Live For Me (Blurred Lines #2)(40)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Her eyebrows shot up. “Well, all right then. I guess you know what you’re about.”

“I do.” I reached over and touched her arm, wanting her to understand that I really did appreciate her warning. “Thanks. You’re being really nice to me. I appreciate it.”

“You seem different,” she said. “I like what I see. I just don’t want to see that destroyed.” Her long pointy fingernails smoothed her platinum hair down the side of her head. “But G is a good man.”

Devin heard her last comment as he came up behind me and kissed the back of my head. “Thanks, sugar,” he told her. “So did Tiffany tell you we’re getting married?”

Her hand dropped to the marble countertop. “Excuse me? No, she did not tell me that.”

His arms had wrapped around me from behind and I felt enveloped, supported, even as I tried not to let Sapphire’s response make me uncomfortable. Of course she was going to react with surprise. It was shocking news.

“Yep. She was smart enough to say yes to me and now she’s committed. I’m not letting her go ever.”

I was grinning. I couldn’t help it. He sounded so enthusiastic, so happy. His embrace was strong, warm. I leaned back against his chest.

“Well. Congratulations,” she said, raising her cocktail glass. “All the best.”

“What are we toasting?” Ray said, wandering over with a bottle of scotch in his hand.

“G and Tiffany are engaged,” Sapphire told him.

“You shittin’ me?” He sounded a little drunk, which was confirmed when he moved to clap Devin on the shoulder and stumbled a little in the process. “Congrats, bro.”

“Thanks. I couldn’t have picked a better girl.” Devin finally let me go and reached for the glass he had abandoned earlier.

“Hell, you could have picked anyone and she’d be better than Kadence,” Jay said. “That bitch is crazy.”

It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for me, but I’d take it.

The other woman, Cassandra, had wandered over and while she happily accepted another cocktail, she didn’t look like she cared one way or the other what Devin’s plans with me were. Given the glassy eyes, the cocaine and the alcohol were mixed with a third substance. My guess was heroin, based on a former foster sibling, but I didn’t know for sure. I did know I was glad when after another twenty minutes she and her husband disappeared.

“Let’s go, boo,” Jay said to Sapphire. He gave a fake yawn, followed by a wink. “I’m tired. March your sexy ass up those stairs.”

She rolled her eyes, but she did stand up. “Goodnight, G.” Then she startled me by leaning over and giving me a hug. “Goodnight, Tiffany.”

“Goodnight.” I hugged her back, pleased. I knew she wasn’t that much older than me, at the most twenty-five, but she seemed so much more experienced, wise. It made me feel good that she was willing to accept my relationship with Devin.

We were left alone in the kitchen, Devin kissing the side of my neck. “Well, I guess this means I don’t have to sneak into your room after all.”

“Shouldn’t we clean up?” I asked, glancing around at all the sticky surfaces, the half-eaten appetizers, the dirty wine flutes and martini glasses.

“Are you insane? No.” Devin nuzzled further down, tugging at the neck of my sweatshirt. “The housekeeper can do it.”

“I am the housekeeper.”

“Not anymore. Now you’re my girlfriend.”

I shivered. I hadn’t thought about what that meant. Not exactly. I didn’t want to either. That was for later. Right now, I wanted to retreat into my room with Devin, away from harsh lights and potentially prying eyes. I slipped out of the bar stool with the intention of going with him to my room but it had the effect of taking me out of his reach. He frowned.

“If you start cleaning up this kitchen I swear I will throw you over my shoulder and drag you kicking and screaming out of here.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s a bit ridiculous and dramatic. I was just standing up.”

“Oh. Good.” He smiled. Grinned, actually. “Let’s go to your room.”

“That’s what I was planning to do. And for the record, if you ever try to throw me over your shoulder and take me anywhere, I will pack and leave.” I knew he was teasing, but at the same time, he needed to remember who I was. That nonsense wasn’t going to fly with me. I’d been at the mercy of other people my entire life. I had no fantasies about being dominated by a man.

He didn’t get angry.

Instead he laced his fingers through mine and raised our hands so he could kiss my knuckles. “I’ll never make you do anything you don’t want to do. You have my word on that.”

His reassurance meant the world to me. “Good. Because I definitely don’t want to move to Florida.”

“No one is moving to Florida.” He kissed me, the kind of loving, sensual kiss that made me sigh.

“Are you really selling this house?”

“Yes. Let’s start fresh with a house that doesn’t have bad memories.”

“But all my memories here are good.” I didn’t want to leave Richfield. I’d been happy there. I’d met him, had gained my freedom. We’d created a home together, complete with a Christmas tree and our dog. Because I had absolutely emotionally adopted Amelia, and she had me as well.

“Then we’ll keep it.” He kissed my earlobe, tugging it gently between his teeth. “Whatever you want, love. Anything you want is yours.”

“All I want is you,” I whispered.

Chapter Eleven

We went into my room, Devin carefully closing the door behind us and locking it. Amelia had padded in quietly along with us, and she went and lay down on the blanket in the corner I had put there for her weeks earlier. The room was dark and I stood there, unsure what to do. Devin moved around the bed to the bathroom and flicked the light on, flooding the room with a bright beam.

It made me shield my eyes, but immediately he pulled the bathroom door closed, leaving it only open a few inches, just enough to keep us out of total darkness.

I stood there, awkwardly, hands stuck down into my pockets, rolling on my ankles. But then I remembered the box I’d left sitting on the floor and I bent over and picked it up before it accidentally was disturbed again. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my grandmother’s ashes, but I had the idea that I might walk down to the beach come spring and toss them into the ocean. I couldn’t imagine I’d want to keep them forever, but I wasn’t ready to get rid of them right away either. So I carefully pulled open the top drawer of my dresser and slid the box in there.