Page 68 of Breathless With Her

And I’d probably hate myself for it.

Every. Damn. Day.

Chapter 14

Devin

* * *

I had wokenup this morning with Erin in my arms, both of us fully dressed, and her nuzzled into my chest, my chin on the top of her head.

I had never been so scared as when I got her call the night before.

She had said that she needed me. And I had wanted to break something for her, needed to fix it all. But I couldn’t. There was nothing I could do for her except hold her. But she had come to me. Or at least, she had asked for me. That meant something. She had asked me for help, and I had gone to her.

When I arrived, she had been sitting stoically in her car, looking down at her hands, not doing anything else. Her face had been dry, but I had been able to see the tear tracks down her cheeks.

She just looked at me, her eyes wide. Something had changed. Something was different.

I wasn’t exactly sure what, but hopefully I would find out later today.

She had told me why she was in Fort Collins. And I’d wanted to rip something in half. I’d wanted to growl as I stormed into that jackass’s house to demand an explanation.

But she hadn’t wanted one. She’d emphatically said as much. And I didn’t want to hurt her by forcing one out of the man who was supposed to be her father.

My dad hadn’t been the greatest, but at least he hadn’t been like that.

Yeah, Dad drank a lot. A whole hell of a lot. But he hadn’t left us. Until he died.

Yes, Mom had cheated on Dad, but she hadn’t truly left us either, until she died, too.

No, our parents weren’t perfect, but at least they hadn’t moved to a new community in the same fucking state to start a new family.

Erin had told me the whole story without really blinking, seemingly without feeling.

I hadn’t known what to do, so I’d called Caleb to come and pick up her car, just like I had when she first walked back into my life in that sequined dress of hers.

Both times, she hadn’t wanted to show that she was hurting, so she had hidden inside of herself. And, both times, I did my best to just be there for her.

Caleb had brought her car back to my place and hadn’t asked any questions. But I knew he would be there for me.

Just like I knew that Jenn would have been there for Erin if she had asked for help.

But she had stated firmly that she did not want to bother her sister.

So, I’d just held her all night, listened to her, but she hadn’t cried. She hadn’t done much of anything.

She had been sort of wooden, but that was okay.

Because she would get through this. And I would be by her side.

Yeah, we were friends with benefits or whatever the fuck you wanted to call it, but we were something else now, too. We had to be something else. Given the way she leaned on me?

Things were going to be okay. Yes, she was in pain. No, I couldn’t fix it for her. But I could be there for her.

Things would be okay.

Erin was at work today, apparently finishing up cakes for three weddings all at once. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure how she could do all of that, but she was good on her feet, and damn good at her job.

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