Page 73 of The Sweetest Devotion

All at once my mood dropped. “What brought this on?”

Kennedy shrugged, going and cupping her cheeks as she peered down at the floor. “He’s worried my dad might not make it if we prolong it.”

I didn’t understand her father’s illness. Part of me thought of this as a manipulation tactic, but there was the possibility that her father was borrowing time.

“So, that’s it, huh?” I asked. “Throw the rice and all that?”

“It’s not like that,” Kennedy said helplessly. “Cain said I wouldn’t have to consummate it.”

I deadpanned. “Sure.”

Oddly, Kennedy looked like she believed him. “He said he would wait until I was ready. That the wedding would just be for show. So my dad can see me be married before…”

Before he passed.

It was a fucked-up situation, one that made me disgusted with all the players involved, and annoyed for their pawn.

“And what happens if you don’t marry the guy? If you put your foot down?” I wanted to know.

Kennedy frowned. “I lose my family. My home. Every cent I own—everything.”

It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I could understand her wanting to keep her family intact.

Talk about million-dollar pressure.

“So, this ends in December?” I repeated with finality.

Kennedy nodded solemnly. “I’ll understand if you want to walk away before then.”

I knew the setup from jump. She warned me she couldn’t love me and that this would only be physical. It was an honor to touch little miss rich girl. In the end, she was only slumming it with me before she went off to become someone’s bride.

Fuck it.

This meant nothing and was just something to pass the time. It wasn’t my business to get caught up in Kennedy’s world and problems. If she wanted to be some weirdo’s wife, so be it.

I didn’t allow myself to care. So, I didn’t.

“This is just sex, right?” I said with a lazy shrug. “I’m cool with it.”

I watched her lips tremble and winced inside. “Okay.”

With my bag in hand, I took off down the hall. “Do me a favor and lock up when you leave.”

Kennedy stood back as I reached for the door and pulled it up. “When are you free again?”

I needed to get my head on straight and hit the gym. Kick back with Savon. Visit my mother and Betty Jean. Not get too wrapped up in this woman. “I think Wednesday. I gotta get in my yard, though.”

“Can I watch?” She sounded hopeful and curious.

I looked back at her. “You tryna help?”

Kennedy thought about it for all of a second before bobbing her head, her mood lifting. “That sounds like fun.”

That I’d like to see. “A’ight, cool. I’ll, uh, text you if that’s what I’m doing.”

“Please do. I’m going to go shopping and get the perfect outfit.”

Despite my loss of serotonin, I managed to smile at that. “Most people wear their ratty old clothes to do housework.”

---