Page 54 of The Air You Breathe

“I don’t have a favor,” Evan said as Dev knocked on the door. Their conversation confused me.

“I do,” Dev replied, as the door opened.

“You’re lucky I like you and Evan or else I would tell you to go fuck yourselves.” A man opened the door motioning us inside. He was really tall, with broad shoulders, a blonde man bun, a beard and gorgeous blue eyes. He could have been a stunt double for Chris Hemsworth.

Jesus Christ, this man was too hot.

“I know, Cole” Dev grunted, as he and I moved Evan to what looked like a waiting room.

“In here,” Cole said, opening another door that led us into a hallway. “Go to room three.”

Dev and I walked Evan into a room with a large metal table. It looked like we were in a clinic with all the equipment. The cabinets looked like they had medical supplies in them, but there were posters of dogs and other animals. That's when it clicked. Dev brought Evan to a vet.

“Gunshot? Stab wound?” Cole asked.

“Wow,” I whispered, helping Evan to the table, wondering how the hell he was going to help him.

“Stab,” Dev said, as he sat Evan on the side I was standing on, sitting him down in front of me.

“Darcy, what the hell are you doing here?” Evan asked, looking like keeping his eyes opened was too much to handle.

“Don’t,” I snapped, as I pushed his jacket over his shoulder eliciting a groan from him, while I pulled the sleeves off one by one.

“Here, Doll, get his shirt off,” Cole said, handing me a pair of scissors. I didn’t waste any time cutting his soaked shirt, trying to pull it away and not hurt his stab wound. Once I had the shirt off, they laid him down. I looked over his torso seeing a different man for the first time. The Evan I knew was tall and had a toned body, but this Evan was so different. His body had a lot more muscle with defined ridges that made me shiver. Evan wasn’t that boyish man I dated a few years ago, he wasallman. He also had a lot of tattoos and a few scars that hadn’t been there when we were together.

Suddenly I felt foolish to think I had been the only one affected by his choice. It seems life had been rough on Evan, and I had no idea what he had to go through during these last three years.

Evan winced when Cole started cleaning the wound and grabbed my hand before I could walk away. I looked down at our hands, remembering when all I wanted to do was hold his hand, thinking I was going to be able to do it for the rest of my life.

I pressed my lips together as tears gathered in my eyes.

Why did this happen to us?

Slowly breathing through my nose to ease the need to cry, I reined in my emotions that seemed to want to rear their ugly head. I looked at our hands one more time before my eyes caught something on Evans ribs. A row of beautiful camellia flowers trailed up with a row of Japanese words on the side of it.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from freaking out and crying. A firm squeeze of my hand brought my gaze up to Evan, who was staring at me with such clarity in his eyes that I was wondering if I was dreaming this. The anger I harbored for him slowly deflated when all I could think about was what these last three years had done to us, but would happened now? Even if I wanted to lie to myself, I still loved Evan. I think I would always love him.

I felt another set of eyes on me. When I looked up, Dev was staring at me too. No, this couldn’t be happening. My past and present were about to collide, the thought made me feel like my life was playing a cruel joke on me. I didn’t love Dev, but I knew it wouldn’t take much for me to love him. He was quiet, but his presence was loud and comforting. He made me feel secure and that was something I didn’t know I needed.

His gaze was too intense for me, making me look away when I noticed Evan looking at Dev and then back at me. It was a neutral expression that didn’t look like he was angry. But my heart hammered, I felt my body panicking. Did Evan know about us? Did it matter?

Evan hissed in pain, squeezing my hand a little tighter as Cole messed with his wound. I stood closer to him, running my hands through his hair, confused at everything that was happening and my feelings. His face relaxed a little at the small comfort I was bringing him, leaning towards me like I was his lifeline.

Guilt weighed heavily on my heart as I took another glance at Dev. His face still had that same indifferent mask he wore when I first met him, like he was already pulling away from me. It made me want to cry because no matter who I chose, I felt like a piece of myself would never be the same.

22

DEV

Cole assessed Evan for about fifteen minutes. After he decided he needed stitches—in more than one place—, I grabbed Darcy a chair. While Cole worked, I stepped outside to get some air and clear my head. Seeing her comfort him should have made me jealous, I mean that stupid kid who flirted with her at the coffee shop made me feel rage, even though I knew nothing was going on. But with Evan I didn’t feel any rage or jealousy.

Ok I’m a liar, maybe a little jealous.

But it wasn’t all consuming, it was more that I knew Darcy still had feelings for Evan, but seeing them up close just made me feel like a fool.

When it was just us, it felt right. Like I was always supposed to wait for her, and life had brought me exactly where I needed to be to cross paths with Darcy. Kismet knew exactly what I needed, but now I didn’t know if it was just giving me a glimpse of what I could have, just a taste, and nothing more.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket to call Giovanni and see if he could give me more information about what had happened to Evan. If it was as bad as I thought, it meant we couldn’t go back to Mountain View. The line rang and rang until it went to voicemail, calling again just so he knew it was urgent, but it went to voicemail again. I hoped I was overreacting, and it was just a feud between Geraldo and Evan, or maybe Evan said something Geraldo that nasty temper didn’t like.

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