Page 40 of Eternally Devoted

“No, but Jesus, Juni.” He shakes his head, turning to face Dash. “Howyoudoing with all this?”

Dash shrugs. “Acclimating, I think.”

“Yeah?” Sterl questions, and I watch as he studies Dash, taking in his body language, the pinch of his brows, and the way he strokes a hand down his jaw. I even catch Sterling following Dash’s gaze. He knows him well, and he’s deciding now if Dash is being honest.

“Yeah,” Dash confirms, turning to hold eye contact with his roommate. For a moment, I feel like I’m interrupting a private moment between them, but then they cast their gazes my way at the same time.

“On to seven?” Dash asks.

I take my place between them on the couch and stare at the old copies ofPeoplemagazine littered over the coffee table. On the cover of one is the star of a reality TV show about being a wealthy housewife. I SURVIVED ADULTERY reads the headline, along with a lot of other sentences revolving around how she got her strength back, and how she’s so brave.

“Howard cheated on Judy,” I say softly, staring into the eyes of the woman who got her husband’s millions because he came inside the nanny.

“You mentioned that,” Sterl says.

“He put his hands on her a lot,” I say, pulling at a loose thread on the hem of my nightie. “And that’s why I did what I did. But when I found out he was also cheating…” I look between the two of them. “You’d never cheat on someone you loved, would you?”

Sterling’s eyes glitter as our gazes idle, my question brimming with subtext. “Never,” he rasps.

“Never,” Dash agrees.

“Number seven was a cheater, too. But his cheating impacted me personally.”

Dash arches a brow. “You had a boyfriend? And he cheated on you?”

I shake my head. “No, and his cheating isn’t why I did… you know, what I did. His cheating was just a single sprinkle of a bigger cupcake of issues.”

“Only you can turn a murder admission into a sweet metaphor, Juniper,” Sterl says, a soft smile on his face.

“What else did he do?” Dash asks.

Looking at Sterling, since Dash moved to Bluebell shortly after this kill, I ask, “Do you remember Rhett Heard, Ivy’s boyfriend from two years back?”

Sterling’s eyes hold mine, flitting, searching, a rumple in his forehead as he clearly thinks. At once, he sits up and his eyebrows lift. “Oh yeah, he was that local telemarketer, right?”

“Yes,” I say, turning to Dash to explain. “Before Ivy met Trace, she dated this guy, Rhett. He was always kind of an asshole to her, in my opinion, slamming on her art, telling her tattooing is for guys, not women. Shit like that.”

“Gross.”

“I know. And to make matters worse, like Sterl said, he was a telemarketer. And he always talked over her. He never had cash on him, so she was always paying. And he cheated on hermultiple times.” I clench my jaw, imparting the worst detail is on the way. “In the bathroom at the bowling alley.”

“Ewwww,” Dash drawls, his face scrunching up in disgust.

“I know,” I tell him, glancing back at Sterling who shares the same repulsed expression. “I saw it with my own eyes, too. I’d gone to the alley to take Sally some jam, and just to hang out, you know? You were visiting your brother,” I tell Sterl, because we’ve been close for so long, there is overlap with my bad deeds and hanging with him. “I went to the restroom and in the stall next to me, people were clearly… you know, doing it.”

“How’d you know it was Rhett?” Dash asks.

“I didn’t until I returned to the bar to finish my root beer float, and I watched the door to see who it was. When I saw it was Rhett, and he saw me, he came up to me and he threatened me. He said, ‘Don’t you dare say a word of this to Ivy.’ Then the girl with him said, and I quote, ‘You’re dating that witchy weirdo?’”

Sterling sucks in a breath, sloping forward on the couch to rest his elbows on his knees. “Yikes.”

“Yeah, then Rhett laughed and said, ‘Witchy weirdo, I like that name.’ I wanted to punch his lights out right then and there but… I didn’t. Instead, I followed him home.” I split a cautionary glance between the two of them. “Rhett told Ivy he lived alone. But he didn’t. He lived with his father.”

They don’t speak, and I haven’t told them how the story ends, but they’re aware there’s no happily ever after for Rhett and his dad. I see that in their eyes, the understanding of who I am and what I’ve tasked myself to do.

“Keith Heard was his father’s name, and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree at all.”

Sterling’s voice is hoarse, and though he must know it ended okay for me, still, worry and stress line his features. “What happened?”

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