“I’m a bad man.”
“No you aren’t,” I argued with him as I sat alone in my chair. “You’re a liar, and selfish, and calculating, and so damn stupid. What you did was stupid!” My chest heaved as I heard my name again, a whisper on his lips.
“Nina.”
“And controlling and manipulative.” Twin tears slid down my cheeks as I continued to berate him. “And adolescent. Your temper is ridiculous.” An image of his dazzling smile surfaced. “And brilliant and beautiful and so damn sexy.” I was sobbing now. “And I still hate you.”
“I love you.”
“Devin,” I croaked in my chair, turning it around, away from the door, and burying my face in my hands.
“He’s gone.” I jumped at Cedric’s voice. “Last I heard, he was leaving on his boat.”
“Cedric, we are going to have to set some privacy parameters,” I sniffed out, trying to mask my obvious breakdown.
“Sorry, Nina, I was just walking in and heard you.” I wiped my face, turning my chair to face him. It was so evident Cedric cared for me.
“I know, Cedric, and I’m thankful I have you watching out for me.”
“I’ll be checking the system out if you need me. We’ve made some adjustments.” I nodded, pulling my seat back to the desk and picking up my pen. Cedric lingered in the doorway, and I looked up at him in question.
“Yes?”
“Nothing,” he said, moving toward the living room.
“Say it,” I snapped, resuming my scheduling. “We both know you have some sort of bromance going on with him.” I looked up and gave him a wink.
“I respect the guy,” Cedric defended.
“Okay.”
“You could do worse.” Cedric walked off, making his way out of the room.
“I have,” I whispered before getting back to work.
§§
Devin
I lay on my boat, looking up at the night sky. Tomorrow I set sail for the Keys. I’d been making preparations for a week and had everything a man could possibly need. All I had to do was pull up anchor.
That had proven to be the most difficult.
Leave it to me to hold out hope Nina would come around. It was asinine to think as much. In the last few months, I’d been as strung out as a lovesick puppy that just had his first good piece of pussy. And even now as I lay there, I wished for her to be next to me, talking my ear off about anything trivial.
There is so much healing in the right woman’s kiss, and for me that woman was Nina. She had done that for me. All the sordid and sick parts of me were healed when her lips met mine. My affection for her and the way she regarded me had once again shown me the difference between right and wrong in a world of fucked up. And my weakness for her had finally fueled me to do the right thing and let my cousin drown in his demons while I exposed them.
Acceptance was a painful bitch.
When I’d first met Nina, I’d accepted the fact that I had to love her from afar. As time went on, I had to accept the fact that I could have her, just not the way either of us wanted. The next bitter pill would be the acceptance that I had to once again deal with the first.
The silver lining was she was safe.
Aiden had left Charleston, and I’d made sure of it. He’d abandoned his club and his home. Apparently, hiding was something he was extremely good at. He was being investigated by both Charleston County and Savannah. A woman had come forward claiming to be a victim. If he ever returned, there was a chance he would be brought up on charges. Slim was better than none. My parents weren’t speaking to me, and I found that easier to live with than hiding the truth.
My mother was to blame for Aiden’s coddling. She never did fully grasp the idea of Aiden’s demons. He had perfected the art of deception by being completely believable. Even I had been deceived for a short time. The only way of ending it was to bring it public. I’d always known that and the fact that Aiden had chosen to damage the governor’s daughter made it news. It was my only chance, and though I was years too late, I took it. I’d done my part in helping, but it didn’t help me sleep at night.
It would be a long road to sleeping peacefully.