Page 112

I half-laugh, but the sound dies in my throat. Because it isn’t his arm I’m staring at. It’s the woman next to it.Her.

And last night all comes flooding back. Selena’s pointed words, the look in West’s eyes when I threw his past at him, the way we ripped each other apart in the library.

And the sex. The frantic, animalistic sex. We got to the hotel, fell asleep in the same bed, but it feels like nothing is really resolved.

Truth is, I don’t even know if his conference calls are a ruse to avoid talking to me. All I do know is that I can’t let him freeze me out again.

“Hey, are you okay?” Bennett asks, his voice cutting through my thoughts. I force a smile onto my face, but it sits strangely. Like it doesn’t belong there.

“I’m just…” I shake my head. “I don’t know.”

“Did you and West have an argument?”

God, he’s perceptive. “Kind of. Not really.” I roll my shoulders. “I think I’m just nervous. We’ve agreed to tell my brothers about us when we get back to Liberty.”

“Hoo boy. Are you scared about that?”

“Yeah, a bit.” I pick up a piece of toast I don’t want, breaking it into crumbs. “I guess it’s all just feeling very real right now.”

“It’s going to be okay though, right? Your family loves you. They’ll be happy for you, right? That you fell in love and ran off together?” He frowns. “Although, no, I guess they won’t. Not since you’ve lied to them.”

His words are like another turn of the screw. I’m knotted so tight I’m not sure I’ll ever breathe properly again.

And much to Bennett’s complete panic, I start to tear up.Shit. Not again. Why am I like this? I never cry, not really. And yet this is the second time in two days.

He leans forward, his eyes wide. “Are you on your period?” he asks. “Because when my mom had her period she was alwaysupset. I used to get her chocolate. That always helped. Want me to find some for you?”

That makes the tears spill over. God, this is humiliating. People are starting to look at us, waiters whispering as they sweep past with silver coffee pots. I shake my head, covering my face with my hand.

“Eden, hey,” Bennett says quickly, panicked, pushing a napkin across the table like it’s a life raft. “Don’t cry. Please. I’m useless with this stuff. I don’t… I don’t know what to do.”

“You don’t have to do anything,” I choke out, voice raw. “It’s not you. It’s me. It’s this whole… stupid mess.”

He frowns, clearly out of his depth. “Mess?”

And that’s when I know it’s too late to pull it back. The words are already on my tongue, wishing to be spoken. I need somebody to confide in. And although Bennett looks like he’d rather be pulling his hair out than listening to me, he’s the only one here.

“West and I didn’t get married because we were in love,” I whisper, low enough so he’s the only one that can hear. “We got married because I screwed up and West had to clean it up.”

Bennett swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. And then I unload everything onto the poor kid. The arrest, the walk of shame through the casino. The marriage that was never meant to be real.

“And the stupid thing is, I’m so in love with him it hurts,” I tell him.

“He loves you too, right?” he asks, looking completely confused.

I think about last night. About the way he keeps hiding parts of him from me. “I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I think he cares. I know he likes the sex.”

Bennett’s eyes widen.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. People like confiding in me.” He shrugs. “I just have that kind of face.”

Before I can reply, I feel a prickle on the back of my neck.

I don’t even have to turn around to know West is here, but I do anyway. He’s crossing the dining room, jacket slung over one shoulder, his stride easy but commanding, like the whole place bends around him.

His gaze meets mine from across the room and my stomach flips, heat rushing through me the way it always does when he’s near. Even after last night, even after everything, one look and I’m gone.