Page 96 of The Devil Gets His Due

If things hadn’t ended the way they did, I’d think that was the most romantic story ever. But they did end, so now it’s just really sad.

And really confusing.

44

GRAHAM

“Graham,” barks a sharp voice. I’m sweating profusely and a little disoriented from the run I just finished—excessive exercise is the only thing keeping me going these days.

I wipe my face with my t-shirt and pull my earbuds out as I turn to find my sister-in-law stepping out of her car in a suit and sky-high heels. Her sunglasses are on, and her cheekbones look like they could cut glass. I’m far taller than Gemma, but if I weren’t…I’d probably be a little terrified. Given how much she must hate me, I probably should be a little terrified anyway.

“Is Keeley okay?” I ask immediately.

Even behind her sunglasses I can tell she’s rolling her eyes. “No thanks to you.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You can yell at me all you want, Gemma. You can’t make me feel any worse than I already do.”

“Do you honestly think I don’t know what you’re doing?” she demands. “My husband and I have been together nearly two years, and he has never asked me once about Keeley. Now he’s asking me multiple times aday, detailed questions he wouldn’t even know to ask, about her blood pressure and the baby and her job and if all the furniture’s arrived and if the car seat was installed. You two are idiots!” she says, throwing her hands in the air. “Why the hell aren’t you just asking me directly? Why aren’t you just askingher?”

I push my hands in my pockets. “She’s not speaking to me. I assumed you weren’t either.”

“I shouldn’t be, but my friend is devastated and it’s your goddamn fault, so you need to pull your shit together and fix it.”

“Do you think I wouldn’t fix it if I could?” I demand. “She kicked me out and told me not to contact her! She’s seeing someone else anyway.”

She groans loudly. “Did you honestly believe that? Who exactly do you think she suddenly started dating?”

Ethan. He’d take her back at any point, I’m certain. It was written all over his face. “I figured it was someone from before.”

“You smitten asshole, even if she waswillingto date someone at this point in her pregnancy she wouldn’t, and you’re the only personwhippedenough to think one of her exes is going to date her when she’s eight months pregnant.”

Maybe she’s right. It’s one of the things I found too painful to even contemplate fully…and thus all the working out.

“I still don’t know how to fix it.”

“By telling her why you did it, Graham. Why youreallydid it. And by telling her you know her better than that.” Gemma pushes her sunglasses on top of her head and brushes at her eyes. I’ve never seen Gemma tear up before. I sort of thought she wasn’t capable of it.

What I’ve done to Keeley isthatbad.

“You know why this is so hard for her?” she whispers. “Because you took everything she hates about herself and everything Shannon told her she was and you put it on paper. That’s what she saw when she looked at that contract: that the guy she fell in love with only saw the side of herself shehatesand nothing more.”

“Gemma, I’m—”

“Don’t,” she barks, pulling the sunglasses back on and opening her door. “Do not fuckingapologizeto me.Fix it.”

She climbs into her car and drives off, leaving me sick to my stomach.

I’ve been so focused on how Keeley must feel about me that it never occurred to me how this must have made her feel about herself.

And I can stand a lot of things, but not that.

45

KEELEY

Ilumber out of my desk chair, forcing myself to go get lunch, though I haven’t had much of an appetite since the whole thing went down with Graham.

“You don’t look so good,” Trinny says as I walk out.

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