Page 45 of Love Around the Corner
Nick grabbed a box and started toward the bedroom, but before he reached it, the door opened. The rest felt like it happened in slow motion. Poppy stepped through the door, stopping abruptly when she caught sight of Nick.
“Nick—”
Nick’s entire body went rigid. Livie could see the tension in his shoulders from across the room. His eyes flicked over Poppy briefly. “Sorry,” he bit out. “I figured you’d be out.”
“I was just leaving.” Poppy gestured toward the front door. “If you come back in ten minutes—”
“What did you say, Poppy?” A man stepped up behind Poppy, laying a hand on her waist. His body had a lanky sort of elegance to it, and his narrow black pants and gold printed silk shirt made him resemble a guy in a cologne commercial. His choppy blond hair was artfully styled to one side, raking across his forehead. The accent sounded European, but Livie couldn’t place it.
Poppy froze. Nick’s gaze raked over the newcomer. A muscle in his jaw twitched as he ground his teeth together.
“Hey, Klaus.” His voice was low, cold, and hard as steel. Livie had never heard him sound that way before.Klaus?The name rang a bell, and a moment later it came back to her. The party Poppy had been nagging him about—Klaus, the Eurotrash poser.
Klaus’s eyes flicked over Nick in barely concealed disdain. “Hello, again, Nick.”
“Nick—” Poppy began, but Nick cut her off.
“It’s none of my fucking business. None of this isanyof my fucking business. Not anymore.”
Poppy took one step toward him. “Klaus was here to—”
“I said it’s none of my fucking business, Poppy!” His shout bounced off the glass walls, echoing in the sparsely furnished room. Poppy jumped. Livie flinched. Klaus barely reacted at all.
She’d never seen Nick this angry. “Who you fuck is none of my business. Although I suppose it might be my business, depending onwhenyou started fucking him. Right, Klaus?”
Klaus shrugged one elegant shoulder, smirking slightly. Poppy went pale. Oh, God, Poppy had beencheatingon him with this Klaus person. Livie had been frozen, mortified to be caught in the middle of their confrontation once again. Now, as much as she didn’t want to, she forced herself to move, crossing to Nick and touching his arm. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Nick—” Poppy tried again, but he threw up a hand to silence her.
“Save it, Poppy. There’s not a damned thing you could say to me right now that I have any interest in hearing.”
He turned on his heel and stormed out the front door. As she hurried after him, Livie glanced over her shoulder at Poppy and Klaus. Despite what had gone down, despite what she’d done to him, Poppy looked genuinely stricken, as if she hadn’t realized the consequences of her actions until everything collided and blew up in her face. Well, Livie hoped she felt sufficiently miserable. She deserved it for what she’d done to Nick.
She rode down in the elevator with Nick in total silence. He stared at the brushed steel elevator door like he was about to burn a hole in it. That muscle in his jaw was still twitching. All of his usual irrepressible energy seemed to have converted to explosives being held under extreme pressure, as if at any moment a spark would cause him to go up in flames.
Out on the sidewalk, he stopped and closed his eyes, his head falling back as he exhaled heavily.
“Nick—” she began cautiously. “I’m so sorry.”
“Nope. No.” He lifted his head and looked her straight in the eye. “Fuck her. And fuck him. I’m not going to go cry into my pillow over her, because she doesn’t deserve it.”
Without thinking, Livie grabbed his hand in both of hers, squeezing hard. “You didn’t deserve to be taken advantage of like that. By either of them. I can’t believe she did that to you.”
“Gotta hand it to her. She’s an ambitious girl.”
“Do you think that’s why she—”
He dropped his head forward. “No. That was a shitty thing to say. I think she was just looking for something that wasn’t me.”
“That doesn’t make it okay to cheat on you.”
“Fuck, no, it doesn’t. Livie, you know what I need right now?”
“What?”
“I need a good stiff drink to erase the visual of Klaus naked and fucking my ex, because that’s what’s in my head right now.”
“I know how to fix that.”
