Page 55 of The Crush Next Door

Josh whistled, and I nearly blew my top. Why was he making Devon out to be the bad guy? Devon was a good guy, one of the rare good ones. I totally understood why he didn't want to run off to Vegas.

He had a large family. He wanted them all to be there. He wanted the whole traditional wedding experience. And it didn't really bother me. I'd show up, put a smile on my face, drink my ass off, and enjoy the party.

Who really cared?

Like I said, the marriage part was the important bit. I'd seen some of my friends get so caught up in the whole wedding planning drama that they forgot the big thing was the actual vow part. That part where you said you'd spend the rest of your life with the same person. Like forever. Till death.

Oh, shit. Suddenly, my heart sped up. My head started to spin. My stomach began to churn, and I thought I might hurl.

Was this what it felt like to have cold feet? I'd never experienced any doubt before with Devon. He was the one. I was sure of it. Absolutely sure of it. We got along so well together. We were perfect.

I just needed to see him... that was all, I thought to myself, taking deep, steadying breaths while Josh pulled into his parking space underneath our building. Without a word, Josh and I gathered our stuff, and we walked through the dark, cool garage to the outside walkway that led to our separate steps.

"Hey, Jessica," Josh said in a quiet voice as he stopped in front of his stairs. "I'm really sorry if I was out of line."

He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, his cheeks slightly flushed. Had he been out of line? I tried to think back, but all I could remember was my own grumpiness and the panic of having doubts.

"Nah, you were fine. We're fine," I answered. "I'm the one who was out of line. I'm just kind of going through some stuff right now, and I'm sorry."

He offered me a faint smile and took a step towards me. "Well, I want you to know that—"

"Jessica!"

My heart stopped at the familiar voice, and I turned to see Devon coming down my steps.

"Oh, my God! What? How? Oh, my God!" I gasped, hardly believing the sight in front of me.

He was here! Devon was really here!

A second later, I was in his arms as he twirled me around in circles, both of us laughing. My heart galloped that he was actually here. He'd flown all this way to see me, to surprise me.

Fucking amazing! My doubts flitted away just from this grand gesture alone, not to mention seeing him and feeling him.

After carefully setting me down, I smiled up at his face, only to see his eyes narrow at something behind me.

"Josh," he said through gritted teeth.

"Devon," Josh replied in the exact same tone.

Oh, boy. What was happening? It took me back months ago to moving-in day when these two had first met and taken an instant dislike to each other. Thank goodness Josh was wearing a shirt at this particular moment.

I patted Devon's arm. "Um, okay. So should we go upstairs then?"

He tore his gaze away from Josh. "Sure."

Pushing him a little, trying to get him to go ahead of me, I turned back around to Josh. "I'll text you later. Okay?"

His glare faded into a blank look while he nodded, his lips compressed into a straight line. I felt Devon pause as he went up the stairs in front of me, but then he continued on.

Suddenly, my weekend plans had changed. No baseball with Josh obviously. But a whole two days, I was assuming, with my gorgeous fiancé filled with loving. And of course, I was beyond thrilled about it. Absolutely thrilled.

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