Page 93 of Tangled Up In You
Had he cheated on me before I got there?
No, don’t even go there,I told myself, knowing Corbin would never betray me like that.
Was he second-guessing us? Maybe me proposing to him freaked him out. Or perhaps, it had nothing to do with me or us, but rather something that happened to him.
“See you later, babe,” he said before hooking his arm around my waist and kissing my cheek.
I took the second to lean into him, already missing him. “Can we go out tonight?”
“Anything you want.” Corbin looked down at me with a smirk. His gray eyes were lighter that day, maybe because of the blue shirt he wore, and his dark blond hair stuck out a bit from his KC baseball cap. After kissing me quickly on the lips, he turned and grabbed his keys before heading toward the door. “I should be home around five.”
Then, I was alone.
His house had that modern, sleek appearance and was only two bedrooms. Nothing too huge, but the high vaulted ceilings and plethora of windows gave it that hint of extravagance. Most of his stuff had been moved to Willow, so the place was a little bare.
Thank god I’d packed some books to help pass the time.
Hours later, I was most of the way throughA Little Lifeby Hanya Yanagihara and crying my eyes out, when there was a knock at the door. After marking my place in the book and wiping at my eyes, I cleared the lump in my throat and went to answer it.
The man standing on the other side of the door was beautiful. Intimidatingly so. He was an inch shorter than me and had dark brown hair, even darker eyes, and the kind of perfectly symmetrical face and soft features that most people—men and women—would’ve killed to have.
“Can I help you?” I asked, feeling drastically inadequate in my tattered jeans, uncombed hair, and baggy shirt.
The man’s brow narrowed as he gave me the up-down. “Oh. It’syou.”
The sneering way he saidyougave me a great idea of who he was. Corbin had told me about William after he was outed, but the picture on William’s article didn’t do him justice. And I hadn’t really looked long at it, because jealousy had reared its ugly head.
That was normal, though, I supposed—getting just a little bothered at seeing your man’s irritatingly attractive ex.
I had the urge to slam the door in his face, but I inhaled and refrained from doing so. “Is there something you need? Because last I heard, Corbin was done with you.”
William squared his jaw. “Is he here?”
“No,” I answered, holding the edge of the door a bit tighter.Don’t slam it in his face. Don’t be that guy.“And even if he was, he wouldn’t want to see you.”
William’s gaze trailed to my neck. “Looks like our Corbin still likes it rough. He was always leaving hickies and bite marks all over me too. Made it such a pain in the ass sometimes to cover up.”
Oh, you shady mother fucker.
Don’t take the bait.
“Have a nice day, William,” I said, closing the door.
He slapped his hand to it before it shut and pushed it back open. “Give him these.” He handed me a folder of papers. “They’re from my attorney.”
I gave him an exasperated look. “Are you suing him or something? You have no standing if you try.”
“No, I’m not suing him,” William snapped, glaring at me. “They are release papers to get his consent for the book I’m writing. So I can use his name and all of that.”
“Hasn’t he already told you no?”
“Look, I’m just trying to be nice here,” he said, looking anythingbutnice. “You know, trying to let him be part of the process instead of just going behind his back. However, Iwilldo it anyway: with or without his permission. My attorney said it’s something calledpublic interestsince he’s a celebrity of sorts, and lucky for me, gossip and smut is included in that category. Since he’s already come out, my book won’t be an invasion of privacy and won’t tell the public anything they don’t already know.”
William nodded to the file. “If he doesn’t sign those, I’ll just change his name in the book. Maybe call him Colton or something.”
The asshole turned and went back to his fancy car after that, and I slammed the door and walked into the kitchen.
I placed the file on the counter before starting another pot of coffee. Yeah, it was three in the afternoon, but I needed a pick me up afterthatfreaking interaction. Since I didn’t like to drink much, coffee would have to do.
