The Treble With Men (Scorned Women's Society #2) - Piper Sheldon Page 0,43

about his body … every time I looked at his flawless face … SHOOK, I say.

He’d been watching me watch him. I was being obvious, wasn’t I? Shoot. But I had to ask. I needed to understand why he hid from the world. There was no reason. Unless being too beautiful was a crime? “Devlin, I—”

“Tell me more about these dinner parties your parents have?” He turned away to wipe off the counters. “I’m envisioning the art world’s who’s-who, bottles of wine, and late-night heated debates over political and social issues.”

So, we definitely weren’t talking about it then. Okay.

“You’re not far off, actually.” I yawned. “My whole life, they’ve attracted some real characters. I’ve always been …” Nosey. “In search of knowledge. Older than my age, if that makes sense. So, I used to listen in. Finally, at one point, my parents told me if I wanted to be a part of their dinner discussions I had to learn to discuss things civilly. I started debating with adults at the age of twelve. More than once I fell asleep at the table, trying to hang.”

A soft smiled spread along Devlin’s face and it made my knees tingle. I wondered when he would let me address the elephant in the room, but I’d follow his lead for now.

“You seemed surprised by our weekly dinners. But it sounds like your parents had them too,” he said.

My heart twisted a little at that. “No. Not really. That’s why I learned to argue. It was some of the only time I got to spend with them.” His brows creased. “That sounded worse than I meant. It wasn’t that my parents ignored me. Not by a mile. But they were very much their own unit until they had me. Both in their forties and so in love.” I took a deep breath trying to find the right words. “I was this bonus gift, but not necessarily something they’d always dreamed about wanting. I guess I’m just surprised you’re so close with your parents. Like, what do y’all talk about, if it’s not politics and art?”

He scratched at his chin. “Everything. Sometimes we do talk about that sort of stuff, but mostly they just want to know what’s going on. When you know someone really well you have shared stories. That’s why the dinners are so important to them. They want to always be a part of our lives. They’re just like friends. I mean, it wasn’t always like this. And obviously there are some things we don’t discuss. We obviously don’t go into the lurid details of my sex life, but I mean, most things we talk about.”

Lurid details? “Let’s unpack that,” I wanted to say. Instead, I said, “Huh. I guess I never thought of my parents as friends. Especially not friends that I’d choose to hang out with. They’re just … family.”

“I guess,” he searched for the right words. “I don’t know what I’d do without my family.”

Swoon.

“My parents don’t know me. Not really.” It was my own fault. I kept so much from them. “They know the person they have in their head. I’m not that person anymore.” I sort of trailed off. I wasn’t sure if Devlin knew anything about my past.

“Have you tried talking to them?” he asked softly.

Now it was my turn to change the subject.

“The SWS is my family. But your family are your people,” I said.

He nodded. “When I’m with them, it feels like comfort. Like I don’t need to be ‘on.’ I don’t have to be anything for anybody. I don’t think about what I say, I just speak,” he said.

“The man behind the mask?” I asked.

He dropped my gaze. “Something like that.”

A pang of jealousy cramped my stomach.

This was all just so much to take in with Devlin. It was so far from the image he portrayed day to day at rehearsal. But I supposed the same could be said for me.

“Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”

His body went rigid. It was a minute before he answered me. “I guess I didn’t want you to see me differently.”

His confession hit home. His fears were justified. I had already started to see him differently. Internally, I had been obsessing over Erik Jones and not Devlin. I turned toward him, and he mirrored me. It was just us washing dishes, but it felt so intimate.

“You’re a gifted musician. I’m doing this because I want to help you. Nothing has changed,” I said. I vowed to