Page 85 of Out of the Blue

“Who. Did. You. Tell?”

Her whole body slumps. “Some of your roadies. They caught me right after your surgery and I was so tired and they asked me to confirm what they’d already heard and I did but I told them not to tell anyone.”

Once her run-on sentence trails to an end, she focuses on me. Tears stream down her traitorous cheeks.

Unmoved by her pain, I note, “Obviously, one of them blabbed my personal business. And now it’s everywhere. All because you opened your mouth.”

Her voice raises. “I swore them to secrecy.”

“You wouldn’t have had to if you hadn’t broken your vow.”

She throws her body onto mine. “Please, give me a break. I was exhausted when they accosted me. And I told them not to tell anyone. Remember our promise to each other!”

Fuck that stupid promise. This situation isn’t sideways, it’s mangled beyond recognition. I remain motionless, my arms lying on the bed. She kisses my face and I turn away from her. “You promised you’d keep my secret. YouknewI had only entrusted you with it. Not even Dwight, my best friend, knew. Only you did.”

“Maybe it was one of your aunt’s kids?”

I push her away. First, she admits to telling our roadies, and now she’s trying to throw my real family under the bus? Do I have “sucker” written across my forehead?

“No, Cordelia.” My voice is icy. “You promised me you’d keep my secret, and you lied. Youliedto me.” As a result, the whole world’s been informed of my parentage.

Because of her.

“However it came to be,youopened your mouth and told a secret that wasn’t yours to tell.”

“I was so tired. I hadn’t slept for days.”

“You should’ve gone to a hotel where no one would’ve been able to hear your mouth,” I snap.

“Trent.”

I raise my hand. The blanket acts like a barrier against her, protecting me as if I were a fortress to be breached. My walls had tumbled so low she hopped over them and squirmed her way into my life. I mentally rebuild them. No more. I refuse to be taken in by another woman. Lessons from my previous girlfriend should’ve been enough. And my mother did it all my life. But no. The woman in front of me will destroy its tattered remnants.

“Get. Out.” My tone brooks no further conversation.

Her fingers swipe across her cheeks, smudging mascara off her fake eyelashes and down her cheeks.

Chapter 26 - Cordelia

Ilet myself into Trent’s Jersey City townhouse ten minutes ago.

“How dare he!”

I throw his books across his living room. Unsatisfied, my hand clamps around an ugly vase, and I hurl it toward the bedframe across the way. It smashes into a million pieces.

I growl, my fingers itching to throw something else of his far and wide. I pick up a stupid figurine. “He’s the biggest asshole ever!”

My knuckles turn white and I pull back. A split-second before I take aim at the bed again, my gaze lands on a framed photo of a woman with my asshole ex-boyfriend. She looks like a younger, thinner version of Auntie Gloria. I hold up the statuette and stare at it. All fight deflates from my body.

Collapsing onto an ugly black recliner, I place it on the standing tray next to me. Banging my head against the chair, I let all my frustrations out.

Exhausted, I flip the lever and my legs go up. I twist my ankles for a few minutes, then let them go still. How did I let myself get here? Again?

We were good. Solid. He even asked me to remodel his home so he could come back here for rehab. And he invited me to move in with him.

I snort. Must be some record. At least Iactuallylived with Big Rolls for about a year before he tossed me out on my ass. Didn’t even make it to one day with the rock star, despite our stupid promise to be patient with each other if something went wrong. And boy did it.

My eyes slam shut. I can’t believe one of the roadies ratted me out. Probably got a good payday for it, too. My hands clench. Trent was so mad, madder than I’ve ever seen him before. But it was my mistake that brought it out in him.

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