Page 15 of The Air You Breathe

“Really, Ava?” His voice was rich and raspy, giving me goosebumps.

She shrugged. “He’s cute.”

“What can I get you?” I chuckled.

“Do you have those amazing scones?” Ava asked, looking through all the pastries behind the glass. “I swear that woman can make shit taste good.”

“Ava, really?” Dev looked annoyed but I also saw the fondness he held for his sister. They usually came once a week before Ava went to high school. It gave me a new perspective on Dev because of all the rumors I heard that said he was involved with Lucio, and that he was possibly his son too.

That tidbit scared the crap out of me at first, on top of his silent disposition and his intimidating presence. He was someone I stayed away from until I saw him with Ava. There was something about a man who had a soft spot for family that made me turn into mush. His beautiful eyes didn’t help either or those lips or that hard body I noticed when he helped me with Mary’s car. Dev washot.

“You know her pastries are delectable,” Ava said, still eyeing the pastries looking a little disappointed.

“I have more scones in the back, Ava.” I smiled at her.

“Darcy, I love you.” She looked up at me, relieved.

I laughed again. “It seems like everyone does when I give them pastries and coffee. What else can I get you guys?”

“I’ll take a mocha latte,” Ava said, still looking at the pastries.

“Surprise me,” Dev said, with a quirk of his lip.

I should know by now that's what he was going to say because he said it every time. The first time he had no idea what he wanted, so that’s when he started saying “Surprise me.” I bit my lip nervously because until recently I didn’t have much interaction with him until he started coming in with his sister.

Every week I looked forward to him coming in and having him try out different coffees, seeing what he liked and didn’t like. I swear it felt like foreplay, like we were flirting in a weird way and I’d like to think something might have happened between us—even if it was just a casual fuck—, until I slept with Evan.

Fuck.

I told myself after sleeping with him, that it would get him out of my system, but now I wasn’t so sure. I blame the dry spell I was in, making me think with my vagina instead of my brain.

“I should have Mary’s car ready by this afternoon,” Dev said, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Great,” I said, as I turned around to start working on their order, grabbing the scones first, setting one down in front of Ava with a cinnamon roll for Dev. I made their coffees on auto pilot as I cursed myself for thinking of Evan again.

Once I was finished, I set both coffees down, about to ring up their order but Dev never waited. He handed me thirty dollars, “See you later.”

I watched him leave with Ava talking animatedly next to him, he glanced back at me as he opened the door with an intense stare that always made me feel like he saw more than he let on. I took a deep breath to calm my crazy emotions, then I got back to work. The constant flow of people made the day go by really fast, and when I made my last coffee for the day, I was more than ready to leave.

Mary turned on the Rolling Stones while I cleaned the front. They were her favorite band to listen to while she prepped for the next day. I jammed out to “Miss You” as I closed out the register, singing along with Mary, moving my hips to the music. It was the perfect way to end the day, singing and dancing the stress out of my body.

Once we finished most of our closing duties, I made my way to the back for a glass of water. Mary was labeling and putting things into the freezer, while I leaned back and took a break.

“You feeling better?” she yelled, from the freezer.

I stilled, because I could never get anything past Mary. I’m sure she knew something was wrong the day after I slept with Evan. I bit my lip wondering how much I wanted to tell her because let's be real, I told Mary everything. She was the only person who knew the truth about the real reason why Evan and I broke up. By this point, I felt like a broken record except this time, I had slept with him, then left him with his dick out in my driveway.

“I slept with Evan,” I blurted out. My brain decided I just needed to get it out.

She walked out of the freezer with her eyebrows so high up they almost reached her hair line. “Did you say you slept with Evan?”

I nodded my head not sure how she was going to react to this piece of information, hoping disappointment wasn’t the reaction I would get. I hated disappointing Mary.

“Wow, I didn’t expect that,” she said, leaning against a table in front of me. “I take it things didn’t go how you planned or wanted?”

“I was the one to leave this time, after I freaked out.” I was embarrassed because now that I said it aloud, I felt childish.

“Did he say something wrong? How did you end up sleeping with each other? Did you guys talk or was it just sex? The heat of the moment?” Mary fired off the questions and I knew she was still in disbelief.

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