“I’m looking at some apartments down here.” The words would have been vague to anyone else, but Kami could tell immediately that whatever rampant curiosity made Skye a good journalist was affecting her thoughts right this second. She looked almost rabid with her desire to know what was going on.
Skye’s eyes brightened with interest. “Wait. Apartments? Why? Oh my God, are you moving out? That’s absolutely insane. Your mother will freak!” Skye was now bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. Then she suddenly looked at Kami. It was as if she realized that in her world Kami had no reason to be a part of this conversation. Skye grabbed Devon’s arm and began dragging him away from the counter. “Come and tell me more! There’s no reason to air our business in front of everyone. But I can’t help but think your mother isn’t going to be happy about this.”
Devon glanced helplessly at Kami and then allowed Skye to drag him away. Kami went back to her work. Shawn was on the bar, but that meant it was Kami’s turn to wipe down counters and clean up the general disarray and mess that most of the population of the shop seemed determined to spray everywhere.
Kami could not help but try to listen into the conversation going on just a few yards away. Skye was trying her best to lean in close to Devon in order to gain some privacy, but the woman’s naturally bubbly way of being overexcited about just about everything made it so that her voice carried through the now nearly empty shop. It was almost lunch time. It was almost time for Kami to take a break. She would have maybe liked to sit with Devon for a minute and talk quietly about apartments or plans, or maybe just to talk because it had been so very long since they’d done that. But since nobody knew what they were to each other, everything and everyone else took precedence over their strange marriage association.
“Are you all right?” Shawn asked quietly. “Skye is a bit of a handful, but she really does mean well. She’s a sweet girl and she hasn’t actually been all that spoiled for very long. She just married well and her husband has been able to provide for her. It was a blessing and I think she deserves it.”
Shawn’s words did not help Kami to feel better. Skye deserved a break. Skye’s husband was able to provide for her. Why? Because he would openly admit to being married to her? Maybe what pissed Kami off the most was the whole concept of being out in the open. What it meant. What it would feel like. And maybe to some extent the fact that Kami felt jealous as hell when it seemed like everyone else had it and she did not.
Chapter Thirteen
Devon gazed at Skye and tried to focus on the conversation. It wasn’t easy. He could absolutely feel Kami’s gaze on him as though it were a physical thing. The heaviness of that gaze was tempered by the fact that Skye also kept looking over at Kami as though she could not stop wondering what she was missing.
“Okay.” Skye held up her hands. “Would you please tell me what the big deal is with that barista? She’s staring at us and it’s totally creeping me out. The woman is really angry. I mean really angry. Did you hear some of the stuff she was saying to me? I’m not sure when you actually walked into the shop. She was actually making it seem like I’m some kind of lazy mooch! I swear that’s what she thinks. It’s freaking rude!” Skye waited expectantly for a moment as though she honestly expected Devon to comment.
He cleared his throat instead. “I’ve known her for a good many years. She’s not angry. Not like you’re thinking. It’s—well, it’s more complicated than that.”
“More complicated?” Skye glared at him. “Oh my God! You’re making some kind of excuse for her. I just asked her the other day if she wanted to comment on the whole payroll thing at the company. You know? Because she’s an employee on the service level and I thought that might have affected her and she might want to help. She just bit my head off! And now you’re saying you know her and she’s what? She’s entitled to act that way?”
“Skye, please?” Devon felt the most horrible sort of pressure in his gut to answer her. He needed to respond or to do something. He was feeling as though the whole world was bound and determined to somehow make Kami seem like a rude person just because she was expecting him to be a better man and he just wasn’t.
“No. You please! What is the big deal, Devon? You’re acting really strange.” Skye was off and rambling again. She was the type of person who could cover more conversational ground in minutes than Devon could in hours. “It’s nice that you want to make excuses for her and all. I understand. She’s had a rough life. Boo hoo. Right? But you don’t get to act that way to perfect strangers just because you’re upset about something or even worse—Jealous! That’s what’s going on here. She’s jealous.”
“Yeah. That’s true. I am jealous.”
The words stopped Skye’s half-whispered tirade and caused both Skye and Devon to turn and look up at the person who had approached. Of course, they didn’t have to look up very far to see Kami glaring down at them.
Skye was trying to come up with an answer. Devon could see it on her face as the muscles around her mouth and jaw worked overtime to open and close her lips. But no words came out and eventually she made a strangled little sound of surprise.
“You know why I’m jealous?” Kami seemed to decide that this was an indication that she should just charge ahead. “Because you”—she pointed to Skye—“have a husband that will openly admit he’s married to you. The two of you live together. He helps you pay your bills because that’s what people do in these situations. Right? You both work hard and reap the benefits together. You get to see each other regularly and share in each other’s lives.” Kami took a big breath and Devon felt like he was watching his life slide downhill. “Me?” Kami snorted. Then she made a sweeping gesture right toward Devon. “I married a man who is determined to pretend it never happened. He doesn’t want me around. He doesn’t want to even talk about our future anymore unless it’s in some vague terminology that allows him to put off any actual commitment.”
Kami finished speaking and there was absolute dead silence there in the coffee shop. From the corner of his eyes, Devon could even see Shawn poking his head up over the top of the barn. His dark eyes were wide behind his thick glasses as he watched this whole interaction take place in the middle of his empty coffee shop.
Well, not entirely empty. The older couple who often spent their time reading every single paper on the newsstand from front to back was still there. But they seemed to be either ignoring the scene completely or were actually oblivious for other reasons. But for the most part the shop was empty and Kami’s angry words were now hanging in the air making everyone feel rather uncomfortable. Or were they just words? They didn’t feel like words. They felt like an accusation. And maybe they were.
“Kami, I’m sorry.” The words were paltry, but they were the only ones that Devon had to offer. “I never meant to make you feel that way. I’ve been trying to protect you from all of the things going on in my family. You don’t understand. It’s... it’s complicated.”
Of the people who had heard this horrible litany, Skye seemed to recover first. She began to bob her head. “He’s not wrong about that, Kami. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that you had your very reasonable and even understandable reasons for being angry. But the King family is pretty messed up. You’d do better to steer clear right now.”
“Oh really?” Kami cocked her head and her hip. She jammed her hand down on that generous hip angle and glared at Skye. “So if I told you that your husband’s family was really messed up and that you should just be glad that he had decided to keep you in the dark about what was going on and push you back to arm’s length without any real explanation...” Kami paused and Devon actually wanted to facepalm. “You would just nod your head, throw up your hands and say, oh of course! You deal with that and I’ll just sit over here and pretend I don’t care?”
“Well, no, I guess…” Skye was trying to backpedal, but she was obviously stuck. “But I’m a different kind of person.”
“A different kind of person?
Really?” Kami curled her lips in disdain. Her dark eyes were shooting sparks. She was so angry that Devon was afraid she was about to really go off. “How about let’s just agree that you don’t know squat about marriage and relationships and you obviously don’t understand what it means when we say that married people are supposed to support each other through the bad and the good.”
Devon stood up. “Kami. I’m really sorry. I know you have a couple more hours before your shift is over. I just came by to tell you that I have three or four apartments I want to go and look at. I want to see what you like best.”
“Does it matter?” Kami pushed his hands away. “I’m broke. I got no place to live. Just go rent something. You know what I can afford. We’ve talked about it before. Lots of times. Make sure it’s in my budget and then rent it. I don’t freaking care if there’s a workout room or a tub with jets in the bathroom.”
Devon exhaled a sigh. He pinched his nose and wished that he could somehow make all of this better. He felt as though he had ruined everything. He missed the Kami who could smile and make all his problems go away. Right now it looked like she wanted to kill him with one look.
“I’m going to go,” Devon murmured to her. “Go back to work. I’ll be here when your shift is done. Then we’ll go to your new place. All right?”
“Fine.”
Kami turned on her heel and stalked to the back of the dining area where she began wiping down tables. Devon walked out. He was vaguely aware of Skye packing up her stuff and following him as quickly as possible. Great. Maybe she would help. Maybe she would be a pain in the ass. There was absolutely no way to predict it.
“What are you going to do?” Skye’s question popped over his shoulder no sooner than the coffee shop door had closed.
At least the sky had stopped spewing random bits of unrecognizable precipitation down upon them. No more rain that wasn’t rain and snow that wasn’t really rain or snow. It was just gray and angry and the streets were wet and half frozen as the temperature struggled to come up past freezing. Soon enough it would be in the upper forties, humid, and bone-chillingly damp because this was Dallas and that’s just how the weather worked here. Forget white Christmas. They were lucky if they got a brown one instead of the bright green.
Skye grabbed his arm and spun him around. “Devon!”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Devon felt helpless. “I’ve never picked an apartment before and I don’t know what a young woman like Kami would like or what she thinks would be valuable. I don’t really know if she even understands the process or realizes that apartments don’t come with furniture and things like kitchen utensils. That’s not something she’s ever had to think about. You know?” He touched his chest. Had there ever been a more worthless man on the planet? “It’s not like we registered over at Orville’s Department store for our wedding. There were no gifts to set up house and I’ve never even had my own place so I don’t have that stuff ready to go.”
“Wow.” Skye’s expression was about as blank as his felt. “That’s kind of enormous actually.”
That description did not make him feel better. “Great. So basically I’m screwed. Nice. I’ll just get her a place and take her shopping later. Maybe tomorrow when she gets off work.”
“Or you could just let your family take care of it.”
“Excuse me?”
Skye put her hands on her hips and made herself look vaguely like a superhero. “Just leave it to me. I’ll call Landry and Zane. Then we’ll grab Jason and make him go with us. The guys can move furniture and Landry and I have both been on our own for a while. We’ll consider this a very belated wedding gift.”
“Seriously?” For just a moment Devon felt like this might not be a total disaster. “You would do that?”
“For family. Sure.” Skye pulled the edges of her hoodie closer around her. “But I’m freezing out here so I need to go. And so do you. You have to go rent an apartment. We have to have a place to put the stuff or the whole thing is moot.”
“Right.” He frowned. This was still harder than he wanted it to be. Why was it so hard? It was just an apartment. Kami had been pretty specific that she didn’t care what the place was like as long as it was a roof over her head.
Skye rolled her eyes and began walking backwards presumably toward her car. “Stop thinking so much, Devon King! You overthink everything! Just rent a place. Think about convenience. How close is it to her jobs? How close is it to you? Where would you like to live?”
Devon’s brain stopped cold. He had somehow never expected to live there. Why? What was behind that? Skye pointed at him and then walked off as though she could somehow read his mind. Maybe she could. Maybe the whole world could see that Devon was terrified of messing this up. He was afraid. Plain and simple. And it was pathetic. That was true too.
As if that thought was enough to ruin the rest of the day, the rain started again. At least it was just rain. But it was covering his clothes and jacket with dampness. If he stayed out here much longer he was going to be drenched. So he strode away from the coffee shop in the direction of a building not far away.
The high-rise apartment building was nice. There was a doorman and a security system. There was a pool on the roof, but that wasn’t really something that he could imagine Kami caring about. She didn’t think about that sort of amenity. So as Devon got closer and closer he tried to see it the way that she would. A full-sized washer and dryer was included in the utility room. There were two bedrooms and a huge closet in the master suite. There was even a second bathroom. The rent was probably a lot more than Kami would have considered reasonable, but Devon didn’t believe she had ever actually looked for apartments in downtown Dallas. That was why a lot of families settled in Vickery Meadow. But that wasn’t going to work for a woman who would be better off walking to her jobs from an apartment that was nearby and available for her to run home whenever she needed to.
Devon stood on the sidewalk out front. People were scurrying and hurrying by on the street. It was Saturday. They were all heading for stores or out for a bit of fun. It was a vibrant downtown, and Devon wondered if he could even see himself living down here. Could he be a part of this world? Could he stroll hand and hand with Kami in good weather while they smiled and waved at their neighbors?
That brought to mind the possibility of children. Devon actually felt the need to physically cringe as he considered that notion. He didn’t like kids. He didn’t want kids. But Kami came from a very large, very Hispanic, and very Catholic family. There was no doubt in his mind that she would want to start a family just as soon as they began their life together.
Devon rubbed his hands down his face. Sometimes he worried that he had made the biggest mistake ever when he had married Kami Delgado. At the time it had been the only way to make sure that she was taken care of. Right now, Devon was thinking that their marriage had done more damage than good for both of them. Maybe it would be better just to get Kami settled in this apartment and then start the process of divorcing her. It had been so long since the two of them had felt like a couple anyway. Maybe she wouldn’t care.
Chapter Fourteen
Kami could not stop looking at the clock. She just wanted this day to be over. Her ten-hour shift ended at three o’clock. That was probably the flipside of all of her shifts starting before the crack of dawn. At least they didn’t last until evening. She often had the late afternoon and evening hours to herself. Today though? Today was different. Her belly was knotted with fear. She’d had about a dozen missed calls and so very many more texts from her family. Her father was trying very hard to force her to come home. Her mother was begging her to comply. Neither of them cared about what Kami wanted. They didn’t think about it. Maybe it wasn’t even a consideration for them. They just wanted her to come home and marry the boy they had picked for her. Then she would be carefully placed in a box of their choosing and boom! The whole thing would be over. Thing, of course, referring to Kami’s life, hopes, a
nd dreams.
“Are you all right?” Shawn lightly touched her shoulder as he handed her a tiny shot of espresso. “Here. Just chug it. You look like you could use the pick-me-up.”
“Thanks.” Kami took the tiny ceramic cup and threw back the bitter contents. They whipped through her system with an almost brutal efficiency that left her wondering if she was actually doing herself any favors or not. “I suppose I should go. I just expected him to meet me here.”
Shawn was silent for a moment. “Are you sure this is the right decision?”
“I don’t know what the right decision is anymore.” Kami exhaled a sigh. “We got married, and at the time I felt like we were going into it with our eyes wide open. Both of us had these crazy-ass families that demanded so much of us and we could understand that about each other. There was so much common ground in some ways and absolutely none in others. But that was okay. We could learn. Right? It made things fresh and exciting to realize that there were things that we could learn from each other. I liked that.”
Shawn exhaled a huge sigh. “And now you’re afraid that the lack of stuff in common means that the two of you are going to be constantly at odds? I get it. My last two relationships have failed because of that. Common ground is one thing, but common values and a sense of shared history feels more important sometimes.”
“Right. And believe me, I don’t have any idea what it’s like to be rich. I just don’t get it and I don’t think I ever will. Rich people don’t think like poor people do.”
“Well, I know you don’t particularly like Skye. I realize that she’s rubbed you the wrong way, but I can tell you that she and her husband, Jason, aren’t at all what you would think of as rich people. They’re different from any people I’ve ever met. So maybe your Devon is too.”
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 81
