Chapter 14
Caydence
Avoidance. I’ve become good at that where Colt is concerned. I’ve been able to avoid him since the night I left that race. But Devon? Good fucking luck avoiding him. I’ve tried, and he shows up everywhere I am.
I’m looking down at my book when I hear his voice and close my eyes.
“I haven’t seen you around,” he says. I shake my head and finally look up at Colt. I guess my avoidance is over with now.
“There’s a reason for that,” I tell him.
“I was trying to apologize,” he says.
“Don’t need to. I’m fine.”
“Can we just start over?” he asks. I shake my head without looking up at him this time. There’s no way I can go out with Colt or anyone, for that matter, after what Devon has done.
“No.”
“Come on, Caydence.”
“I believe she said no.” Now I close my eyes and blow out a breath. Devon. Speak of the devil, and he arrives.
“This doesn’t concern you, Devon,” Colt tells him. I close my books because I know this isn’t going to end well, and I might as well give up trying to study.
“If you’re speaking to my girlfriend, then it concerns me,” Devon chimes in.
I turn my head to look up at him, and I can’t see the evil that killed a man the other night.
It’s just … Devon. The one who lay in bed with me for days, the one who brought me food to make sure I was eating. I’m so confused by all of this.
“Girlfriend? Since when?” Colt asks, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Devon.
“Does it matter?”
“Yeah, I think it does,” Colt snaps at him. I shove to my feet and stand in the middle of the two of them.
“We’re not doing this,” I declare as I look between the two of them. “We went out one night, Colt, and I found myself a ride home. Don’t overthink it.” I stuff my books in my bag and haul it over my shoulder.
“Caydence, I’m sorry,” Colt calls. I shake my head, and Devon grabs my hand in his. I try to pull it away, but he doesn’t let me; he just holds on tighter. Ignoring the rest of what Colt has to say, I let Devon pull me from the cafeteria and outside.
That’s where I start to pull my hand away once more.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asks.
“Are you serious? What’s wrong with me?” I can’t even believe he’d ask me that after what he did.
“Yeah, what’s the problem? You never pulled away from me before.”
“You never killed someone before,” I shriek. He smiles but doesn’t even glance around to see if anyone heard me. It’s as if he doesn’t even care if they did.
“You know why I did that.”
“No, I honestly don’t.”
“He hurt you, Caydence.”
“A lot of people have hurt me, Devon. Are you going to kill all of them?” I ask this time. His smile fades as he looks into my eyes. Oh my God. He’s thinking about it. He’s actually thinking about it!
“The ones I can find,” he finally answers. I start to walk away, but he doesn’t let me get that far, and I didn’t think he would. He grabs my wrist and pulls me back in front of him. “Don’t walk away.”
“What do you want me to do? Pretend that you didn’t do it?” I ask now.
“If that makes you feel better.”
“Are you serious? I should call the police!” Now he chuckles.
“And tell them what? Your boyfriend killed the man who could have killed you? How are you going to prove it?”
“I was there!”
“There’s no body. No evidence.”
“How are you so calm about all of this? You could face prison time,” I remind him once again.
“No one is going to prison, baby. I told you that. Now calm down.”
I don’t know what else to say to him. He’s right.
I’m sure there’s no body or evidence left at the office, although I wouldn’t know, because I haven’t been back there.
I couldn’t bring myself to go back after what he’d done, but damnit there’s a part of me that understands why he did it.
Does that make me as bad as him? Does that make me a monster?
“I need to go,” I tell him softly.
“No, you don’t. You’re avoiding me, and that ends today. In fact, it ends now.”
“I have a lot going on.”
“You haven’t been to work,” he reminds me now.
“I just-”
“I get it. But you need to come back to work,” he says.
I know I need the money, although Devon doesn’t give me any work to actually do.
We sit there. I read while he watches me.
That’s the extent of our working together.
Not that I’m complaining about reading and getting paid for it, I’m not. It’s just strange to me.
“I know,” I sigh.
“Then come back tonight. I do have some things for you to do,” he tells me. I nod my head.
“Okay, but no more bodies at work,” I warn him. He grins, and it takes my breath away. How can someone who looks like him be a killer? How can I even be trying to reason it out?
“No more bodies at work. I promise,” he agrees.
I nod my head when he grabs me and pulls me into him.
He moves so quickly, I barely have time to think when his lips are pressing into mine.
Everything about his kiss feels right when I know what he did was wrong.
My mind is a complete mess, and I don’t know how to fix it.
His mouth moves over mine, and I savor every second of it. When he pulls away, he presses a kiss to my forehead.
“I need to go handle a few things. I’ll see you tonight.” I nod my head and watch as he walks away. Then I pull out my phone and call Megan.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Megan, what do you consider red flags in men?” I ask her. She laughs into the line.
“This about Devon?”
“Kind of.”
“I haven’t seen any red flags with him, Cay. He’s been by your side since the accident. He seems to really care about you. Why? What did you see?” I can’t tell her that he killed someone for me. She would lose her shit and turn us all in.
“I don’t know. He’s just always around,” I reply.
“You need space?” she asks.
“I don’t know what I need. I love that he wants to be around and be here for me.”
“Don’t overthink it,” she encourages me.
“You’re right. Maybe I am overthinking things,” I agree with her.
“I’m sure you are. He seems like a good guy,” she adds. He is a good guy. Apparently, so good he’d do anything for me. Even kill.