Page 59 of The Nanny and the Don
Eighteen
Devlan
Two weeks at my new job, and I was finally getting adjusted to chasing children all day. I loved working with them from the bottom of my heart, but I was exhausted. Friday always hit different when you were off on the weekend.
Kelsea wanted to get me out of the house for a change, but all I wanted to do was lie in bed and finish reading my book. I walked the two blocks back to my place, relieved to finally be home for the next two days. When I unlocked the door and stepped inside, my first instinct was to cut and run.
“Don’t!” Steel demanded as he stood from his position on my couch.
“W-what are you doing here?”
My heart drummed in my ears so loud that I couldn’t hear my own voice. I was pretty sure I was going to pass out before he had the chance to respond to my question. That’s if he didn’t decide to just kill me first.
“I came to get you. Come home, Devlan.”
“You need to leave,” I said, backing up until my back was against the door.
“I don’t know why you left, but I want to make it right. Let me make it right,” he requested.
“Just let me go, please. You know I didn’t do anything,” I begged.
“We’re past that, Devlan. My team found Brendan.”
I expected him to get closer once he made that revelation, but he didn’t. I weighed my options wondering if it were possible for me to make it out of this alive. I was too afraid to ask about Brendan’s fate because knowing would only seal my own. I regretted the day I met that conniving asshole.
Standing in the middle of my living room floor, Steel shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it on the couch.
“What are you doing? I swear I didn’t have anything to do with him stealing from you.”
“I don’t want you to have any reason to fear me. I don’t have anything on me. I left my gun in the car. All I brought is me. That’s all I got, Dev,” he said as he unbuttoned his shirt and let it fall to the floor as he unfastened his pants and pushed both his pants and briefs down and stepped out of them once they pooled around his ankles.
“None of this extra shit matters. I’ll give it all away. I’ll give it all to you,” he explained as he removed his watch and put it on the coffee table. He bent down and removed his socks before standing back up to face me. He kicked the pile of clothes and shoes to the side and took a step toward me. “This is just me. None of that extra shit matters. All I want is you, Devlan. I didn’t bring anything with me, but I came to get my wife. Come back home, Devlan.”
I shook my head. “Steel, I can’t.”
“I need you. I can’t go back to the dark, baby. I might not make it out this time. Keep me in the light, love. Bring your light back to me. I need to be able to see you. I need to hear you laugh. I need to hear you sing when you don’t think anyone islistening. I need to hear you hum that one tune that I can almost recognize, but I never ask what it is because I’m in love with the mystery of it all. Just be there. You can move back upstairs, just don’t leave me.”
“I can’t. I’m sure you can find someone else to take care of the kids. Someone who you can trust.”
“I can’t keep living without you, Devlan. Come home, baby. The kids . . . they’re gone,” his voice cracked, making my stomach seize up into a ball.
“Gone?” I asked, hesitantly.
“The day you left I went to meet with a lawyer about getting my sister out. She’s been home for about a week. I asked her to move into the house I own down the street, but she didn’t want to uproot their lives. I need you, Dev. All I had worth keeping was you and those kids. Now I don’t have anything. I don’t know what made you run, but I promise I’ll die trying to make it right if I have to.”
“Steel, I heard you. You said you were going to kill me. You said you didn’t know if you could trust me, but even after you fucking kidnapped me, I trusted you.”
“It was stupid of me to say that when I knew in my heart that you didn’t have anything to do with what happened. I just didn’t feel like explaining that to my boy when he was already giving me a hard time about our situation. I didn’t want him in our shit. It’s our shit. It’s not for the world to understand. I never said I was going to kill you, baby. I told him it wasn’t up for discussion, and I meant that shit. If I wanted to kill you, I would have never taken you to my house. I would have done it right in Brendan’s kitchen. I apologize for what you heard. I apologize for everything I’ve ever said or done to hurt you. Just please let me make it right.”
“Steel, how am I supposed to trust that? How am I supposed to know you won’t decide that I was just something to do? You lost me in a bet, right? Is that why you want me so bad?”
“I didn’t lose you in a bet, Devlan. The bet was never about whether I could have you or not. That was up to you. The bet was whether he would let you go so I didn’t have to blow up his club before I pursued you. I didn’t want you walking around in those skimpy outfits with niggas giving you money to feel on your ass. I’m the only nigga feeling on that ass. That’s my ass.”
“That didn’t answer my question. Is the fact that you lost me in a bet the main reason that you are going so hard to get me?”
“I didn’t lose. I told you he double crossed me. Come home, baby.”
“I am home.”
