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Piper watches them as well, then looks down at her ring. She bites her lip before turning to me, eyes glittering like the stone that’s throwing light in every direction. “I still can’t believe this is happening. That he’s mine.”
My heart melts and I nod. “He is. Made sure the entire city knew it too.”
Her smile grows impossibly wider. “Yeah, he did.” Then, “You probably don’t know this, but I’ve been in love with him since I was a kid. I never thought?—”
And now I’m pretty sure my eyes are glittering too. “I remember thinking you were pretty cute with your crush, but I didn’t realize how deep it went.”
She cocks her head. “I wanted it to go away. For years. I hated that I couldn’t get past my feelings. And then… finally.”
And then finally it’s like you can breathe. I understand better than she knows. “You got your happily ever after. I’m so happy for you, Piper.”
“Me too. Thank you.” She pulls me in for a hug that leaves me feeling emotional and messy. Joyful. Bittersweet. “Now if Ben would grow out of his epic fuck-boy phase, my mother will finally be able to rest.”
And that’s just the reminder I need, at just the right moment too. “I haven’t seen it firsthand, but he said he doesn’t date.” And then there’s all the gossip.
“Understatement.”
I laugh. “That bad?”
There’s no way.
She leans back with a sigh. “Worse. The stories— and they won’t even tell me all of them because I’m his sister. But they’re bad.”
I’m skeptical. “They’re stories, though. Gossip. I’ve got to think most of that is exaggeration and rumor, right?” No way would I believe everything I’ve heard about him.
“I mean, the stuff I’m talking about is from his teammates and the WAGs, not those gross bunny sites. There was this couch.” She makes a little gaggy face and leans in to whisper, “They had to burn it after.”
I blink. “After what?”
“Ben and the bunnies.”
I blink again, but maybe it’s my eye twitching. “Like, plural? How many bunnies?”
“A herd of them? Don’t know. Again… little sister.”
I look back at where Ben is standing with his friends, remember this man when we were eighteen. The way he gasped and fisted the earth when I put my mouth on him the first time. How his brows shot high in astonishment and then gradually pulled low, knitting together as he watched me like I was delivering an agonizing kind of pleasure that needed his utmost attention. Like he was committing every second to memory.
The way he moved heaven and earth to repay the favor again and again.
Ben’s an adventurous, creative guy. But needing to burn a couch… is intense.
“I know it’s got to be kind of weird when the last time you guys hung out, he was Mr. Commitment, looking at forever with Whatshername.”
Celia.
“A little.” And then, I ask the question I don’t ever let myself think about. “Do you think it’s because of her?”
“The she-devil?” Piper taps her lips, eyes squinting. “I mean, she messed him up, bad. No question about that. But if you’re asking whether he got over the girl he was planning to marry…”
Why am I holding my breath? It doesn’t matter to me, doesn’t play into my life plans. But somehow it feels a little like it does.
“… I honestly don’t know. The fact that he won’t even say her name suggests some baggage, but that’s also just kind of a Ben thing. My bet is that he just isn’t quite ready to settle down yet, is all. Few more years though? Who knows.”
“Maybe.”
9
Ben
