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Cooper’s nearly as good at faking being comfortable in a tense situation as I am because he doesn’t hesitate before extending a hand toward Ivy. She takes it gracefully, giving him a firm inspection while they shake.
“I’m glad you could make it. Addie didn’t stop talking about you all day,” she says.
I roll my eyes. “Don’t embarrass me.”
Cooper tucks his hand into his suit pants. “Thank you for making her so happy today. If I was going to miss her all day, at least it was for good reason.”
Ivy sneaks a look at me, approval bright in her eyes. I chew on the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.I know, girl. I know.
“I figured it was better late than never,” she says.
Sebastian goes to speak when phones begin dinging all through the penthouse, his included. Mine vibrates once in my clutch, and Ivy must feel a similar buzz in hers because she starts searching for her phone right away. Watching dozens of people all lift their phones to their faces at the same time would be funny if they didn’t all turn to stare at me directly after.
It feels how I assume stepping onto a runway for the first time would feel, but instead of everyone judging me for my walk or the clothes I’m wearing, they’re judging me for reasons I don’t know.
“Why is everyone staring at me?”
Cooper shifts beside me, and one look at him has my stomach dropping.Apologetic. He looks sorry for something.Reallyfucking sorry.
I barely recognize my voice as I ask, “What’s going on?”
“Oh, honey,” Ivy whispers, quickly shoving her phone away and moving toward me. “Seb, you need to kick everyone out before someone starts recording her and this shit hits the fan faster than necessary.”
Tired of not getting answers from them, I tear my phone out of my clutch and click on the most recent notification on the screen. I don’t pay attention to them as they start to rush around the place and start barking orders at everyone. Not once I read the post.
“This isn’t real,” I declare. “Whoever posted this doesn’t know anything. It’s fine. You can all calm down.”
I feel my eyes go wide at the number of comments and shares already rolling in before I tuck my phone away again. It’s okay. These rumours are the kind of ones I pay someone to make go away.
“Addie, honey, let’s at least get out of the way of these damn piranhas before we start to figure this out,” Ivy urges as she starts to lead me through the living room.
Cooper is close by, not leaving my side, and as I reach for his hand, I say, “Just ask Cooper. This tweeter has no idea what they’re saying. We’re married. We have been since Ireland. I don’t know where they got their information, but they’re wrong.”
I can’t find his hand. It’s not until I turn to see why that I notice that the apologetic expression I saw him wearing earlier has only gotten worse. He won’t look at me. Not even when I step closer, our chests nearly touching.
Around us, it’s a jumble of loud curious voices and questions that I can’t even register. Tears burn my eyes as I look up at him, silently begging him to tell me that I was right. That this isn’t really happening. That he didn’t know.
“Cooper.” It’s a broken plea.
“I’m sorry, love. I’m so sorry. I was going to tell you. Fuck, I swear I was—”
I stop hearing him. Someone bumps into me from behind, sending me falling against the man I thought was my husband, and I recoil, slapping his chest with my palms.
He spits something at the person who pushed me, but I don’t care what it was.
“How long have you known?”
Flinching, he says, “Since yesterday.”
“When yesterday?” I grit out.
His answer hits me like a ton of bricks. “When I was with your brother.”
Before he came home and found me in the spare room. Before we painted each other’s skin.
Before we said I love you.
God, I think that’s what hurts the most. He shouldn’t have hidden it from me and come here tonight knowing that I wanted to introduce him as something he isn’t.
