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“Feeling better?”
“Yeah,” he exhaled with a chuckle, running a palm over his face and pushing back the hair that had fallen into his eyes during our fight.
“It’s just been a lot,” he admitted, “having the Cillian job take up all my time while Wren is in danger.”
I grunted an agreement, not wanting to pretend to understand what he was going through. I wouldn’t have been able to put work above Wren, and the fact that Dev could manage his priorities that well, allowing me to take charge of Wren’s safety, made me respect him more. I stood up, reaching out a hand to help pick him off the floor.
“Speaking of Wren,” he turned toward me with a grin that had all my recently-relaxed muscles tensing back up in anticipation, “did everything turn out okay the other day? You get home to her in time?” He smirked at me, a flash of white teeth peeking between his lips as he tried to keep his mirth hidden.
I scowled at the knowing look he gave me, wondering how he could’ve possibly engineered the situation I walked into at the apartment. Even if it was irrational, it grated that Dev somehow knew what Wren would be doing in her bedroom, while I’d been caught off guard. He must’ve seen the anger in my face because he held his hands up in surrender, backing up a few steps until he was out of my reach. “Hey, now. I’m just trying to help you out. The tension is killing you both, especially now that you’re together all the time.”
He was right. There had been tension between Wren and me from that first moment I burst through Alex’s front door, ready for a fight. Wren hadn’t understood the reason behind it, but we’d been dancing around each other for months, waiting for the other to break. Wren expected me to cave, to stop ignoring her and become her friend, while I’d been waiting for her to shatter under my constant dismissal and disdain, leaving her new friends - and me - behind.
But the tension had heightened. Not just from protecting her, but from the games we’d been playing since the engagement party. The games she played so fiercely, desperate to prove how she belonged, but instead just proving how she was made for me.
“I didn’t expect this to happen,” I admitted, the words bursting forth without my permission. I didn’t plan to willingly expose myself to anyone but my sister, not until my plan played out, but Dev’s silent questions were so loud in my head I couldn’t help but answer. His admission at the toll the Cillian job was taking on him, the slightly unhinged look in his eyes before we sparred, all of it had me admitting what I’d just begun to admit to myself. I shook my head, confessing, “That’s a lie. I did expect it, and that’s why I tried resisting it so hard.”
Dev cocked his head, eyes narrowing as he observed me. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so vulnerable with anyone but Ames, and his gaze on me felt much too probing. Dev prided himself on knowing weaknesses, and I’d just handed him mine.
But he didn’t look at me the way he looked at his marks for work, eyes lighting up when he finally put together enough pieces to take someone apart, to make them do his bidding. Instead, he just asked, “Are you done resisting it?”
“Yes.”
Dev nodded, as if allowing my admission to sink in, before telling me, “When you’re watching someone, protecting them all the time…it forms a strange sort of connection. You’re responsible for that person’s life, and you know so much about them. It’s a bond you can’t quite find anywhere else.”
Dev’s gaze grew distant, eyes unfocused as his mind wandered. After a couple moments, he shook himself from whatever memory had him so distracted and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me tight to his side. “Don’t you worry, B. I’m a romantic at heart, which means I totally support your inappropriate relationship with your charge.” He winked at my glare and laughed, sprinting up the steps when I tried to punch his side in retaliation.
“I’ll remember this when you find someone,” I threatened, but my voice lost its bite when I watched Dev’s face go still. Before I could find the words to take back my empty threat, Dev’s eyes brightened back to normal, and he grinned wickedly at me from the top of the basement steps, wiggling his eyebrows.
“I hope you remember I was the one who helped you see Wren naked.”
Chapter15
Wren
I could see toomuch of Bex’s skin. It was really just her back, which was exposed to the cool October air by the giant cut-out in the back of her sweater. I’d never seen her wear anything like this. Most of her wardrobe consisted of oversized flannels and cropped, boxy t-shirts, which she wore with some sort of pants and her combat boots. She still wore her boyfriend-style jeans and the familiar, thick-heeled boots, but on her torso she had on a knitted black sweater with an open back, exposing the bones of her spine, thin twists of the material the only thing keeping it from falling off her shoulders. I wasn’t sure if she bought it for this occasion or had just never worn it in front of me before, but it made me feel like I was in some sexy fever dream.
It didn’t help that the entirety of the farm was hazy - both from the smoke emitted by the small bonfires littered throughout the open space and the fog pumped in to add to the nebulous quality of the haunted houses - making everything feel that much more unreal.
Especially as I stood next to Bex, alone, the rest of our crew making excuses when I’d attempted to invite them along.
* * *
“Who’sup for a haunted house this weekend?” I’d asked the question over lunch the day before, everyone spread across the long countertop atIn Bloom. They had all been close by - Ames had a morning shift atJuniper Pottery, Alex and Dev had a meeting in the city - so we had ordered in sushi for an impromptu group lunch.
Dev’s eyes flicked to Bex for a moment before he responded through a mouthful of rice, “Can’t. The Cillian job has me busy the next few nights.” He laughed when Ames reached over and shut his jaw with her fingers, pretending to chew daintily once his teeth were closed around his food.
I rolled my eyes at his vague response. Despite only starting it recently, the Cillian job was already so pervasive and mysterious that it felt more like an urban legend than an actual paid gig at this point. “Are you sure the Cillian job isn’t some secret girlfriend you’ve been hiding from us?” I teased, laughing at the impossibility.
Dev froze for a moment, eyebrows creasing as he frowned, as if he didn’t get the joke. But the frown quickly disappeared, lips turning into a smile just a moment too late. “No girls for me but you, Wrennie,” he winked, shoving another piece of sushi in his mouth and refusing to speak any further about the job he’d been spending all his time on the past few weeks.
Shaking off the odd interaction, I turned toward the lovebirds, who were having some silent conversation with their eyes that I couldn’t quite pick up on.
“How about you guys?” I asked, hopeful that someone would fulfill my haunted-house-dreams. “I haven’t been to a haunted house in so long, and I’m determined to go this year.”
“Sorry, Wren,” Ames apologized. “Alex and I planned a short weekend trip up to the mountains for some hiking. Before it gets too cold.”
“Oh.” I slumped a bit in my chair, dejected that my plans were so easily dashed. But I perked back up easily enough. “Maybe we can go next week sometime?”
