Free Transitions (A Thousand Words Book 1) by Tori Brooks Page B

having this conversation with Kenny and Jess. Kenny seemed to understand his hesitation, he turned to Jess. “Take a hike.”
    “What?” Jess asked.
    “He’s not talking with you here, scram,” Kenny said.
    Jess scowled at Dev and left, closing the door behind him. Kenny turned his attention back to Dev. “Fine, we’re alone. Now, what happened?”
    “What on God’s green earth makes you think I’d tell you?” Dev asked.
    “So something did happen? I thought so. Your posture and behavior screamed something was wrong. Something’s on your mind, and we can’t afford that right now. We’re leaving to finish the final stages for tour prep in two weeks. Less than two weeks. Relationship issues need to be worked out before then. Knowing Lindsay, it could take some time. I’d like to get started now.”
    “Fuck you.” Dev rarely swore, so the words felt unfamiliar on his lips. It was the appropriate response, however, and he refused to feel guilty.
    Kenny leaned against Dev’s bunk beds and watched him. Dev’s eyes glanced back to the picture of Lindsay on his wall, then he tore his eyes away, not wanting Kenny to read anything into it.
    “I suppose I could ask Bryan.”
    “Bryan doesn’t know.”
    “Are you sure?”
    Dev laughed. “Pretty sure, but you’re welcome to try. Go for it, just get out. I’d like to write some poetry while it’s on my mind.”
    Kenny opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it. Dev’s gamble paid off, Kenny left.
    As soon as the door closed, Dev opened the laptop on his desk and brought up a program he hadn’t used in a long time. He trusted nothing had changed while he was gone.
    A window opened, offering a list of microphones to choose from. Pulling a set of headphones from a desk drawer, Dev plugged them in and selected a microphone. The sound quality was still reasonably good, meaning no one covered up the tiny bug he planted in the rec room downstairs.
    “. . . something’s going on, he accidentally confirmed that much.” Kenny’s voice was slightly tinny, but recognizable.
    “Should we ask Bryan? He always seems to know what’s on the kid’s mind.” Jess’s voice didn’t seem to suffer as much from the bug’s deficiencies, a curiosity Dev never put time into researching. Flynn’s voice didn’t either and it irritated him.
    “No, he said Bryan didn’t know anything about it.”
    “You believe him? It’s late but we could call him. You could call him. I’m not risking Brenda’s wrath.”
    “You’re pathetic, you know that?”
    “ You take her on.”
    Kenny laughed. “No need. I believe him when he said Bryan doesn’t know. And he said he wanted to write poetry about it too. I thought that was odd.”
    “Why? He writes a ton of poetry about Lindsay, you know that. Almost all the recent love songs we have are about her in one way or another.” Someone got up and moved around. The footfalls were heavy but didn’t slide and Dev assumed it was Jess. Kenny was shorter and usually shuffled his feet slightly. “It kind of makes me sick to think about that you know. I have to sing those love songs.”
    “Yeah, I know. Just think of someone else. I know you do when you’re having sex, so you can certainly do it when you’re just singing a song,” Kenny said. Dev was confident Kenny just referenced Cassie and he didn’t want to hear this.
    There was an awkward pause before Jess answered. “Not all the time. And I’m pretty sure I never told you that,” Jess said, his voice lower now and full of emotion.
    “Lucky guess. Maybe Dev’s writing break up songs, does that thought cheer you up?”
    “It would if there was any chance it was true.”
    Dev clicked his mouse to turn off the bug. He’d heard enough. Once again he learned more about Jess’s obsession with his sister than he wanted to know. This time he had no one to blame but himself. And to think Jess thought Dev’s relationship with Lindsay was sick. He was one