Unbreakable Devotion: A New Adult Romance Novel by Amanda Chayse

Chapter One
~Devon~
    Devon stood outside, watching the fall leaves spin and sprinkle around him in a colorful tapestry of fall. He was wondering how his playmate of fourteen years had done this to him. They were best friends, went to school together, played together, shared each other’s toys, and began middle school and high school together.
    He played at her house, ate meals there, and became like a son to Erin’s mom. And Erin came over to Devon’s house, played with all his stuff, ate up their food during many lunches and dinn ers.
    “Are you coming over today?” she often asked him with her hopeful smile.
    This was like music to Devon’s ears, even if he pretended to be aloof and cool. “I guess. What are we going to do, play with your dolls?”
    “You have your own to play with. I have a new video camera, though. We can make some funny videos.” Her bright smile was starting to make his heart race.
    “Sure, Erin. Whatever makes you a YouTube star,” Devon smirked. Devon was fascinated by how creative Erin could be. She could get thousands of hits just making one funny video. There were a lot of things he was starting to like about her more and more, and it terrified him.
    After all, this was his best friend. They told each other just about everything. What was he supposed to tell her now? That he wanted to kiss her when she looked at him with her big blue eyes and full lips?
    Erin’s dad had left her and her mom when she was only two, and Devon’s dad died when he was only four. “My mom is never home. She work s all the time, just like yours,” she often remarked when he came over. “Promise me you’ll always be my best friend,” she would sometimes say for no reason.
    Devon would hide his wide grin when she made him promise him. “I promise, Erin. Just like yesterday.” He ribbed her to no end, but would miss the day she would stop asking him.
    They shared their deepest feelings and deepest fears, but they snapped out of conversation quickly when it got them too down, as if they were both attuned to how much pain they could take.
    “Smile and think about something happy,” she reminded him. Increasingly, the happiest thing he could think of was spending time with her.
    But we were best friends, after all, and nothing more he would try to convince himself. Even when they fought, which was usually a matter they both made short work of for the sake of their friendship, they remained best friends. In their often unstable lives, their friendship was a given like the morning sun.
    Nothing came between them. It was the magic of their relationship. Their friendship always trumped everything. They knew each other too well to let a careless offense, an unkind word, or a mean comment fester for too long.
    “Take it back,” Erin demanded after Devon called her “ugly” when they were twelve. It was easy for Devon to apologize. For one thing, he knew it wasn’t true. “You’re not ugly, Erin. I was just mad.” It was a good front. She would never figure out that he actually thought she was beautiful now. But for another, he wanted to see her smile again, which was warmer than the afternoon sun that caressed his face as they played outside. Her smile made his day, and he would not trade it for anything. He could never tell her that, though, or she would run away from him and never want to see him again. It would be better to see her and pretend he felt nothing but friendship for her.
    He had to play this game at least for a while.
    But last summer things really changed. That’s when he and Erin went swimming at the lake, as usual, except it was not as usual. Devon always knew that Erin was cute, in her own goofy way. Her blue eyes always shined when she laughed, and he was captivated when her soft pink lips perked up in a devastating smile. He started to notice her shimmering blonde hair cascading over her golden summer skin. He had wanted to kiss her even as a kid, and did at least three times on the