Chapter Twenty-Five
Kinley / Present
I stare at the email exchange for another ten minutes without saying a single word. Nothing but the harsh drum of my heartbeat fills the room, my ears pounding until my temples nearly explode from the migraine forming.
I knew—we knew there were risks.
This is a termination of contract notice between (publisher) ONE HOUSE UNITED and (author) KINLEY THOMAS. Official termination documentation will arrive within thirty days of the initial notice.
Closing my eyes, I let the tears strain behind my pinched lids fighting for release. But I don’t want to spill tears over something I should have seen a mile away. This was always going to be the endgame with them.
The knock on the door is ignored.
Same with the second.
By the third, Corbin doesn’t care. He walks into my office and kneels beside me, rubbing my back and asking what’s wrong. We both got reprimanded by the people who represent us after Corbin’s impromptu statement, which has gone viral on every single site it’s been featured on.
His soft curse tells me he read what’s stretched across the screen of my laptop. The hand rubbing circles into my back trails up to my shoulder, squeezing it before he tugs my body into his. “Baby…”
The tears pour out of me as soon as his arms wrap around me and hold me against his chest. I drown his shirt with my anger and guilt and sadness and defeat, and he takes it all. Brushing his fingers through my hair, he kisses the top of my head and says nothing while I let it all out.
Words won’t help anyway.
We stay like that for a while, and I don’t know how Corbin’s knees don’t hurt from being in a squatted position for so long. But because I need his warmth, his comfort, I don’t dwell on it.
Sniffing back more tears, I pull away when my cell phone rings and Jamie’s name flashes across it. My lips waver as Corbin nods at me, pulling away but staying right where I need him by my side.
“Kinley,” she greets in a distant tone.
Wiping off my face with the back of my shirt sleeve, I force in a deep breath. “I should have known this would happen.”
She clears her throat. “Yes, well…” She knows it too, so she doesn’t even bother trying to tell me otherwise. “I spoke to my contact there and they felt the negative attention surrounding you was going to impact sales. I’m sorry, Kinley. I know how much you wanted that deal.”
Blinking back tears and swiping away the ones sticking to my lashes, all I can do is shrug. It isn’t like I can blame them for terminating me because their reasoning makes perfect sense. “I don’t know what happens now,” I admit, voice cracking from the swell of emotion lodged in my throat.
When Jamie hesitates, I blow out a shaky breath and prepare for whatever’s coming. “I’m not sure if you read the full letter, but they’re reverting the rights and manuscript back to you. My best suggestion is to do exactly what you and Corbin told the press you were doing in the statement made the other day. Take a break. Take time off. Let things settle down. Right now, your name isn’t attached to anything good and if we try reaching out to other publishers the chances are slim you’ll get a positive response.
“This is why I always tell you to be careful, Kinley. What you say and do has consequences that impacts more than just you. I’m truly sorry that you lost the One House deal, but this also affects me and this agency. Rave Publishing hasn’t spoken up on the news since it went live, but I plan on reaching out and having a conversation with them soon. They’re making a lot of money off of your book and movie, so I doubt they’ll want to pull anything. But you need to be very cautious over the next few months, especially now that the world has seen the photos of you.”
Jaw quivering, I nod along as Corbin brushes my arm to let me know he’s there for me every step of the way. I can’t help but feel bitter over the repercussions I’ve faced compared to him. I’ve lost a book deal. Besides a woman that he never should have married, what has he lost?
That thought consumes me enough to pull away and listen to Jamie about staying off social media. Her people, once again, will handle my pages. My job is to stay quiet and take care of myself. And the baby.
So, I do.
I spend the weeks following that phone call in my room like a zombie, being watched by Corbin with a careful eye. He’d make me eat, try getting me to go outside, but couldn’t stop me from curling up in bed and ignoring the world.
When December begins, the only thing that gets me out of my house is my rescheduled appointment with Dr. Ray since my energy was depleted for the one originally scheduled in November. As soon as Corbin found out about it, he’d all but begged to go with me. And de
spite my anger, my jealousy over the situation we put ourselves in, I couldn’t say no to him when I saw his white-silver eyes flash with a newfound excitement I’d never seen before.
He wanted to go with me.
He wanted to see the baby.
He wanted to be there for us.
And that eased some of the irritation that seeped into my bones, even if the amount is microscopic. It isn’t fair to hold a grudge over decisions that he isn’t in control of. Maybe Hollywood wants to use his publicity to garner attention, while the book world wants to distance themselves from it. I’ve always known that our industries were opposite.