Page 36 of Unbroken

I motioned toward the door, and without a word, she reached for the handle. She walked outside, and I locked the door behind us.

Blakely had stopped at the end of the short walkway. Her hands were stuffed into the pockets of her skirt, and she glanced back and forth between her car at the curb and mine in the driveway.

“I’ll drive,” I said, walking by her and opening the passenger side door. She hesitated for a moment before she stepped forward and climbed into the car. She brushed past me, and the clean, sweet scent of her shampoo wafted toward me. I sucked in a sharp breath and ground my teeth together.

The moment she was in her seat, I shut the door. Probably harder than I should have.

Rounding the front of the car shouldn’t have taken more than a second, but I stretched it out as much as I could. I needed those seconds to get my mind straight.

I pulled open the car door and hopped in, trying to hold my breath. I cranked the engine and flipped the heat on.

Backing out of the driveway, I was able to keep my focus on the road for most of the longest fifteen-minute drive of my life. It required an insane amount of self-control not to glance over at her every other second. My hands cramped from how hard Iclenched the wheel, and the muscles in my legs and back burned from how still I was trying to stay.

But my control slipped when we stopped at a red light a block away from Murphy’s. It wasn’t the tension in the car that made my attention gravitate toward her. It was the nervous energy thrumming from her seat.

Her knee bounced, and in her hands, she twisted a small tube of cherry-flavored ChapStick. She’d applied it twice already in our short drive. My hand itched to reach over and grab her knee to calm whatever was causing her anxiety. But I knew touching her would have backfired.

Instead, I opened my mouth, prepared to tell her she had no reason to be nervous. But a horn behind us blared, and I glanced up to see the light had turned green.

SEVENTEEN

Blakely

I couldn’t getout of the car fast enough. Yet the moment my boots hit the paved parking lot, I wanted to jump back in.

I’d known from the moment Devon suggested I go with him that it was a bad idea. But I hadn’t questioned it. Somehow, I knew exactly where we were going. It was also Friday night, and although so much had changed, Murphy’s was a constant.

Shelly was an evil genius. She’d skillfully set it all up. But I wasn’t upset. At least not yet. Depending on how the rest of the night went and how everyone else reacted to me, I would decide if Shelly was no longer to be trusted.

The bar looked the same yet completely different. They’d obviously upgraded the place and given it a much-needed facelift. The paved parking lot was new, and the exterior was refinished. The sign on the street and the one on the face of the building were also recent additions.

Staring at the building, emotion stirred in my chest. I didn’t hear Devon approach until he was standing right next to me. And I wasn’t sure if he meant to do it, but the back of his hand brushed against mine. When he didn’t immediately jerk it away,I figured it was either intentional or, at the very least, not as big a deal to him as it was to me. Because suddenly I felt like I was very aware of where his skin had touched mine.

“You shouldn’t be nervous,” he said quietly. They were the first words he’d spoken since we’d left the house. Silent car rides weren’t always preferable, but that was something else that hadn’t changed—the easy silence between the two of us. I didn’t feel a need to say anything.

“Telling me I shouldn’t be nervous is like telling a dog not to bark when they hear a loud sound or a cat not to clean its own ass.”

Devon let out a surprised laugh, and I chanced a look up at him. A small, understated smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. My heart leaped at the sight.

For Devon, that was the equivalent of a toothy, uncontrollable grin. The one that made your cheeks hurt and your lips tingle. But as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, replaced by his usual stoic expression.

My stomach dropped with his smile. “Should we…?” I asked, trying to get it over with.

He inclined his head toward the door, and I took one step, then another. Before I knew it, I was leading the way across the parking lot. Devon was ever present behind me, keeping up with my long, sure strides. That was until I found myself in front of the door, and my legs no longer worked.

Just reach out and grab the door handle, I said to myself. But nothing happened. I could hear the thrum of music behind the door, and I imagined the throng of people crowded around the bar and on the dance floor.

That image made me anxious, although crowds weren’t usually an issue. It was my lack of confidence and control of my surroundings that occasionally inspired flashbacks. But I pushed the thoughts of the crowd aside and funneled all my energy into my hands and willed them to open the damn door.

Nothing happened. Until Devon appeared in front of me andgrasped the doorknob. His large hand dwarfed it, and he turned it with ease and like I hadn’t been standing there for several seconds struggling with the same task.

He stepped back with the door, and my nerves were momentarily forgotten when I peered around the updated interior. In awe, I stepped inside and looked around, unable to decide where to look first.

The original floors had been stained a darker brown, nearly black, and refinished. The walls were a deep green and covered in gold-framed vintage photos, memorabilia, and signs. The dart boards were still in the back right corner, and there were high-top tables along the perimeter. There wasn’t a dedicated dance floor, but to the right of the circular bar was still the place where everyone congregated. Bodies pressed together as the low rock beat vibrated through the speakers.

Glancing to the left, the circular bar that sat in the middle of the room was gorgeous. Bottles sat on glass shelves affixed against a mirrored wall that wrapped around the center. The bar itself was dark wood and was surrounded by green leather barstools with gold hardware.

Farther to the left, there was a second room with pool tables and another smaller, yet still beautiful bar.

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