Page 57 of Cuffed By Love

“Say yes, say yes!” Wyatt pipes up excitedly, pushing Lexi’s legs resting in his lap off and leaning forward, watching us with interest. “This is better than any film I have ever seen. Do go on.”

Mira’s cheeks glow pink, and I know I’ve got her right where I want her. We stare avidly into one another’s eyes, and I momentarily fail to recall what we were even talking about. “I’ve no interest in seeing your little pecker, King. Also, has it slipped your mind yet again that you’re in a relationship? I’m pretty sure Megan wouldn’t appreciate her man flashing his bits around to other girls, now would she? I know I sure as hell wouldn’t.”

And just like that, the power play between us shifts, and she’s got me fist over bollocks. I know I shouldn’t say this because it's wrong on so many levels—but fucking hell, if I weren’t in a relationship, I would make her eat those words and then some. She’s cocky because deep down, she knows me well enough to know I wouldn’t step out on my girlfriend, and when I flirt with her, it’s just banter, it’s just words—well, mostly. I’m not going to stand here and deny the fact that the lines have always been blurred with Mira and me, and she’s undeniably the only girl that could affect me in a way that may well have me questioning my morals.

Ayla gasps all of a sudden, almost choking on her wine. Mira tears her eyes away from mine and looks over at her big sister. “Speaking of Devin’s girlfriend. I forgot to ask, why did Dad walk in on you under Devin’s desk while he was on the phone talking to his girlfriend, Mimi?”

“What?!” Lexi exclaims, her arms jerking with surprise, and a dollop of wine goes flying over Wyatt, who curses.

“Dammit, Lex. This is Louis Vuitton. Watch your Blanc, woman.” He utters while dabbing some tissue over his navy blue T-shirt, and she giggles and waves him off. “Wait a bleedin’ minute, did I hear that right? Mira was under whose desk doing what now?”

“Oh jeezus,” Mira groans, covering her face with her hand. “Before you all get the wrong idea and let your warped minds run wild, I was hiding because someone is too chicken shit to tell his girlfriend that he’s handcuffed to another girl.” She explains and turns to give me a pointed look. I frown.

“Okay, girls, help me out here,” I say and look at Ayla and Lexi. “If your boyfriend who lives seven thousand miles away called you and told you he was handcuffed to another girl twenty-four hours a day. How would you react?”

“I’d fly out and chop his hand off,” Lexi replies with a shake of her head.

“Oh, I would flip the hell out. There's no way on this earth or any other planet my man is being handcuffed to any woman that’s not me.” Ayla says, and I nod in agreement and point at the girls.

“Case and point.”

Mira rolls her eyes, “Seriously?” She drawls, looking between the two. “Not an ounce of trust in your men, huh?”

“Nah uh,”

“Hell no.” They answer simultaneously.

“Especially if the girl is someone he was close with in his past. That’s a hard no from me. Sorry Mimi, but Devin has a point.” Ayla shrugs and takes a long sip from her wine.

I lean in close to her ear, “I hate to say I told you so, Tinks.”

“Fine, whatever.” She throws her hands up in surrender. “It’s your relationship. Do what you bloody want. Just keep me out of it.”

The rest of the evening is spent drinking wine, eating pizza and watching old videos of us when we were young. It makes a nice change from the Friday nights I have back home in Singapore. I’m usually hauled up in the studio or out with Megan at some stuffy social event or another networking. I didn’t realise how much I’ve actually missed being back home and spending time with old friends.

By the time we made it to bed, it was gone three in the morning, and we lost track of time, consumed five bottles of wine between us. Mira and I fall back on top of her bed, staring up at the ceiling. “What a week.” She mumbles tiredly. “Oh, before I forget, we need to go see my mum tomorrow. She’s wounded you’ve not been to see her since you’ve been back.”

I nod and turn my head to look at Mira sideways and smile, “My mum said the same about you.”

Mira smiles warmly, “I miss Aunt Nora. Oh, do you think I can convince her to make—”

“White chocolate and raspberry muffins? Yeah, she’s already making you some.” Mira squeals excitedly and pumps her fist in the air.

“Oh, yes. Those muffins are like little fluffy pieces of heaven in my mouth.” She declares with a delightful moan and rolls onto her side to look at me. “What have you got ticking away in that head of yours, Devin King?”

“Nothing.”

Mira scoffs a little, “Come on, Dev, it’s me remember? You’re pensive, and you were oddly quiet for a while down there.”

I heave a deep sigh and shake my head. “Watching those old videos of us brought so much back,” I admit, mindlessly lifting her hand and playing with her fingers. “It’s been a while since I’ve felt like the old Devin, and it hit me tonight while sitting with you guys how different my life is now.”

Mira watches me closely, her fingers gliding over mine while she listens. “All of our lives are different, Dev. We’re not the same as we were back then. We have responsibilities and have been through things that have forced us to change or grow up in one way or another.” I lift my gaze to look at her attentively.

“Have you ever thought about leaving London?” I question curiously, and she pauses to mull over my question before she nods.

“There was a time I considered packing up and leaving after my last relationship, but I never did. London is where I belong; it’s home, my roots run deep here.” She explains serenely and then sighs sullenly. I roll onto my side, but she doesn’t look at me, only stares at our fingers intertwined, a faraway look in her eyes. I sense the glumness radiating off of her, and I squeeze her fingers a little until she raises her eyes slowly and looks at me. Whoever this fucker was that she was dating evidently hurt her something bad, and the thought alone made me want to find and rip his fucking head off. Who in their right mind would ever dream of hurting or even letting a girl like Mira go?

“What did he do to you that made you feel the need to skip town, Tinks?” I ask her sombrely, and she shrugs, veering her gaze again.

“Doesn’t matter what he did, what matters is that I learned from him and realised that love is nothing but a waste of time, because you spend so much of your time trying to please one another and inevitably, no matter how great it feels at the start, the disappointment and suffering that without a doubt follows is just not worthwhile. It’s just a series of constant letdowns, each one just as bad if not worse than the last.” Mira explains bitterly. I detect the resentment in her tone as she speaks, and an inexplicable feeling of woe engulfs and grips my heart tight. What the fuck did he do to her to put her off the notion of love altogether? I don’t like what I’m hearing. I don’t like the morose look in those beautiful amber eyes of hers one little bit.

“It sounds to me like you’ve not experienced falling truly in love with the right person yet, Tinks.” I reach up and brush my fingers through her hair and sweep it away from her face, “When you do fall in love with someone, and they feel the same about you, you will feel the difference. The heartache when shit goes wrong will hurt ten times more, but in the end, if the love you feel for one another is strong enough to surpass any of that, I promise you, it definitely is worth it.”

“Is that how you feel about Megan?” That question throws me off guard. The answer should be obvious, right? The answer should be yes; it is how I feel about her, so why am I hesitating? Why is the way Mira is looking into my eyes making me want to say no? I wasn’t referring to mine and Megan’s relationship at all. I was thinking about our respective parents and how much they love one another. I opt for nodding my head instead. The words just didn’t seem to want to form in my mouth at the moment, and Mira’s looking at me searchingly, waiting for an answer.

Mira smiles faintly, but it doesn’t reach her eyes, “I’m so happy that you found that with someone, Dev.” She says softly and wraps her fingers around my wrist to the hand that was stroking her jaw and pulls it away. “It’s late. We should get some sleep.”

My heart sinks as I watch her shuffle up the bed and follow suit. Mira turns off the lamp beside her bedside, and I stare up into the darkness with a heavy feeling in my chest that I can’t quite place. Her words keep replaying in my mind over and over again. “I’m so happy that you found that with someone, Dev.”

The real question is, why am I not happy that she’s happy for me?

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