Page 114 of Wicked Devotion
“Yes,” I answer before Ruby even finished her question.
I fell for them both, no matter how long it took to shut up Brady’s voice in my head, the voice that kept telling me that this wasn’t possible, apart from it being wrong. I love Max, just like I love Logan, and we’re going to make it work.
Ruby squeals next to me, letting go of the steering wheel to squeeze my hand.
“I knew it would work out. And damn, am I happy that you’re a part of the family now. It’s tiring to be the only girl among those gorillas, and it’s not like I could bring one of my assistants to family gatherings. No, wait, I actually did, once,” she says, focusing back on the road as we turn into her street.
“I got her termination notice the same evening. God, I’m so glad they didn’t scare you off,” Ruby concludes as the garage door opens andshe parks her car.
Perfectly aligned with the other one, and I don’t know if that makes the parking incident at the airport better or worse.
We spend the rest of the day catching up, and when I go to my room late at night, I make sure the teddy is sitting upright, facing my side of the bed. It’s easier to fall asleep, knowing that Logan is probably watching over me.
“Ruby…”
Lying on the lounger next to Ruby, I turn onto my side. She pulls her sunglasses down until they rest on the tip of her nose, looking at me with raised eyebrows.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. Yet,” I say, gnawing on my bottom lip. “Can you keep a secret?”
“If telling Sam doesn’t count, yes.”
“Not even telling Sam. He’s gonna run right to Logan and Max, but I want to surprise them with the news.”
“I really don’t like keeping things from my husband.”
“It’s nothing bad, I promise,” I say, pulling my phone out from under the lounger. “So, my uncle—he’s not really my uncle; he was married to my aunt, but they got divorced a while ago. Anyway, he’s a lawyer, criminal defense, actually, but a lawyer is a lawyer. I called him yesterday and asked him to take care of the divorce for me.”
Ruby sits up straight, crossing her legs while she sucks up the rest of her frappuccino with a loud sound.
“Can’t you do that online?”
“Dario said not in my case. He needs me to sign a few documents, and I think he wants to see for himself that I’m fine.”
“I’m gonna get shit for leaving the house with you in tow,” she mumbles.
“And what if I send him your address so we can meet up here?”
“Nope. We’ve got a ton of cameras, so Sam could see him, and then he’d tell your men about it, and then we’d have approximately 3 hours before they stand in front of the door ready to scalp your uncle because you can bet your ass they will actbeforeasking questions.”
Ruby sighs, scrambling for her phone before she lies back down.
“There’s a coffee shop not too far away. Ten, fifteen minutes if we take the car. But this meeting has to go by fast, and if the guys find out, it’s on you.”
“Deal,” I say, before sending Dario a message.
He answers immediately, telling me that he just finished a meeting with another client and that he should be able to make it to the coffee shop in around an hour.
“Why is he so damn worried about you?” Ruby asks when I tell her, searching for her slippers before she stands up from her lounger.
“He’s just really protective. At my wedding, he pulled Brady aside to tell him he’d knock out all his teeth if he breaks my heart. Guess that’s why he wasn’t shocked when I told him about the divorce.”
“Charming.” Ruby laughs as we go back inside the house to get dressed.
Half an hour later, we’re already on the way to the little coffee shop where we’re supposed to meet Dario.
Mochi trotted to the garage after us and only left once Ruby threw a generous handful of treats into the living room. It’s not that Mochi isn’t able to behave outside, but her stomach doesn’t agree with car rides, and since Ruby and I agreed to keep the meeting short, we decided against taking her with us.
