Page 53 of Corrupt Me

“I bet I did. Do your parents know?” I couldn’t help but think about Blaine and Anna. How would they handle their son’sindiscretions? There was no way he could hide his cheating once they discovered how far this other girl’s pregnancy was.

Preston shook his head, panic flicking into his troubled features. “No one knows. And I want it to stay that way. You can’t tell anyone.” An air of desperation the youngest Malone wasn’t known for laced his tone.

I didn’t get it. Why the big secret? If he and I weren’t together anymore, why not expose the truth? Was he ashamed? I couldn’t imagine despite his choices that his parents would be anything but supportive. “You can’t hide a baby forever.”

“I couldn’t tell you. Not after everything you went through. You needed me.” His justification was comical.

“I had.” A sarcastic laugh bubbled out of me. “But you weren’t there, Preston. Not really. Not when it mattered. Instead, you ran away from me. You ran to someone else.” But so had I.

I’d gone to Tristan.

Or maybe it had been Tristan who’d found me.

Regardless, it had been Tristan who’d been there through the really dark days. Not his brother. Not my boyfriend. Not the guy who claimed to love me.

I hadn’t wanted to see who Preston truly was before. The selfishness. The arrogance. The charm masking the manipulator.

But now, I couldn’t unsee him. Or how wrong he was for me.

His brows knitted. “You didn’t make it easy.”

I choked, unable to believe what I was hearing. “You really are the most selfish person I’ve ever met. I’m sorry I wasted so many years on you. If it wasn’t clear before, let me make it crystal fucking clear now. We’re over. Done. Finished. There’s no chance in hell I’ll forgive you or that we’ll get back together. Marriage is out of the question. I don’t even know if I want to be your friend.” I turned away from him, a pivotal moment. Thiswas me turning the page in my life. I was ready to start the next chapter…without Preston as my crutch.

But Preston and I were at different points in our breakup journey. His fingers wrapped around my upper arm. “Ev.” He spoke my name with firmness as if he fully expected me to stop in my tracks.

I would have in the past.Don’t,a voice in my head said.

I didn’t turn around.

“I can’t do this without you.” Preston’s warmth radiated at my back; his hand was still steadily pressed into my skin.

Keep going. He will only try to suck you back in.My chin lifted. “You should have thought about that before you stuck your dick into someone else.” I let the venom, the hurt, and the bitterness seep into my voice, never looking at him.

My feet moved again of their own accord as if they too wanted to get as far from Preston as they could take me.

“Ev,” he called again after me.

I’d reached the end of the hall, and instead of waiting for the elevator and giving Preston the opportunity to catch me, I shoved through the stairwell door. The fact I willingly took the stairs attested to my mental state. I’d rather descend five flights of stairs than face Preston’s cheating ass again.

I said all that was left to say.

He made his choice.

And I made mine.

As I jogged down the stairs, it occurred to me that Preston had never apologized.

Prick.

I made it three flights when my eyes started to blur. Thunder cracked outside like an angry god flung a whip at the building. I swore the stairs underneath me shook. I lost my balance, arms flailing right before I scrambled for the railing. My fingertipsslipped over the wooden beam, and then I was falling, sliding down the last few stairs, landing hard on my ass.

I barely had time to catch my breath, to fathom what happened, when pain seared my ankle along with a few other places, but I suspected those would only be bruises. My foot was another story.

“Fuck,” I hissed, sitting on the dusty landing, cradling my boot. I didn’t think it was broken—at least I hoped not, but it hurt like hell.

Tears stung my eyes, the night finally catching up to me, which included all those pesky emotions I’d been suppressing for hours. They bubbled to the surface, and I didn’t have it in me to fight any longer. My forehead dropped to the top of my knee while my other leg remained cradled to the side as my shoulders shook from the sobs.

I didn’t know how long I stayed purging my tears on the stair landing, but with water still distorting my vision, I shoved to my feet, careful to keep my weight off my right foot. Another boom of thunder quaked outside. Once the rumble resided, the rapid tapping of rain hit the side of the building.

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