Page 54 of The Devil's Spawn

God, I was going to cry.

“Gage, please get up.” As much as I loved him kneeling at my feet, we both knew he didn’t belong there. “I’ll go home with you.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Simone said.

Gage shot her a glare. “This is between my wife and me.”

“Then why did she come to my house with a packed suitcase? You need to give her some time.”

“She’s had time. Slumber party is over.”

My friend was about to explode, so I interjected before she did. “Thanks for everything, Simone,” I said, silently pleading with her to understand. “I think I should go home.”

“But you were a mess yest—”

“Babe,” Ian said, massaging her shoulders as if that would be enough to calm her. Who knew? Maybe it would. He probably knew her buttons and how to set off each one better than anyone. “Let them go. Kayla’s a big girl. She can take care of herself.”

His new attitude astounded me, and I couldn’t help but wonder if a second chance at life was the only reason behind the change. I knew Gage had spoken to him the night he sent him away, but I’d never had the guts to ask what they’d talked about.

And I probably never would. That was a conversation Gage would likely never tell me about. We both had our flaws; I relapsed into the land of trust issues every time new doubts arose, and he refused to open up emotionally. We could fight each other on those two things until we destroyed our marriage and each other, or we could accept them.

Everyone had flaws. Some more than others.

“Thank you for having me,” I said. Not everyone was lucky enough to be blessed with a friend like Simone. She’d always have my back, and I prayed that when the time came, if it ever did, I’d get a chance to have hers as well.

Gage laced our fingers together. “Where’s your suitcase?”

“By the couch.” I pointed to the sofa where I’d slept last night, tossing and turning and agonizing over my impetuous decision to leave. There was a saying I’d once read in some pregnancy book, or maybe I’d seen it on a forum, but I’d found the advice sound.

Never make big decisions while pregnant.

Gage fetched my suitcase as I put on my coat. Before we reached the door, I stopped to give Simone a hug. But I didn’t dare touch Ian, and the glance he exchanged with Gage spoke volumes. Just because they’d managed to occupy the same room for ten minutes without tearing each other’s heads off didn’t mean they were on the way to becoming best buds.

But I was optimistic. People changed. Gage had, in spite of his habit of hiding painful things from his past. I had too, in spite of my penchant for doubting first and asking questions later. Even Ian had gone through a metamorphosis. Maybe, by some miracle, these two would someday bury the past and find some common ground.

We left without another word, having already said our goodbyes—for now anyway—and Gage pulled my luggage behind him as he led me to the car. After stowing the suitcase in the trunk, he opened the passenger door and helped me into the seat.

Gage settled in beside me and amped up the heater before digging my cell out of his pocket. “It still works,” he said, handing it to me as if it were a token of apology. “But I’m afraid the screen is cracked. We’ll get you a new one.”

I merely nodded, my thoughts still lingering on what had happened in Simone’s apartment. Gage steered the car onto the road. Fog hung over the city, obscuring skeleton trees and roadway signs, and though the heater blasted warm air toward me, I shivered in my cold leather seat. Neither of us spoke until we were on the freeway.

“Did you know he was going to be there?” he asked.

“No.”

A few nail-biting beats passed. “They seem happy together,” he said.

I could not have given him a more stunned expression. “I think they are.”

Letting out a breath, he ran irritated fingers through his messy hair. “I didn’t sleep at all last night.”

“Neither did I.”

“Baby…I was wrong.”

I had no words. My mouth was too busy gaping.

“I should have told you.”

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