Decipher (Declan Reede: The Untold Story #3) by Michelle Irwin Page B

before—heck, the day I’d spent alone with her at Alyssa’s house, she’d completely kicked off the DVD on her own—so I figured that she must have wanted to join in the conversation rather than actually being concerned about the DVD stopping.
    “I think that means it’s time to put this conversation to bed,” Alyssa said, obviously understanding Phoebe’s mood as well as I had—or more likely even better. “Unless there’s anything else?”
    Eden shook her head. “Only that the release is going out tomorrow morning.”
    “Shit.”
    Alyssa elbowed me in the ribs, clearly less tolerant of the swearing now that little ears were around and listening. When she caught the bruising that, although faded, still covered a good portion of my ribs, I winced. She gave me an apologetic look, but indicated Phoebe with her eyes—her silent way to tell me to lay off the fucking cuss words.
    “Sorry,” I said, rubbing the pain of Alyssa’s wayward elbow away. “I was just hoping for a little more time before the vultures descend.”
    “They’re already circling, Dec,” Eden said. “At least this way it’ll all be over at once.”
    It didn’t even sound like her words had convinced her, but I nodded anyway to end the conversation.
    “Would you like to stay for dinner, Eden?” Alyssa asked.
    “As unique as a home-cooked meal in Declan Reede’s house would be, I have to decline. Morgan’s supposed to be calling me from Bahrain when he breaks for lunch. I don’t want to miss the call. I just wanted to make sure you knew what was coming. I didn’t think it was fair for it to be sprung on you without warning.”
    “Thanks, Edie. I appreciate it.”
    As I saw Eden out, she hugged me tightly. “Is Alyssa here for good?”
    “No, just until Wednesday.”
    Eden’s mouth mashed into an unhappy line.
    “Why?”
    “I’m leaving for Bahrain in the morning and I won’t be back for a little over a week.”
    “So?”
    “So, I don’t think it’s a great idea for you to be alone right now.”
    I scoffed at her insinuation. “I’m hardly going to top myself.”
    The look in her eye told me she didn’t believe I could cope alone for a few fucking days. “I’ll have my phone on roaming. If you need anything—and I mean anything—call me whenever. Any time. Day or night.”
    “Yeah, sure, Edie.” I was done with the conversation. I’d managed without Alyssa before, I’d be able to do it again. Especially when it was only a temporary thing.
    “I’m serious, Declan.”
    “I know.”
    After Eden left, Alyssa and I started to strategize on how we would present the united front Alyssa herself had suggested earlier in the day. It wouldn’t be hard in some respects, like spending time together in public, but others would be more difficult, like keeping the vultures away from Phoebe. We both agreed though, that task had to be our number-one priority.

 
    CHAPTER FIVE: VULTURES
     
    IT DIDN’T TAKE long before I needed to put Alyssa’s advice into play. Mere minutes after the press release was issued the following morning, I received my first phone call from the press.
    After that first call the phone rang almost non-stop.
    The media had a raft of questions, but mostly they boiled down to the two most vital ones. Who was I driving for now, and what was the reason behind the split from Sinclair Racing?
    Following Alyssa’s advice, I gave the same answer each time: “I’m not driving at the moment, and no comment.”
    Some of the more reputable organisations left it at that. Others weren’t so professional. They’d gathered information about Alyssa, about Phoebe, and one or two had even found out about Emmanuel.
    With an effort worthy of a fucking saint, I held my tongue as they tried to bait me to get a sound bite of me losing control. The one thing that helped me the most was to concentrate on Alyssa and Phoebe. Together, they did a fantastic job of distracting me from my worries over the whole situation