Page 86 of What Comes After

Her words had me stopping for a moment to consider everything that had happened ever since I left to start my career. As much as I didn’t want it to be the truth, Devyn’s assessment of the situation was accurate.

I was away, and she was here, waiting to get anything she could from me.

“You rarely reached out to me,” I said. “I mean, I’d hear from you on my birthday or on a special occasion. And of course, you never hesitated to contact me whenever a new movie was released. But beyond that, I didn’t hear from you. I’d send things to you on occasion, because I never wanted to lose my connection to you, but I started to think you didn’t want to hear from me.”

She tipped her head to the side, her eyes filling with tears. “I lived for those moments, Theo. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. I’d get a shot of a view from some gorgeous place where you were on set, and it would just remind me where I stood. I realized how different our lives were, and how I’d never measure up to the people who were constantly around you.”

I hated that.

Of all the things she’d shared with me, this wasn’t the first time she’d indicated she didn’t think she was good enough, or that I was somehow better than her.

I lifted my hand to the side of her face, my thumb stroking along the skin on her cheekbone. “Please tell me that’s no longer how you feel. It kills me to think you thought you were unworthy in some way.”

She looked away from me, her eyes darting around but never focusing on anything specific. Eventually, Devyn dropped her head forward and pressed her forehead into my chest. “My life is a mess.”

I had a feeling this had something to do with her business troubles she’d mentioned before. “Tell me what’s going on,” I urged.

Devyn kept her face hidden, and the tension in her body was unmistakable. Full minutes passed without a response from her, and it became clear this was something she was really struggling with.

“Baby, I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on,” I explained, my voice gentle.

That got me a reaction.

With tears spilling down her cheeks, she lifted her head from my chest and said, “I don’t want that. I want us to just be us. I don’t want us to be you cleaning up my mess. I got myself into it, and I need to figure out how to get myself out. Unfortunately, that’s proving to be a bit difficult, and I’m feeling overwhelmed. Being in the hospital for all that time and then being unable to work for all the weeks that followed hasn’t helped. I’ve gone two months without any income, and for someone who was already struggling in the financial sense, that’s a lot of time.”

I wasn’t sure if she’d give me the answers I needed, but I asked, “How bad is it?”

“Embarrassing.”

“Tell me,” I urged, giving her a squeeze.

“I’m two months behind on rent, have some credit card debt, and I just got my bill from the hospital, which was nearly sixty-thousand dollars. I was expecting that to be more, so I guess I’m relieved it wasn’t worse, but I still can’t afford it. Worst of all, so many of my clients had to find someone new to clean their homes, so now my income isn’t even what it used to be, and that was just enough to keep me afloat before all of this.”

Guilt ate away at me. I’d been living in the lap of luxury for years, never worrying at all about money, and Devyn had been struggling for a long time.

“This isn’t anything you should feel embarrassed about,” I told her. “You’re behind on your rent because you were in the hospital. And the hospital bill was not your fault. As for the credit card debt, I think most of the American population has some. It’s not a big deal, and I’d feel a lot better if you’d allow me to help you. I can take care of all of it for you.”

“It’s not your responsibility,” she argued.

“I see it differently,” I retorted.

Her brows pulled together. “How so?”

“You’re mine now, Devyn. I want nothing more than to give you the whole world, and that’s got nothing to do with me being an actor. It’s about me being the man in your life who wants a future with you, who wants to remove any obstacle in your way, and who wants to be the partner you deserved to have all these years.”

“You make it sound like it’s as simple as snapping your fingers.”

My lips twitched. “Because it is. For me, it is. And I want it to be easy for you. After everything you’ve been through, let me give you something. Let me take care of you. Give me the chance to show you how a man treats the woman he loves.”

Two tears rolled down her cheeks. “I don’t know if I know how to do that.”

I brought my hands to either side of her face and used my thumbs to swipe at her tears. “Of course, you do. You let me take care of you after you fell off your bike.”

That got me a smile.

I wasn’t done yet, so I continued, “And if you forgot how it works, I’ll teach you. I’ll show you what it’s like to be loved. And when you’re ready to go, I’m sending you to culinary school, because you deserve to do what’s going to make you happy in this life.”

“You can’t do that, Theo.”

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