fantasty kiss, raj say hello [bill gates best books .TXT] 📗

the majority of the house clean. We’d gotten most of the grime away and then started putting things back in their right place.
“Oh, have you heard Miller’s MIA?” She asked tossing a bag of chips my way.
The mention of Mr. Miller made my spine go cold. “What do you mean, MIA?”
“Like, missing in action. Total James Bond mode.” She stopped for a moment then laughed loudly. “Do you remember Mr. Bond? He was such a little perv sophomore year. Remember? He was always looking at my chest whenever I asked for help. Anyway, no one’s seen or heard from Miller since last week. Last Thursday I think.”
“Well…have the police gotten involved?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ve just heard rumors going around school. Some of the teachers are upset. They think he’s dead.”
“W-why would they think that?” I had completely stopped cleaning.
“Because when they sent someone over to his apartment, not sure who, but they said it was ransacked. Their words not mine. It was a complete mess. Yeah, Principle Stubbs hasn’t gone to the cops because he said he’s been to his house before and it generally looks like that so he’s going to give him another few days to like, call in or something, but yeah. He’s totally MIA.”
“Well, that’s too bad.” I mumbled. She had gone back to cleaning and I wished I could do the same.
I looked over at Devin who had his back turned, sweeping the stairs. He didn’t look at me nor did he acknowledge that Marina had spoken.
When the house was finally clean Marina asked me if I wanted her to stay so we could watch movies or something and I made up an excuse for Devin and I to be alone. I just told her that I wasn’t feeling too well and maybe call later tonight. After she left I went to find Devin, who was in my room lying on my bed staring up at my ceiling.
“Why doesn’t your room look like every other teenage girls?”
“Have you been in another teenage girls room to compare?” I asked raising an eyebrow.
“Well, no but you have no posters, no pictures, and yeah, I see you’ve packed up some things but even before…you just don’t act like a kid.”
“Is that why you fell for me?”
He thought for a moment. “I chose you because you are an intelligent, affectionate, strikingly beautiful woman. And no one else compares, remember that.”
I shook my head and tried to keep the corners of my mouth from turning up. “You’re trying to distract me with compliments. Did you know what happened with Miller?”
After shrugging and playing with the fringe on my blanket he nodded. “Yeah, I heard.”
“Alright let me rephrase that, do you know what happened with Miller.”
“Yes,” he said nodding. “He’s missing.”
“Don’t play stupid with me, Devin. What the hell did you do?”
“What? Why would you assume I did something?”
I looked at him with astonishment. “Okay so did you forget the whole, ‘oh I’m Devin, big and bad man, I will kill you, Miller. You are dead.’ Did you forget that from just last week.”
He smiled at my very bad interpretation, broad arms and all.
“You know,” he laughed. “You suck at that. You should glower less, it would make you seem more menacing.”
“This is not a laughing matter, Devin. Did you…did you kill Mr. Miller?”
He looked down at his hands for a moment then stood and walked over to me. For an instant, I was scared. For just a fraction of a second I was afraid of this tall man walking towards me, hands extended toward my face. But just as quickly as it was there, it was gone and I knew he would never harm me.
Devin took my face in his hands and placed his forehead onto mine. “Miller is…he is a bad man. He’s rude, he hurt you repeatedly and he threatened what we have. But he was still, as hard as it is to believe, he was still my friend once. I couldn’t just kill him. I don’t have it in me. I wouldn’t go that far…to risk everything I have just so he wouldn’t be a burden anymore? No, Layla. I wouldn’t risk that. I wouldn’t risk us.”
“You’re not the cause of him going missing?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m not.”
I sighed in relief but then realized that Miller was actually missing. Was he dead? Being held captive? What the hell happened to him?
“Stop worrying.” He placed a hand on my brow to wipe away the worry. “It’s still twitching, Layla. Just calm down. He’s not our problem anymore. It’s sad that he’s missing, really it is but I just…don’t care. It would be upsetting if he’s dead but I. Just. Don’t. Care. He got what was coming to him. He struck you, despite what you told me that night, I know he did. So no, I didn’t kill him but I hope he’s dead.”
I didn’t want to look at his face because I knew what I would see. I’d see that glint of emotion I wasn’t used to, and I was starting to think it was evil. But this was not some fantasy world, despite how much I would like to believe. This was the real world and I had to consider the possibility that Devin, while calm, sexy, loving on the outside could possibly hold a darker emotion within him. He’d already told me of him and his brother nearly beating a guy to death. Would he go as far as to lie to me and say he didn’t kill Miller when he actually had?

Chapter Forty
Another week had gone by and still not a word from Miller. I was beginning to worry. The police had gotten involved and I’d heard from Marina that they were dusting his apartment for prints, looking for any evidence at foul play.
Last week I was concerned with Miller’s well being. I hoped he was just on an unknown vacation somewhere and not lying dead in a ditch. Yes, he had abused me but I wouldn’t wish a death sentence upon him. I wanted him to stop but I didn’t want him dead. I just didn’t think I had it in me to wish that upon someone. But now, instead of wondering if he was dead for my own mental sake, I wondered if he was dead both Devin and my relationship. What if something actually had happened to him? Where were the photos of Devin and I? Were they in a safe place? What if someone found them? Oh, god, what if a cop found them. I hoped Mr. Riley wasn’t on Millers case. If he found the pictures he would no doubt ask Devin and I in for questioning. We’d be number one suspects. And what was I supposed to say? Was I supposed to lie and not tell them about how Devin had threatened Miller. What was Devin going to say? If he actually had done it, would he run? Would he leave me?
I couldn’t concentrate all day and, during my last class, Devin could tell. I could feel him constantly looking at me while I tried my best to take notes. However my thoughts kept getting the best of me and my mind would begin to wonder.
After class, as I entered the room for a second time, he pulled me into his arms and just held me tight. I dropped my bag by the door and just let him hold me. We didn’t say anything for a few moments and even that worried me.
“You have to relax, love.” He told me. “It’s written all over your face. I know you’re concerned with this whole Miller thing but don’t be.”
“How can you say don’t be concerned? Don’t be concerned? Don’t be concerned. Okay well what about the pictures Devin? If Miller’s missing and you didn’t…kill him, then I have to assume that something unexpected happened to him and he didn’t have time to properly dispose of or hide the pictures of us making out on your boat, or me sneaking in and out of your office. Or how about the one where you nearly kissed me in the parking lot. What about the pictures Devin? What part of this situation am I not supposed to be concerned about?”
“All of it. Him missing has nothing to do with us. It has nothing to do with you so that means you don’t have to worry about it. Which means you need to make your eye stop twitching or you’re going to get a condition.”
I put a hand to my still twitching eye and rubbed it gently. “I just don’t see how you can be so calm about this whole thing.”
He looked away from me for a moment. “I’m not. Honestly, when I think about the things he made you do I get sick to my stomach.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
“I know, I know. But that’s all I think about when someone mentions his name. And I know it scares you when I say things like this. I know you didn’t like it when I threatened him, and now that he’s gone missing it’s just pushing you over the edge but I just don’t care. Not about your feelings, because that I do care about. I can’t explain to you how much I care about what you think. What I don’t care about is the fact that he’s gone. I just am not concerned with it.”
“So…you don’t care if the cops find the pictures.”
“No, I do. I just don’t think they will. If Miller kept those photos out in the open he was a fool. And Miller was no fool.”
I tried my best to nod and not seem like I was worried about it but Devin knew me far too well to know that I wouldn’t just stop worrying.
“Just…try to relax.” He told me as he rubbed his hands up and down my arms. “If it becomes a problem I’ll handle it.”
I really hoped he would, because the next day there were cops all on campus.
“What’s going on?” I asked Marina. “Is it about Mr. Miller?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “They still can’t find him. Jack’s dad is questioning some of the teachers to see if they found him acting suspicious before he went missing. Miller’s family doesn’t even know where he is.”
“His family?”
“Yeah, his parents. I heard they didn’t even know he was missing until like two days ago. Oh, and apparently Miller was in like some kind of trouble. He owed some money to these people, not sure who, but apparently they weren’t very nice. His folks said he came home one weekend last summer real battered, needed some quick cash. Said it was a life or death thing.”
“How the hell do you know so much?”
“People talk,” she said tapping her right ear. “And when people talk, I listen. It’s a habit of mine.”
“So I’ve learned.” I mumbled.
The rest of the day wasn’t much in my favor either. Jack was pissy about something, my nervous hives were back, and Devin popped a surprise quiz on us that I definitely wasn’t ready for.
However, what I really wasn’t ready for was the cop walking through Devin’s door, handcuffs and gun on his belt, interrupting our quiz. He was a tall man, square jaw with just a hint of a five o’clock shadow, blue eyes set to kill and lips pursed into a hard line. His blonde hair was cut into a military crop, the same one Jack had worn not too long ago, and I knew exactly who he