The last time I saw Benji Collins, I was shoving my underwear into my purse during the world’s most awkward silence while he looked on from his rock-hard mattress.
He still had his dick out.
After I left, I cried in my car for five minutes.
Not because of his dick, although it had brought me to tears a couple of times. No, my gut knew something I wouldn’t learn for a few more days. We were over, and the man I’d fallen in love with would soon rip my heart out with his big, beautiful, bare hands.
I’d been certain that Benji was acting off, no matter how many times he said he was okay, but I talked myself out of pushing him. All relationships hit road bumps. We would talk about it later, and that would be that. Except I never saw him again. By the time the weekend was over, Benji had left town.
That was a year ago.
Tonight, thankfully, his dick is out of sight, hidden under a pair of black pants and a loose white linen shirt that’s open at the collar and way too sexy to be any type of fair. It’s a huge change from his usual flannel and jeans. With his cuffs turned up and tanned skin on display, my body can’t work out if it wants to swoon or self-destruct.
Double fuck.Why does he always have to look like the best part of every room?
“Paige? Helloooooo? You know if I wanted to spendthe night talking to myself, I would have gone to see my parents.”
Skye’s voice breaks me out of my Benji-induced haze.
“Change of plans. I’m going home.” I have to go before he sees me.
What the hell is he even doing here? He’s meant to be cuddling with his ex, thousands of miles away. Not that I care. I don’t even think about him anymore.
I don’t.
I just need to leave for other totally unrelated reasons.
“What? Noooo.”
“Skye,” I hiss, “Benji’s here.”
“Oh, that slimy motherfucker. How dare he show his face?! I’m gonna come there and kill him.”
There’s enough of a crowd now that Benji can’t see me from the entrance, but there’s no way to slip out without him noticing. I’m frozen in place.
“At least do it where there are less witnesses.”
“You’re right. It’ll be much easier when he’s least expecting it.”
Kind of like how he left me, I think bitterly.
“Are you really going to leave?”
“I can’t stay. What if he comes over here?”
Fuck, what if we get paired together?
“But you promised me.”
I did, and I can’t break a promise.
“You need to stop hiding inside and go meet some people,” she continues. “You spend all your time at home or at the shop.”
“I love our shop.”
“So do I, but I also love having a life outside of it.”
“I have a life.” Except I don’t, and we both know it.
