Page 44 of Against The Boards

Chapter Thirteen

ROXANNE

I felt bad Benny had dropped everything to drive to Canada with me. I attempted to get some work done via phone, but as soon as we hit upstate New York, the signal dropped off. I had been pretty quiet since we crossed the border, but that was partly because I was tired of fighting with Benny. I was a bitch earlier when he was trying to be nice to me.

“I’m sorry if I ruined your plans tonight,” I said.

“No plans! I was gonna get a drink with Fi and Riley. They wanted you to come too, but they understood when I told them what was going on.”

I winced. “Shit, I’m sorry. You didn’t have to come with me.”

He shook his head. “It’s fine. I’m sure they’re fucking each other’s brains out, anyway.”

I nearly choked at that.

He turned to me with a smirk on his face when we hit a red light. “Did I tell you I lived with them for a little before moving in with your brother?”

“Nope.”

He hit the gas when the light turned and made a right turn onto Lisa’s street. It was still early afternoon, so I was hoping she wasn’t home yet. Maybe her new girlfriend or whatever would let us in. Fat chance of that since she demanded I come get my stuff today. I had a feeling she and the woman she cheated with weren’t together anymore anyway. When I found them together, the other woman didn’t know Lisa had a girlfriend or that we lived together. She felt bad, but I was too angry to consider that Lisa had done both of us wrong.

“Yeah…” Benny trailed off. “They aren’t subtle or know how to be quiet.”

“Oh my God!”

“That’s why I went to Boston as soon as our season was over.”

I laughed too hard at that. My phone buzzed in my pocket and distracted me from saying anything else.

LISA: Are you coming?

ME: We’re almost here.

LISA: We?

I looked up from my phone and eyed Benny’s profile. How pissed would she be if she found out I was dating him? So pissed. Especially since she insinuated I enjoyed fighting with the man whenever I complained about him. I didn’t want her back; I wanted to move on. The fact I had hopped into bed with him already meant I was ready to move on. Not with him but with someone else down the line.

Benny parked in one of the visitor spots at Lisa’s apartment complex and turned off the engine. He caught me looking at him. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Um…so how do you feel about being my fake boyfriend?” I asked.

He laughed. “What?”

“Pretend to be my boyfriend in front of my ex-girlfriend, please?” I begged.

He shook his head with a laugh but then nodded. I grinned and squeezed his bicep in thanks. I went back to my phone to respond to Lisa.

ME: My new boyfriend. Are you home? We’re here to pick up my stuff.

LISA: Yeah.

Oh, one-word answer. Yeah, she was pissed. I complained about Benny anytime my brother was in town or I went to visit him, so Lisa knew I couldn’t stand him. I wondered how she would react to him being my boyfriend. I hated to admit this because I had loved Lisa, but sometimes she could be biphobic. She never liked that I liked men. Not everyone who was bi was attracted to men, but I was.

Benny came up behind me when I got out of his SUV and gently guided me towards the entrance of the apartment building. My heart jumped into my throat at his touch, and I had to remind myself to breathe. I hit the buzzer for Lisa’s apartment and opened the door when she let us in. Benny followed me to the elevator, and once inside, I hit the button for Lisa’s floor.

“How much stuff do you have?” he asked, cutting through the tension.

I shrugged. “Not a lot. My books and hockey stuff.”