Page 92 of Unbroken

I tried to tamp down any thought about who had been the third angel. Luckily, she wasn’t pictured.

James peered at his girlfriend and said, “Do you know who was almost always the instigator of shit like that?”

“Who?” Ivy asked, and I was already shaking my head when James glanced back at me.

“I wasn’talwaysthe instigator,” I argued, and everyone began laughing. “Reed and Josh were also to blame most of the time.”

From across the room, Josh started arguing, just to be quickly cut off by Amanda, who reached over from her spot on Reed’s lap and smacked him on the arm. “You were both menaces. Don’t try to deny it.”

“There were witnesses,” Luke quipped, his sleeping daughter tucked against his chest. “There is no denying it.”

I laughed quietly to myself and finished off my garlic bread as the group argued about who between the two guys was the worst influence.

Devon glanced back at me with a small smile tugging at his lips. “You got out of that one,” he whispered.

“I did, but between the three of us, I was definitely the one who instigated the least. Dumb and dumber over there were far worse.”

He hummed in agreement, and his eyes dropped to my lips. I saw the quiet desire in his dilated pupils and leaned forward. One quick brush of our mouths was all I had in mind, but I should have known better.

Unsated desire still wound through me like a dull ache. What we’d started before my house was overrun by our friends was at the back of my mind. And even the small brush of our lips was enough to stoke it back to life.

The angle was a little weird with his head tilted back, but I don’t think either of us really cared. My hand around his waist tightened in his T-shirt while his hand gripped my thigh.

Realizing it had suddenly gone quiet, Devon and I simultaneously pulled back and glanced around the room. Every eye was on us. Devon straightened and cleared his throat, a flush burning across his cheeks.

“Damn, okay then,” Amanda said, pretending to fan herself with her hand.

I rolled my eyes as Reed kissed her cheek. Conversation picked back up, but I was more focused on the quiet man in front of me. I propped my chin back on his shoulder and ran a finger over his cheek.

“What’s that smile for?” he asked, and I hadn’t realized I’d been smiling until he pointed it out.

“I just think it’s sweet how you blush when we’re in public.” I ran my nose along the shell of his ear and smiled again when he shivered. “But when we’re alone, you say the filthiest things.”

His grip on my thigh tightened, and he readjusted on thebarstool. He turned back toward me and lowered his voice so only I could hear him.

“Beautiful girl, you haven’t heard anything yet.”

My mouth suddenly went dry, and I swear I could feel my heartbeat between my thighs. It was my turn to readjust in my seat, and with a cursory glance around the room, I confirmed no one else had heard.

“Is that a promise?” I asked quietly.

Devon made a sound of agreement deep in his throat. “Absolutely.” My eyes roamed the side of his face when he continued. “But you’ve got to stop looking at me like that right now.”

“Like what?”

He peered at me out of the corner of his eyes and ran his thumb over the exposed skin just above my knee on the inside of my thigh.

“Like you want to ask me to ‘prove it’ right here in front of all our friends.”

He wasn’t wrong, and I wasn’t surprised my expression was that transparent. All I wanted to do was make himprove it, but there were too many people in my house for that. So, instead, I dragged my nose down his neck and kissed the last bit of skin above his shirt.

FORTY-ONE

Devon

It was almostnine o’clock by the time everyone left her place.

I was in the kitchen putting away the rest of the leftovers when Blakely finally closed the door and slumped back against it. She glanced over at the couch where Tato was completely passed out. He wasn’t lying in his usual tight ball, he was on his back, sprawled across two cushions with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.

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