Page 86 of Breathless With Her

“Oh?”

“Thought you’d like to have an update. He’s doing pretty good in the boot. The surgery went well enough that he practically has no pain. He healed up really quick. The bruises are gone, too. Well, he does have that thorn in his paw, but other than that, he’s doing great.”

“Thorn?”

“He’s been a Grumpy Gus. Pretty much an asshole. But I don’t know if that’s because he’s behind a desk now, the fact that he got hit by a car and therefore can’t drive because he broke his leg, or because he misses you.”

“I’m thinking it’s a mix of all three. But probably mostly the latter,” Jenn said, and I wanted to throttle them both.

“He told me to leave.” I looked between them and rolled my shoulders back. “He said to leave, and I did. He hasn’t contacted me since. Yes, I pushed him away first. So, I deserve this. It’s over. I just need to get used to the fact that Devin is in all of our lives, at least on the periphery. I mean, I hadn’t seen him for years before this, so it should be fine. I’ve worked with you and Amelia for years without knowing that Devin was close. So, I’ll just work like I did before. Like it’s not a big deal.”

“That’s not the best way to work on things sometimes, though, you know?” Jenn said softly.

“Well, it has to be the best for me. Because I don’t want to hurt like this anymore. I don’t want to feel this hollowness inside me anymore. I just want to do what I do best, and that’s making cakes. Because that’s what I’m good at.”

Nothing else.

But I didn’t say that.

I could have my own pity party in my head. They didn’t need to hear it aloud. They had already heard enough. And yet they stood by my side, even when I was an idiot. So, I was going to try and be better for them.

Even if that meant that I never got to see Devin again.

Even if it broke me more each time I thought about it.

Chapter 20

Devin

* * *

“I’msurprised you didn’t shave for the wedding,” Amelia said, coming up to my side. She patted my arm, careful not to touch me too much. They’d all been like that. Every single person in my family and all of my close friends. It was as if they were afraid I would break if they touched me. Well, considering that my bodyhadhurt far too much before this, they were probably right.

I still ached something fierce. My incisions were pretty much healed at this point, at least as much as they were going to be until enough time had passed. I didn’t have to use a walker anymore, and thank God for that. Having to watch my brothers figure out how to cut into tennis balls so they could put them on the bottom of the walker had been hilarious. But something I never wanted to witness again. Considering that we didn’t have parents anymore, our next stage of seeing the elderly and doing things like that would be with each other. I really did not want to think about the progression of things like that. But the fact that they had all been there for me, no matter what, was pretty great. Caleb had slept on my couch, even though I had a guest room.

He had joked that he didn’t want to bother me and had wanted to hang it over my head from now on that, yes, I had forced him to sleep on the couch.

My brother was an asshole. But he was pretty great.

He had moved out a couple of days ago, going back to his own place since it was new and all. But everybody did their best to stop by more often than usual.

Even Dimitri had shown up about every other day with Thea in tow.

Thea’s family had even shown up at one point for a Montgomery dinner at my place.

The number of people that we crammed into my house was a little ridiculous, but they’d all wanted to make sure that I was okay. Then we’d all shared war stories about the times everybody had been in hospitals. Considering that there had been an actual gas explosion at one point, a mugging, and something else to do with a car, there were a lot of hospital visits.

I counted myself lucky. Yes, I had lost my spleen, but I hadn’t lost my life. That had to count for something, right? Either way, my friends, family, and Thea’s family all made sure that I was never alone.

Which, admittedly, kind of pissed me off. How was I supposed to brood and get all growly if I wasn’t alone?

“Um, Devin? I asked why you haven’t shaved. What’s up, big brother?” I glared at my little sister, who wasn’t even looking at me. She was probably looking for Tobey. They had come together, but Tobey had gone off to get her something to drink, and I hadn’t seen him since. I was fine. I was just tired of people. The fact that I was at a wedding for a friend probably wasn’t the best place for me. But I was here. In a suit. And a boot. On crutches. And, apparently, I had a beard that was annoying my sister.

“I didn’t feel like shaving. I like the beard.”

“Oh, I know you do. You even put a little oil in it so you look all nice and hipstery.”

“First, hipstery isn’t a word. Second, I was hipster before it was cool to be hipster.”

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