Page 69 of Inseparable
“I’m not leaving.”
“Then I hope you like the cold floor.”
I stomp to our shared bedroom, viciously slamming the door shut behind me. Peeling the dress off my body, I replace it with sleep shorts and a tank top. I lie on my side on the bed, clutching the framed picture to my chest while all manner of conflicting emotions skitters around my brain.
After a while, my anger has faded, and I’ve calmed down. I’m still pissed at him for making decisions that concern me without consulting me, but I don’t want to lose sight of what’s important—he’s here, and he has answers to questions that have long since puzzled me.
I get up and pad to the door. Opening it, I peer into the quiet hallway. Dev is sitting on the ground with his knees tucked in close to his chest, his back flat against the wall. He knows my temper tantrums are usually short-lived, and I was banking on him still being here. He looks up, his gaze scrutinizing mine. “You can come in now,” I confirm in a meek voice.
He climbs to his feet, following me in to the apartment. Handing me the brown paper bag, he looks sheepish. “It’s probably stone cold by now.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve chowed down on cold burgers,” I say, reminding him of the time we left our takeout bag on the sidewalk outside the diner where I worked. Dev only realized it when he’d pulled into his driveway. Despite Ayden’s protests, he’d turned the truck around and driven back for it. Starving, the three of us had happily munched on the cold food on the drive back home.
He chuckles. “I remember.”
I retrieve some plates and napkins, and we sit on the couch eating our burgers in silence. After I’ve cleared up, I snatch two cans of soda from the small refrigerator and flop onto the couch. I pass one to him. “I’m sorry for overreacting before you had a chance to properly explain.”
He kicks off his sneakers, pulling his feet up onto the couch. Twisting around, he leans back against the arm rest so he’s facing me. I mirror his position at the other end of the couch. “I don’t blame you for being angry, and, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for leaving without saying goodbye, for cutting off all contact, and for hiding my presence here for so long, but I had good reasons for doing what I’ve done.”
“I’m listening.”
He blows air out of his mouth. “I’ve planned this conversation so many times, but I’m still not sure where to start.”
I take pity on him. “Why did you leave?”
He wets his lips. “You know I wasn’t in a good place, hadn’t been for quite some time. After all that shit went down with Becky, and Da… Dad took off, I could barely keep everything together. I’d reached a point where I didn’t think I could go on. You and Ayden weren’t speaking to me, Cam was gone, Lucas was relying on me to hold our family together, and I just felt like crap inside. Then my uncle showed up and flipped my world upside down and I lost it.”
My brow puckers. “What does your uncle have to do with anything? I didn’t think you even knew him?”
“I didn’t. We didn’t. That’s the way Dad wanted it. The last time I’d seen him was when I was a little kid. He’d just set up his medical supplies business, and he used to drop by the house most every weekend. Lucas was only a baby the last time we saw him, so he doesn’t remember him, and it was a shock when he turned up one day a couple weeks before Dad left begging for our help. His youngest daughter was ill with leukemia, and he was desperate. She needed a bone marrow transplant, and none of them were a match. It was a long shot, but he wanted Dad, Luc, and me to be tested too.”
He closes his eyes momentarily. “I was a match, but the tests also revealed my uncle was actually my biological father.”
I jerk forward. “What the hell?” The disbelief carries in my tone.
He nods. “I’d no idea. Neither did he, but that asshole who raised me knew.” His eyes darken with anger. “It explained a few things. Dad had flown into a massive rage after my uncle showed up and he was worse than usual those couple weeks. That night when I picked you up after the party, when we got back to the house and Becky was waiting there, I knew he was ready to flip. I sent you home because I was afraid he’d hurt you.”
Our eyes meet. “But he hurt Becky instead.”
Dev nods. “Becky is a bitch, but she didn’t deserve that.”
I knot my hands in my lap. “Why did you go out with her, Dev? I still don’t understand it.”
He scoots forward, taking my hands in his. “She blackmailed me.” I tilt my chin up. “That Saturday when I showed up at your house, the day I gave you the drawing, I meant everything I said, but she turned up at the gas station that night while I was working my shift. She told me she was pregnant and that it was mine.” I gasp, withdrawing one of my hands and planting it over my mouth. “I didn’t believe her at first, but she had the pregnancy test, and it clearly showed a blue line. I was in complete shock, and I had no one to talk to about it. I knew there was a chance it was someone else’s, but she was adamant it was mine, and I couldn’t walk away. If that was my kid, I was going to be there for it.”
He doesn’t need to elaborate. I understand why he’d felt like that.
“She told me if I didn’t make things official between us that she’d abort the baby.” Torment saturates his eyes. “She also insisted I cut all ties with you. I discovered she planted one of the cheerleaders in the closet the night of the party, and she had explicit photos of me, of us together, and she was threatening to send them to you.”
A resurgence of hurt and jealousy batters me on all sides.
He looks suitably embarrassed. “I had already hurt you so much, and I couldn’t let her do that.”
I shake my head in disgust, speaking over the rancid taste in my mouth. “She’s far nastier than I ever gave her credit for.”
“You’ve no idea.” He gulps. “She also threatened your mom’s job.”
“She what?” I shriek.
