“Noah?” Devlin nods. “That’s Jamie’s fiancé.”
His eyes narrow to slits. “Is he blackmailing him? Threatening his life? Is it an arranged relationship?”
“Jamie? Blackmailing Noah? Uh...” Hunter laughs. “No, not at all.”
“So Noah is willingly dating him? Like on purpose?” Hunter nods. Devlin thinks for a moment. “Is it serious?”
Hunter’s lips purse. “Is it serious? With his fiancé?” Devlin nods. “I have a feeling it might be.”
Devlin nods. “How long have they been together?”
Hunter shrugs. “They met last August.”
“So not too serious, then.” Devlin nods to himself, thinking. He pulls out a little pad of paper, and a pen from the spiral bind, opening it and writing something down. “Have dinner with Lia.Check. Remind Jamie of how pathetic he is.In progress.” He licks the tip of the pen. “Make Noah mine.Priority.” He tucks the pad back into his jeans pocket. “Alright. Let’s go have dinner and make a plan. Then I’ll take Noah far away from this place.”
“Noah won’t—” Hunter covers Mark’s mouth.
I can’t believe this. I didn’t think there was any way he would help, but this man is built like a tank. It’s the best shot we have. I want Sawyer back. I need to know he’s okay. That Katya’s okay. “Wait. You’re going to help us?” I’m almost too afraid to trust it.
“I’ll go to the ends of the earth to help Noah.”
Hunter shrugs. “Whatever. I’ll take it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
AIDEN
“This is delicious. Thank you, Lia.”Noah begins to cut his steak.
Gently, with little space between their chairs, Devlin reaches for the knife in Noah’s hand. “Let me, angel.”
“Um, okay.”
Devlin slips his cutlery out of his fingers and cuts his steak. When he’s done, he passes him the fork.
“Thank you.”
“I can feed you if you’d like.”
“No.” Noah smiles tightly. “I got it, thank you.”
Devlin blushes, going back to his own plate. You can barely fit a piece of paper between them. Jamie silently seethes across the table as he watches them.
“Can you stop glaring?” Hunter whispers.
“I finally get a boyfriend, one as beautiful and amazing as Noah, I am not letting him out of my sight. I am holding on with everything I got. I’m not letting Devlin of all people take him from me.”
“And you could stop him?” Mark snorts. “Good luck.”
Devlin smiles, lifting a napkin and wiping a spot of steak sauce off the corner of Noah’s lips. “So, Noah... what is it you do?”
We turn our attention to them, as Devlin places his elbows on the table, resting his head on his fist to look at Noah.
“Elbows off the table, sweetheart,” Lia says.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Devlin rests his arm on the back of Noah’s chair instead, leaving little breathing room between them.
“Yeah, Mom, because that’s so much better,” Jamie murmurs, pushing his steak around his plate.
