Page 83 of For All My Effort
I took a deep inhale, thankful that everyone ignored how shaky that breath sounded.
Eve led the way, with Jackson right behind her, Han and Zeke on either side of me, and Sebastian behind all of us. We all had a role to play in this, especially in front of so many gazes. Despite being surrounded by my mates, I still saw all the glances in our direction, and I was working to keep my stride confident, focusing on ensuring my hips had a slight sway.
Seb chuckled, and I winked at him over my shoulder, mercifully managing not to run into anyone.
The area where the interview was set to take place was brightly lit, my feet automatically slowing down as we neared it.
At least it didn’t look sterile. Two club chairs sat facing each other, lined with fabric I knew would be soft, ensuring any sweat from my palms would soak into the material’s arms, staining it. Between the seats was a decorative rug with a small table set in the middle. It was decorated like a furniture showing with books that didn’t actually have titles laid on top, some fake candles, and even two place settings as if we were going to have some drinks with us while we chatted.
Overhead, dozens of lights dangled and angled themselves to illuminate the whole space. This area was literally warmer than the rest of the room, which I knew wouldn’t help with my already present stress sweats.
Off to the side, I finally saw Presley and her omega. The latter was sitting in a chair with Presley’s name on the back while the former stood, getting her last-minute details done to her hair and makeup. They looked good together, the kind of opposites that somehow perfectly complimented each other.
Presley was all blonde, with long curly hair that elegantly rested over her shoulders. Her eyebrows were dyed a brown color but that was the boldest thing about her. From her outfit to her slightly pink cheeks, she looked soft. Nothing was bold or form fitting, almost reminding me of a doll.
My own outfit was a black suit. I’d had it tailored so that it was almost form fitting. Underneath my coat, even my shirt was black, and my black heeled boots were making a hard thud sound as opposed to the clacking of heeled shoes. Koda had helped with my hair, dying it pink last night, and Zeke had cut it this morning, creating my new signature heart over my scar.
In my humble opinion, I looked badass. I could have been soft and sweet if I wanted, but I’d always been someone with an edge. The last thing I wanted was to appear different than myself as if I’d been coerced into whatever I was about to say. I had to appear normal. This was my normal, even if the suit was technically new.
Presley looked up from the other side of the room, her lips moving as she spoke to her omega, yet her gaze never dropped from our eye contact. She might have been dressed like a pretty little gift, but she was a predator. She was an alpha.
Eve was suddenly in front of me, blocking my view of anything except her. “Well, I can’t smell your scent now, so you’re a little bit calmer. That’s good. Are you feeling good?”
In the face of Eve’s panic, I was actually calming down. My own instincts always demanded that I comforted people I cared about, and Eve had quickly become a close friend of mine. Reaching out, I grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze to reassure her.
“Right. Goodness, I’m nervous and I’m not even the one going on camera. Now, I’m supposed to have you sit on the chair and one of the sound producer guys talked me through how to put a mic on you. Once I do that, everything you say will reverberate throughout the room. Ready?”
“No. Let’s do it.”
I kissed my mates, none of them complaining about the pink stains from my lipstick before taking my designated spot. Sitting in the chair, I worked hard to get myself comfortable before giving up. The fabric was as soft as it looked, the thickness under it surprisingly firm.
Eve started moving around me, tucking what she called the sound pack against my hip, and hiding the mic’s cord behind my jacket. Her nerves were making her scent bloom, and her fingers just barely shook as she continued touching and adjusting the pack and cord and mic over and over again.
“Thank you, Eve.” My whispered words echoed through the raised volume of the microphone, making me jump. I stared wide-eyed at my mates who were unsuccessfully hiding their smiles at the fact that I’d scared myself. Glaring at them, I pretended to turn my nose up.
Then Presley sat down, draining all the humor from me in an instant. For just a moment, I slumped, before I remembered that I was a bad bitch. I had to truly dig deep inside myself for those positive feelings, but I grabbed them with both hands, and used them to roll my shoulders back, posing like I was cocky and not at all intimidated by this alpha.
So close, she smelled like … milk. Her alpha scent reminded me of shoving my nose in a gallon that was close to its expiration date to make sure it was still good. Like a mix of milk and plastic. Honestly, it wasn’t the worst alpha scent ever. It wasn’t my preference, but I would take milk over salty water or black pepper any day.
“Good evening, omega,” Presley said, speaking around the beta that was currently arranging her sound equipment. “We’ll make sure this wraps up on time so you can get home before the curfew.”
I was pretty sure she didn’t mean her words maliciously. After all, she was still looking over her notes, barely even paying attention to the beta in front of her, let alone watching my reaction to her words.
I had no idea what to say, since the words, ‘thank you’ were definitely not coming out of my mouth at that comment. Fortunately, it didn’t look like she was expecting me to answer anyway.
Turning my gaze to my alphas, I was asking them with my eyes if they’d just heard what she said. Sebastian gave me a look that told me to settle down while Han moved his hands around his chest in a gesture for me to breathe.
“Ready?” someone asked.
“Ready,” Presley said.
There was a moment of silence before that same previous voice asked, “Ready, Hannah?”
“Oh, ready.”
Almost directly in front of me, just off to the side of Presley’s head, a large light turned on. I flinched at seeing it, my hands tightening around the arms of the chair as I waited for the light to get closer. It didn’t.
From the peripheral of my vision, I saw Presley look up, watching me have a small melt down from a camera light. “Just relax, you need to focus on me, not the camera. Like you’re gossiping with an old friend.”