Page 55 of Creed

Time had gotten away from me, but thankfully, it didn’t take long to get over to Devin’s place. When I pulled up, I sat there for a second, letting myself take a breath before I went up to the front porch and knocked. Seconds later, the door swung open, and a teenage boy appeared.

He was tall and lean with dark hair and eyes just like his mother. He gave me a look that told me he was sizing me upand already didn’t like what he saw. Hoping to ease the tension, I reached out my hand and said, “Hey, man. I’m Jameson. You must be Austin.”

“Hey.” He took my hand, gave it a quick shake, which was polite enough, but the tension in his jaw told me everything I needed to know. “You a biker?”

“Something like that.”

“And you know my mom?”

“Yeah, we go way back.”

He gave me one last once-over, then eased the door open wider and waited as I stepped into the house. Right about then, Devin stepped out, and hell if the air didn’t leave the room for a second.

She was in a blue jean mini skirt that hugged her hips in all the right ways, a white tank top that showed just a hint of cleavage, and sandals. Her hair was pulled up with a few loose strands falling around her face, and she looked absolutely stunning.

She hit me with a smile that I’d been waiting all damn day to see, and walked over to me, giving me a quick hug. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.”

“You look great.”

“Thanks. You look good, too.” She glanced over at the kid as she said, “So, you met Austin.”

“Yeah, we met,” Austin answered. “You didn’t tell me he was a biker.”

“No, I guess I forgot to mention that.”

“Yeah, sure you did.” He shook his head and started down the hall as he muttered, “Unbelievable. Dad’s dating Barbie, and my mom’s dating one of the Sons of Anarchy.”

I couldn’t help the chuckle that rumbled out as I told him, “That’d be Satan’s Fury.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he shot back before disappearing into what I figured was his room.

“Austin!” He didn’t answer, so she called out, “We’ll be back in a few hours!”

There was a muffled “Whatever” in response, followed by the slam of a door.

Devin let out a breath and shook her head. “That went well.”

“Sons of Anarchy?”

“Better than Barbie.” She gave me a wink. “But don’t worry. He’ll warm up to you.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

The words had barely left my mouth when a miniature Devin stepped into the room wearing a sweatshirt and shorts. Her hair was braided, making it easy to see the unease in her eyes as she stepped into the room. “You must be Chrissy.”

“Hm-hmm.”

She tilted her head, and a familiar expression crossed her face as she stood there staring at me. Her mother used to get the same look whenever she was working up the courage to say something that she wasn’t sure she should say. She glanced over at her mother, then back to me before finally saying, “Nana said you and Mom dated before.”

“Yeah, we did, but that was a long time ago.”

“But you broke up?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”