The Truth About Us (The Truth Duet Book 2) Page 14

  I cussed under my breath as she started down the hall. Shoving off the counter, I followed after her. “Cora, please.”

  She made eyes at me over her shoulder. “You coming?”

  My back shot straight, my bones turned to stone, and I froze mid-step.

  And, kiddos, that’s the story of how I became a sculpture.

  “I’m sorry. What?”

  She smiled—brighter, wider, and faker. “Nobody’s awake yet. I noticed there was a shower in the hall bath. It might be our only shot.”

  Everything below the belt responded with an Oh, hell yeah. Above the belt was a little more cautious. “Our only shot at what?”

  She twisted her lips. “Don’t play coy with me, Shane.”

  She might as well have thrown a bucket of ice water at me. “Don’t call me that.”

  “It’s your name. I feel stupid calling you Penn.” She tipped her head to the side like a cherub, but I knew Cora.

  Something was happening in her head. It was ugly and dirty, and I wanted nothing to do with it.

  But most of all, I wanted her to have nothing to do with it, either.

  “My last name is Pennington, Cora. People have called me Penn since high school. And you’ve called me Penn since the day you met me. No sense in stopping now.”

  It was a simple, honest statement. When Drew and I had decided to go in search of Lisa’s killer, we’d thought the best plan of action was for me not to walk in with the name of her next of kin. Penn was the logical choice.

  But something about my correcting her had lit her on fire.

  Her eyes flashed wide, and I could see it burrowing to the surface. I didn’t know what it was or when it was going to break free, but it was coming and it was going to be huge.

  “No sense in stopping now,” she mumbled to herself.

  “Nope,” I replied.

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “No sense, huh? None. Not at all.”

  I mirrored her position, spreading my legs shoulder-width apart, bracing for impact. “Nada.”

  Her shoulders squared and her neck strained. Swear to God, I think her face vibrated for a second, and then all of a sudden, the ticking time bomb inside her detonated. “It’s your fucking name! You are not Penn Walker. You are not my boyfriend. You are nothing but a fraud.” She slapped a hand over her mouth.

  This was not how that conversation was supposed to end. The shower, absolutely. But not with her breaking down again. I’d only had her back not even a day, and she’d spent the majority of it crying. Maybe I shouldn’t have come back at all.

  But fuck that. She was mine.

  Shane.

  Penn.

  Whoever I became in the next life. Cora was always mine.

  My anger erupted as well. “How am I a fraud?”

  “Oh, let me count the ways. Skiing, MIT…” She opened her arms wide and spun in a circle. “This place. My Penn was content sitting on a ratty couch with me. My Penn spent roughly nine percent of his weekly income on cupcakes for me and my girls. My Penn wore tattered jeans and boots.”

  I made a show of looking down at my workout clothes. “This is hardly a suit.”

  “How much did those shorts cost, Shane?”

  “Stop fucking calling me Shane.”

  “It’s your name! If you want me to accept this new you, then you have to accept it too.”

  I sucked in what I hoped would be a calming breath. It wasn’t. Not in the least. If anything, those few seconds gave me a pause to think. “So let me get this straight. You’re pissed that I have a hobby, a college degree, and money?”

  “I’m pissed because the last few months have been nothing but a ruse, and I fell in love with a man who doesn’t exist.”

  I planted my hands on my hips and then whispered ominously, “Oh, I exist, Cora.” I took a long step toward her, fully expecting her to back away, but she held her ground. And with a few more strides, I made it my ground too. With one hand, I found her hip. The other went to the back of her neck, tipping her head to force her gaze to meet mine.

  My frustration ebbed as I took in her pink and tear-stained cheeks, but the moment those life-altering blue eyes of hers landed on mine, she robbed me of all anger.

  Sliding my hand around to cup her cheek, I used my thumb to clear the dampness beneath her eyes. “I know I exist because for the four years before I met you and for the weeks since I lost you, I didn’t want to. My sole purpose for the last few years has been to make Thomas pay for what he did to Lisa—even before I knew who he was. I breathed because I had to. My heart beat because it had to. I put food in my body because I had to. But it was all just a means to an end. And then I met you. Cora, baby, one minute in that tiny-ass bathroom with you and I more than existed. I was alive again.”

  I didn’t wait. I didn’t ask for permission. I just kissed her.

  Hard and long. Slow and reverent.

  My mouth didn’t open.

  And neither did hers.

  But it was by far the deepest kiss I’d ever offered her.

  It was filled with apology.

  Hope.

  Gratitude.

  Regret.

  It was words unspoken.

  Lies unraveled.

  Lost and found.

  I kissed Cora with the truth—all of it—for the very first time.

  She pulled away first, but she didn’t go far.

  “Penn,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes again.

  Relief flooded my veins. “I’m right here.” I caught her wrist and guided her hand up to rest over my heart. “It’s me. It’s still me.”

  “I want to go home,” she cried. “Something has to make sense again. I just want to go home.”

  I’d pushed her too hard. Too fast. Too much. She’d asked for time, but I’d been so hell-bent on getting her back that I hadn’t properly considered the emotional and physical toll all of this would take on her.

  Lies were light and fluffy. Made to order. Easy to digest. Impossible to hold on to.

  But the truth was dense. A boulder made of magnets, the Earth being the north to its south. The truth could crush a person with nothing more than reality.

  And right then, as she face-planted into my chest, it was crushing us both.

  Movement caught my eyes, pulling my attention up. Our little altercation had drawn a crowd. Drew, Savannah, River, Isabel, and Catalina were all standing in the hall, concern blazing in their eyes.

  I looked at Drew first. “I need the bedroom.”

  “Yeah. Sure. Go for it,” he said, stepping out of the way.

  She wanted Penn. She wanted comfort. She wanted something to feel normal again.

  I could do that.

  “Close your eyes,” I whispered.

  When she didn’t object, I put an arm at the back of her legs and lifted her off her feet.

  River’s eyes were wide as I carried her broken mother toward my bedroom.

  “It’s okay,” I mouthed to her.

  She nodded, unconvinced.

  Just before I shut the bedroom door, Savannah—God bless that kid—grabbed her arm and chirped, “I smell bacon. Let’s go check it out.”

  When the door clicked, I set Cora onto her feet and kissed her forehead. “Stay there. I’ll be right back.”

  After shoving the nightstand and the armchair into a corner, I snatched all the blankets off the bed and then dragged the mattress onto the floor. On my way to the linen closet in the bathroom, I pulled the curtains tight, blocking out as much of the early morning sun as I could. I didn’t have a quilt like the one Cora had used on her bed, but there was a thin blanket that would be close enough.

  I spread it out on the mattress and then sank to my knees. “I don’t have stars. But I’m here, Cora. We’re here. Me and you.”

  She opened her eyes, chin quivering as she attempted a smile. “Penn.”

  Soft as a feather, that one syllable swept over me.

  “C’mere, Cor.”


  The next beat, she was in my arms, her face buried in my neck.

  I juggled her into our talking position: me on my back, her head resting on my shoulder, her thigh draped across my hips, her hand resting on my stomach.

  And only then did I exhale.

  This whole blast from the past was supposed to be for her. But the soft floral scent of her shampoo filled my senses and carried me back to her apartment too. My body sagged, truly relaxing for the first time in weeks.

  “Truth or lie?” I murmured against the top of her head.

  “I don’t want to play anymore.”

  “Fine. Then listen to me play. I told you all that stuff in the kitchen because I thought you wanted me to tell you about the man I used to be. I was trying to be as honest as possible, not leaving anything out. But, clearly, I left out the parts you needed to hear most. The parts where I’ve always been Penn. And I always will be.”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “That’s bullshit. Penn wouldn’t ski.”

  Yes. That’s what she said.

  She was having a nervous breakdown because I liked to ski.

  It made me an asshole, but I laughed. “Yeah, he fucking would, Cora. He’d rent a cabin with his best friend, Drew. Get sloshed on whiskey, lose a bet, go down the bunny slope on a sled in nothing but his underwear, and then wake up the next morning to ride the lift to the highest run, hoping to catch an adrenaline high on the way down.”

  Her head snapped up like I’d offended her. “Oh my God, Shane wears underwear?”

  I laughed again, even when I felt her shooting daggers at me with her eyes. “Shane was twenty-four in that story. His mother lived around the corner and still did his laundry twice a week. Trust me, if you had to listen to my mom talk about the scrotal benefits of men wearing underwear each time she didn’t find any in the hamper, you’d put them on too.”

  She peered up at me, no longer mad but rather oddly confused. “There are scrotal benefits to wearing underwear?”

  I grinned. “None that I’ve found. Though if you want to spend this time scouring the internet to ensure my cock is in tip-top condition, I’ll be happy to wait.”

  Her confusion morphed into a glare. And I fucking loved it.

  Because she didn’t look sad anymore.

  “Okay, so that was your question, and before you argue, I let you get two. So it’s my turn. Truth or lie: Why do you want to be an accountant?”

  “I told you I wasn’t playing.” She sat up, crisscrossing her legs in front of her like a barrier. One I ignored as I scooted over until her knees hit my side.

  I draped an arm over her legs and gave her thigh a squeeze. “Yeah, but then you asked a question and I answered, so as stated in the Truth or Lie rulebook, that means you are bound to at least one round of ten questions.”

  She looked at me like I’d sprouted a second head, but that was fine by me.

  Because she still didn’t look sad.

  “There is no Truth or Lie rulebook. I made up the rules. And nowhere does it say asking about scrotal benefits locks you into a round of ten questions.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “Wow, you are really obsessed with my cock.”

  Her mouth fell open, and it was all I could do not to drag her down and kiss her breathless.

  Because not only did she not look sad—her cheeks flashed a sexy pink.

  She cut her gaze away. “If you’re trying to prove to me that you’re still Penn, you might want to stop smiling and making jokes and scowl at me a little more.”

  “I’ve turned a new leaf. Nothing to scowl about when I’ve got you.”

  This time, not only was she not sad.

  Her lips actually started to tip up at the corners.

  “Oh, was the other side of this leaf covered in cheesy lines?”

  I reached up and tugged on the ends of her blond hair. “Maybe. Is it working?”

  And then it happened.

  She laughed.

  And it was so intoxicating that I laughed too.

  The joke wasn’t that funny.

  It was actually pretty damn stupid. But it was a brief moment of happiness in the middle of a nightmare. I’d embrace it for as long as I could.

  She was still laughing when she flopped down beside me onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. “You’re ridiculous.”

  Shifting to my side to face her, I propped my head in my hand with an elbow to the bed. “You’re right. I am. And not because I’m Penn or Shane. They’re the same person, Cora. It’s just me. We all have different facets to our personalities.” I dipped low and brushed her lips. “And every single one of mine is in love with you. Cora the grizzly den mother. Cora the soon-to-be accountant. Cora the mother. Cora the chocolate addict. Cora the four-tablespoons-of-beer-and-she’s-drunk. Cora the beautiful. Cora the stressed-out. Cora the sad. Cora the happy. I love absolutely all of them.”

  She blinked at me, her face unreadable.

  So much had happened in the last day that I knew she had to be overwhelmed.

  But I couldn’t take the limbo anymore.

  Our journey through hell was far from over. Thomas was still alive. Drew was rip-roaring and ready to go after him. And Catalina was hell-bent about going to the cops. Having some sort of resolution between the two of us would have gone miles in easing the pressure in my chest.

  “Say something,” I whispered, my heart pounding until I feared she could hear it. “Snatch off the Band-Aid. Whatever it is, just say it.”

  Her eyes got soft, and while she didn’t make a sound, I saw her whole body sigh.

  Hope sang in my veins.

  And then the tiniest of tiny smiles tipped her lips. “I was right. Your new leaf really was covered in cheesy lines.”

  I narrowed my eyes, but seeing as to how I’d never smiled so wide in my entire life, I didn’t figure it packed any heat. “Were you always this big of a smartass?”

  She nodded, inching toward me until her chest became flush with mine, her soft body molding around me. “Yeah. It’s one of my better facets.”

  “What’s one of the worst, then?”

  She shrugged. “My taste in men.”

  “Ouch.”

  She giggled, snuggling in close.

  “You never answered my question about why you picked accounting.”

  “I’m good with numbers. It’s an honest living. And it’s boring as hell.”

  “Yeah. I could use some boring right about now.”

  She hummed but said nothing else.

  I stared up at the ceiling in that bedroom, counting her breaths.

  One in. One out.

  As the minute hand ticked, her body became limp and her breathing evened out.

  I’d wanted to talk more. Nothing had been resolved.

  But she wasn’t sad anymore.

  She was cuddled into my side, comfortable enough to finally doze off. Trusting me enough to hold her as she did it.

  That in and of itself was further than any conversation was going to get us right then.

  And she was cuddled into my side, so this made me comfortable enough to finally doze off too.

  Cora

  The sound of her angry snarl ripped me from sleep. I bolted upright, and Penn lurched to his feet before his eyes had even opened.

  “Get your fucking hands off me!” Catalina yelled from the other side of our bedroom door.

  I didn’t fully process the what, when, or where of what was going on outside. But I knew the who and darted toward her voice.

  Penn grabbed my arm, pulling me up short, roughly whispering, “What are you doing? Someone could be out there.”

  I opened my mouth to say, Yeah, Catalina.

  But he lifted a finger to his lips and ordered around it, “Shhhh… Stay here.”

  That would have been fine and dandy if he hadn’t magically produced a gun.

  What the hell…

  “Penn, wait.”

  He glared at me impatiently and snapped his finger before poin
ting deeper into the room. “Get. Back.”

  I wasn’t fond of the whole “snapping and telling me what to do” thing, but I was quite attached to my pulse. If he was right about someone being out there, Penn had a gun and I had morning breath.

  I was stubborn but not stupid.

  Stepping away, I vowed to discuss the snap with him later, like when I was cutting vegetables with a very large knife—assuming I made it that long.

  Silently twisting the knob, he cracked the door and peeked out.

  I held my breath, my hand at my star as I started doing the math on where River could be in the apartment. I’d vaguely remembered seeing her and Savannah in the hall just before my countless emotional breakdown of the day.

  Then my back shot ramrod straight as Drew’s growl floated into the room.

  “You need to chill the hell out.”

  Penn’s shoulders sagged and he blew out a ragged exhale, yanking the door open. “Jesus fucking Christ. What the hell are you two bickering about?”

  Relief surged through me—prematurely.

  “Oh, good. You’re awake,” Cat snapped, pushing past Penn. Her brown eyes landed on me, the light from the hall revealing an alarming amount of anxiety. “Get your shoes. We’re leaving.”

  “The hell you are,” Penn rumbled.

  “You guys can have Thomas,” she told Penn. “Kill him. Skin him alive. Hang him from the courthouse steps, I don’t give a damn.” She pointed at me. “But she and I, and all the kids, are leaving. Now.”

  My stomach twisted. Catalina wasn’t known to be dramatic. She hurt, she cried, but she wasn’t Debbie Doomsday. So whatever had set her off had to be bigger than big, and it made me nauseated before I even knew what it was.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. Penn moved to my side, his arm going around my stiff shoulders, but I only had eyes for Catalina. “Tell me.”

  She looked at Penn’s possessive hold on me and flashed Drew a pointed glance before starting in. “Early this morning, a judge granted my father a temporary release to attend his sons’ funeral. As of twenty minutes ago, the correctional officer who was guarding him was found dead, with no sign of Manuel anywhere. It’s all over the news. A full manhunt is underway.”

  My head spun as the blood drained from my face. Penn was there to keep me on my feet, but who was going to keep the world from falling out of orbit beneath us all?