Page 55 of The Devil Gets His Due

“Maybe there’s an alarm I can set.” I reach out to him. “Hey, give me your phone.”

He blinks at me and fishes it out of his pocket. “Why am I giving you my phone?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to see all the fetishy porn you’ve downloaded of Japanese men’s feet or whatever.”

“Is that actually a category of porn? And more to the point, is that actually a category you think I’d be jerking off to?”

Heat shoots through me at those words.

Does he?

Does he lay there at night with his hand wrapped firmly around what was, as I recall, a pretty significantly sized erection?

Mind, pull thyself from the gutter.

“No, your preference is probably something more likeGirl Takes it From Behind While Balancing Checkbook.’” I tap on his phone and hand it back to him.

He looks at it and laughs. “Text Keeley, remind her baby can’t go in the oven,” he reads. “This is like a month after the baby’s due. You’re sure you want to wait that long?”

I swallow, staring at my blanket-covered feet, his broad hand resting atop them. “I assumed, maybe, you’d stay. Just for a bit.” I can’t meet his eye, but I hope he hears the plea in my voice, the one saying,“please, please don’t leave right away, Graham. I can’t do this alone, and I don’t think I want to do this with anyone but you.”

“Yeah,” he says, his voice softer and lower than normal, “I can probably stay.”

28

KEELEY

The following Saturday morning, we are in Ben and Gemma’s kitchen with Lola jumping at our heels, and a ten-page list of directions Gemma’sreading aloudto me.

“Keeley went to medical school, hon,” Ben says. “I’m sure she can comprehend it on her own.”

Graham hoists himself onto the counter. “I wouldn’t be so sure. The only thing I’ve seen her read all week isUgliest Celebrity BabiesandCelebrities Who are Bad in Bed,and they were both mostly pictures.”

“I’ll have you know I also readHelp! I’m in a threesome with my boyfriend’s parents and I don’t know how to tell him!And it had no pictures at all, which was unfortunate.”

Gemma laughs. “Okay, we’re leaving, but don’t baby her the whole time, okay? If you’re holding her 24/7, then she’s going to want me to do it while I’m at work.”

“Are you bringing her to work?”

“Well, I can’t leave her here alone.”

I laugh. Gemma is probably the most driven, professional person I know. She worked weekends and holidays for years and wore a suit every day of the week. I never thought I’d see the day she’d bring adogto work.

“Oh, and if she sees a dog on TV, she goes nuts, so—”

“Hon,” Ben says, his jaw tight, his voice sharper than normal, “I really want to get there.”

Her mouth curves. “Fine. Just call if—”

“I know how to operate a phone, Gemma. Go, before your husband kills us both.”

They leave and I sink to the floor, pulling Lola on my lap, which is probably exactly the kind of thing Gemma was warning me about. “I’ve never seen your brother like that before.”

He laughs to himself. “He had his reasons.”

“What reasons?”

Graham brushes a hand through his hair. “She hasn’t slept with him all week,” he says. “She said she wanted to make this weekend special. I suspect he’s been pushed a little too far.”

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