Page 89 of The Devil's Tattoo

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Chapter21

It didn’t register completelywhen Will took me to bed and pulled the covers over my naked body. Nor did it register when he went out and came back. A cold cloth pressed against the side of my face, and I gasped at the sudden temperaturechange.

“I nicked your peas,” Will said, propping himself up on an elbowbesideme.

“S’ok.” I took the packet of frozen peas he’d wrapped in a tea towel and pressed it against my eye. I was sure I’d have a shiner there for a weekorso.

“I’m so sorry, Zoe. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” His hand caressed up and down the curve of my waist, the muted glow from the security light outside highlighting the worry in his features. “I’ll understand if you want to end this. I don’t want youto,but—”

I silenced him mid-sentence with a soft kiss, my fingernails pressing into his back. “Shutup.”

“Zoe,” he whispered against my mouth, and I dropped the frozen peas on thefloor.

“Tell me the truth.Everything.”

He took a deep breath. “I don’t know where tostart.”

“At the beginninghelps.”

“The beginning…” He let out another long sigh. “I didn’t want you to have to deal with her. I thought I could have words with her and get her to back off, but she turned up,anyway.”

“Who was shetoyou?”

“She was my girlfriend. We’d been together for around threeyears.”

I’d been with Jason for almost two years. I knew a long relationship like that would’ve had to be serious. We’d both had someone before, but it still hurt that he’d loved someone else. Despite my jealousy, I had to keep asking questions if I was going to get over this. If we both were. “What’sherdeal?”

“Mish is a model. She does stuff like Fashion Week, photo shoots, and sometimes goes overseas. About two years ago now, she was opening a show for some big designer in Sydney. It was a big deal, so I flew up to surprise her. It wasn’t until I caught her in the act that I realized what had been going on. Every time she’d go away, she’d screw her way through any male model she cameacross.”

“You walked inonher?”

“In thethrows.”

I frowned, understanding how being cheated on tore your heartintwo.

“It really messed me up. I blamed myself for the longest time. I agonized over everything I’d done, wondering where it had gone wrong. I must’ve done something to push her away, but I didn’t know what. She crawled back, and I let her, but it wasn’t the same. The trust was gone, you know? I ended up breaking it off with her. That was a month before that gig at The Corner. You know the one I sawyouat?”

“Yeah. How could Iforget?”

“I felt like I was drowning, and you brought me back. This mysterious woman in the crowd threw me a lifeline.” He let his gaze fall away from mine. “The other day…on your birthday, she started messaging me. Saying she missed us and wanted to see me. It was so out of the blue it threw me offbalance.”

“That was why you were so distant?” I asked with ascowl.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. It’s just been such a fast turnaround. You know with you and…” He trailed off mid-sentence, a pained expression onhisface.

I knew what he meant. The emotional turnaround had given us a both a serious case ofwhiplash.

“I know now that I didn’t love her. I thought I did at the time, but what that was pales in comparison to what I feel for you. It was amistake.”

“Will…”

“I didn’t mean to, Zoe,” he pleaded desperately. “I didn’t mean todoit.”

I ran my hand up his warm chest, feeling the pounding of his heart. I trailed my fingers along his collarbone and up his neck, finally cupping his face. Gazing into his eyes, I realized how sincere he was. I’d never thought Will would be the kind of guy to cry, but his eyes sparkled withmoisture.

“Seems we both have a psycho ex who wants to capitalize on our fragile emotional states,” I said, shifting against him, so our legstangled.

He gazed at me with a puzzled look, like he didn’t understand the meaning behind my words. I was beginning toforgivehim.