Page 82 of Bleeding Hearts

I love every single part of her.

But what I love most about her is her heart. Demi is as selfless as they come. She sees the good in the world where I struggle to. She’s the type of person who would give you the clothes off their back, no questions asked, if only to make you smile.

But that doesn’t make her a pushover either. She’s still never afraid to take a stand for herself and for what’s right. She won’t hesitate to put someone in their place, but only to defend herself or the people she loves.

She’s a mixture of strength and kindness that I’ve never seen in a person before. She inspires me to live my life and not hold back like I have been for the past ten years.

When I look back on it now, I think I’ve been in love with her for a while. I think I started falling for her the second I met her, and it’s been a slow-moving ball that I haven’t been able to stop since then.

The truth is, hard as I may have tried to ignore my feelings for her, I never stood a chance, not with her. She’s impossible not to love, and now I just have to try every day to show her just how loved she is.

I pick up Demi around eight fifteen, and we head over to Carl’s. She’s quiet on the ride over, and I think she may be nervous about telling Kade.

I’m not nervous for myself. I know he’ll be pissed at me, but I can take it from him. However, I am nervous for Demi.

Kade is an amazing guy and my best friend, but I know he’s not gonna love the idea of me being with his little sister.

I know his opinion is important to Demi, even if she won’t admit it. She doesn’t have much family in her life, and I know she cares what he thinks. If he reacts badly, it’ll hurt her, and the last thing in this world that I want is to see her hurt.

We pull up to the bar right at eight thirty and I follow Demi inside, finding Kade, Lo, and Theo already sitting at a high-top table in the back.

I place my hand on Demi’s lower back, guiding her over to the table and she shivers at my touch.

“You ready?” I whisper as we walk closer.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she says, a nervous laugh following. “Hi friends and brother.” Demi smiles wide, not letting any of the nerves show as we approach the table. I pull her barstool out before pulling one out for myself next to her.

“Hi best friend.” Lo smiles at her from where she sits across from her at the high-top table. “How was the cooking convention?”

“Oh, yes, Doomsday, I need details,” Theo adds, sitting next to Lo. “Did you meet any hot chefs? Any single ones, preferably into men that look like me? Only if they have at least one Michelin-star restaurant, though.”

“Hey,” Kade says, sitting directly across from me on the other side of Lo. “How was the trip?” he asks as Demi gets lost in conversation with her friends.

“It was good. Demi was busy with the convention, so I just hung out at the hotel most of the time.” I shrug. I reach over, squeezing Demi’s hip to get her attention before I end up having to lie to Kade or tell him myself.

She turns her attention to me, and I widen my eyes at her, asking without asking if she wants me to start talking or if she should. She bites her lip, hesitating, before turning back toward everyone across from us.

“So, Asher and I have something to tell you all,” she says. Logan smiles at the two of us knowingly before looking at Kade with wide eyes. Kade looks confused but doesn’t say anything, simply leaning back on the barstool, waiting.

I stay quiet, letting Demi have control of the conversation, ready to jump in if she needs me.

I wait for her to tell them that we are dating, we’re in a relationship, we’ve decided to be together. But in typical Demi fashion, she does none of those things.

“We had sex,” she blurts out. Her eyes go wide as if the words surprised not only everyone at the table but also her.

“Fifty bucks, please.” Theo looks to Lo, holding his hand out.

“Damn it.” Logan pouts.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Kaden groans.

“Wait, that came out wrong,” Demi yells, jumping back into the conversation. “We did have sex. A lot of it actually. Really good sex.”

“Demi.” I urge her to get back on track.

“Sorry.” She shakes her head before she keeps going. “But we also are together now. In a relationship. Like he’s my boyfriend.” She smiles up at me.

“Ha,” Logan yells, turning to Theo. “Now you owe me fifty bucks.” She holds her hand out to him, mimicking his earlier motion.

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