Page 119 of Unbroken

Devon reached out and grasped my hand, tugging me forward between his legs. His hands fell to my hips. “I’m here for whatever you need. No matter what, but especially for sex whenever you want it. That’s not a hardship for me.”

“Whenever I want?” A slow smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth as he nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind for the future.”

I was about to suggest that we leave and maybe grab some dinner when Devon’s expression changed, and his head dropped. An uneasy feeling began stirring in my stomach.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said.

“Okay,” I responded immediately, preparing for the worst possibility and trying to suppress my fight-or-flight response.

“After the roses in your mailbox and the unsolicited call from Sydney’s boyfriend, I decided to hire a PI.”

“You—you hired a private investigator? For me?”

“Yes, the police aren’t getting anywhere, and I can’t just sit idly by while this fucking psycho stalks you and makes your life a living hell. And it can’t hurt to have someone else working on your case at the same time as the police. She’s going to work in tandem with the police, and it’s someone else to hold them accountable, too.”

My mind was racing, and I shouldn’t have been surprised. Devon had made it known he was prepared to do anything to help me find justice and to keep me safe.

My parents had hired a PI, too. When I was being held in that basement and they couldn’t be bothered to call the police, and when they were actively lying to my friends and telling them they’d heard from me, they hired a PI known for his work with other political figures. A guy who was paid top dollar by anyone with an influential name who needed the utmost anonymity and discretion.

Without knowing the woman he hired, I knew she would be nothing like that man. He wouldn’t hire someone who was so dirty and self-absorbed.

“And it’ll just be a perk that she’s going to look into Julian at the same time. Since he’s shown such an interest in you, we thought it might be a good place to start.”

Julian had seemingly taken Devon’s not-so-subtle threat to heart because he hadn’t tried to contact me since. But there was still somethingoffabout him, and it was worth looking into just in case.

“Where did you find a PI?” I heard myself asking, but I don’t know why I did. At the same time, we both said, “Reed.” The only one of our friends who was wealthy enough to have those types of connections.

He laughed and rubbed his thumbs against my hip bones. The touch was soothing and casual, like he was always meant to touch me with such care and openness.

“Her name is Marie, and she’s worked with Reed’s father at his law firm a few times and on a few personal matters for their family. She’s a fucking badass. Reed had nothing but exceptional things to say about her. I told her that I needed to run it past you first, though. If this is going too far, I’ll tell her we want to hold off.”

Immediately, I shook my head. “I’m not going to lie, the thought had crossed my mind that maybe I’d need to recruitadditional help. But Dev, PIs aren’t cheap. I don’t want you spending an exorbitant amount of money on this. On me.”

Devon didn’t even have to argue. One quick dip of his eyebrows, and I knew he wasn’t hearing any of my arguments. “At least let me?—”

“No,” he said, a sense of finality in his tone. “It’s my money, and I’ll spend it however the hell I want. If I want to buy you a safe house, if I want to invest in a damn good PI, or if I want to buy you your own goddamn rage room, I’m going to do it. Unless you have a real, relevant argument, then fine. Otherwise, it’s happening.”

By the way his eyebrows shot to his hairline, he wasn’t expecting the giggle that burst from my lips. I tried to choke it down, chewing on the inside of my cheek, to think about the pain and not the laughter building in my chest. But it didn’t work.

A wide smile broke out over my face. One that I had no chance of hiding.

“Is something funny?” he asked with his own amused half-smile.

I shrugged and ran my thumb over his lower lip, wanting to experience that smile any way I could.

“You’re awfully cute when you’re bossy and possessive.”

With a low, playful growl, he scooped me up, his arms quickly fastened around my waist as he spun me, another uncharacteristic giggle floated from me.

“Then you must think I’m fucking adorable all the time.” He set me back on my feet and kissed me soundly, hands clasping my cheeks and moving my mouth where he wanted it.

But he couldn’t kiss me like he wanted when we were both smiling like fucking idiots.

“God, I love you,” he hummed against my lips.

“Good thing I love you, too.”

We followed the instructions Jason had given Devon—to turn off the control panel and the lights as well as put the sledgehammer and bat back where we’d found them.

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