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He shakes his head. “She hates the color, so I’d say slim. But I wouldn’t get too close. She bites.”
“Fantastic.”
I climb the stairs behind Hayes and notice the way he keeps himself positioned between Devin and me. I may have been kidding when I asked if she was going to slaughter me, but there’s at least a part of him that’s clearly afraid she’ll take a swing.
“Leave, Hayes,” she tells him. “This is between us.”
He shakes his head. “Yeah, no. I’m good here.”
She glares at him, but he isn’t going to budge. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt your little girlfriend.”
“Technically, she’s still my wife,” he says, tilting his head from side to side, but Devin isn’t amused.
“Some fucking wife, leaving you like that,” she sneers, looking me up and down like I’m the shit on the bottom of her favorite shoes.
I take a deep breath. “Dev…”
“It’s Devin,” she corrects me. “Only people I care about get to call me Dev.”
Fucking hell.“Devin,” I enunciate. “I’m really sorry for how I left. It was wrong of me, and I hurt a lot of people, your brother included.”
“Lai—” Hayes tries to interrupt but I stop him.
“No, it’s fine.” I turn back to Devin. “Seeing him like that was probably hell for you. I know it would be for me. And I’m truly sorry for that. I never meant to cause anyone pain. That was never my intention.”
She huffs, cocking a single brow at me. “Youshouldbe sorry. You know, when you two first got together, I threatened to punch him if he hurt you. It never even occurred to me that it would beyouhurtinghim.”
I swallow down the lump that forms from her words, because she’s right. Everyone was so worried about whether or not he would hurt me. Not a single person thought it would be the other way around. Granted, we were both left in pieces, but she doesn’t know that, and she’s not going to.
Devin has always been the type who would involve herself, and it looks like my leaving has only made her more protective of her brother. We can’t have her anywhere near this shit. She could very well end up getting herself hurt. While she might hate my guts, I’d still never let any harm come to her.
“I know,” I say softly. “And you have every right to hate me.”
“That’s good, because I do,” she throws back. “You don’t deserve my brother.”
Nowthathits me right in the chest because I agree with her. It’s like having my worst fear spoken into existence and validated. And no matter how much I try to keep the tears down, they come anyway.
“You’re right.” My shoulders sag. “I don’t. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love him with every goddamn thing I have anyway. I don’t expect you to believe that, but it’s true. He’s it for me.”
She hums. “If only you didn’t have to go see what else is out there before you figured that out.”
“That’s not at all what I was doing, but I don’t expect you to believe that either.” I turn to Hayes. “I’m going to head out. Go find a new motel to stay at.”
He sighs. “You don’t have to.”
“I do,” I tell him. “I don’t want to ruin your visit. And that fucking couch at my brother’s is going to be the death of me.” Looking back at Devin, I feel sad. I miss the time where we were friends. “Enjoy spending time with your brother.”
As I turn around to leave, her voice calls out once more. “You know, if you’re not going to stick around this time, you can go.”
I look back at her. “I’ll be around until the day he tells me to leave.”
With that, I head downstairs—keeping my composure long enough grab my things and tell Cam and Mali that I’m going to go find a new motel to stay at so I can actually get some work done. Lord knows that doesn’t happen here.
How can I write songs about a guy when I can’t stop looking at him?
I assure them I’m fine and head out the door, but the minute I’m around the corner and out of view, the dam breaks and a rush of emotion flows out of me. Everything Devin said was everything I deserved to hear. There wasn’t a single word that I didn’t agree with, except the part where she thinks I was out there looking for something better.
I wouldn’t even bother with that. It would be a pointless search. I’ve known since I was fifteen years old that there’s no better person for me than him. That’s never going to change.
