Following Me by Linde, K.A. (best books to read in your 20s .txt) 📗

Just as she was finishing herassessment, her eyes landed on a couple near the entrance to the restroom. They appeared to be in the midst of a heated conversation.  Devon took a stepforward in line and narrowed her eyes.  It was dark, but she could just makeout the shape of those shoulders, the style of the guy’s hair, the thinness ofthe girl’s waist, and the flash of blonde hair in the light. It was Hadley andGarrett.

How long have they been here?Devon wondered.

Devon observed their bodylanguage because she was too far away to hear anything they were saying. Hadley looked out of sorts.  Her hands were flying, and her mouth was movingnonstop.  From the looks of it, she appeared to actually be yelling at Garrett,but that didn’t make any sense.  Garrett was standing far enough away fromHadley to not look domineering.  He seemed to be listening intently, but hisposture showed that he was uncomfortable.  It was a weird look on him.  Devonhad spent hours and hours with him, acting completely silly and also completelyserious, and she had never seen him look uncomfortable.

She watched as Hadley pushedGarrett away before she turned her back to him.  Garrett reached out andgrabbed her wrist.  He yanked her back toward him, crushing her against hischest, and then slammed his lips down on her mouth.  Hadley struggled againsthim, beating at his arms and shoulders, before she caved and sank into hisembrace.  When Garrett finally released her, Hadley slapped him across the faceand stormed into the restroom.

The girl behind Devon nudged herforward in line.  It was her turn to order, but Devon just stood there andstared on in shock.

WHAT THE FUCK had just happened?

Seriously.  What the hell hadjust happened?

Devon ordered her drink, so thewoman behind her would stop bothering her.  Finally, with her drink in hand, Devonturned back to the place where Hadley and Garrett had just been.  Neither ofthem was standing there, and she searched the area to see if she could spotthem.  They weren’t in plain sight.  They must have moved on.

She couldn’t understand what hadhappened.  Hadley and Garrett were in a realm of perfection that didn’t existin other relationships.  Devon was surprised Hadley didn’t have a ring on herfinger already.

Devon knew it was ridiculous tothink that.  It was easy to see the perfection on the outside, but she livedwith them.  She knew what their schedules were like and how little time theyactually spent together.  She knew that Garrett’s dad didn’t like Hadley, andshe knew that Garrett didn’t know about Hadley’s little coke problem.

Devon stopped in her tracks.  HadGarrett found out about Hadley’s drug problem?  She ran back through thescenario in her mind, recalling what she had seen.  No.  No, it didn’t makesense.  He wouldn’t have kissed her like that.  Would he?  Maybe hehad asked her to choose him over the drugs.  Maybe the kiss had been an act ofdesperation on his part to convince her, to try to keep her.  Gah!  Shedidn’t know, and she really, really wanted to know.

She returned to her seat to waitfor Brennan’s performance and stress about Hadley and Garrett.  Amy and Hannahcontinued to act as if her appearance at their table was of little importance,and right now, Devon was happy for the reprieve.  She had too many other thingson her mind.

Coming to Chicago to escape herlife in St. Louis wasn’t working out exactly as she had planned.  Not thatanything ever did.  Not that she had really planned it out to begin with.

Hadley was supposed to helpground her.  Garrett wasn’t supposed to take her place.  Devon didn’t want tobe more comfortable with him than Hadley.  Brennan wasn’t supposed to be soappealing.  She had too much to work out in her life without dealing with theintruding thought of Brennan’s lips against hers again.  She couldn’t dothat…not with everything else.

“I think he’s next,” Amysquealed.

Devon glanced over at them andnoticed what she hadn’t seen before.  They liked Brennan.  She hadn’t paid anyattention at work, but it was pretty obvious now that she was looking for it. Maybe they had heard about how she had gotten the job at Jenn’s and that waswhy they didn’t like her.  They must think she was competition.  It wouldexplain a lot.

Well, if that was what theythought, they were wrong.  After Devon had turned down Brennan, she couldn’tfathom him trying again.  She had made it clear that she was off-limits.  Evenif he wanted to cross those lines, she wasn’t sure he would act on it again.

Ugh!  She couldn’t eventhink about it all.  It just made her head hurt.

Devon placed her palm on herforehead and tried to massage out the growing ache in her head.

“You feeling alright, Dev?”

As Devon’s head flew up insurprise, she found Garrett standing over her.  “Garrett!  You’re here!”

“Yeah, sorry about being solate,” he said.

She looked around, wonderingwhere Hadley was.  Was she still in the restroom?  Was Devon a bad friendfor not following after her?  Devon hadn’t felt like it was her place tostep in.  Garrett and Hadley didn’t know that she had seen their argument, andthey probably didn’t want her to know about it.  Still, maybe she could gocheck on Hadley.

“Where’s Hadley?” Devon asked,knowing the answer.

If she wasn’t with him, thenhe had left her in the restroom.

I guess it is just going to bea guilt-ridden night, Devon thought.

Garrett took the seat Brennan hadleft unoccupied.  “Oh, she really, really wanted to come, but she’s sicktonight.  I couldn’t even drag her out of the house.  Are you okay?  I hope youdon’t have the same thing that she has.”

Devon stared at him blankly.  Hewas lying.  He was looking her in the face, straight in the face, and lying. And he was damn good at it.  She couldn’t even tell.  She knew hewas lying, and she couldn’t even tell that he was.  He actually made her doubtwhat she had seen with her own two eyes earlier.

“Wha…what’s wrong with her?”Devon asked in disbelief.

“Headaches, body aches,exhaustion.  She has been really moody all week, so it could just be PMS,” hesaid with a shrug.

PMS?  He was