Thecommentstungand I dropped my gaze to his hand in mylap. “Wow, Devin,” I said.
“Fuck,”he muttered, slapping his hand over his eyes again. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Thenwhat the hell did you mean?”
“Imean, when he says something to you, just do what I’ve said andignorehim.Please.”
Iswallowed my pride and nodded. “Okay.”
Hegrowled his frustration under his breath. “Kylie, you’re only here for a couplemore days, and I just …” He sighed, shaking his head at the ceiling. “I justwant it to be good, before I have to be without you for months.”
Iran my fingers through his, pressing the melting ice to his bruising hand, andI nodded. Thinking that, at the thought of not seeing Devin for so long, therewas no way Robbie’s face hurt nearly as much as my heart. And wondering howdifferent he would be—wewould be—by the time he got back.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Kylie
You never realizehow quickly things canchange, until they start happening.
Inever realized Devin’s life could so drastically take a turn for the better—orworse, depending on how you looked at it—in a matter of a few weeks. Once upona time, I never would’ve considered that to be very at all, but after being onthe road with Devin and the guys, a couple weeks suddenly felt like aneternity. An eternity that turned him into an exhausted, testy ball of angst.It was a transformation that seemed unlikely, but there it was, happening rightbefore my eyes.
Itwasn’t unlike witnessing a tornado. Something you might marvel at, the power ofnature, until you realize how profoundly catastrophic it could be. And in thatsame moment, you realize there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it fromhappening.
Twoweeks shouldn’t have had that effect. It wasonlytwo weeks. But therewe were, sitting in Devin’s dressing room, as I watched him manipulate pomadethrough his hair.
Whatthe hell did Devin O’Leary know about hair products?
Well,apparently quite a bit.
“Nobodycares what your hair looks like, babe,” I insisted as he fussed, and he glancedat me with an irritating amount of pompous disbelief.
“They’llnotice,” he said so matter-of-factly, before picking up his bottle of beer.“Didn’t you tell me some girl tweeted last night about how different my hairlooked different? And she was right; Ihadtried something new with it.”
Iblinked incredulously. “Why does it matter?”
Heshook his head. “KJ, it matters if they don’t like the way I look.”
“Ican’t believe you just said that.”
“Whatdo you mean?” He was genuinely clueless, taking a sip of beer as he steppedaway from the mirror to drop the expensive tub of hair product into hisbackpack.
“Devin,just a week and a half ago, it didn’t bother you thatIwas upset aboutyou cutting your hair. And Iknowit was ridiculous of me to feel thatway, but—”
“Well,itwasridiculous,” he agreed with a patronizing nod. “It’sjusthair.”
Ishook my head, staring up at him from my chair, cloaked by my disbelief. “Youreallydon’t hear yourself, do you?”
Hesighed and crouched to the floor in front of me. “Baby,” he said gently, takingmy hand in his, and there he was, hidden underneath all those new clothes andhair gel. The man I loved. “I know it’s difficult and different, but I’m reallytrying here. I’m trying to be someone that fans want.”
“Iknow, Dev,” I said, nodding and working my lower lip between my teeth. Bitingback the words I wanted to say: “What about the someone I want? What about whatyou want?”
Hereached up to brush a palm over my cheek, sifting fingers through my hair. “I’mgoing to miss you so much, you know that?”
Thelast thing I wanted to do was think about my flight in the morning. Just thethought of it was enough to make me tear up and just as predicted, my eyeswatered, and I shifted my gaze. To not look at him. To not torture myself witheverything I was going to miss.
“Sorry,”he quickly added, releasing my hand to cup my other cheek. “I shouldn’t havesaid anything, but …fuck, Kylie. I’m going to be away from you formonths.”
“Iknow. I don’t … I really don’t know if I can talk about it,” I said in awhisper, my voice choked. I hadn’t been without him for more than two weekssince we met thirteen years ago, and I was terrified of how badly that hole inmy heart was going to hurt when it opened in his absence.
