Devante"Do you know where Eden is?" Cutter asks as we drive around Laurel Springs. "Haven't talked to her, after poker night I was fuckin' wiped and so was she. She came to the apartment last night, but was gone before I woke up. I slept like the dead.""Ro said the shop isn't open."As much as I don't want to be worried, I am. No one knows as well as I do how much she needs the shop to succeed. That's the one thing that stands out about everything we've discussed. When we'd both come here and we were talking about life. She'd left everything to make a go of it. For her not to have opened, something must be wrong. "We need to head over there." I hit Cutter on the shoulder. "Something's wrong.""Are you sure? I thought you two were in some sort of epic fight. Maybe she needed to go somewhere to clear her head.""No." I shake my head. "We weren't in an epic fight. I stormed off. Even if she's upset with me leaving, she's going to need to eat. A Whole Latte Love is how she d
Devante"If she's not at home, she has to be here." We pull back in front of A Whole Latte Love. "There's just no other place I can think of.""She wouldn't be at your apartment, would she?" Cutter asks, obviously trying to rack his brain."No, I have those security cameras. Nothing's gone off, and she knows the code. It would've alerted me that someone came in with the code. She's not there. Like I said, she left this morning.""But her cars not here, bro. There's no one parked in the back," he argues. "Call Rambo," I fire back at him. "Call Ransom and see if they can come track where her car may be. I'm telling you, she has to be in this vicinity. She has to be here." My voice is pleading this time, hoping God can hear how much I need for this to be true. I just found her, she can't be taken away from me before we even had the chance to figure out how to make this shit work. Cutter's already on his phone, and I'm thinking back to the man I was when I first moved to Laur
Eden"I promise," I tell Devante and Cutter. "I'm fine.""Let us take you to Laurel Springs Med to make sure of that," Cutter interrupts. "There could be injuries that you can't see."Devante refuses to make eye contact with me. I'm unsure of what's happening, but I have learned things about him. Like he doesn't want to ever appear vulnerable. I keep telling myself this is what's happening."You want me to drive?" Cutter whispers."No, I will," he answers back and I feel all the hope I had seep out of my bones. It's like whatever was holding me together is now making me fall apart. Cutter's mouth forms a tight line as he looks at his friend. "Are you sure?""I didn't stutter, did I?"Not wanting to see the two of them argue over me, I lift myself up into the back of the ambulance and try to keep the tears at bay. This has been one of the worst twelve hours of my life and all I wanna do is curl into myself and pretend like it never happened. Cutter joins me, offering
EdenWe're quiet on the drive to what I presume to be Devante's apartment. After what I've been through, I'm not sure what to say, and he's probably taking his cue from me. I'm exhausted, beyond so. Ready to see how I'm going to be able to put this situation behind me. If there's even a way for me to do so.Even though I'd known Mario wasn't a good guy, I'd never been terrified of him. Scared yes, but there'd never been a point where I'd thought he would harm me in a way I wouldn't live through. The last twelve hours? They taught me how wrong I was.Who's to say I'm not wrong about Devante? The thought causes my chest to tighten, stomach to roll. Does this mean I'm a shitty judge of character, or just lucky?"You're thinking so hard over there, I can almost hear you," Devante whispers. "Why don't you tell me what's going on in that head of yours?""The same way you tried to tell me about your stop with the police? That's what started this whole situation." I cross my arms, ho
DevanteWe're in the shower, washing off this shit show of a day, when Devante turns to me, desire and love written so plainly across his face."I came here looking for a change, never knowing I would fall in love with you," I start, my voice breaking as I try to talk out my feelings. "From the first moment I saw you, when we flirted, I knew you were something special. I'm only sorry it took me so long to act on it."Her mouth screws up before tears pool in her eyes and start pouring down her face, although it's hard to tell which are tears and which is the water from the shower. I know she's overwhelmed from the shock of her kidnapping added to our fight, but I have to tell her what's in my heart. I don't want to waste any more time on miscommunication and unspoken words with the woman who holds my heart."I didn't want love, never wanted to get married. I thought sharing your life with someone was dumb, because my dad left at such a young age. I'm learning how stupid those th
Sometimes home finds us when we aren't looking…Devante SolesLaurel Springs was nothing more than a dot on the map when I decided I needed a change from the fast pace of Atlanta. I'm more surprised than anyone when I look around one day and realize I have friends who have become family, a city that's become a home, and a girl who decided to make me believe in love. Unlike me, her past follows her here.A community that I once never thought I'd have comes together with me to save her.Eden MurphyChicago wasn't for me - the bright lights, the embezzlement, the gun shots. I never felt safe there. Little Laurel Springs, though? It's everything I hoped it would be and more.My coffee shop, A Whole Latte Love, isn't doing well, but I'm close to turning a profit. And Devante? Well, he's more than I ever could have asked for.But Mario? He's the one I didn't count on coming back and demanding what I stole…Chapter 221Devante"I'm scared."The fear in Eden's eyes hits me square
Chapter 222EdenThe world is hazy as I struggle to open my eyes. It's extremely difficult but I fight against the fatigue plaguing my body. The last thing I can remember is feeling like shit at the shop. Correction, I'd been feeling rough for a few days, but there'd been no way I could take time off or close early. A Whole Latte Love has been barely making it since I opened a few months ago, but business is finally starting to become consistent. The money I managed to bring with me from Chicago has quickly been running out. If only I'd planned to get more. I'd been debating on what my choices were with the shop when I started to believe I was really sick. And then I'd panicked because I'd been alone.No wait, Devante was there. He was there, and I'd ridden in the ambulance.There's a beep, beep, beep, in the background and I wonder if this has all been a dream of some sort and I've slept through my alarm. If I have, I'm late for opening, and I can't afford that. With a burst of
Chapter 223DevanteTwo hours later, there's a knock at the door, not as heavy as the ones before. "C'mon in," I answer quietly, although I'm unsure why. Eden's just got her next dose of pain medication I think she could sleep through a bombing. "Hey, how's she doing?"Stella is already in nurse mode, even though Eden's not her patient. She's checking her vitals, pulling up her chart, and making sure everything is in order. "You tell me." I raise a pointed eyebrow her way.She puffs out a breath on a chuckle. "Ransom says I have a hard time letting my friends be taken care of without my input and damned if his ass isn't right. They need to get the infection under control before they take her gallbladder out. She may have a few more days in here. I'm hoping they'll be able to remove it laparoscopically as long as they can get the infection down.""That's what I thought. She's not going to take it well.""I mean she has no choice. It can get bad. Her body could go septic and s