Page 9 of Her Devils

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Lenley

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“LET’S GO, LEN,” DARRIUSsays, ignoring my outburst and sliding the backdoor open. He walks through the backyard in the direction of the beach.

I follow after him, staring at his back. He doesn’t turn to look at me until our feet touch the soft sand.

“You don’t get it, Len,” he bites out, facing me.

I plant my feet on the spot, sinking my toes into the sand. It’s still warm from the unforgiving heat of a Northern California summer day.

I’m not going with him, and I have no intention of spending the night at Darrius’s place. I have a date with Peyton, and I’m hoping what happened in the past few hours won’t make him change his mind about wanting to sleep in my bed. My body reacts at the mere thought of being in the Devils’ captain’s arms again with a rush of heat, but I keep my eyes firmly set on Darrius. “What don’t I get, D? You seem to have such a low opinion of me that it makes me wonder if our friendship has been one-sided all these years.” Like my crush on him, but I don’t say that last part out loud.

“Len.” His gaze softens, the brown of his eyes warmer in the late evening light. The sun is about to go skinny-dipping into the sea, turning the sky into a beautiful canvas of pinks and oranges against the darkening blues of night and the ocean. “How can you doubt our friendship? You and my sister are the only constants in my life, the only people who have never left me or made me feel inadequate, no matter what.”

I bite my tongue, swallowing back the bitter thoughts caused by his words. If the way he treated me lately is how he treats the people he loves the most, then maybe I should really rethink my choices when it comes to friends.

“I know we haven’t seen eye to eye lately, but—”

I snort, unable to control myself any longer because he just voiced the understatement of the year.

“Len, you don’t get it. You’ve been everyone’s priority since Patrick’s death. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t resent the extra attention you got from Gina and my dad. I know how much you loved your father, and I can only imagine how losing him was for you, but things haven’t been easy either for the rest of us. You were protected from the pressure the rest of us have had to endure every day. His legacy was a gift and a burden at the same time. Your mom and my dad were left to run an empire without Patrick, who was the heart and soul of the Angels. Anna and my mom have always struggled to get Dad’s attention. First, it was because he and Patrick always had their heads in the clouds, even when their feet were firmly on solid ground, but it got worse after Patrick passed.”

Mom made comments like that one before, and I remember the wayPapàalways used to think about his next flight, his next jump.

“While your mom embraced Patrick’s passion, my mother left, and Anna felt like she had to fight for every scrap of Dad’s attention,” Darrius continues. “That’s why my sister is so hard on you. She resents that you had that attention because you were Dad’s best friend’s daughter. I’m not saying that justifies how horrible she is to you, but that’s the reason behind it. Dad has put so much effort into filling Patrick’s shoes that he forgot about his own kids.”

I’ve never thought about that. “I’m sorry, I never meant to consume your dad’s time.”

Darrius shakes his dark head. “It’s not your fault, but try to understand that Anna has always felt like she had to do better than you to even be seen, and I—the only way to be close to Dad was to be the one who continued his and Patrick’s legacy, and it’s hard. Patrick DeLaurent was almost superhuman when he jumped and dove off a cliff or an aircraft.” He pulls up the hem of his T-shirt, revealing dark, mottled bruises on his ribs and his lean, muscular hips.

“Darrius! How the heck—” My fingers brush against his warm skin. I react totally on instinct, and he doesn’t move away.

“These are from hitting the side of the aircraft while trying to reenter the cabin after jumping out. It doesn’t matter that they pad the entrance as much as they can, I still either totally miss the damn plane or fucking crash against it. Patrick was the only one who ever managed to reenter the cabin, and if I want a chance in hell to live up to his fame and win the next world championship, then I need to at least be as good as he was. The only way to do that is to replicate his most famous stunts, improve on his flight times, and open my parachute later than he did.”

My heart clenches in my chest, terrified about the sheer determination I see in Darrius’s eyes.

What if he fails? In skydiving and BASE jumping, the result of a mistake can cost the athlete the ultimate price, like it did mypapà. “Darrius...” My fingers trace the edges of the biggest of his bruises, and his muscles twitch under my touch. “You can be you. You don’t need to try to be mypapà.”

His laugh is totally joyless. “Don’t I? Or do you think Dad and Gina gave me my position as the Angels’ captain just because I’m a Penn? I had to train and fight to get where I am, and it’s a constant struggle to keep my spot, at least until I have a world championship under my belt. The pressure would be crushing enough without Cox and his man-whores trying to sweep in and take us down with their underhanded methods.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Oh, come on, Len! I know you’re a sweet girl, and that’s why I’ve always loved you, but can’t you see what’s going on? Ken went as far as marrying your mom to get in our way, and now it makes total sense why the Devils have been sniffing around you like animals in heat. They hope to destroy us from the inside.”

I don’t like what he’s implying. “You think Ken married Mom just because she’s the owner of his rival team?” I gasp, trying to step away from him, but he covers my hand with his, keeping my palm flush against his warm skin.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he says, keeping his brown eyes fixed on mine.

I don’t say anything. I don’t know Kenneth Cox that well, but I saw the way he looked at Mom tonight, and I saw how happy my mom was every time she talked about her new boyfriend in the past few weeks. Mom isn’t an idiot, so if Ken married her to get to her team, she would have seen through it. Right?

Darrius interprets my silence as agreement. “Please, Len, promise me that you’ll keep your eyes open and protect our interests. Don’t let the Cove Devils take what’s ours by birthright—even if they pretend to like you and make you feel special. Believe me, they do that with every single woman who’s unlucky enough to catch their attention. Don’t forget that they are heartbreakers.”

I shove, trying to pull away from him, but he tightens his grip on my hand.

“Is that what you think?” I bite out, trying to keep the tears that are burning my eyes from spilling. “You think that they are my friends just to mess with the Angels?”

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