Married to the Devil

Chapter 16

"Why is she here?" I asked venomously to Lamar, my lawyer, and jerked my thumb at Evelyn's sparkling brown hair.

"I have some concerns about your marriage," She stated.

I rolled my eyes, "Of course you've got concerns."

She sat beside me with her hands folded neatly over each other and with her right knee crossing over her left. Evelyn held a pin straight posture and was dressed as immaculately as ever. Beside her sat Josh, who shiftily glanced over at me, only to be given a stern glare by Evelyn until he eventually looked away.

She spun her head, her hair moving back like a curtain that illuminated her face, and looked at me dead-on in a secretively sinister smile. She lifted her hand slowly and I glanced at it as she moved it over to Josh's, her lips pulling upwards as she did.

"We're here to support your new marriage Kate." She said, emphasizing the 'we' in 'we're' as if she was trying to show that Evelyn and Josh were a well coordinated team. Except that they weren't. No matter what she wanted me to believe, my secret meetings with Josh told me otherwise.

It irked me that she was touching him so fondly though. Something that was clearly mine. She rubbed her fingers over his hand and Josh visibly stiffened under her touch in a way that almost made me want to burst out and laugh.

A warm hand enveloped my own and I tore my gaze from both Evelyn and Josh to see Derek's eyes crinkle over in happiness. My heart thumped against the bones of my rib cage and I unconsciously touched my other hand to my chest to steady my breathing.

He leaned forward so that he could look Evelyn in the face, "No need to worry Evelyn, we're still going strong," and lifted up his hand still entwined with mine to prove his point.

Evelyn scoffed bitterly and rolled her eyes at him. She glanced at me, her eyes full of hatred, and turned back to Lamar, "They're lying."

She continued to speak illy of us both, mostly me than Derek and I wanted to set her tongue on fire with every fibre of my being but I was preoccupied with the look on Josh's face. He stared at Derek's large hand covering mine and gaped at his loving expression.

I caught a glimpse of Derek as he defended me against Evelyn's insults and lies. Man, he could act. Derek's lips were held into a permanent smile as he glanced at me lovingly every couple of seconds and drew circles over my skin. Anyone who looked at him would've thought that he was madly in love with me. And the very thought made me want to explode in happiness like a box of fireworks on New Year's Day, but Josh's expression made me feel self-conscious.

That's right. I'm supposed to love Josh, not Derek.

I had to keep on reminding myself of that everytime Derek did something that ignited that undying fire in me lit ten years ago.

"She just wants everyone to feel bad for her!" Evelyn said shrilly.

Lamar leaned forward as a twisted, sadistic smile approached his lips. He kept his small beady eyes trained on Evelyn's and he seemed to be genuinely interested in what she had to say.

He licked his fork-like tongue over his thin, broken lips, ready to delve into the gossip, "And why do you presume that Mrs.Carter would do that?"

There it was again. Mrs. Carter, out of the corner of my eye I caught Josh flinch at the name and Derek squeezed my hand just the slightest bit harder before easing back into his feathery touch. A pang of guilt towards Josh tossed it's way around my stomach at the level of electricity that Derek was transferring into me.

Evelyn smiled widely and lifted a hand to cover her mouth from me as she loudly half-whispered, "Her brother's dead."

The world seemed to freeze.