32. Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty
Devon
Dinner went differently than I expected it to. I’m not entirely sure what I expected, but for it to go so smoothly and us not fight even once wasn’t it. I thought there would be tension. Maybe it would be awkward at times. Points when neither of us knew what to say. But that never happened. Crazy how we’ve so simply gone back to the way things were. Sure, it’s different now that we’re older and have more responsibilities—well, he does—but we haven’t changed otherwise. Even after all the crap between us these last five years. Letting go of it has been easy—after the initial hard parts, of course.
Tate was the perfect gentlemen tonight, walking me to the door and everything. He said he had some work to do at the office, so he won’t be staying, but Dane will be home soon. He kissed me goodnight, a simple, sweet kiss. Then that was it.
I always knew what Tate was capable of. I saw him be mean and aggressive towards other people through the years. His dark side was never hidden from me, it just wasn’t aimed towards me, so I looked the other way. Even when Tate was mean to me, it was different from the way he was to other people. I never understood that.
When I get up to my room, I change and get into bed. I’m somewhere between awake and sleep when I’m hit with a dream that is all too familiar.
I bang on my brother’s bathroom door.
“Have you talked to Tate?” I shout.
On the other side, I hear his shower going and music, but I’m sure I yelled loud enough for him to hear me.
“Not today,” he answers.
“Well, is he supposed to be coming by?” I yell back.
The shower shuts off, and a moment later, so does the music. Dane swings the door open, and I have to step back because of the steam that billows out. He has a fluffy white towel wrapped around his waist and his hair is dripping wet.
“I said I haven’t talked to him.” He moves by me, going to his closet.
I swing in his direction. “But did he say anything about it yesterday?”
Dane looks at me over his shoulder. “He’s your boyfriend, Dev. Don’t you keep tabs on him?”
“Don’t be like that, Dane. You know it’s not like that with us.”
But maybe it should be… because I haven’t seen him or talked to him since the party last night.
“Which is exactly the problem,” he mutters, yanking a black button-up from a hanger.
“If you talk to him, can you please just tell him to call me?”
“Sure thing!” Dane calls as I leave his room.
Once I’m back in mine, I pick up my phone and call Tate for the tenth time. It isn’t like him to not answer me. It isn’t like him to not be here. We’re always together. And when we’re not, we know where the other is. Not because we have to, but because we want to. I trust Tate, and I don’t care what he does, but this is out of the ordinary for him and I’m worried.
We separated last night at the party. I texted him to tell him I was leaving early with Summer because she wasn’t feeling good. I only realized this morning that he read it but never answered me.
He wouldn’t have gone home with—no. Tate wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t.
“You’ve reached Tatum Winters. I can’t—”
His voicemail answers and I end the call before trying again.
“What?” he says, which has the relief I felt over him answering turn to annoyance.
I pull the phone away to make sure I’m talking to the right person.
It says Tatum…
“Tate?”
“Yeah,” he says.
“Where are you? Why haven’t you been answering me?”
“I didn’t realize I had to check in with you.”
“What? You don’t. But I was worried. I haven’t heard from you since—”
“Look, Dev, this isn’t working out. So, we’re going to have to call it quits.”
My stomach plummets as my heart shatters. I sink onto my bed.
“Wh-what?” The word barely squeaks out.
“I’m not doing this with you, Devon. Don’t call me anymore.”
The phone beeps, telling me the call ended. I stare at my phone, absolutely horrified.
What just happened? Did he… break up with me? Why would he do that?
A choked sob gets caught in my throat as my eyes burn with unshed tears. My chest goes tight.
I can’t breathe…
My hands shake and that’s when the tears fall.
And they don’t stop.
There’s a loud knock on my door that wakes me.
“Go away!” I call.
The door opens then closes, and someone jumps onto my bed. I open my eyes to see who it is, but I must have forgotten to close the curtains last night because I’m assaulted by bright light. My eyes squeeze shut just as a heavy body falls on top of me. The scent tells me who it is.
I smile.
“Missed you, little sis,” Dane says, holding me tight.
I giggle, trying to shove him off me, but he doesn’t move.
“Not going anywhere. I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” he says, nuzzling his face against mine way too harshly.
“Stop it, Dane!”
He chuckles, letting up.
“Where have you been?” I ask.
He rolls off me, lying on his back beside me. I shove my hair out of my face and sit up.
“And what has you in such a good mood?” I add. My brother hasn’t woken me up like this in years. Meaning, he certainly doesn’t know a thing about me and Tate.
“I got home late last night from a last-minute business trip. How was your weekend with Summer?”
I shrug. “It was fine. Astrid is getting big. How was yours?”
“Not at all what it was supposed to be, but it worked out, I guess. Get this. One of the models was all fucked up on pills, so she broke into one of the warehouses to steal shit to sell.”
“Oh my god, seriously?”
He puts his hands behind his head and nods.
“Yeah, Dad is pissed, obviously. I handled it though, since he wasn’t around. Earned me some points, so that’s good.”
I shake my head. “You shouldn’t be so consumed with work, Dane. You act like you’re forty.”
“I like it. Makes me feel important.”
“You are important, dork.”
He rolls his eyes. “To someone other than my family.”
The door squeaking pulls my attention, and in walks Tatum, all nonchalantly. I freeze. When he realizes I’m not alone, he freezes too, hand still on the doorknob.
“Do you normally walk into my sister’s room without knocking?” Dane asks but doesn’t sound mad. More curious.
“Heard your voice,” Tate says, eyes on him and completely ignoring me.
It stings. And that sting is all the reminder I need of why this won’t work out. No matter how much Tate is nice to me when it’s just us, he can’t be that way in the real world. I only wish I knew why… Actually, maybe I don’t want to know why. Because I think that truth will hurt.
“Are we still going to breakfast or what?” Tate asks when Dane doesn’t say anything else.
“Shit, I forgot about that.” He gives me a sympathetic look.
“Don’t look at me like that, Dane. Just go. I’ll be here when you get back.”
He jumps on me, putting all his weight on me and squeezing. He never told me why he was in such a good mood…
“Love you,” he says when he gets up, then moves past Tate to leave the room.
He doesn’t spare me a glance as he follows after my brother.
“I feel like this is all a really bad idea,” I say, leaning back on my hands.
“No, sweetie, you have to go slow,” Summer says to Astrid, who is painting my toenails. Summer puts her hand over Astrid’s and shows her how to move the brush slower, so it doesn’t get everywhere. Astrid smiles as Summer helps her figure it out. “Now you do it,” Summer adds.
Astrid tries again but huffs out an annoyed sound then goes nuts all over my toe like she did before.
Summer gives me a look that says sorry , and I just shrug.
Astrid gets one foot done, then half of the other before she takes off to play in her room .
“So, what do you think about this being a terrible idea?” I say when Summer picks up the nail polish and finishes painting my toes.
“I think you need to stop worrying about it, go with it, and see what happens. Have you found a place yet?”
“Not even close. There are so many to choose from.”
Summer looks up at me, giving me that I’m about to say something you’re not going to like look that she has perfected.
“Just say it,” I groan.
“Maybe you haven’t found a place yet because you don’t want to leave.”
“Oh no. We are not going there. I do want to leave. I love it here. Spending time with you and Astrid is great, but this can’t be all I do in life. Home and Summer’s. Summer’s and home. It’s ridiculous. I’m an adult!”
“Well, you could always do what I did and get pregnant and get kicked out of your house,” she says, capping the nail polish and grinning at me like a crazy person. “Sorry, bad joke?”
“I cannot handle a kid.”
“You do great with Astrid.”
“Doesn’t mean I want my own.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Summer picks up the nail polish remover and some cotton swabs to clean up my nails. She’s going to be there for a while… my entire pinky toe is covered in sunflower yellow polish.
“Part of me wishes the weekend never happened, but another part is grateful that it did. Deep down, I know I’m going to end up hurt again while he couldn’t care less. ”
Summer sighs, putting everything down and moving to my side to hug me.
“I want to believe he has changed, but I always loved you guys together. But if he hasn’t, it’s his loss. If you end up hurt, I’ll be here for you no matter what. I’m always on your side, k?”
My eyes water and I nod, hugging her back tightly.
“Please fix my nails before I start to cry,” I say.
She barks out a laugh and goes back to fixing my nails.