“Hmm?”
“Where do you go when you’re not here?”
Devon glanced at me. “Home,” he said.
“You live close by?”
“About fifteen minutes away,” he replied. “I have a tiny apartment in a very uncool neck of the woods. I would have let you stay there, but it’s too cramped. Plus staying at the clubhouse gives you more protection.”
“Do you…have a girlfriend?” I asked tentatively, wondering if he would share with me.
He smiled. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?” I asked, immediately interested.
“Her name is Jessica,” Devon replied. “We’ve been seeing each other for about six months now.”
“Six months?” I repeated. “That’s quite a while.”
“It didn’t get serious until recently.”
“She knows about your lifestyle?” I asked.
“She does,” Devon nodded. “And she was a little… ambivalent at first. But I’m easing her into it
. I think she was more scared about having her kids exposed to such a rough way of living.”
“She has kids?” I asked.
“Two,” Devon replied. “A son and a daughter. Mika’s four and Chrissy’s five. Their father left them high and dry right after Mika was born. Jessica’s raised them by herself from the very beginning. Her mother helps a lot, but she’s done most of the heavy lifting on her own.
“Sounds like a tough chick.”
“Definitely,” Devon nodded, and I noticed how his eyes brightened when he spoke about her.
“I’d like to meet her one day,” I said. “No pressure though.”
Devon smiled. “First, we find Walter Black,” he said. “Then I’ll make introductions.”
I nodded, satisfied with that promise. “So… do you think you’ll marry this girl?” I asked.
Devon hesitated for a moment. “I never thought about myself as the marrying type. It’s not always conducive to this kind of lifestyle.”
“Lonny’s married,” I pointed out.
“Lots of the guys are,” Devon said. “Well, maybe not a lot… but a decent amount comparatively. It can be done… I just, it takes a very specific woman to sign on for this.”
I nodded. “True.”
“Jessica is… very important to me,” Devon said. “And I do hope we have a future, but… it’s complicated.”
I sighed, as I thought of my own complicated personal life. “I get that,” I nodded, with sympathy.
“So… what’s the deal with you and Zack?” Devon asked.
I hesitated, taken off guard with the question. “I… um… what… there’s no deal with Zack and me,” I said, tripping over my own words so much that it didn’t sound convincing at all.
“If you remember, I walked in on the two of you making out the first night we brought you here,” Devon reminded me.