Page 14 of Devious Whims

His anger drains, and he turns the seat to face me. “No, Cami.”

“But it is. You killed him because of me,” I yell out, standing from the table since I lost my appetite.

“And I’d do it again,” he snaps, standing with me. His chest heaves as he glares at me. The fury swirls in his eyes as my anger rises with his.

I scoff, crossing my arms. “So you have no regrets? Leaving me by myself for over a decade?”

Devon stills, contemplating his answer before his jaw pulls tight, and he looks away. “I would have just made sure I didn’t get caught.”

My mouth slacks open, and then I throw my hands up in frustration. “What about how I feel? The fact that I will always have a stain on my soul, there will always be one on your soul because of me?”

“You don’t have to bear that burden!” Devon shouts, coming around the table and stabbing a finger in his chest. “It is only on me and I accept that.”

“Oh, fuck you,” I snap out. Moving to leave the room, he grabs my arm and pushes me into the wall. His palms on either side of my head cage me in. Both our breaths are coming out in rapid pants. My nipples harden, and my eyes flicker to his lips for a second.

I’m so worked up from arguing with Devon that I don’t hear the front door open, and Mike’s voice startles me. “What’s going on?”

Devon and I don’t look away from each other, daring each other to be the first and speak up. My husband walks to me, his soft hand wrapping around my elbow. Devon drops his arms, stepping away.

“Cami?”

I sigh and shake my head. “Nothing, just something we disagree on.”

Devon scoffs. “She thinks I shouldn’t have gone to jail, and I should have just let bygones be bygones.”

My anger resurfaces, and I cross my arms. “It should have been my choice.”

“No, Cami, because you would let anyone walk over you before you ever spoke a word.”

Mike’s attention ping-pongs between us. “What are you guys talking about?”

Devon looks at him curiously, then turns his glare at me. “You never told him why I was in jail?”

Grinding my teeth, I clench my jaw and then level him with a saccharine smile. “You never really came up at all.” The arrow hits where I intend, and guilt burns my insides.

Mike lets go of me to hold up his hands in a surrendering position. “Woah, hold on. No slinging words to be hurtful. Let’s talk this through and then we can get game night started.”

I can see the retort Devon withholds before his shoulders drop and his head shakes as he lets out a hollow laugh. “I killed the goddamn pervert that was recording Cami showering and changing in her room.”

My stomach twists at the memory of finding the small camera in the ceiling of my bathroom light.

“What?” Mike exclaims. He peeks at me for confirmation, and I drop my gaze to the floor. “What the hell? When she was a minor?”

“Yup,” Devon says, his rough voice displaying his anger. “The sick bastard was an old friend of my father’s. Someone who was in our house multiple times a week.”

Mike drops his briefcase to the floor, and I watch him as he undoes his tie in quick, jerky movements. The flush building up his neck tells me how upset he’s getting. “Okay, then what happened?”

I bite down on my bottom lip, willing my tears to stay. Because out of everything that happened, this is the first crack in the foundation that could cause it all to come tumbling down.

Devon snickers. “Then we told our parents about the camera the next time the fucker came to dinner, and they defended him saying we were making shit up. But I saw his face. The terror that flashed in his eyes and the blood that drained from his fat fucking cheeks left a pale mask when he thought he’d been exposed.”

Rubbing my arms at the cold gathering in my chest, I step away from them. I don’t like to think about how much one night changed the course of both our lives. Devon watches me retreat into the kitchen and start cleaning up, my mind empty of thoughts.

They follow me, sitting at the table with somber expressions and not acknowledging my erratic movements as I bounce from task to task.

“What happened next?” Mike asks.

I can feel Devon’s eyes on me and I avoid them, not wanting to revisit any part of this memory.

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