Daring Devlin (Lost Boys #1) - Jessica Lemmon Page 0,72
to work.” Devlin released my apron. I folded my arms and didn’t move. “Please?”
I shook my head and he sighed.
“Nothin’ from you, huh?” Roy asked Devlin.
Devlin shook his head.
“And her?” Roy pointed to me.
I frowned. I didn’t like being referred to as a “her” by the man who might someday be my stepfather.
“I don’t want Officer Monroe anywhere near her.” Devlin curled his lip.
“I can arrange that. You need to do something for me, though.” One of Roy’s thick eyebrows lifted.
“I’m not a rat,” Devlin said.
“Not that.” Roy’s voice was a low warning. “I want you to leave her be.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but Devlin spoke first. “Deal.”
Roy held out a hand and Devlin clasped it. Then Devlin turned to me.
“You’re fired, Lewis. Cash out with Chet, get your things, and leave.”
“No.” My heart tore in half.
Devlin’s throat bobbed, but his expression remained blank. Then he turned to Roy. “Officer. A little help?”
“Rena, hon. Let’s sort this out,” Roy said, taking my arm. I let him lead me to the back where the entire staff froze and stared at us. Veronica offered to take my tables. I handed Chet my apron. I heard Roy promise to come back for my tips after he’d settled up. I felt everything and nothing at the same time.
Devlin had let me go and he hadn’t even thought about it. Roy asked, and Devlin agreed. I was out of a job, out of a boyfriend.
Roy draped my coat over my shoulders and walked me out the back door. Baron was waiting in an idling cop car. Roy must have radioed him to pull around.
“Keys, hon.” Roy’s hand appeared in front of my face.
I fished my keys from my coat pocket and dropped them into his callused palm. His fingers closed around them. To Baron, he said, “I’m driving Rena home. Follow us.”
“I can drive her,” Baron offered.
But Roy kept his promise to Devlin. “No, you can’t.”
Roy drove me home, Baron followed. Once I was ensconced in my apartment and they were gone, I started to cry.
My mother’s tinkling laughter cut into the staring contest I’d been having with the saltshaker for… I don’t even know how long.
“Strawberry rhubarb. This time from the store.” She set the pie on the table and then lowered into the chair next to Roy. “Honey? Why don’t you eat something? You look pale.”
I was pale. And more heartsick than I’d known was possible.
“I’m fine.” My voice was low and flat, not a single peak or valley. My peaks and valleys vanished when Devlin dumped me. I felt like he was a million miles away even though he was down the road, working at Oak & Sage. I hadn’t gone back. Roy had picked up my tips from that last night of work—a whopping forty-eight dollars—and my final paycheck.
Once upon a time I’d feared that Devlin would become my power source, and that once he’d unplugged, I’d fade out. Well, he had unplugged and guess what? I was right. I’d gone as dim as a robot missing its battery pack.
“Honey?” Mom tried again.
“I came over tonight for one reason.” I glared at Roy. “An update.”
He swiped his mustache with a napkin and sighed. My mother clasped her hands together, worry lining her brow. I could read her thoughts like closed captioning: My daughter dated a criminal. I can’t believe it.
“Devlin’s safe,” Roy said. “Sonny fell on the grenade. Said he acted alone. We’re not pursuing anyone else.”
Devlin was safe. I was so relieved I nearly smiled. “What about Tex?”
“In the wind,” Roy answered. He ate another huge bite of pie. “We’ll get ’im. We got eyes everywhere.”
“And Sonny?” I was curious about the man who had given Devlin so much.
“Rena, dear, none of this matters.” My mom gave me a hopeful smile. “You can return to normal life now that this is all over with.”
“I love him,” I choked, a sob catching in my throat.
My mother’s face went winter white. “Sonny?”
“She means Devlin,” Roy told her, placing a rugged, wide palm over her hand.
I wondered if I’d ever not miss him. Maybe. I’d recovered from losing Joshua. Only Devlin wasn’t dead. He was just… gone.
Sonny was detained, Tex was in the wind, and Devlin was safe. And yet Devlin hadn’t attempted to contact me. That hurt. I stood from the table.
“Where are you going?” Mom asked.
“Home,” I lied.
“Baron’s got eyes on Oak & Sage,” Roy told me, guessing correctly that I’d lied.