Deal Takers (Dealing with Love 2)

I raise my eyebrows. Here’s the thing: Devyn rarely swears. And when I say rarely, I mean almost never. If she’s busting out the four-letter-words, you know she means business.

“Can I at least shower and change before we have this conversation?”

“Go right ahead. Riley and Nate are having a daddy/son night so I have plenty of time to wait.”

“Yay!” I cheer mockingly.

I get cleaned up and put on my proverbial big girl panties before joining her on the couch. As I sit, the light reflects off the shiny rock on her left hand.

I grab it. “What the hell? When did this happen?”

Her face morphs into a smile. “Last night after everyone left.”

“Oh, honey, I’m so happy for you.”

She points a stern finger at me. “A, thank you. B, you’re going to be my maid-of-honor whether you like it or not, and C, don’t think you’re getting out of this conversation about Brody.”

“I’d love to be your maid-of-honor, Dev.”

“Lorraine, quit stalling.”

Damn it.

I sigh. “What do you want to know?”

“When did this happen? How did it happen?”

“We kind of made an agreement that night he walked me home from Kelly’s.”

“What kind of agreement?” she asks.

“Like a friends-with-benefits type of thing. No feelings, no complications, and no telling anyone else about it.”

Devyn smirks. “Well, that rule’s out the window.”

“You can’t say anything to anyone, Dev,” I plead. “Not even Riley.”

“Rainey...I can’t lie to him.”

“You don’t need to lie,” I insist. “Just don’t bring it up. Please, Devyn.”

Her face softens. “Fine. For now. But you need to give me an honest answer in return.”

“An answer to what?”

“Do you really think you can do this without feelings? Or complications for that matter?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “But I’m trying. I had a few casual relationships in college that worked out just fine.”

Her eyes are screaming, are you stupid? “This isn’t the same and you know that, Lorraine. You’ve known Brody for years. And he’s Drew’s and Riley’s best friend.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is that I know you understand how complicated this can get; therefore, you wouldn’t jump into something like this blindly. If you only wanted sex, you would’ve found someone else. Anyone else. You can say ‘no feelings’ all you want, but we both know Brody’s already had some feelings brewing for a long time. I don’t want to see either one of you get hurt.”

“Brody and I are both consenting adults,” I say. “If things start getting too intense, we’ll call it off and pretend like it never happened.”

“Lorra—”