Chapter 24

Corey walked out of the rink and skipped past all of the autograph seekers. He had other things on his mind. He didn’t feel bad as people called after him. Most of these people were here everyday. How many autographs did they need? Probably just one. He knew that most people got multiple autographs and then sold them. He hated people like that.

He also skipped out on grabbing lunch anywhere. He just wasn’t hungry. He thought about what he was going to do with Ileana and Amelia. He knew that no matter what was going on, he needed to end things with Ileana. He wasn’t happy with her, and it had finally occurred to him that stringing her along because of her grandmother was just going to hurt her more. He also knew he had to figure out a way to make everything up to Amelia. He just wasn’t sure how he was going to do that.

He pulled into his driveway and saw Ileana’s car parked in it. He groaned, but was almost glad. He could get this over with right now and only focus on Amelia. He parked his car next to hers and walked into his house. What he saw when he walked in the door shocked him. It looked like a tornado had hit the inside of his house.

As he made his way from room to room he noticed all of them looked like that. What the hell was Ileana doing? He heard her sobs coming from down the hall and realized she was in his bedroom. He braced himself for whatever was making her cry this time and walked in. He thought he’d been shocked when he saw the rest of his house. That shock didn’t compare to this one. He felt his heart stop.

“I can’t believe this,” Ileana choked out when she saw him enter.

She’d done to his room what she’d done to the rest of his house. Only there was something in his room he’d never wanted her to find, and unfortunately she had. She was sitting on the floor in front of his dresser holding the small box that held the engagement ring he’d bought for Amelia. He didn’t know what to say or do.

“Ileana,” he started. She glanced up at him and he froze. He didn’t know what her reaction was going to be. Would it make it easier or harder to end things with her?

“I can’t believe this!” she yelled this time. She jumped up to her feet and made her way over to him. She didn’t look angry, just surprised. “I had no idea you were planning on asking me to marry you!”

Corey’s eyes widened and he felt sick to his stomach as Ileana flung her arms around him. Jesus, he’d never even considered that she’d think that. Now that he knew what she thought, he panicked. What the hell was he going to say to her?

“What the hell have you done to my house?” he asked. He wanted to avoid the topic of the ring right now until he could figure out what to do about it.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I went to see Amelia this morning. She said some things. I guess I just got mad and started going through you’re stuff. I had to know how you felt about me. I wanted to make sure you weren’t hiding anything else. Except you were. You were hiding this.” She had a smile on her face. He was frowning.

“You shouldn’t have gone to see Amelia and you have no right to go through my things!” he yelled at her in anger. Her smile began to fade.

“Corey, I’m sorry. I just freaked out. I know this probably isn’t how you wanted me to see the ring, but I did. There’s no way around it. Amelia just said-” He snatched the box out of her hand. She recoiled a little at the action.

“I don’t care what Amelia said to you! You shouldn’t have gone through my stuff!” He found himself brushing off the box as if Ileana holding it had dirtied it.

“Corey, I’m sorry. I’ll just pretend I never saw it. You can ask me on your own time, the way you wanted to,” she told him. He had a million thoughts racing through his mind.

“I need to go,” he said to her. He left her standing alone in his bedroom and walked out the front door. He made his way to his car and got in. He wasn’t thinking clearly, and he knew it, but he couldn’t stop himself.










I saw on the couch in my living room after Brianna had left. I was exhausted. Today had already been a busy day and it was only 2:00. I’d spent the last couple of hours talking to Brianna about what I should do as far as my stupidly public argument with Corey went. Then we talked about the fact that Ileana now knew and what I should do about that.

Now that she’d left I didn’t really feel any better. I still didn’t know what kind of statement was going to be released about yesterday, but Brianna said she’d talk to Zane and take care of it. I knew that whatever they said would be fine. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that was going to be fine. I felt like absolutely nothing else in my life was fine right now.

Despite what I’d said to Corey the day before, I didn’t want him out of my life completely. It was just the opposite. I was angry, and who wouldn’t be, but technically speaking I was the other woman, not Ileana. Corey had never lied to me, and I didn’t know why he’d start now with something that major.

There were three reasons running through my head that made me want to forgive Corey and give him another chance. The first was Ileana. I wanted to take Corey from her. I wanted to win. It was purely out of my hatred for her, but it still counted. The second was because I loved him and I knew I always would. That wasn’t ever going to go away.

The third reason was Brianna. She’d given me some great advice. After telling me that if it had been any other guy she would have insisted that I end things and get as far away from him as possible, she then told me that I needed to hear him out. Corey was Ryan’s best friend which meant she’d spent time with him. Even before all of this had been going on she’d known that Corey was in love with me. She said it was written all over his face every time my name came up in conversation. She also told me that Corey had told Ryan he still loved me.

We both agreed that guys didn’t always make the right decisions, but that didn’t mean they were bad guys. We also both agreed that the current situation was not something everyone experienced. That alone meant that I couldn’t just write him off forever. She also made me realize that Corey got one more chance. If he screwed up again I had to end it. Guys only get so many chances.

The sudden sound of my front door being flung open and slammed shut caused me to break out of my thoughts and jump up off the couch with a scream. My heart started to race and my breathing quickened at the adrenaline rush the shock of the noise caused. When I saw the culprit turn the corner it did nothing to make me feel better. Corey was standing there with a glare fixed right on me.

“What the hell did you say to Ileana?!” he yelled. My jaw dropped. I didn’t even know how to respond.

“Excuse me?”

“Ileana. She came here. What did you say to her?” he demanded. I paused and thought back for a second.

“Are you defending her?!” I yelled back.

“You just need to tell me what you said.” His voice was steadier this time, but he still seemed ready to snap.

“She came here, okay? She started demanding that I stay away from you. She said that you’d chosen her and I had to deal with it. I was angry.”

“Amelia,” he said impatiently. I took a deep breath.

“I told her it only took you four months to tell me you loved me when we were together. I asked her how long it took you to tell her.” I cringed as the words left my mouth. It had been a serious low blow. I almost felt bad. He let out a growl of frustration when he heard me.

“So that’s what everything was about,” he said more to himself than to me. I waited for an explanation but none came.

“What are you talking about?” I finally asked.

“She went through my stuff. All of it. She tore my house apart.” Maybe it hadn’t been right, but why the hell was he angry enough to have stormed into my house unannounced to demand to hear what I’d said to her. “She found this.”

At the last words Corey tossed something to the couch next to me. My eyes travelled down to the object. My breath caught in my throat when I saw the tiny box. I didn’t need to open it to know what was inside. My stomach lurched when realization struck me. He’d bought Ileana an engagement ring.

Everything Brianna and I had talked about earlier went out the window. You don’t buy someone you don’t love a ring. Tears built up as I realized that he’d been lying to me the whole time. I was angry at him for telling me this way, by rubbing the ring in my face. I wanted to look away from the box, to tell Corey to leave, but I couldn’t. My eyes were fixed on it.

After a while I couldn’t help myself. I picked up the box and opened it. Not that I’d thought I was wrong, but seeing the ring inside confirmed my fears. A hand flew to my mouth as I tried to stop the sobs that had begun to escape from me. The ring was beautiful. It was an enormous solitary princess cut diamond on a platinum band completely encircled with smaller diamonds. It was exactly the kind of ring I would have wanted someday.

I snapped the box closed. It was too painful to look at. Knowing that Ileana would be wearing my dream ring was too much to handle. I dropped the box to the floor in front of me and collapsed down onto the couch. My legs could no longer hold me up. I couldn’t look at Corey and I wouldn’t let myself look at the box on the floor. Instead I squeezed my eyes shut and let the tears come.

“Why would you show me that?” I choked out between sobs.

“Because that ring was meant for you.”

I snapped my head up to look at him. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. Instead I just stared at him, searching his face for any sign that would tell me if he was lying or telling me the truth. He was pacing, which made it difficult.

“She found it and now she thinks I bought it for her. I don’t know what to do. I bought that ring for you in Portland before you left and now she thinks it’s hers.”

“Oh, God,” I managed to say when I heard that.

Corey was going to propose to me in Portland? I let my head fall into my hands. He was going to propose and I left him. I thought I’d gotten it. I thought I understood how much pain I’d put him through by leaving, but I didn’t have a clue. I’d never know exactly how badly I’d hurt him. How do you recover from something like that?

“I can’t let her think that. I can’t even let her touch it. I don’t know why I still have it. For some reason I just couldn’t get rid of it when you left. I couldn’t let you go.” He was still pacing.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I never.....I’m so sorry,” I said to him. He stopped pacing and turned to look at me. Then he picked up the box.

“I have to fix things,” he said staring down at it.

“I don’t know how you could ever forgive me for what I did to you.”

“I already did. A long time ago.” Our eyes met. “I have to talk to Ileana. I have to tell her this isn’t for her and that we’re over.” My heart skipped.

“Corey, just do what’s going to make you happy. Don’t worry about anyone else.”

“I am. You make me happy, Meels. It’s always been you.”

He kissed me softly and wiped the tears from my face. He smiled at me and then turned and walked out of my house. I stared at the door long after he was gone. It took a while, but my smile eventually came. When it did, I couldn’t make it go away. Things were finally turning around.