Page 46 of Not In The Contract

I frowned, impressed by her ability to slow things down andnotturn me into a frantic mess.

“Better,” I admitted.

She beamed at me, that megawatt smile rivaling the fluorescents above us.

“Perfect.” She giggled. “The food is here, I’ll go get it.”

She jumped off the sofa and jogged toward the front door, and I stared at the floor for a long, breathless moment. For all her scatterbrained habits, I couldn’t deny that Devon was great at reading the room at the very least. And her little story about her best friend was endearing as much as it was a little white lie. I’d been in business long enough to spot a veiled motive from a mile away.

I appreciated it anyway.

I wasn’t sure if she knew it, but she’d whittled away at the anxiety curling tight in my gut, and I could breathe a little easier than before. Whether or not she knew it, Devon had kept a meltdown at bay.

And I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.

15. Dropping Eaves

Devon

Barelytwoweeksin,and I was ready to throw myself out the nearest window.

I had no idea how Alex was able to keep moving after the amount of work she did every single day, but between my online lectures and sprinting around after Alex, it was safe to say I was drowning. The unending rush from Alex’s house to the office, running between meetings and my own lecturesandattending site visits had officially broken me.

I’d hoped that I would grow used to Alex’s militia-styled schedule, and maybe learn to track time a little better. And yet, I lay sprawled out on my massive bed, exhausted and burned out.

My phone buzzed with a call and I knew it was Tamera. I hadn’t been able to call her for days and she was probably worried out of her mind. It wasn’t fair of me to ignore the call, but it took a lot more energy than it should have to reach over and grab the phone off the nightstand.

“If I fall asleep on you,” I yawned, interrupting her lecture before it even began, “just remember I love you and you’re my favorite human being.”

“Babe, are you not sleeping?” she asked, just a hint of disappointment on her tongue.

“It hasn’t been easy,” I mumbled, rolling onto my stomach to stop my eyes from falling shut. “I feel like I can’t fall asleep because I’m scared I’ll miss my alarm. Then I’m running on empty all day and I just make it worse.”

“You’re being way too hard on yourself, Devon,” she said. “I told you to take things one day at a time. You’re doing this all backwards.”

“I’m not,” I insisted. “It’s the only way I can function right now. If I let my guard down, I could potentially lose my chance to work with Alex. It’s literally the most important thing in my life.”

“Yeah until you work yourself into an early grave,” she scoffed. “Do I need to come over? Do you want me to square up with Alex?”

“God, no, please do not do either of those things,” I whined, squashing the urge to toss my phone to the ground. “I’ll be fine, I swear. It’s just a case of growing pains.”

“No, growing pains and Alex being a pain in the ass are two very different experiences,” Tamera pointed out, and I chuckled reluctantly.

“She’s not a pain in the ass.” I groaned, making sure to keep my voice low despite Alex’s room being on the far side of her gargantuan house. “She has very valid reasons for being the way she is-”

“I don’t need to hear about her childhood, babe,” she cut in. “I only care about your wellbeing and how the hell you’re going to make it to the end of this without me writing a very premature eulogy.”

“I wasn’t going to tell you about her childhood,” I said, pointedly ignoring the rest of her sentence. “That’s private. I just understand why she’s attached to routine. I’m kind of hoping it rubs off on me, to be honest.”

“Babe, some people are destined to feel every chime of the clock.” She sighed. “And some are meant for bigger things.”

“Oh, sonowI’m meant for bigger things but when I was ten minutes late to your birthday party, I was a terrible person?”

“You were late for mythirtiethbirthday party!” she gasped. “That’s illegal in several countries.”

“The hell it is.” I chuckled, feeling lighter already. I missed my best friend.

“Okay, it isn’t,” she grouched. “But it should be.”