Page 114 of Tobias

“Delicious,” he growls, and I can’t help but laugh.

The rain somehow gets harder, it’s so loud I can hardly hear myself thinking. We work on spooning the dough onto the sheet pans and put them in the oven. As we’re cleaning up, I find the bag of chocolate chips and put a few in my hand. Tobias is at the sink, washing dishes, so I slip between him and the counter and hold them to his lips.

“Open.”

He does, then shuts off the water, chewing as he keeps his eyes on me. I lean in, kissing his neck, his jaw, and then his lips.

“Do I taste like chocolate yet?” he asks.

I laugh. “Maybe your dick does,” I say, reaching for the waistband of his sweats to slide my hand inside and grab his hard dick.

He grasps my face, kissing me and breathing hard as I jerk him off. His tongue moves slowly against mine, savoring it. The sweet scent of cookies fills the air, and I’m a second away from dropping to my knees and showing Tobias how thankfulI am for his help. Not only with the cookies, but with everything. An itchy feeling covers my skin, and a little voice in the back of my head urges me to open my eyes. Something feels off.

So I do, and I see something that doesn’t quite make sense. It takes far too long for my brain to register what I’m looking at. I jerk away from Tobias, but there’s nowhere to go. I’m caught between him and the counter, and end up hitting my hip on the edge, which hurts like a bitch. It's the least I deserve.

“What the—” Tobias starts, looking over his shoulder, then quickly fixes his pants, moving to the side and letting me out of his grip. I can’t imagine what he’s thinking right now, but I have an idea.

“Marianne,” I say quickly. “It’s… uh—”

There is no way to describe the expression on her face other than confused. It's utter confusion. Bewilderment. Whatever is worse than that. I don’t see hurt or pain or betrayal... It’s just shock.

Of course, Tobias doesn’t understand what’s going on because he thinks we’re broken up. He doesn’t know she just found me cheating. Maybe he thinks she came to pick up some things she left behind and is shocked by seeing us together for the first time. Or maybe he thinks she's making a friendly visit.

“I’m not quite sure what’s going on here,” she finally says. Her voice is quiet, and it’s then I pick up on the rain again. It’swhy I didn’t hear her come in. She still has a key, and I didn’t think this was a possibility. She's supposed to be in New York.

“I thought you weren’t coming home for another week,” I say.

I see Tobias frown at me from the corner of my eye. Marianne only nods, but it’s kind of robotic. Her gaze goes from me to him and back again, her body still as a statue.

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” Tobias says gently. So polite. So kind. Of course he means that I’m into men, because he doesn’t know theotherthing. The thing I’ve been lying to him about.

“Thisway?” Marianne says, her voice slightly higher than normal. “Is there a good way to find out your fiancé is cheating on you?”

“Fiancé?” Tobias blurts out, his brows going up. His attention comes to me, but I can’t look at him. A lump the size of a grapefruit lodges in my throat and my blood turns to ice.

“Did he not tell you he's engaged?” Marianne says in a tone that is way too calm. It doesn’t make sense. “We’re supposed to be married in four months,” she adds.

I bite my cheek, willing the tears away. I make myself look at Tobias because maybe if he sees how upset I am, howsorryI am, he’ll forgive me. He will. He has to. He will understand. This will all be okay. But what I see back is devastating. The look on his face is one I've never seen before. It's not him. It's like some angry man has taken him over.

“Tobias,” I say, taking a step toward him, but he jerks away, moving out of my grasp.

“You two are engaged?” Tobias asks Marianne while keeping his arm out, guarded, to stop me from getting closer. He doesn't trust me to even answer that question, and I guess I can't blame him. I did this. I fucked this all up. This is all my fault. All because I'm a coward.

“Yeah,” she huffs. “Have been for two years.”

“And he never said anything to you to make it seem like he’d changed his mind?” Tobias adds, his tone dark. "He never mentioned calling off the wedding?"

His words hit me hard, knowing what's coming.

She frowns, turning to me with watery eyes. “Never,” she breathes out.

Tobias nods slowly, lips pursed and eyes unfocused. “Thank you for that, and again, I am so,sosorry.” His voice cracks as he speaks, and when he walks away, I have to go after him.

Chapter Forty-Four

Tobias

Someone injected my veins with ice when I wasn’t looking. Every inch of me is freezing, yet I feel so numb. I can hardly walk straight even as I force my feet to put one in front of the other. It’s like they have a mind of their own and each one gained a hundred pounds. I hadn’t unpacked my bag, so I grab it from the bed, but when I turn around, Theo is there.

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