Page 49 of Free to Breathe
And I meet Colby’s blazing eyes.
Suddenly, I’m dizzy for an entirely different reason.
One that might make me sick.
25
Colby
Ifeel like I’ve been struck in the gut. Suddenly, the shoe is on the other foot. What she likely felt when confronted with Addison, I’m feeling ten times over. A hundred times.
And I hate it.
The man in front of me looks at Corinna much as I imagine I do—like he’d give her every star in the sky if he could. And she’s oblivious to it. I stand up straighter as she pushes him aside to storm over to me on pencil-thin heels that should break under the force she puts on them. The man who held her so tightly in his arms just a few moments ago trails along behind her, a bemused smile on his face.
“What are you doing here, Colby?” Without giving me a chance to answer, she raises her hand as if that will ward me off from speaking. “No, wait. I don’t care. Just leave.”
It’s then I notice she’s not wearing a dorky bracelet like the one they forced on me at the door. I step forward into her personal space. “Where’s your damned bracelet?” I ask menacingly.
She merely lifts a brow in response to what sounds like an asinine question.
“You know, one of these.” I lift my wrist to show off the pink rubbery crap that’s turning the skin around it purple. “Why aren’t you wearing a blue one?”
Corinna smirks and somewhere the Devil is praying to God for help. “I’m so well-known here, Colby, I don’t need one. In fact, if I want to do this…” She grabs a knockout redhead and pulls her close. “And this…” She then pulls the man she was dancing with near her. “No one here would think twice about it. Isn’t that right, Marco?”
“Chère,” the man behind her says, before murmuring a few words in French to the redhead. She smiles at them both before walking away. “And who is this?”
“Marco, may I introduce Colby Hunt. He works for Hudson with Caleb and Keene. Colby, Marco Houde, owner and proprietor of Redemption,” Corinna bites out waspishly before turning her face away from me and into the man’s shoulder.
“Ah, so he’s the one…” Marco begins. Corinna’s head snaps up.
“Shut up, Marco.”
“I just wanted to know why I never had a chance,chère.” Marco’s distinctly amused at Corinna.
She pouts. “Just because we’re only friends, doesn’t mean I can’t find someone else here.”
He leans down and kisses her briefly. I turn vaguely murderous at the way her lips look against his. “You wouldn’t because you know it would hurt me too deeply. Now go and work out whatever it is with your Mr. Hunt. I do not want bloodshed in my club.”
“Fine,” Corinna huffs. Glaring at me, she says, “Since you’ve ruined my night, you might as well take me home,” before gliding off through the crowd.
Before I can follow her, I feel a tight grip on my arm. Following its path, I meet the eyes of Marco Houde. “Hurt her again, and I’ll personally see to it you’re left in the same condition.”
I shake him off. “She sure inspires loyalty.” I can’t help the bitterness that seeps into my voice.
He drops a huge bomb in my lap as he shoves past me. “If it weren’t for the ghost of you living in her, I’d have begged Corinna to marry me years ago.”
Stunned and infuriated someone is as obsessed with her as me has me yelling, “She’s not yours to worry about anymore!”
He pauses before turning around to get in my space. “She’s not yours either, Mr. Hunt.” Letting that sink into the lead already weighing down my stomach, his slow smile spreads. “Have a good evening.” He motions to the redhead who was waiting for him before he disappears into the crowd, and I go in search of an infuriated Corinna.
I spot her in the lobby with the bouncer who slid the bracelet on my wrist earlier. Stomping over to me, she grabs my wrist and yanks it off. “Ow!” I think she took off some of my wrist hair with that little move.
“Jesus, and you were in the military?” Corinna sneers. Stomping back to the bouncer, she slaps the bracelet against his chest. “Get your kicks somewhere else, Louie. Stop tormenting all the new patrons, or Marco is going to have your nuts in a sling!”
I step closer, daring the golden dragon in front of me to turn her fire toward me instead of the bouncer. “You mean—the bracelet thing was a hoax?”
Corinna mutters, “If we’re lucky, God gave you a sperm count to match your IQ—zero.”
