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About three months in, I finally got the balls to ask, “So are we dating?”
She’d sent me a look that told me she thought that was the stupidest question ever, before answering with a very clear, succinct, “No.”
Alrighty then.
I hadn’t brought the issue up again.
Some nights, I would close her refrigerator on a pout and say, “There’s nothing to eat here. Let’s go out and grab some food.”
But she’d counter with, “Let’s just order something in, instead.”
She made sure to never do anything with me that could be construed as a real date, never went out in public with me, alone, never told me how she felt about me, never let the family in on the fact that we’d become exclusive fuck buddies. Never made it official.
She didn’t even tell Gracen about us. And I’m not sure why; he was her best friend and confidant. She told him everything. At least, she used to. I didn’t think he’d get all macho, big brother on me or anything. I mean, there would be teasing if he knew. Lots of teasing. But that would’ve been no big deal. So honestly, why wouldn’t she even tell him?
I knew her breakup with Ethan had been pretty sour. It had left her not trusting men and relationships in general, so I decided not to push or take it personally. She had issues to work through and wasn’t ready for anything more. But it still kind of stung that she wasn’t able to trust me. I should’ve been different. We’d known each other our whole lives.
If all she needed was time, though, I could give her time. She was worth the wait.
For Bella, I could be patient.
Meanwhile, the sex was awesome. Which meant, these days, I went over pretty much every free chance there was between us. That meant I could go from a week straight of staying over nightly to not being able to see her for almost two weeks. But we texted daily, either way, so I already knew she had no plans tonight.
Whenever she started to complain that I was eating her out of house and home, I would show up the next time with groceries, and we’d usually eat push pops off each other in bed the rest of the night.
I was wondering if I should pull into a drive-through somewhere when my phone rang.
That was probably her, wondering where the hell I was.
Yeah, my woman was demanding because she could never get enough of me. It was epic.
But I got a surprise when I discovered it was my brother-in-law on the other end of the line, though.
“Hey, do you think you could come over and stay with Braiden for the next couple of hours? Bentley’s not feeling so well, and we’re just going to get her checked out, okay?”
His voice sounded off, and he was being evasive. Beau was never evasive. He was usually a little too direct. So I was immediately on alert.
“Of course,” I said, already turning at the next intersection to change my course and head toward their place. “What’s going on?”
It was too late for any regular doctor’s office to be open. That meant they had to be going to some emergency care, which also meant...
My sister needed immediate help.
“Just—” Beau let out an aggravated sound, like he was stressed, worried, and annoyed all in one. “Everything will be okay,” he added. “But don’t ask her any questions or tell anyone else about this just yet. She’s not ready for that, alright?”
“Um…” That did not help ease my worries in the least.
What the fuck was wrong with Bentley?
But all I said was, “Okay,” and I stepped on the gas, driving a little faster to get there.
When I arrived, I dashed up the front walk and rang the bell. Footsteps sounded on the other side, and I heard Beau’s muffled voice through the door. “…Ectopic pregnancy, yes, that’s right. But I think it’s too late to save…”
The door opened. Beau looked like hell as he talked on the phone and waved me in.
“Come in through the east door? Okay, got it. We’ll be there in a bit. Thanks.”
He barely spared me a glance as he hung up and turned toward the opening of the hallway.
