I shook my head, grabbing a towel to clean up the mess. At least I hadn’t ruined the cupcake itself. “Not your fault. I was in la-la land apparently.” A la-la land where all I could think about was Cope’s hands and—nope, nope, nope.I could not go there.
Thea rounded the worktable so she faced me head-on. “Are you okay?”
“Sure,” I said, trying to refocus on my decorating. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you moved in with a bossy hockey player a few weeks ago and haven’t shared one tidbit of info with me. Yourbestfriend. And then he loseshisfriend, and you run off to Seattle to go to the funeral with him, andstillno info for your bestest friend. And finally, I had to see all over sports and gossip blogs alike that you two lookedextremelycozy leaving the church. And still, you haven’t said a word.”
I didn’t shoot frosting across the table this time. I dropped the bag altogether, the blood draining from my face. “There are pictures of us?”
I knew the photographers had been there, but I’d hoped they were taking shots of the players and that I would simply be in the background.
Thea’s brow furrowed as she pulled out her phone. “Lots of speculation on the two of you.”
My hand shook as I took the device from her.Copeland Colson Gets Cozy with Mystery Woman. There we were, front and center on the gossip blog. The text below touched on the fight between Marcus and Cope, even going so far as to question if it was about me.
“Why are these people so awful?” I muttered.
“Trust me, I’m not a fan of the paps or the vicious sites they feed. But I didn’t read anything too bad.”
Thea would understand better than most. She had a history with a famous actor who’d been far from golden. One who had almost ruined her life.
She moved around the table until she was at my side. “What’s going on?”
My throat burned. I couldn’t lie to her, not after everything she’d shared with me. But I couldn’t get myself to give her the whole truth either. “I just—I don’t want my photo getting out there. There are a few people I’d rather not know where I am.”
Thea stiffened beside me. “Luca’s dad?”
I nodded. “He’s one of them.”
“Did he hurt you? I swear to God, I will castrate him with a rusty spork if he?—”
“A spork, huh?” I asked, trying to inject some levity back into our conversation. But Thea didn’t take the bait.
“Sutton.”
“He didn’t hurt me. Not in the way you think.”
Thea didn’t look appeased. “I know there is more than one way to inflict pain.”
Unease settled in my gut. “He wasn’t abusive in any way. He’s an addict. Got hooked after an injury, and that disease ripped our whole world apart. He got mixed up with some bad people, and I needed to get Luca and me far away.”
There. I’d said it. It was the most I’d opened up in years.
Memories pressed against all the walls I’d carefully constructed in my mind. The blow to my ribs and the blinding pain that followed. The burn when my lip split. The worry that the men would do so much worse.
“Sutton,” Thea whispered, her hand covering mine.
“I’m okay,” I croaked. “I just don’t like going back there. Remembering. Luca and I got a fresh start when we came here, and I want to keep it that way.”
Thea’s fingers curled around my hand, squeezing. “Okay. Just tell me, does Cope know?”
I shook my head. “Why would he?”
“Maybe because you two have been attached at the hip for almost a month now, and he looks at you like you’re the sun, moon, and stars all wrapped into one.”
My heart hammered against my ribs. “He does not.”
Thea sent me a droll look. “Girl, you know I love you, but I am not going to play idiot so you can pretend you two haven’t gotten thick as thieves.”
