Page 66 of Handsome Devil
“I had some awkward times as a teenager,” I admitted, though this was hardly news to her. “But that was the single worst year of my life.”
Seriously, it was awful.
For one thing, there was a whole vibe of overblown affluence and entitlement at that school that just rubbed me all wrong. Plus, I missed my best friend. My mom had wanted me to go to that school so damn bad, and when I finally got accepted, in senior year, she’d made me go. And while I’d made Katie come with me for the orientation on my first day, she couldn’t stay. Her parents weren’t crazy like mine. They let her go to the public school in our neighborhood, where I would’ve liked to stay. There were cute boys there, too. And they didn’t drive quarter-million-dollar cars at seventeen and already think they owned the world.
“It was like nothing was ever good enough in that place,” I told her. “If your family was well-off but not filthy rich, it was a crime. If you were cute but not knockout gorgeous, you weren’t even worth talking to. And forget being the only girl in the school with a giant, hideous facial scar.”
“Devi. There was nothing wrong with your face. It was an injury.”
“Ugh.”
My best friend smiled softly. “Does it still bother you?”
“No. Just… memories, you know.”
I watched her chowing down on her nachos for a moment in her cute ruffled blouse, her big, blue-green eyes all attentive, and I almost lost my will to proceed. But this wasKatie. We’d had a million in-depth conversations about boys and men over our almost two decades of friendship. Just… not this one.
When I glanced over, Dane Davenport still hadn’t melted away into the netherworld, though. So, this chat really had to happen.
“Remember the guy from that school, who I told you about?” I said casually. “I mean, I must’ve told you about him… The hot rich guy I hated?”
“Uh, that could describe any number of guys you went to school with.”
“The really, really hot one,” I clarified.
“The one you went to grad with? The hockey player?”
“No. The one who kissed me that night.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure. The devil.” Katie washed her nachos down with frosty pink daiquiri. “Why didn’t you just say so?”
“His name is Dane.”
“Really? I don’t think you ever told me that. You just always called him Demon Spawn this and Devil Incarnate that.”
“Yeah, well, the devil has come back to town.”
“Really? How do you know that? Wait. How did you know he left town?”
“He moved to Toronto right after we graduated. Like two seconds after he kissed me. And now he’s back, on business.” I hesitated. “I told you about what happened at work…”
Katie actually gasped. At first, I thought she was choking on a nacho. “Devi!” Nope, not choking. Just stunned. “The devil incarnate who bought your agency and fired your boss?”
“Yeah, I may have neglected to mention that was him.”
“Demon Spawn??”
“The one and only.”
“Shit.I always thought you were exaggerating about the evil, because you actually had a crush on him.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Uh, no. No, he’s evil as hell. And also… he’s right over there.” I pointed him out across the bar.
Katie rubbernecked that way.
“Not so obvious!” I hissed.
“Whoa. The scary-gorgeous one with all the bruises? Or the gleaming Adonis with the linebacker’s shoulders…?”
