“Storks, Gare. They’re storks.”
Gareth narrowed his eyes.
“Oh, shit. He means it.”
Great. He really was getting too many shocked looks today. “Forget it,” he muttered.
“No, no!” Cian raised his hand. “Sorry. What do you want to ask? We’ll listen and try.”
He sighed. “Okay. Have I…become too rigorous? Colder than I was?”
Perplexed, Cian opened his mouth and exchanged a look with Connor.
“What makes you think that?” Connor asked casually.
He laughed dryly. “Hazel.”
“Hazel told you you’ve become too rigorous?” Stunned, Cian looked at him.
“Among other things.”
Connor waved his hand dismissively. “She’s your ex-girlfriend. She just wanted to hurt you.”
“No. She purposefully annoys me and makes my life miserable, but she…she doesn’t deliberately hurt me. That’s not her style. And stop exchanging those damn looks!”
Because his friends had done it again.
Cian sighed and gently patted him on the shoulder. “You know you’re a little cold and more automaton than human, Gareth. We don’t need to tell you that.”
He snorted. “And here I was hoping to be at least ahumanoidrobot.”
Connor clicked his tongue. “You know what he means. You’ve always been secretive and preferred to keep your life impersonal. Which isn’t to say you can’t be warm or that you don’t care about people. We’re not chopped liver to you, neither are Penny and Ada. Lacey…at least you like her.”
“And it’s perfectly fine that you have so few people to show your true self to,” Cian chimed in. “But since you became the official owner of the Hawks, you’ve been a bit…extreme.”
“Extreme,” he asked uneasily. “With what?”
“With everything?” Connor offered. “You’re working even longer hours, taking even fewer breaks, and you're often onlyphysically present but not mentally present. I know you want to prove your father wrong and show him that you’re better than him at running the team, but…man, you used toenjoyyour job. I don’t feel like that’s the case anymore. You’ve worked your whole life to get to this point — but are you actually enjoying it? That you’ve achieved everything you dreamed of in college?”
Gareth gritted his teeth and lowered his gaze. He did ask, but he should have known he didn’t want an answer.
Because Connor was wrong.Nothingwas as he’d imagined it would be in college. And he still enjoyed his work. He liked getting things done and discussing things with agents. But…he was so incredibly exhausted. Had he always been so exhausted? In the past, every confrontation with opposing counsel had energized him. But now…
“Thanks,” he murmured. “For being honest. Hazel said most people would be too afraid of me for that.”
“Oh, Hazel…” Cian murmured.
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“No: Oh, Hazel!” Connor said louder, nodding over his shoulder.
Surprised, Gareth turned — and his heart twisted strangely in his chest when he recognized Hazel, stomping purposefully toward their table.
She was wearing her usual armor: a pencil skirt, blouse, and a pair of high heels that were better for killing than walking in. And, as always, it took an unhealthy amount of willpower for Gareth to focus only on her face and not on how her skirt clung to her ample hips, which he wanted to wrap his hands around. Or how her blouse clung to her breasts, making him jealous of the damned material, and how the high heels showed off her legs even though they didn’t need to.
“Gareth, why aren’t you answering your phone? It’s about the only thing anyone can rely on you to do!” she said in greeting, dissatisfied.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he snapped. He couldn’t help it. It slipped out purely out of self-protection. It was bad enough that she was infiltrating his mind, she couldn't just start showing up out of nowhere now!
