“How long have you two known each other?” I ask, pushing my bet into the center.
“Who? Dev and I? A long time. We were lab partners freshman year at Rutgers.”
“And then friends ever since?”
He nods. “We dated for a while in college, but she dumped me before I started at Drexel Med.”
I feel his eyes on me and I study my cards hard. Just making conversation. Nothing to see here. I’m definitely not battling some weird thing in my gut that burns when I think of the fact that he’s seen Devon naked.
Mer slides back into her chair and I squash the silly burn before she senses it with her supernatural powers. “What did I miss?”
“Jeff digging into Devon’s past,” Kevin tells her with a laugh. He waggles his brows at me and I shake my head.
“I was just making?—”
“Ha. Don’t bother, Jeffy.” She looks me over like she found me head first in the cookie jar. “It’s sad that you think I don’t see you. I see you.”
Kevin chuckles and she swivels on him.
“Oh please, Main Line. Like you’re any better. At least, Jeff’s torch hasn’t seen the better side of a decade. Luckily, your mutual daddy issues doused that shit.”
Kevin’s neck turns an uncomfortable shade of pink and he whispers some choice words Mer’s way before throwing his cards face down into the center.
“I fold,” he says, standing and looking down at Meredith. “I’m gonna go easy on you tonight because I know your time of the month is coming. But next week, you’re done.”
Meredith looks up at him like she’s hurt. “When our cycles synced, Kev, you promised you wouldn’t use it against me.”
He lets out a long breath and turns to me.
“You need another beer?” he asks.
I nod. I feel like a complete shithead. How had I missed that Kev is into Devon? Of course he’s into her. I mean, who wouldn’t be, but I should have seen it. I was too busy looking at her to see him looking at her, too.
“I’m sorry, man. I had no idea you had a thing for her,” I say.
Why am I apologizing? Nothing is even going on between the two of us. She’s made that clear. Shit, I sound even more like a prick.
Kevin shakes his head. “Meredith likes to invent shit. Devon and I are ancient history. She’s like a sister to me.”
“That’s what Jamie Lanister said, too,” Meredith murmurs and I lose a little of my beer down my chin.
Kevin’s pager beeps so loudly that my hand jerks and knocks over my stack of chips.
“Shit. I’ve gotta go in,” Kev whispers as he looks down at the small screen. He’s out of his seat grabbing his bag before we even have a chance to ask if he needs anything.
“Good luck,” Mer yells after him as his footsteps pound on the stairs. The door shuts with a slam and I reluctantly meet Meredith’s gaze.
“Is it me or has he been on call every weekend this month?”
She nods and shrugs her shoulders.
“He chose trauma. And since I know you’re dying to know, that is part of the reason why he and Devon broke up,” she says, pushing her huge messy pile of chips forward. “I’m all in.”
I keep my eyes on my cards and pretend not to be interested in what she’s telling me. I’m not that good of an actor.
“She ended things because he wanted to be a trauma surgeon?” I push my chips in and meet Meredith’s gaze. “I call.”
“I said part of the reason. But yeah. That’s too close to what her father was. And after the shit she’s been through—I can’t say I blame her. Doctors are a no go. Sorry, Jeffy.” She narrows her eyes at me. “Alright show me yours and I’ll show you mine,” she says, lifting a brow.
