The Aftermath

Oh God I don't even know where to start. How do I explain the total mess that ended Devon's hopes and dreams in one swift motion?

Ok, maybe not all his hopes and dreams but he was pretty upset and still is, I don't think that he's spoken to either of his parents at all since Saturday and I'm worried about him. I'll tell you what happened and then tell you why I'm worried about him. I hope this makes sense, it's been a long couple days.

So Saturday afternoon I was sitting on Reed's bed listening to him tell me why we were home and not in the church watching his best friend get married.

"It's so messed up Amber," Reed said as he sat next to me. "I can't believe it."

I groaned, "Reed! Tell me so I can not believe it too!" I was getting impatient, he was babbling for a good five minutes without really saying anything, it felt like days had passed!

"Maybe I should get Devon to tell you," Reed jumped up but I grabbed his arm before he could go anywhere.

"Sit your butt down and tell me already!" I wanted to shake him so badly.

And the little shit laughed. "I'm sorry," he leaned in and kissed my cheek. "I'll tell you."

He started to tell me what happened and like I said before, I couldn't believe it.

According to Reed, when Devon's parents pulled him into the little room he tried to tell them that everything would be ok, he was doing what he wanted. The following is the best 'reenactment' that I can do without actually being there, some details were filled in by Devon later so that's how I know who did what and the round about time...

The door closed behind Devon, he turned towards his parents and asked what was going on. "Mom why did you stop the wedding?"

"I'm so sorry Devon," his mother said through her tears. "I thought this was the best thing for you but now I see it's not, you aren't happy and you'll never be happy if you go through with this."

"Mom please don't cry," Devon said as he hugged her. "It's ok, I'll be happy."

Shirley shook her head, "No you won't," she sniffled. "How could you be happy when you don't even care for Annette?"

"No everyone marries for love mom," Devon replied. "Some marry for..." his voice trailed off as he realized what he was about to say. "There is more to life than love."

"No Devon!" His mother pushed him away, "Love is one of the most important things, without it life is unhappy and miserable. Do you want to be miserable?"

Devon shrugged, "I have to get back mom."

"No," his mother grabbed his arm. "I will not let you marry that girl! You don't love her and she's not right for you, we shouldn't have done this to you!"

"Mom it'll be...shouldn't have done what?"

His mother looked at his father who had been sitting down the entire time. "We lied to you Devon, your father and I. We thought that we knew what was best for you but I couldn't let you do it without knowing the truth."

"What truth?"

Shirley looked away from him. "We paid Annette to marry you."

"What?" He asked, confused. "You didn't pay Annette to marry me, dad..." he trailed off and stared at his father who shook his head. "It was all a lie? You didn't...?" He shook his head, "No, no way."

That's when he opened the door and told Annette to come into the room. The door was barely closed when he grabbed Annette's hand and turned her to face him. "Is what they say true? Did they pay you?"

Annette trembled under his grasp. "Devon I -"

"They did?" Annette nodded. "Why?" He turned to his parents, "WHY?"

Shirley came forward. "You are throwing your life away Devon! When you should be settling down and starting a family, you are still out partying. We thought it was high time you stopped playing around and got serious."

"So you bought me a 'family'? The whole affair story was bullshit?" He turned to his father.

"What affair story?" Shirley asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Devon laughed, turned his mom and told her the whole story his father told him. "Are you even pregnant?" He snarled at Annette.

"Yes," she told him. She went on to tell his her real story. Wayne's business partner wasn't her father, they just used his daughter's name and background because Devon knew about his daughter. "They thought it would be more believable," she told him.

Annette's real name was Kelly, she had gone into his father's company one day, looking to apply for office go-fer that they were hiring for, she told that she had a chance even without that much experience but she didn't get the job. "I just happened to run into your parents and I guess they liked me," she gave him a weak smile. She went on to tell him that Shirley had called her up and asked her to meet them for dinner. "They promised to help me out, to give me a good home to raise my baby all I had to do was marry you." She chuckled sadly, "It sounded so easy and way too good to be true. But I couldn't have my baby in the street Devon! I didn't have any money or anywhere to go, so I told them I would do it."

And that's when Devon left the room.

I was completely speechless when Reed finished telling me, I couldn't believe that his parents did that to him but now that I think about it, it's not really all that uncommon in the circles that our parents travel in; I think that if I didn't have Reed, my parents would be looking to set me up with someone important. Then again, that's what they did when they made me go to Reed's 24th birthday party; luckily for me, Reed is a wonderful man and I love him!

We sat in his room, I kept asking questions, trying to make sense of it all but Reed didn't have the answers. "So what happens to Ann - oops I mean Kelly and the baby now?"

"I don't know Amber, Devon didn't really think to ask that at the time."

"I guess," I sighed. "Well we should probably get down stairs."

When we went down into the living room, Devon was still sitting with Alexis; I don't know what he was doing but she was laughing at him. While we were upstairs Reed asked me not to say anything to Devon. "He knows that I'm telling you but I don't think he wants to talk about it anymore just yet." I told him I wouldn't say anything.

And I didn't...sorta.

I made my way over to Devon, knelt down next to him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, hugging him tight. "I'm sorry," was all I said.

Devon glanced at Reed, who was looking kind of upset, and then at me. "It's ok Amber, it's not your fault my parents think I'm a loser."

"Devon!" I moved back from his, smacking him in the back of the head as I went. "Don't say that! They don't think that you are a loser, they just want you to be happy."

"And paying someone to marry me is supposed to make me happy?" He shook his head. "Not in this lifetime Amber."

I smiled. "Well if they paid the right one!"

He grunted and then laughed, looking me straight in the eyes. "But then Reed would kill me for marrying his woman."

I didn't even bother to reply to that, I just rolled my eyes.

"But you wouldn't marry me for money," he continued, a smirk played on his lips. "The sex on the other hand!"

"Devon!" I slapped him hard. "Stop it now! You know I wasn't talking about me!" I glared at him. "Why do you have to be such a jerk sometimes?" I jumped up, intent on walking away but Reed grabbed me and pulled me into his arms. "Your friend is a jerk," I told him.

"Yeah," Reed agreed. "I was thinking the same thing and if I thought he was serious, I'd have to take him outside and drown him in the lake!"

I wasn't in the mood to stick around and talk to the two of them, so I wandered off into the kitchen to see if there was anything quick and easy in the cup broads for supper. I was in the middle of filling a pot with water to boil some noddles when Devon came out into the kitchen.

"Go away," I snapped at him. "I don't really want to talk to you at the moment."

"Good I don't want you to talk." I glared at him and he sighed. "Amber it's been a shitty day for me, I feel like I've been kicked around and that nothing if real. I need to laugh and picking on you is making me laugh right now. Reed knows I didn't mean anything, he knows I don't want you like that and I hope that you know that too. You are an amazing woman and my best friend is crazy about you, I would never do anything to jeopardize your relationship or my friendship with Reed. Please don't be mad at me."

"I was talking about Janie," I told him.

"I know," he leaned against the counter. "I was thinking about her too."

"They wouldn't have to pay her," I told him, he nodded. "Devon what are you going to do?"

He shrugged, "I don't know Amber."

"Are you going to try to talk to Janie? See if she'll give you another chance?" Devon shook his head. "Why not Devon?"

"She's engaged Amber, she seems really happy with Cary and I'm not going to get in the way."

I wanted to tell him he wouldn't be getting in the way but I didn't, I knew that there was no point in pushing him, he wouldn't do what I wanted him to do anyway. "But if she came to you?"

He smiled, "Then that's a different story."

Since Saturday Devon has been at Reed's house every minute of the day. He doesn't go to work, he does whatever he can from the house and doesn't worry about the rest. When he's not playing with Alexis or working, he's outside laying down in the beach with a case of beer, getting drunk.

Reed is really worried about him and tried to talk to him but Devon just ignores him. I'm really worried about him but every time I try to say something to him, he comes back with some inappropriate comment about me. Last night he asked me if I wanted to join him, he was going skinny dipping!

And as wonderful as my man is, he's starting to lose his patients with Devon. "I don't care if he doesn't really mean it Amber," he told me last night as we laid in bed. "It's rude and insulting, he shouldn't be doing it!"

I told him I agreed with him. I want Devon to stop 'hitting' on me before Reed starts 'hitting' on him - and I mean beating him up...