The door opened, and I turned to see our office assistant Felicia bringing in our coffee. I smiled up at her as she set the tray of steaming espresso cups on the table.
“I’m always more pleasant after caffeine,” I told Axel.
“It’s not that. I think you’re…” He sent me a pointed look, widening his eyes, lifting his chin in my direction. “You know.” He repeated the look. I knew what he was getting at: that I wasgettingsome. But he was wrong. I wasn’t fucking anyone right now.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
He glanced at Felicia, offering her a polite smile as she retreated from the conference room. When the door closed behind her, his smile dropped. “You know what it fucking means. You finally took my advice.”
“What advice?”
He lowered his chin, giving me his best deadly-younger-brother look. “Will you stop parroting everything back to me? It’s so annoying when you parrot.”
“I’m not parroting.”
“You just did it again.”
I turned to Francis. “Was there something on the agenda that required me here, or did Axel just want me here early to hassle me?”
Francis looked like he was fighting laughter. “I’m not sure my contract allows me to answer that question.”
Axel leaned forward, pinning me with a look. “Don’t act dense.”
He was so easy to needle. “I’m not being dense; I’m just looking for a little clarity on why you insisted on disrupting my morning routine.”
“Oh, your morning routine. Says the man who would sleep until noon every day if he could. See, that right there is all the proof I need. Something is different, and I know what it is.” He crossed his arms triumphantly, leaning back in his chair. “You and Jessa finally hooked up.”
Francis sucked in a sharp breath, shock registering on his face. “You’re kidding me.”
Neither of them needed to know what Jessa and I had going on. So I cleared my throat and turned toward my tablet. “Can we continue?”
Axel huffed but relented. I sipped my coffee, avoiding both of their curious gazes. We somehow managed to get back to business, but my mind lingered on what Axel had thrust into the spotlight. He could tell something was different about me.
Sure, I’d been enjoying my time with Jessa. And maybe that had translated into some overall behavioral shifts. But it didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t a big deal like Axel liked to pretend.
I was still myself—the same nerd who stayed up too late trying to solve the world’s problems via code, the same stressed-out Damian who knew better than to get wrapped up in romance or flings with roots.
Nothing had changed. I’d only added a few extra sexy video calls per week. And Jessa and I had only spentoneof those three video calls accidentally chatting about life for hours instead of getting each other off. I hadn’t even drunk any whiskey to fall asleep that night.
Everything was fine.
The top of the agenda was the Programmer’s Ball that Saturday.
“So listen.” Axel steepled his fingers thoughtfully, staring off at a distant corner of the universe before he went on. “Cora and I are prepared to do whatever we can to help the image of the business, of course. I know you wanted us to open the event with a speech. But I wonder if you shouldn’t make the speech yourself, Damian.”
Everything inside my body rejected this idea, but he had a point. He must have seen me ready to disagree because Axel held up a hand.
“I know you don’t like talking in front of crowds. But we want to repair our reputation, right? This is about transparency. What could be better than hearing it from the algorithm horse’s mouth?”
“You have a point. But what about Trace?”
Axel’s face dropped. “What about him?”
“If we’re repairing reputations, then we need him there.”
“No.”
I toyed with a pen on the table in front of me. “Then what’s our excuse going to be when he’s not there?"