Page 99 of The Sweetest Devotion

“Can we have a cigarette?” she asked me next.

Iwas trying to quit. I wouldn’t be responsible for her picking up the bad habit, no matter how much I craved a fix right then. “No.”

Kennedy huffed and rolled off me, leaving me cold. “I know you have a stash hidden somewhere.”

I heard her pull open my nightstand drawer on the other side of my bed. Soon, she gasped, jumping back.

Her head whipped around, facing me. “You have a gun?”

Going and leaning over her, I shut the drawer. “Curiosity killed the cat, Kenny.” I went and laid back down. “A couple of summers ago, shit was getting tense around here. There were a lot of break-ins happening. You can never be too careful.”

Kennedy calmed down a little as she came and laid against me. “I remember Jadyn mentioning that. Have…have you ever used it?”

I shook my head. “A few times at the gun range, but never on a person. Hoping I never have to.”

“Me neither,” Kennedy said.

She lived in Hampton Hills, where everyone had gated estates and security on the premises. Life for her was different, simple.

“Guess you won’t be movin’ to the Heights any time soon,” I said, joking as I stroked her cheek.

Kennedy rested her chin on my chest, staring over at me. “If I didn’t love my penthouse so much, I wouldn’t mind being roommates with Jay.”

Kennedy living in Bedford Heights, that I would’ve liked to see.

We lay there, naked, her against me, talking about nothing for a little while before we got up to shower and get dressed for the day. There was just enough time for a quick tutorial on breakfast before I had to go in.

“What do you usually get for breakfast at the hotel?” I asked as I raided my fridge for ideas.

“Avocado toast, eggs, and sometimes oatmeal, other times meatless sausage,” Kennedy answered as she stood beside the fridge back in that T-shirt of mine. One rule I was considering adding to our arrangement? If she spent the night, she had to wear my T-shirts. She looked better in them than I did.

“I gotta get into avocados more,” I said as I grabbed a carton of eggs and a stick of butter.

“And fruit,” she noted as she looked around and came up empty on fruit in my home.

I scratched along my neck as I went over to the counter. “Maybe I’ll grab some from the store tomorrow or something.”

A ping went off in my pocket, alerting me to a text message. A look at the clock on my microwave found that I wasn’t running late for work, so I doubted it was Uncle Rod.

I pulled my phone from my pocket to see that Savon had texted me.

Savon:This weekend we linkin up with Kai n Gav, NO staying in

I didn’t miss the lack of asking, but I didn’t put up a fight as I texted him back that I was down. Makai and Gavin were old friends of ours from around the way. Makai was now married, and I’d hardly seen him before I went ghost.

“Your boss want you in early or something?” Kennedy wondered as she watched me text Savon back.

“Nah, that was my boy Savon. I’ve been summoned out this weekend.” I looked up from my phone. “You got any plans?”

At once she shrank and my back stiffened. “I have a hot date with my fiancé.”

I shouldn’t have asked. I didn’t even know this guy and I wanted to beat his ass. “What’s this guy like?”

Kennedy pursed her lips. “Cain is…cold. Clinical. Emotionless. He just gives me the heebie-jeebies.”

“Grotesque?” That would also explain hisneedingto force a marriage on a woman.

Kennedy was quick to shake her head. “He’s attractive, but… He’s just so dark.” She shivered, doing her best to let it all go, I could tell. “So, anyway, what are you guys doing this weekend since you’ve been summoned?”

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