Picture Perfect

CHAPTER 1

Devin

I SQUINTED AS I
brought the viewfinder to my face.

This was my favorite part of the whole process, the moment right before I captured a piece of nature for all eternity, or however long the photo lasted.

Vivid pinks and purples bled into the clouds, the sun’s dark-orange light silhouetting the university clock tower. People’s breaths fogged the air as they hurried across the courtyard, their heads ducked against the arctic chill of the late February air.

My finger hesitated over the shutter release. I held my breath, studying the impending picture, then adjusted the angle so the clock tower was cl
oser to the right. There, that was a better point of focus.

I hesitated.
Something was missing.

Wr
acking my brain, I mentally combed through my father’s lectures about picture quality. It needed something else, something Darcy would really appreciate, like a little romance.

As if on cue, a couple walked by, giggling and teasing one another.

Instinctively, my camera focused on them as the girl tugged the guy to a stop, wrapping her scarf around his neck and yanking him to her for a kiss.

It started out as a turn of the stomach, a nagging thought in the back of my mind. The gray and red stripes on the scarf stole my attention, but I couldn’t figure out why at first. Memories tripped over themselves in my head until one reluctantly came to the forefront.

Darcy owned that exact same scarf.

Dread began creeping over me, but I shoved it back down. No way could my girl be the only one at this school to own a gray and red scarf. It was way too commonplace. Still, I found myself examining her features more closely, zooming in on her blond curls and diamond dewdrop earrings - exactly like the ones I’d given Darcy this past Christmas.

Thoughts raced through my head, and I mentally argued I was only imagining it. That this beautiful creature in front of me wasn’t mine, that she would never betray me that way. All I had to do was prove it to myself.

Moving so I could get a clearer view of her face, I brought the camera back up and held my breath.

Dimples formed as she smiled, revealing white teeth. The waning sunlight caught the familiar stud in her nose, making it sparkle.

I sucked in a shuddering breath, finding it hard to breathe. Dragging my gaze up, I found the dark circle of her beauty mark, hovering above her right upper lip. The same mouth I had taken in my own countless times, matching the face I still saw in my dreams three and a half years after we first met.

Every pore in my body filled with ice as I stared at the love of my life, watching her smile against the guy’s lips and wrap her arms around him for a deeper kiss.

The camera slipped from my hand, dangling from the strap that secured it to my neck. Before I knew what I was doing, I stumbled forward, the thorn bushes scraping my palms as I staggered across the courtyard.

A million questions raced across my tongue, fighting for attention, all wanting answers at once. Yet when I drew to a stop right beside the couple, I couldn’t seem to find my voice at all.

Time seemed to slow as her peripheral vision caught m
e and her head started to turn. Her bright hazel eyes landed on my face, widening. She drew very still, the color slipping out of her perfect skin until she was white as a sheet.

“Oh, God,” she rasped.

At least she had the decency to look embarrassed. She tugged her hands away from the guy and hugged herself as blood rushed to her cheeks. I didn’t know if she meant to or not, but her hand strayed up to her ear to worry the diamond drop. Her eyes wouldn’t meet mine. Which was fine, because I was more interested in the face of the guy. The hood of his jacket had masked his identity before. I wished in a way that it still did.

We stood there, staring at each other. I was too speechless to think for a moment. The
ding-dong of the five o’ clock bell from the tower above startled me out of my stupor, but only barely. Every nerve ending in my body felt numb.

Brayden stepped forward, hiding Darcy from view. He didn’t say anything. Instead, he shoved his hands in his coat pockets and ducked his head, just like he had when Mom had caught him red-handed in her cookies when we were kids. A smile fought from breaking out on his face.

My fisted hand shook. I would deal with him later.

“When were you planning on telling me?” I said with quiet fury.

Darcy cringed but took a deep breath and stepped out from behind Brayden. Her mouth flopped open then closed as she blubbered a response. “I… we… that is, I was going to talk to you about it.”

“When? While we were making love?”

Brayden’s smirk dropped right off his face.

“Stop it, Devin,” Darcy hissed softly, tucking a blond strand behind her ear. Her arms wrapped around herself as she began bouncing on the tips of her toes. “No… when I thought the time was right.”

I barked a bitter laugh. “When is the time ever right to tell your boyfriend that you’re screwing his younger brother?”

“Hey!” Brayden snapped, stepping forward. He had bulked up a lot after hitting puberty, though I still stood a good inch over his six foot frame.

I kept my spine straight as he approached, never batting an eye as he leaned into me. “Darcy didn’t want to tell you because she was afraid of how you’d react.”

Darcy tried stepping between us, but she was so petite she didn’t stand a chance of breaking us apart unless she got a crowbar. “Please, stop!” she pleaded.

I barely heard her. “I deserved to know, in private.
Not
like this.”

“Where there was a chance you’d snap again? Maybe send her to the hospital this time?”

“That was an accident!” I roared, pain and regret twisting my chest tight. “I’d never in a million years hurt her!”

“But you did,” Brayden countered. “And there’s no way in hell that will ever happen again, not while I’m around.”

“Enough!”

Darcy finally managed to wedge her way through. She pushed against both our chests. “This isn’t the place. Just back off before you hurt each other.”

“I won’t hurt him,” Brayden said, wrapping a protective arm around Darcy and tucking her close. The threat in his eyes contrasted with the honey lacing his words. “If Dev walks away right now.”

My limbs were suddenly heavy as stone. My eyes flicked to Darcy’s face, seeing the worry and regret there.

And the fear.

Something twisted painfully inside me. “Darcy?” I rasped.

Her bottom lip began to quiver as liquid filled her eyes. “Please, just go,” she whispered.

I couldn’t move. My brain was too shocked to recognize the rage rising from deep within my core. Otherwise, I might have been able to stop myself from tunneling my fist right into Brayden’s face.

“No!” Darcy shrieked as Brayden staggered backward. Blood spewed between his fingers as he clutched the swollen, bloody lump on his face, rising.

“You’ll pay for that, asshole,” he sneered, stalking toward me.

“Brayden, don’t! Please!” Darcy ducked in front of him, pressing against his chest for all she was worth. “Please don’t hurt him!”

I stood my ground, chest heaving with the adrenaline of the moment, and the feel of Brayden’s blood warming my knuckles.

Brayden tried to work around Darcy, but she quickly intercepted him, pleading the whole time. His slitted eyes remained locked on me until she reached up and forced him to look at her. She brought his head down, combing her fingers through his hair and whispering into his ear. Little by little, his shoulders slacked and his breathing slowed.

The pressure in my chest built as I watched her gently caress his cheek, wiping away the blood from his face as she had done
for me so many times after a hockey game. I shifted my weight, about to start forward to finish what I had started, when she looked at me over her shoulder and I froze.

The sun caught the tears streaming down her cheeks, making them shine like gold. The same shade as the highlights in her hair, that lit up her skin.

She looked like an angel.

“Please?” she said.

My thoughts jerked back in time unexpectedly, back to when she had asked me under this same clock tower to kiss her for the first time. Whatever heart I had left tore in two at that, leaving me dazed and breathless as if someone had smacked me across the face.

I didn’t need to hear her ask me to leave again. Suddenly, the courtyard was the last place in the world I wanted to be.

I turned my head, but not before her expression fell. Her delicate artist fingers reached out, as if to touch me, but I spun on my heel and walked away, forcing myself not to look back at the girl I thought would someday be my wife.

ERIK’S BROWS ROSE IN a perfect arc as he watched me take down the last of my Jack and Coke. “So I take it the picture didn’t turn out too well? You’ve knocked back three of those in less than ten minutes. Even for you, that’s a record.”

The whiskey still burned my throat, which meant I hadn’t had nearly enough if I could still feel it. I didn’t want to feel anything right now.

We were camped out in our booth at our favorite hole-in-the-wall hideout, The Shiner. I spent so much time here sketching in the corner and smoking a cigarette that the owner knew my name and my menu favorites. The low-key atmosphere was intoxicating, nearly as addictive as the cigarettes that had worn a soft spot in my pants pocket. Here, no one judged. It was my sanctuary.

The waitress came by, appraising my empty glass as she set it on her tray.
“One of those days, huh, Dev?”

“Yeah, you could say that, Mandy.”

“You want another one?”

I winked at her
halfheartedly. “You’re a doll.” I sounded lifeless, even to my own ears.