Corbin (The Theriot Family)

“I did, but that was because I knew this was exactly what you needed.”

“You’re avoiding the subject. I want to know what’s going on.”

Fuck. Why did he pick now to assert himself and get pushy?

I took his hands and tugged as I rose to my feet. Once we were both standing, I tucked my cock back in and did up my pants, then I reached to do the same for him, but he pushed my hands away, scowling at me as he fastened himself back up.

“You were really hoping for more?” I asked.

He glared at me. “If I want more, I’ll get it.”

I couldn’t stop my smile. “There’s my confident little brat.”

“That’s—” I cut off his protests by scooping him into my arms. He struggled against me for a moment, but once I settled back into the chair, he tucked himself around me and laid his head on my shoulder.

“Isn’t this more comfortable?”

“You know it is, asshole.”

I hadn’t planned to tell him more, but the words began to spill from me. “The day you picked up Remington’s SUV, I took delivery of a car I was going to fix up and put on the market.”

Corbin listened, teeth sunk into his bottom lip, which let me know he was concentrating hard on my words.

“There was a dead body in the car. A former friend of mine, the man responsible for setting me up and sending me to prison.”

“Oh fuck.”

“Yeah. I still don’t know who killed him or who arranged for his body to end up at my place, but given its condition, they’d been holding on to it for a while.”

Corbin grimaced. I was sure he’d seen a dead body. He could hardly be in the job he was in and not have, no matter how sheltered he’d been, but I could tell he didn’t like thinking about it.

“The hat under the bathroom sink. Was it his?”

The memory came flooding back—me scared to death that when I saw the corpse’s face it was going to be Travis, then grabbing the hat off the body once I knew it wasn’t. I’d hidden the hat under the sink and never dealt with it. How could I be so fucking stupid? “What were you doing looking under the sink?”

“Trying to find some kind of cleaner that would get the damn grease off my fingers. I wanted to ask you about the hat, but I didn’t want to piss you off.”

I laughed despite the tension of the moment. “You’ve been doing nothing but trying to piss me off since we met.”

“Not tonight.”

“Fine. Tonight you were just making me horny as fuck.”

“So the hat was your former friend’s?”

I shook my head. “The hat was on the body, but it didn’t belong to Rob. It was…” Did I really want to tell Corbin this much? I hadn’t talked to anyone about my brother since I’d gotten my freedom back.

“Whose?”

“My brother’s.”

“Oh God. So you thought…”

“That the body was my brother’s? Yeah, I did. Until I forced myself to look at the face. I never meant to leave the hat at the shop.”

Corbin dismissed that with a wave of his hand. “What did you do with the body?”

“I took care of the problem.” I wasn’t going to give him details, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to mention Ambrose’s involvement.

“Was someone trying to set you up?”

“I assumed that, but either they realized that wasn’t going to work when no one mentioned the body and it disappeared, or it was just another warning.”

Corbin seemed to ponder that for several moments. “And you don’t know who’s behind it?”

“Not yet. I have a few suspects, but the only thing I know for sure is that it’s someone who’s afraid to make an open move. They’re hoping I’ll get scared and take off or they’ll get me arrested.”

“I can help you look into it,” Corbin said. “I have a lot of connections.”

“I know. I may have to turn to your family, but I’m trying to deal with this on my own.”

Corbin cupped my cheek and brushed his thumb over my skin. “You don’t have to. I really want to help you.”

I smiled. I could tell how sincere he was, and it brought warmth to my chest. My heart had finally slowed down after my intense orgasm, but now it sped up again.

“You’d have to trust me, and I know—”

I reached for him, pulling him down for a kiss. “If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have told you any of this.”

Corbin smiled then, and it made him achingly beautiful. He rose from the chair and tugged on my hands. I let him pull me to my feet. “If you won’t let me do anything else right now, then I can distract you. Come on. My bedroom’s upstairs.”

When I forced myself to my feet, I started to pull my hands back, but he swayed, and I realized he needed the support.