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Dear god. What the hell is wrong with this woman? She obviously thinks of herself as holier than thou, while everyone at her feet is shit.
“Get out!” he screams. “Get out now!”
“How dare—”
“Now!”
A moment later, the door slams. Then Devlyn screams at the top of his lungs.
Immediately, I want to run down the stairs and go to him. Comfort him. See if he needs anything, even if it is time alone. But I also don’t want to crowd him. Make him think he doesn’t have the space or time to process what happened on his own. Be a nag or pest when what he needs is solitude and quiet.
I don’t want him to think I’m likeher.
Sliding off the stool, I tiptoe to the landing, then down the stairs. The house is quiet. Too quiet. When I reach the bottom floor, I peek around the doorway. No sign of Devlyn. I pad across the room, look left into the living room then right into the dining room. Still no Devlyn. I round the corner, walk past the kitchen, and step into the formal sitting room at the entrance of the house.
There, on the floor, near the front door, Devlyn is curled in on himself, back to the ceiling. Slowly, I pad across the room, come to his side and crouch down. I don’t say a word. Instead, I gently rest a hand on his back. He startles at my touch. A breath passes between us and then he twists, wraps his arms around my waist, and clings to me as if I am the air he breathes.
His frame shakes as he sobs into my lap. I bend over him, blanket him with touch, and kiss along his spine. “I got you.” I hug him tighter. “No matter what.”
He grips me impossibly tighter, his fingers bruising my flesh. But I don’t care. “I need you, Shelly. Always.”
“You have me.”
Wiggling free, he sits up and frames my face. “Promise?”
I lift my hand and stick out my pinkie. “Promise.”
He hooks our pinkies then drags me onto his lap. “Never letting you go,” he says before smashing my lips with his.
Good. Because there is nowhere else I want to be.
TWENTY-FOUR
DEVLYN
Life has never beenthis exhausting.
When I cut ties with my mother two weeks ago, it felt like she sucked part of my soul out. Knowing her, she probably did.
Although life feels less weighted with her absence, my body is still recovering from our screaming match. Not just my physical self, but my mental and emotional self too. Dumping toxic people from your life, especially family, isn’t as simple as saying goodbye. You don’t just get to wave a hand and be done with it. Because, as expected, my mother has continuously tried to keep in contact. At this point, I am ready to block her. Put a ten-foot cinder block wall around my home and shut out the possibility of her knocking on my door again.
Thank goodness I have Shelly. The only light in my life. The sole reason I wake up each morning and roll out of bed. In the last two weeks, we haven’t spent a night without each other. A couple of times, she has hung out with her friends after work. As soon as they all went separate ways, Shelly came to me.
“Ready?” she asks as she exits the bathroom.
With each night she stays in my home, she adds more pieces of herself. Occasionally, we stay at her apartment, but more often than not, she walks through my door. Cooks in my kitchen. Curls into me on my sofa. Eats meals at my table. Spoons with me in my bed.
And I don’t want it any other way. Well, I would rather call themoursinstead of mine, but that is a conversation for a different day.
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
Tonight is a big deal. Tonight, I am meeting her friends at their weekly Sunday gathering. But not just her friends, I also get to meet her brother and sister-in-law. The whole situation has me sweaty and itchy.
From what little Shelly has told me about her brother, he sounds pretty protective of her. I mean, I get it. Shelly means everything to me, so I am pretty protective of her too. In a different way. But since Shelly asked me to join her at the Sunday night gathering, I haven’t been able to shake the jitters from my limbs.
As if she senses my unease, Shelly wedges herself between my legs at the edge of the bed. Bringing a hand to my cheek, she wipes away any discomfort with the soft brush of her thumb.
“I know crowds aren’t your thing, but I promise this is a low-key gathering. Just friends hanging out and catching up.” I nod as my arms band around her waist and haul her closer. “It’s usually a little odd when someone new comes, like when Micah brought Peyton the first time, but I promise everyone will resume normal conversation in no time.”
