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“I have to ask him,” I said abruptly. I jumped off the couch and dashed into my room.
Piper followed. “Are you going to call him?”
“No,” I said as I threw off my sweats and pulled on jean shorts and a top. “I’m going to Midland.”
“What? Why? Just video-chat him or something.”
“I have to see him in person. He can’t lie to my face. Also, I can strangle him if it was really him.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I said vehemently. “I need to find out why he’d do this.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
I paused, the denial on my tongue, but finally nodded. “That would be good.”
Piper disappeared to change, and ten minutes later, we were in her Jeep, heading south toward Midland, where the entire King family lived and the Dorset & King oil company headquarters were located. Nate’s place was about an hour and a half from mine. He lived in a house surrounded by oil fields. I’d only been there a handful of times. Normally, he drove into Lubbock.
“This is his place?” Piper asked with wide eyes as we drove up to the giant house.
Nate came from money. He had a large family, all who were involved in the oil business, except for him. The rest of his family thought he was crazy for being a TikTok sensation when he could work for the family company. But his trust was large enough that it clearly didn’t even matter.
Piper parked at the front of the property, next to a huge white truck. “Want me to go with you?”
I shook my head, steeling my nerves. Now that I was here, I was a bundle of them. It had made sense an hour and a half ago. But despite my resolve, I didn’t want to face him. I didn’t want to find out that he had done this to me.
Before I could back out, I jumped out of the Jeep and headed to the front door. White roses bloomed stark and bright against the white of the two-story house. The white roses of the King family.
I knocked on the front door. My stomach twisted, and I swallowed down the lump in my throat. Nate would tell me the truth. That was my only lifeline.
Hard boots stomped on the hardwood inside, and the door swung open. But it wasn’t Nate who answered. It was his older brother, Malcolm. My mouth went dry. I’d only met him once before, but he was the heartthrob of the entire King clan. How he was not married was beyond me.
“Hi,” I squeaked, unprepared to be met with his hard gaze. Let alone the cowboy hat and boots.
“Blaire,” he said, flashing a dimple. “Is Nate expecting you?”
“Uh, no.”
He nodded, as if he understood. Though how could he?
He turned away from me. “Nate, you have company.”
“I’m busy,” he called back.
Malcolm’s jaw twitched. “I said, you have company.”
It was more a growl than anything. Commanding. I shivered. Well then.
Nate must have heard the change in his voice, too, because he appeared a second later at the door. “Who…” He trailed off as his mouth hung open. “Blaire?”
“Hey, Nate. Can we talk?”
“Uh, sure.” He ran a hand back through his mussed dark hair and glanced at his brother and then back. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
Was he fidgeting? Did he know that I knew?
“I’ll leave y’all to it,” Malcolm said. He tipped his head at me and then disappeared through the door. He walked toward the giant pickup. God, he was attractive. What in the hell did these oil fields feed these men?
“Do you want to come in?” Nate asked.
“Sure.”
“I thought you were in LA,” he said, closing the door behind him.
We stepped through the foyer and into the living room, complete with a vaulted ceiling and a recording setup for his videos. It was beautiful, all hardwood and surprisingly rustic for someone who appeared so modern. Couldn’t take the Texas out of the boy.
“I was. I came back early.”
“I saw what happened at that music gala.” He leaned back against the white marble kitchen island and crossed his arms. “That was shitty.”
“It was.” I took a deep breath. “Did you leak that I was the ‘I See the Real You’ girl?”
“What? No,” he said automatically.
There was no hesitation, but still, I didn’t know if he was lying to me. He was slick. He always had been. It was the reason that I’d driven all the way out here. He couldn’t lie to me in person. Not for long at least.
“Nate, tell me the truth.”
“I am telling you the truth. Why the fuck would I tell someone something that you’d told me in confidence?”
“I don’t know. Because you still like me?”
His eyes rounded, and then he laughed softly. “Don’t flatter yourself, Blaire. I’m not some besotted ex-lover. We had a good time. You ended it, and it was mutual. I’m not suddenly heartbroken and going to ruin your life. If that were the case, why would I work with your publicist?”
