Page 64 of The Air You Breathe

He stomped up the porch steps, unlocked the door, and headed inside without a backwards glance at me. I took a deep breath before I got out of the car when Evan pulled up.

He got out of the car, with a duffle bag, and a few plastic bags, making his way to the front door completely unaware of me. I assumed he was close to Giovanni too with his reaction this morning. He looked defeated, stressed out more than I could imagine.

“You need help?” I asked, and he flinched.

“Jesus Christ, Darcy, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry, I was standing here the entire time,” I said, walking to him to get a few bags out of his hands.

“Darcy!” Dev yelled, and I turned around to see him coming out of the house in a hurry.

When he saw Evan and me, he relaxed but still looked a bit tense. “Yeah, I went to Mountain View, I had to,” he snapped at Evan.

“I know,” Evan replied, like it was no big deal. “I knew it was stupid to ask you to stay here so I made sure Saul watched your house. Ava deserved to be told in person.”

Evan walked past me into the house. I followed him, setting the bags on to the counter, hearing the door shut.

I pulled out some groceries from the bags and I don’t know why I giggled. Picturing Evan at the grocery store, shopping like a housewife popped into my head and I couldn’t get it out, giggling even more. I couldn’t stop and I was laughing so hard I was crying until I heard them on the other side of the island. They looked at me like I was crazy but for just a moment the all-consuming despair left their eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I said, wiping my eyes.

“You want to tell me what’s got you laughing so hard?” Dev asked, sitting on a stool.

I laughed again when the picture came back. “I’m sorry, I know this an awful time to be laughing but I couldn’t help but picture Evan shopping for groceries like he was a housewife and I just lost it.” I pulled out a bottle of whiskey out of one of the bags when Dev came up to me.

“You never have to apologize for laughing. It’s a fucking amazing sound.” Dev kissed me slowly as he brought me flush against his body, grabbing a handful of my ass. He kissed my nose before he walked to the cabinets behind me.

“He’s right Darcy, you have a great laugh.” Evan gave me a small smile before he grabbed the whiskey, opened the lid and drank straight from the bottle. “Fuck the glasses, Dev.” He kissed my cheek as he walked to the sofa.

Dev grabbed another bottle from the cabinet, following Evan before he kissed me on the cheek too. They were so nonchalant about the kiss it made me wonder if they did it on purpose, or if it was so natural to them that they didn’t even realize they had both kissed me on the cheek. I looked over at them saying something to each other before they clinked their bottles together, taking a shot straight from the source.

They drank both bottles that night, drowning their sorrows. I gave them water and ibuprofen before I helped them into the bed we slept in last night and they both kissed me before squishing me in between them. I laid on Dev’s chest while Evan spooned me.

I could get used to this.

26

EVAN

Itried to get up a few times before I finally was able to keep my eyes open. My head was pounding viciously that even the faint snoring coming from my left side was hurting. I looked over to see Dev on his stomach hugging a pillow, wondering where the hell Darcy had gone.

My stomach growled when I smelled food. I was grateful that Darcy was cooking something because I hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning. I rolled out of bed feeling like I had gotten run over by a truck that then backed up and ran over me again. It had been a while since I had drank like that, but I felt like I needed to escape even just for the night, before I moved forward. Dev needed a moment to escape too before I told him what the hell had happened. I’m pretty sure he drank way more than I did, but most of the night was fuzzy.

Dev asked what I had found out, but I didn’t want to tell him yet because I knew what I needed to tell him was going to be hard to hear, and he might hate me. It was selfish, but I needed one night before our lives were going to change. A few of Giovanni’s guys kept an eye out for me while I regrouped. Dragging my ass out of bed, I went into the bathroom to shower, taking my bag with me.

Once I took the coldest shower I could handle, I began to feel marginally better; I left Dev snoring away. I walked out into the hallway smelling some really good food, but my stomach was so out of whack that I didn’t know if I wanted to stuff my face or throw up.

Man, why did I think drinking my sorrows was a good idea?

I walked into the kitchen to see Darcy cooking as someone was talking.

I kissed down her neck, hearing her sharp intake of breath as I rubbed circles over her nipple on top of her bra. Pulling the cup down, I took her nipple in my mouth, sucking hard, making her hips buck against my own as she moaned.

“Oh god, Brett,” Darcy groaned, leaning down to get something out of the oven and I realized the voice was coming from her phone.

What the hell was she listening to?

“This is why you should have just slept with him from the beginning.” Darcy put a sheet on the stove turning around quickly when the guy on the phone explained how hard he was thrusting into the girl.

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