49. Scarlett
SCARLETT
I was ten miles down the road hurtling toward Annapolis as fast as my pick-up would go when Cassidy called.
“Little snafu,” she said.
“What?” I asked, putting down the sandwich I’d been inhaling as I drove.
“Devlin isn’t in Annapolis.”
“Well where in the hell is he?” I demanded.
“He’s at Granny Louisa’s house.”
“The hell you say! He came back, and he didn’t even call me?”
I threw the phone on the passenger seat and executed a U-turn that put the ass end of my truck in the ditch. Gravel and mud flew, and then I was flooring it back to Bootleg.
“That son of a bitch came back without a word!” I fumed. I was gonna kill him and then tell him that I loved him so much it hurt to take a breath without him in my life. But definitely kill him first.
Devlin McCallister was going to feel the Bodine Wrath .
I fired myself up for my second fight of the night and vowed that no one would break this one up until I was declared the winner.
Judging from the cars in my driveway, the bonfire was still in full swing. I bypassed my house and pulled into Granny Louisa’s driveway behind Devlin’s SUV. There would be no escape for him.
I yanked the emergency brake and turned off the truck, leaving the keys in the ignition. Devlin had come back and hadn’t called or texted or showed up naked and begging on my front porch? He was a dead man.
I went around back because that’s how sneak attacks worked.
I was no Johanna ringing the doorbell proper as can be.
Oh, hell no. I fought dirty and played mean.
I kicked off my heels and jogged up the deck stairs that I’d refinished just a few weeks earlier.
At least I didn’t have to worry about splinters before extracting my justice all over his ball sack.
The lights were on, and I deducted even more points from Devlin after noticing he wasn’t on the deck pining over me. He deserved a kick in the balls. Dang it. I should have left my shoes on. They were pointy.
I had a full head of steam behind me that nearly carried me through the screen door before I realized it wasn’t Devlin sitting in the wingback chair with his feet up. It was Granny Louisa.
“Thank you again for riding to my rescue, Devlin honey,” she said.
I glared imaginary lasers at the man who adjusted her footstool. He didn’t look emaciated and depressed. He just looked stupidly handsome.
Maybe if I messed his face up a little, he wouldn’t be so beautiful ?
“I’m glad you called, Gran. But I can’t stay. Mom’s driving in tomorrow morning to help you and Estelle.”
Estelle, a svelte black woman with silver hair and a hallelujah voice, poked her head into the living room. She held a cast iron fry pan in her hand. “I don’t know why y’all are treating us like we’re two old ladies,” she announced.
“Well, one of you fell out of a gondola in Venice and broke her foot,” Devlin said dryly.
“Hush up, Estelle,” Granny Louisa said, waving at her girlfriend. Devlin appeared to miss the wink she sent her partner, but I caught it just fine. Granny Louisa was up to no good.
“Now, boy of mine, why are you in such a rush to go back to something that makes you so miserable?”
My ass perked up at that. Miserable was good. Very good.
“I’m not miserable,” that asshole said. “I have a responsibility?—”
Granny Louisa interrupted him by making a prolonged fart noise with her mouth. “Do you love the girl or not?”
My feet were frozen to the spot. I couldn’t have moved if I tried.
Devlin, the potential asshole, flopped down into the chair across from Granny Louisa. His broody expression didn’t give me the words I longed to hear.
“You’ve spent fifty minutes of every hour since you got here moping on the deck and staring through the woods in her direction. Do. You. Love. Her?”
“She didn’t trust me. She didn’t ask me to stay. And now she’s throwing a party.”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t love her and she doesn’t love you. It means y’all are young and dumb.”
I saw it then. The pain of my heart was plastered across Devlin’s sexy AF face. He hurt for me. He missed me. He loved me .
Like hell was I going to let him say it first. I wanted that honor… and the ability to throw it in his face for the rest of our lives.
In my haste to shout the words first, I forgot about the screen door that I’d replaced after my brothers wrecked it.
I half dove, half tripped through it, yanking it from its tracks and sending it crashing to the living room floor.
It rattled against the hardwood, crumpled and mangled just like my heart.
Devlin came out of his chair looking shocked and maybe the slightest bit scared.
“I love you,” I shouted.
Granny Louisa looked a little surprised. Estelle reappeared and gaped at the evidence of my spectacular entrance.
“Speak up, honey. I don’t think he heard you,” Estelle insisted.
I opened my mouth to make my proclamation again, but Devlin held up a hand. “I think we all heard Scarlett,” he said dryly. His gaze scanned my face, and I saw his Adam’s apple work in his throat.
Granny Louisa bent down and ripped open the Velcro on her boot. She kicked it off and hopped to her feet, spry as a forty-year-old. “Our work here is done, Estelle. Why don’t we meander on over to The Lookout for a round of mystic moonshines?”
Estelle tossed her dish towel on the floor. “Sounds good to me. I’ll get my drinkin’ pants on.”
They hustled out of the room, leaving me and Devlin to stare at each other.
“You broke Gran’s door,” he said quietly.
“I also announced that I’m in love with you,” I pointed out just in case he’d missed the announcement .
“See y’all later,” Granny Louisa said as she and Estelle giggled their way out the front door.
Silence reigned. I could hear my heart thumping away in my chest. Devlin stalked toward me and didn’t stop until he had his hands on my hips.
He leaned in, and I thought I just might embarrass myself by passing out on the man.
My body had missed him like sun… or beer.
I’d been kidding myself to think I could just walk away from him and be fine.
I was anything but fine.
“One more time,” he whispered, his thumb brushing my lower lip, and I felt the touch in every nerve ending in my body.
“I, Scarlett Rose Bodine, love you, Devlin Brooks McCallister. And you’re a fucking idiot if you think I’m letting you leave again without me.”
“You dumped me, remember?”
“I didn’t say you were the only idiot,” I argued.
“You were an idiot,” he agreed. “And I left without telling you how I feel,” he said, tugging me close enough that every inch of me was touching him.
“And how exactly do you feel?” I asked him.
“Like without you I’d spend my whole life knowing I was missing out on something special. Like I walked away from the only woman I ever loved because I’m an idiot.”
“Keep talkin’,” I prodded.
“I went home to that sterile condo. I attended half a dozen luncheons and ribbon cuttings and fundraisers. It sucked. You’re the color and music and flavor in my day.
And life without you isn’t worth crawling out of bed for.
I want you, Scarlett. I love you, and you better get that through your thick Bodine head. ”
My breath was shaky on the inhale and got stuck in my throat. “What do we do about it? ”
“I have some ideas,” he said, a slow smile curving the corners of his mouth.
“I think that sounds right nice,” I breathed. “But do we need to talk about your grandmother faking an injury to lure you back to town?”
“Do we need to talk about why you didn’t tell me about Callie’s sweater?”
“Do we need to talk about the cluster your life’s about to become if you start datin’ a girl in the middle of a murder investigation?”
“Do we need to talk about why you didn’t even give me the choice to stay or go?”
I bit my lip. Yeah, we had a lot to talk about. And maybe even some apologizing to do, which I wasn’t excited about at all.
“Why don’t we leave that all for later? It’ll keep, won’t it?”
“It’ll keep,” he agreed.
The thump of music next door echoed, and Devlin shook his head. “Just like the first night I met you.”
“Not quite,” I said, reaching into my hair and yanking the pins free. I let my hair tumble down my back and grabbed him by the hand. “C’mon.”
We ran through the night, navigating the skinny trail through the woods. When we came out on the other side, the crowd cheered.
“I found myself a man, y’all!” I shouted.
Devlin tossed me over his shoulder and jogged to Buck’s pick-up by the fire. He put me down feet first on the tailgate. “Someone get the lady a beer,” he called.
Someone shoved a beer into my hand. I leaned forward and pulled Devlin up next to me in the bed of the truck.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” I said. “I dedicate this to all of y’all. ”
Devlin raised a beer as well. I saw my brothers in the crowd raising their drinks. Jonah stood between Bowie and Jameson. He tipped his beer in my direction.
Devlin and I clinked cans, and on the count of three, we started to chug.