Page 39 of The Air You Breathe

“I’m at the coffee shop,” I said.

“Oh, we just left there,” he said, as another voice said something too.

“Who is we?” I asked, wondering if he was with Evan.

“Are you in the back?” he asked.

“Dev, if you don’t start answering my questions, I’m going to hang up,” I snapped, getting frustrated.

“Evan and me,” he said, as I heard a car pull up behind my car. The doors opened right away, Evan and Dev got out rushing to me as they both checked me over and visibly looked relieved when they saw I was okay.

“Thank god.” Evan rushed me, enveloping me in his arms in a hug that felt too familiar. He pulled away quickly, holding my face in his hands. “Darcy, I’m so sorry but I need you to go home and pack a bag. Dev is going to follow you and—”

He took a deep breath, not finishing his sentence, looked up to the sky and then he said. “I need you to go with Dev to a safe house.”

“Excuse me?” I said, confused, pushing him away. “What do you mean go to a safe house? What the hell is going on?” I looked at Evan, noticing he looked like shit. He had dark circles under his eyes, his clothes were rumpled and dirty. He had stubble along his jaw and he just looked exhausted. I glanced at Dev to see if he was in the same shape, but he only looked mildly better and not so dirty.

“Darcy, I’m so fucking sorry, but I’ve tried to keep you safe all of these years only to fucking fail. Lucio knows about you.” He looked like he might throw up at his admission. “The man that came into the coffee shop last week was one of his men. He was—”

“Let's give her some time to process that first before we go unloading more shit on her.” Dev interrupted Evan, his voice bringing me a little comfort that I wasn’t going through this alone, but the panic was slowly bubbling up.

“I can’t stay at a safe house forever,” I said, trying to think this through, making sense of what Evan had just said.

“Just for a few days, please,” Evan pleaded.

“I can’t just pack up my life for you, Evan,” I snapped, feeling overwhelmed, and I was also perturbed that he thought I would just do whatever he wanted just because he asked. “I have a life, a job, people who depend on me not to just get up and leave when it gets too hard.”

He looked hurt at my jab, but it didn’t deter him. “Darcy, I’m not doing this to be an ass. There is a possibility that something could happen to you.”

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you—”

“Darcy, please think about Mary,” Dev interrupted me.

I glared at him because all he had to do was mention Mary; he knew I would do anything for her. I was a little peeved that Evan and he were obviously close and I had no idea about their relationship.

“We just want to make sure you're safe and the more we can take the attention away from the coffee shop, the better,” he said, stepping close to me. “Evan is just trying to keep you safe and it's just for a few days, like he said.”

I looked at Dev, seeing nothing but sincerity in his gaze and maybe just a little worry. Looking back at Evan, his intense chocolate gaze was bouncing between Dev and me like he was trying to figure something out. When he noticed I was watching him, he softened.

“I know, this is all my fault, I just want to keep you safe. No—I need to keep you safe.” He exhaled harshly looking between Dev and me again. “Dev will be staying with you.”

I didn’t know who was more surprised by that, Dev or me. It looked like Evan didn’t tell him what was going on either.

“Please,” Evan pleaded again to both of us.

“And where will you be?” I asked, feeling like an idiot because I wanted to know what he was going to be doing while I had to stay at a safe house doing nothing. “I have a fucking job that Mary relies on me to be at.”

“I’ll be making sure everyone stays safe by putting out fires and distracting everyone. Can you tell her you need a break?” he sighed. “I’m sorry you're getting dragged into this, but something happened that I couldn’t control and now I’m trying to fix it before it implodes. I know that doesn’t tell you shit, but the less you know the better.”

Evan looked exhausted. Long gone was the man who gave me flirty smiles, stealing kisses before class and telling me he loved me. He was a man who looked like the last three years had aged him in the worst way possible and not the twenty-eight-year-old he was.

I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, but if this kept people safe, I had no choice.

“I need to go pack a fucking bag,” I said, turning around to go back to my car. What the fuck I was going to tell Mary, since I wasn’t going to be able to go to work. The stress of the situation was already giving me anxiety.

“I’m sorry, Darcy, but if you need anything please call me, you have my number,” he said as I got into my car. I didn't respond because I had nothing else to say to him.

The entire drive to my house, I grew angrier and angrier. Not even Dev was safe from my murderous thoughts. He lied to me. It looked like he and Evan were friends, and it felt like I had been played. We almost kissed last week. Was that all fake too?

---