Daring Devlin (Lost Boys #1) - Jessica Lemmon Page 0,60
like Rena hangs out with her.”
His assessment smacked of love lost.
“What happened, Cade? She turn you down when you asked her to prom?”
“What happened to you, Dev? Rena give you those big doe eyes and ask you to show her how to give head?”
I rushed him. He held up his hands as I reached for his shirt.
“That was over the line,” he said with a dimpled smile.
My fists were still balled, my teeth welded together.
“That was disrespectful,” he said. His grin was intact, though, telling me he’d gotten the information he needed from this little expedition.
My stare-down wasn’t affecting him anyway. I backed off.
“I have money,” he said after a few seconds had passed. “I respect Sonny. At least he never took Dad for all he was worth. I want to pay him in person, make sure he knows Dad can’t pay but I can.”
Sonny would respect the tactic. He’d knocked a percentage off my own father’s debt after I’d inherited the restaurant. He’d stepped in, and while it was self-serving, he’d also done a lot of things he didn’t have to do. This condo, for example. Sonny didn’t have to let me live here expense-free. He didn’t have to give me the SUV parked in the garage, either. But he had. Maybe if Cade went to Sonny, he’d cut Paul some slack.
“Tex doesn’t care if he destroys Dad.” Cade’s gaze flicked away and then focused on me again. “You know he doesn’t.”
“No,” I agreed. “He doesn’t.”
“Guess I have you to thank for stepping in to help him.”
“Futile.” I shook my head. “He bet it again, Cade. All of it.”
His mood turned grim. “I know.”
“Double or nothing,” I said to emphasize my point.
“I know. He lost the last game. Big.”
Damn. Despite my advice. I wasn’t right all the time. I knew the players’ histories, the team history, but I couldn’t predict the future.
“It’s not your fault,” Cade said.
I frowned. I wasn’t accustomed to being not guilty in anyone’s eyes. “What about Tex?”
He looked away from his cooling coffee. “I don’t know.”
Maybe in the middle of this insanity, I’d finally found where I belonged. In a pocket with Cade, of all people, the only family I had left. And Rena. Somehow I knew they’d both be here when I walked away from Sonny.
Walking away was something I had to do on my own. I couldn’t take Cade’s money to soften the blow for myself. Cade needed to soften the blow for his dad. That, I could give him.
“Eight-oh-four,” I started.
Cade’s brows rose.
“Sonny’s number.” When he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, I recited the rest of the phone number and then gave Cade the address to the pizza parlor.
Rena
Tasha’s roommate was snoring on the other side of the dorm room while Tash and I watched her, lattes in hand.
“Shelby sleeps through anything,” Tash said. “Anyway, go on.”
“Do you think it was right that I stayed? I just feel like he… needed me.” And this morning, I’d woken overcome with feelings—dangerous, dangerous feelings—that surpassed the horny ones.
Was I falling for Devlin?
She shook her honey-colored hair, pulled into a sloppy mess on top of her head. “You’re on shaky ground, my friend.”
I lifted one eyebrow. I loved her, but my bestie wasn’t exactly chock full of sage advice in the relationship department.
“You wanted Devlin because he was a bad boy.”
I opened my mouth to argue. The attraction was there despite how “bad” he was, but she kept talking.
“Now you’ve got him, and you’re trying to turn him into Joshua.”
My head jerked on my neck. There was no way, none, Devlin could ever be Joshua. Devlin was too much of a free thinker, and he was confident, and so sexy any woman within a ninety-mile radius noticed. And also: “I don’t want to turn him into Joshua.”
“Oh, you don’t?” she challenged. “You wouldn’t like it if Devlin called you every day? You wouldn’t like him to surprise you with a candlelit dinner? You wouldn’t want him to buy you expensive, sparkly jewelry?”
She was hard to take seriously in a bunny pajama set. She was also wrong.
“I don’t want that,” I answered honestly.
But since she’d brought it up, how would a “normal” relationship work with Devlin? I pictured him coming for dinner at my mom’s, or hanging out with Tasha and Tony at a frat party. He didn’t fit in either of those scenarios. Or what about us going grocery shopping together, or picking up ice cream on the way to the pool?