my shoulders as I fall into a chair. Drake comes to sit next to me. “I was going to focus on finding a job, but my head isn’t in it right now. I kinda fucked up last night.”
“You? No!” he teases. He knows that I’m a perfectionist who’s always trying to do what’s right. I don’t make any decisions until I’ve thoroughly thought them through. I don’t do anything on impulse—until last night, that is.
I nod. “I was having a few at the bar here in town, and this gorgeous woman comes walking in. She has legs a mile long, olive skin, chocolate-colored eyes, and smooth raven-colored hair. I couldn’t resist—it’s been so long.”
He laughs and shrugs. “Well, you are a man. How did you fuck up though?” His brows pull together as he watches me, trying to figure me out.
“Well, she seemed into me, so after a drink and a dance, I took her outside and we went at it in your truck.”
He laughs, his dark eyes lighting up. “Okay, but I’m still not understanding how you fucked up.”
“Well, I went to check out the apartment today. He showed me the place and I agreed to move in. Then his sister comes home…”
“Ohhhhh,” he says like he already knows the punchline to the joke.
“Turns out the woman from last night is his kid sister. She just turned eighteen and moved in with him when she got kicked out of her mom’s house back in Denver.”
“Ouch,” he breathes out, taking a drink of his beer.
“Yeah. Now, I’m stuck moving in because I already told him I would, and he needs the help with the rent. Plus, if I back out now, I’m sure he’ll ask why. But I can’t tell him that I treated his kid sister like a slut and fucked her in a dark parking lot. I mean, he’s always been super protective of her. Like, he helped raise her and shit.”
Drake laughs and shakes his head. “Did you not recognize her last night?”
“No, I hadn’t seen her since she was in grade school. And she didn’t give me her first name. She gave me her middle name. Had she given me her real name, I would have gotten it right away. There aren’t not many women named Deven.” I roll my eyes as I take a long drink.
He whistles. “Damn. So what are you going to do?”
I laugh and shake my head as I rub my eyes. “I’m stuck moving in, so I guess I’m just going to try avoiding her and ignoring her when she’s around. I don’t know what else to do.”
“I’m glad I’m married and don’t have to worry about shit like that anymore.”
“Must be nice,” I mumble. “Of all the women in this town, I had to go and fuck the one I wasn’t supposed to touch. How does that even happen?”
He lets out a deep chuckle. “Welcome to the Slade family curse. If something can go wrong, it will.”
“So, what’s been new with you and the guys? Distract me,” I nearly beg.
He sits back and thinks things over. “Nothing that I can think of. We’re all just living and working, raising our families. It’s been rather boring around here. Good thing we have you back for some comedy,” he jokes.
I laugh. “Yeah, fuck off.”
He only laughs harder.
I stand up. “Well, guess I’m going to go in and crash. Got a long day of packing tomorrow.” I head for the house.
In the morning, I grab my duffel bag and toss it into the truck that Drake is letting me use until I buy one of my own. I have the money for one, I just need to actually go. It takes all day: you have to test drive every one, then settle on a price because I never give asking price. Then, there’s the hours of paperwork, going to the DMV, and getting insurance. I also hate making large purchases. It’s all just more than I want to deal with right now, especially with all this Deven shit on my mind.
I make the drive into town and to the apartment. I park and grab my bag to carry it up to the room. When I get up to the second floor, I jiggle the handle, but the door is locked. I knock a couple of times before realizing that Brad is probably dead to the world right now after working his midnight shift last night. I bend down and check to see if