in Vegas.” I shrugged. “He was upset that he would be missing a livestream of the event.”
Champ rolled his eyes. “Of course both things are at the same time.”
Riggs shrugged. He kissed the top of Carter’s head and moved to take his seat at the table. “It’s no big deal, boss. We’ll split into two teams. You know this is our best chance to get the breeder’s Horn. It’s impossible when he’s at home in his compound.”
As they began strategizing, I grabbed a banana, a microwavable oatmeal cup, and my two coffees, then returned back to my lair. The rest of the morning went by quickly. The grad students were more fun and engaged than I’d expected, so I took extra time to answer questions at the end of the presentation.
By the time I went back upstairs, I was feeling considerably better about the world and my contributions to it. And then Huxley opened his big mouth again.
“Nice of you to join us, HogDoc. Why am I not surprised that you made a commitment and then immediately disrespected it?” he said sourly as soon as I entered the den and took my seat on the far end of the sofa.
I narrowed my eyes. Was this really the same guy who’d held me the night before? Who’d whispered hot words in my ear, who’d gotten hard as he pressed up against me? Who’d sent me a golden duck? It was like he’d had a personality transplant and become the same asshole he’d been at our first meeting.
“What commitment did I make, exactly?” I shot back.
“To help us with this op. You want to play like you’re a teammate, but then you don’t take the job seriously.”
I tilted my head and made a big production of looking at my watch. “I’m literally here. For the job. And it’s one-oh-four.” I glared at him. “Subtract a minute for your wind-bagging and another minute for when I stopped on the stairs to answer a text from Champ—which I did because I respect my commitments—and I still made it upstairs less than two minutes after the agreed-upon time. Are you telling me that you’ve never arrived at an internal meeting two minutes past the start time?”
Elvo watched us like a tennis match while sipping from an energy drink.
“Oooh, I know the answer to this one!” Jordan stretched their hand in the air.
Hux glared at his teammates. “Just… just sit down,” he said, though I was already seated. “Your excuses are only wasting more time.”
Elvo snorted his drink across the table and started to choke with laughter. When he finally pulled himself together, I could have sworn I heard him mutter, “Just fuck already,” under his breath.
