Page 70 of The Villain

By the time he stood before us in green jogger pants and a matching zip-up jacket, a white T-shirt, and bright white sneakers, I had to admit Starla’s vision was pretty damn good. Somehow, she’d managed to turn Devlin into a modern-day Shelby.

Devlin tried on more clothes while Starla sat on the couch with a satisfied smirk—more tracksuits, jeans that hugged his ass a little too well, two more pairs of sneakers, and a pair of boots.

With a healthy glow to his skin, and a few extra pounds on his frame, Devlin made my mouth go dry. As he disappeared into the bathroom, I stared at the closed door.

On the couch, Starla clipped tags off the clothes Devlin planned to keep. Which turned out to be all of them. I had to admit, she was an excellent personal shopper. She cleared her throat, and I dropped my eyes to my hands.

“Did it start before the night you brought him to the bar?” she asked.

“Did what start?”

“The way you feel about him.”

Starla didn’t know Devlin’s past. While she knew the O’Sheas weren’t exactly law-abiding citizens, she worked for our legitimate business side. She had no idea she’d just shopped fortheDetroit Devil. She’d never asked questions, because she’d worked for us long enough to know better.

We’d also never had many private conversations. But what I’d asked her to do lately—coming to my apartment to cut Devlin’s hair and shop for him—had pushed us into unfamiliar territory. Apparently, her curiosity had finally outweighed her fear of getting personal with me.

I rubbed my hands together. “What do you think?”

She was quiet for a moment before answering. I glanced over to find her carefully folding clothes on the coffee table. “I think…” She hesitated. “I think he looks at you in a way I’d kill for someone to look at me.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if she was talking about Jace. She’d been crushing on him for a while, but I’d shot that idea down immediately. Jace had one rule regarding his dick: no picking up women at O’Shea’s, whether they were employees or customers.

Starla finally met my gaze. “You see that, right? The way he looks at you?”

I did. It was the first thing I’d noticed about him. “Yes.”

“You seem calmer today.” She finished folding and leaned back on the couch. “I’m assuming it has everything to do with his presence and not mine.”

I just stared at her. The answer was obvious.

Her lips tilted in a grin. “Well, good for you, then. Good for both of you.”

Once Devlin had emerged from the bathroom, he thanked Starla for the clothes, and they chatted for a bit before she left.

To Starla, it was all so simple. And itwassimple, just not to Devlin. I watched him take his pile of new clothes into the closetbefore carefully placing them in the drawers I’d left empty for him. Then he strolled over to the fridge and pulled out a bag of the sour cherries he loved, something I’d never bought in my life before him. He sat on the couch in the spot he’d claimed as his own, the corner farthest from the door. He pulled a pillow onto his lap, and his fingers automatically found the frayed edge he’d picked at while watching TV.

Devlin belonged here. In this apartment. In my life. And yet I couldn’t get his plea out of my head, the desperate way he’d asked me to keep a promise I had no intention of keeping.

I must have been staring too long, because he looked away from the TV to frown at me. “You okay?”

I cleared my throat. “Yeah.”

He picked at the edge of the pillow. “Thank you for the clothes.”

“You needed stuff to wear.”

“Yeah, but you knew what you were doing when you asked her. She didn’t just throw a few things in a cart at Walmart and call it good.”

I shrugged. He wasn’t wrong.

“It won’t go to waste,” he said, plucking at the new T-shirt he was wearing. “When I’m gone, Jace can wear this size. Hack too.”

He went back to watching TV like it was nothing, like he hadn’t just lit a fuse between us. I curled my fingers into fists on my lap and forced myself to remain calm. I needed a plan. A solid one. Something to make Devlin see what I saw. To make himbelieve. To make him want a future with me the way I wanted one with him.

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Devlin