Page 53 of The Air You Breathe

“Oh, before I forget, Ms. Warner came by to pick up her car and brought these. I took a few, thinking you might like them.” He grabbed something out of his back seat, putting a few pink camellia flowers in my hand. “She said they were in season and dropped a few bushes for Jaime. The flowers were beautiful and reminded me of you.”

“Thank you,” I said, before he pecked me on the lips. I slid into the car in a daze. Did Dev know?

He started the car and drove us back to Mountain View. It was about a forty-five minute drive and all I could think about were these flowers in my lap and the guilt I had over them. It was irrational, the past was in the past, but it was like these flowers came back to haunt me.

“Are you ok?” Dev asked, as we made it back to Mountain View turning onto a street that led into my neighborhood. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

“Yeah, I just didn’t realize how tired I was,” I said, hating the lie on my lips. “I—”

I looked out the window to see Evan leaning against his car and I knew something was wrong.

“Stop!” I yelled.

Dev quickly stopped the car looking out the window for whatever reason I had said stop. That’s when he noticed Evan too.

“Shit,” he murmured, pulling over as we exited the car. I walked over to him worried that something was wrong with him.

“Evan?” Dev called out to him as we got closer.

He looked up at us and my instincts were right. Evan had a swollen eye, his face was bruised, and he had a cut on his forehead.

“Oh my god, Evan,” I said, rushing to him.

“What the fuck happened?” Dev snapped.

“What the hell are you guys doing here?” he asked, looking at me.

“I saw you,” I said, itching to inspect him for other injuries. “You didn’t look right.”

“Are you bleeding?” Dev asked, pulling his jacket open, so we could see some wetness on his shoulder.

“We have to go to the hospital,” I said, shrugging off my scarf and putting it on his wound. Evan hissed at the pain.

“I can’t, it was Geraldo,” Evan said, like I would know what that meant but when I glanced at Dev, it looked like he understood completely, making me aware that there was this whole world I had no idea about.

“Come on, let's get you in the back seat and we can go see Cole.” Dev put Evan’s arm over his shoulder helping him to the Impala. I helped get him in the front seat noticing that he had blood going all the way down to his jeans and I wanted to panic.

I looked over to Dev, hoping for some answers and he shook his head. He closed the door on Evan’s side, turning to me.

“I’ll take you home, then I’ll take care of Evan.” He ushered me to his side of the car, opening the door so I could climb into the back.

“No, I’m going with you,” I said.

“Darcy, It’s ok. I’ll make sure he gets taken care of,” he said, looking at me with understanding in his eyes.

“No, I’m going with you, Dev,” I made sure he knew I meant business.

“Darcy,” he pleaded.

“No, I am coming with you whether you like it or not,” I said, climbing into the back and sitting in the middle so I was close enough to Evan in case he needed something, but he had passed out already.

Dev slid into the driver seat, started the car and drove us to what I thought was the way to the cabin. He got on the phone talking to some man pleading for his help. The guy must have said yes because we kept driving instead of turning onto the dirt road to the cabin. We continued going straight to the orchard I saw when I first came out here.

There was a small gate that was open, and we drove down a dirt road that led to a house with a wrap-around porch. Instead of pulling up to the front of the house he took the driveway behind the house to what looked like a smaller house. Dev parked his car, helping me out before we got Evan out of the car. Evan opened his eyes, looking around quickly until he noticed Dev and I holding him up.

“Cole?” He murmured.

“Yes,” Dev answered him.

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