Page 27 of Devour

“You just clicked—like that.” Asher snapped his fingers for emphasis. “Your total opposite in practically every way, and you accepted all of him without even batting an eye from day one. I felt like a complete idiot. And yeah, I was jealous. He never had to hide anything from you. Or anyone.”

“I see.” Until this point, I wrote off Asher’s behavior as envious, and it sort of was, but not entirely for the reason I thought. Folding my hands on the tabletop, I gazed back at him in earnest. “I’m sorry my actions made you feel that way.”

“Look at you, getting stingy with the apologies.”

I smiled. “I like to think it means more when not handed out so casually. And I suppose, in some ways, I’ve been living less apologetically.”

“Out and proud?”

“I’m going to be a deacon,” I repeated. If that wasn’t enough of an answer, I wasn’t sure what would be. “How about yourself? Girlfriend? Boyfriend?”

“Girlfriend. Not sure it’s going to work out, though. We’re just too different.” Asher paused, as if an afterthought he meant to include came back to him then. “But Em met a guy. Supposedly, they’re getting serious. Maybe even marriage.”

“Happy to hear she’s doing well. Haven’t seen her in ages.”

Ember and I remained in touch, but with life getting the better of us, that meant sporadic texting throughout the week and speaking on the phone once or twice a month. Last time I saw her in person, she’d only just met this guy.

“From what I heard, you’re the one who’s too busy.” Asher sighed and rested his chin on the heel of his hand. His gaze drifted to where mine landed over at the bar. Rhory found himself some cute, young piece of meat who couldn’t get enough of his charm. Asher looked back at me with a smug grin. “You’re never going to make it to thirty-five.”

“Pardon?” Just a reminder got my heart racing.

“That was the agreement, right? Thirty-five.”

“I’ll be ordained after this semester.” Not sure how else I could drive this point home.

“Deacons can marry, can’t they?”

I rolled my eyes at this technicality.

“You are so in love with him, dude.”

Woah, woah, woah. In love? With Rhory? Rhory? The demon who literally wanted to eat me. I could not stress the literal part enough. Him? Really? Definitely not. No. Never. Well, maybe a little. Actually, no, unequivocally not. Hard no. Not in love.

Ispared Asher my internal diatribe. “No.”

“You are, which was the other reason I resented him for so long.”

“Then you resented him for nothing.” I shrugged. “He’s a friend. A good and a close one, but still a friend.”

“Good luck telling him. In his mind, you’re probably already married.”

“In that case, he’s been committing a lot of adultery,” I mumbled.

“Hope that didn’t hit a nerve,” Asher said, while wincing.

“Not at all. I’m wholly aware he’d never be satisfied in a closed, monogamous relationship. And me being me, I wouldn’t want anything but.” I shrugged again. “Yet another of the many reasons we have, and will, remain friends.”

Rhory snuck up on us and flopped into the seat next to me again, slightly breathless and still pink in the cheeks. “Miss me, hubby?”

“Endlessly,” I teased. “Your absence plagued me so that I couldn’t even bear to eat.”

“The waitress didn’t even come for the food order, did she?”

“She did not,” I admitted with a wide grin.

“So, Rhory, how have you been?” Asher politely asked.

“Lovely.” Rhory looked right at me when he said it, and while he sounded sarcastic, that wasn’t the intent. Under the table, he rubbed against me like a cat and his tongue swept across his lower lip. Still hungry. What. The. Heck.

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