Both men watched as Molly slammed through the exit at the end of the hall.  Waiting until the double metal doors had slammed closed with a loud clatter, Grant turned to face his best friend in the world.  Except for his wife, there was nobody he’d ever trusted more.  In this moment, however, the urge to commit a felony ran strong through his veins. 

Hot, he shed his professional white doctor’s coat and draped it over his arm as he strolled calmly toward his friend.  Stopping barely a foot in front of him, Grant tilted his head as he stared at Devil.  “You do realize just how very, very fucked you are right now, right?” he asked, his tone deceptively amiable.  “I mean, you recognize that those threats Molly was making against you … I’m fully prepared to make good on them if need be.”

“Grant…”

Holding up a hand, Grant shook his head.  “First, just tell me one thing, Dev.  Are you screwing my little sister?”

Devil’s eyes widened at Grant’s blunt question.  “Are you serious?” he blurted incredulously.

“As the heart attack that Nana just had,” Grant retorted sharply, his hand clenching in the coat he held as he stared Devil in the eye.  “Answer the question, Devil.  Are you sleeping with my baby sister?”

“NO!  Before the kiss you witnessed at Nana’s bedside, I’ve never touched Molly in anything even approaching an intimate way.  What the hell kind of man do you take me for, Grant?” Devil snapped.  It was the God’s honest truth.  His fantasies didn’t count, damn it.  A man’s imagination was his own, and he could hardly control the vivid dreams he had when he slept, could he?    Hell, Molly was an attractive, desirable young woman that any red-blooded man would find appealing, but he’d behaved honorably even in the face of temptation. 

Well, until now, anyway.  Was it his fault that fate had so graciously provided him the very opportunity he’d been searching for?

Relaxing slightly, Grant still glared at the man facing him.  “Well, that’s a loaded question,” Grant returned with a snort.   “Especially since I know you.  But you get to live.   For now.  You and I, however, need to talk.  You are going to fill me in on just what the hell is going on around here.”

“Can we do it someplace else?  I don’t think the hospital corridor is exactly the spot to have this discussion, do you?” Devil asked uncomfortably, silently noting the attention they were drawing from the nurses and doctors passing by them. 

Grant considered the other man for a long moment fraught with tense silence.  “Follow me,” he finally growled under his breath as he led the way down another corridor and left Devil to trail behind him.  Pausing outside a private family waiting area, he stuck his head inside and found the room empty.  “This’ll do,” he muttered, flipping the sign hanging on the door to occupied and gesturing for Devil to go ahead of him.  Following his friend, Grant closed the door behind them.  Crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Devil sink into a chair at the table in the center of the small area, he waited impatiently.  “Well?” He prodded, motioning with a flapping hand for Devil to start explaining himself.

“Well, what, Grant?” Devil retorted, rubbing a hand vigorously over his face as he tried to infuse his body with the energy he so desperately needed to have this conversation.  He was more tired than he ever remembered feeling in his thirty-eight years on Earth, and now, he was expected to explain everything that had happened in the last hour to a guy who was more than capable of killing him and making it look like an unfortunate accident.  The good doctor currently staring at him had access to all kinds of drugs that could mimic a heart attack or stroke, and Devil didn’t doubt the other man would use them in defense of his sister.

“Devil, don’t pull that tightlipped, He-man, Master of the Universe crap on me.  This is my sister we’re talking about here.  I love you like a brother, man, but if Molly gets hurt…”

“I’m not trying to hurt Molly, Grant.  I’ve been as much a part of her life as you have.  I was right there with you when we were running shitfaced, pimply boys off her scent when she was a teenager.  Since she’s gotten older, I’ve warned off my fair share of full-grown men with less than honorable intentions toward her, too.  Don’t you stand there and act like I haven’t done my best to protect her!”

“Yeah, Devil, I know.  You’ve been protecting her from men like you, man.  So, I think you might be able to understand my concern when I walk in and see you telling Nana that the two of you are getting married!  You are exactly the type of guy we don’t want for my baby sister.”

“What the hell is it about me that you find so repellant, Grant?” Devil barked as his shoulders tensed in anger.

“Really?” Grant quirked an eyebrow heavenward.  “You’re gonna ask me that?”

“Yeah,” Devil retorted, rising from his chair and lifting his chin.

“You’re a man-whore, Devil.  You’ve had your wick dipped in half the candle boxes in the greater Atlanta area!  You aren’t exactly the husband a brother dreams of for his little sister!”

Devil clamped down on his jaw and fumed.  Okay, so Grant made a decent argument.  Once upon a time, he’d enjoyed playing the field, hopping from one woman to the next and having a damn good time once he got there.  He also knew that it still appeared that way to anybody who took a cursory look at his life over the past year. 

Appearances, however, were deceiving. 

“Would you say something before I’m forced to ruin those GQ good looks of yours?” Grant complained, propping his hands on his hips as he faced off with his best friend.

“I’m not a man-whore anymore.  Yeah, once I was, but not anymore.  I’ve changed,” Devil confided quietly, rubbing his palm over his jaw.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Grant shook his head as he processed Devil’s statement.  “Man, that just doesn’t hold water.  Molly has complained for the past year about the troop of tramps you’ve paraded through the office.  Are you saying she’s a liar?”

“Not… exactly.”  Hedging was his only option at the moment, and Devil knew he needed to buy at least a few more minutes before telling his best friend his true thoughts.

“Dev, I’ve gotta go upstairs and bring a couple of new lives into the world sometime in the near future.  So, what say you cut the bullshit and tell me exactly what the fuck is going on before I give in to the urge to pound on your face a little before I go?”

Licking his lips, Devil hung his head.  Coming clean to what should have been the easiest person on the planet for him to confide anything was harder than he expected.  Clearing his throat, he lifted his head to stare at Grant.  “It’s true what Molly said.  There have been a lot of women that I’ve spent time with this year.”

“Yeah,” Grant agreed with a grunt.  “A new one every two or three weeks from what I’ve heard.”

“That sounds about right,” Devil muttered, wincing.  “The thing is … I haven’t been serious about any of them.”

Grant lifted his eyes to the ceiling and prayed for strength and guidance he needed to not kill his best friend. “You never are.” 

“I’ve sort of been using them,” Devil admitted reluctantly.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Grant replied with a disgusted sneer.

“I haven’t been sleeping with the women that I’ve been seeing, Grant,” Devil informed his doubtful pal curtly.  “I’ve been using them as a kind of shield so I didn’t act on my attraction to your sister,” he continued quickly, ripping the proverbial bandage off the wound in one quick yank. 

Stunned, Grant stared at Devil, his eyes slightly dilated as they gazed off into space.  “Pardon me?” he finally managed to whisper hoarsely, tilting his head toward his best friend.  “I’m gonna need you to say that again.”