Page 22 of Sinister Devotion

I huff out a breath and think about it. She's probably right. "I'll go change."

"It's fine if you want to keep that on. I just wanted you to be comfortable, just in case, you know?"

I nod and head inside to jump in the shower and toss out everything in my closet to find a vintage t-shirt to throw on with a pair of denim cutoff shorts. It takes over an hour for me to get ready and that's when I realize I haven't heard from Devon. I glance at my phone and don't see anything.

There aren't any new notifications from him or from Julian. It's after seven and we agreed for six. What if he's keeping his original time of eight? That's probably it. I'll wait for him outside, scrolling through social media to kill time. As the sun sets and the minutes tick by, Bonnie pops her head out of the front door from time to time to see if I want to just go into town or something, blow him off.

I shake my head, hoping that Devon eventually shows up. By the time it's dark outside and I'm sure the date isn't happening, I can feel the sting of tears burning the back of my eyes. What kind of girl gets stood up on her first date?

Fuck, I'm pathetic. Maybe this is the ick that Julian feels and it's why he won't go all the way with me.

However, the front gate creaks open and the sound of a car much lighter than the massive SUV Edward chauffeurs Julian around in rolls onto the property. The same beat-up sedan from early this morning pulls around the fountain and stops in front of me.

When Devon gets out, his arms wide as if I'm going to hug him, infuriates me into refusing to wipe my tears in front of him.

"Hey, Princess, you ready?"

"The set of balls you have on you. Do you have any idea how late you are?" I ask him. "What the fuck? You asked me out."

"And out we're about to go." He walks around as I stand up to go back inside. He opens the passenger side door to his car, saying, "Your chariot, my lady."

I slam the door shut. "Absolutely not. I can't believe you still think you have a raindrop's chance in the desert of ever taking me out."

"I do," he says, cocky and tipping his head to the side. "Listen, Claire. I'm sorry I'm late. My car broke down and unfortunately, I'm the only mechanic I can afford at the moment. It took me a while to fix the issue with parts around a shop that's only built to fix lawn care equipment. Don't let my tardiness ruin a perfectly good night. We can hit an ice cream shop?—"

"I'm not going anywhere tonight. I only waited to see if you were going to show up. You could have called, sent a text, a smoke signal, something?—"

"You're right and I absolutely should have, but the funny thing about phones is they don't work when they're dead. Let me make it up to you."

"No," I tell him, softening under the gaze of his big brown eyes.

He takes a step closer, reaching forward to take the tips of my fingers into his hand. "Pretty please, Princess?"

Devon bends at the waist to kiss the top of my hand. So dramatic, but charming in his own way.

"You've got one last chance to prove you're not a turd."

He chuckles, "I promise you, Princess, turd I am not. A piece of shit sometimes, absolutely."

That makes me laugh for whatever reason. He's effortlessly charming, and it does have a way of easing the rage I’m experiencing. But, the charm melts away when he tugs me into his embrace just as Julian's SUV pulls onto the property.

Fuck. I try to push away, not wanting Julian or Edward to see me in Devon's arms.

"Let go," I urge him.

"Aww, Princess, what's the matter? I thought you were giving me another chance."

I push my hands against his chest to shove him away, but he doesn't budge. It gives me a distinct image of what he'd be like if he truly wanted to throw his weight around. Suddenly, the morning self-defense drills don't seem so pointless.

"Devon, let go of me. I'm giving you one more chance to show up on time, not paw at me."

"Princess, this isn't even a paw. This is," he smirks, dropping one hand to grip my ass which causes a literal knee-jerk reaction.

My leg comes up, my knee connecting to the side of his thigh. I grab him by the shoulders to do the move again when he throws his hands and a leg up to block himself. There's a smile and laughter coming out of him. "I'm sorry, sorry, sorry. I was wondering if you were going to do that karate shit again. That's fucking cool."

"You can ask, you know. You don't have to continuously piss me off to get that out of me."

He shrugs, backing away toward his car. "I don't know, Princess. I like you mad, feisty. Can I call you to reschedule?"

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