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I brought my hands up to his chest to push him away, but I wasn’t fast enough. His mouth came down on mine in a soft, searching kiss. The connection between us was brief. As soon as my mind caught up and realized the lips kissing me didn’t belong to Jude, I shoved him away from me. He didn’t have to go. Ben was much bigger and a lot stronger. If he’d wanted to force the issue, he could have, but he let me push him away.
“I knew it,” he murmured.
“Why did you do that?” My heart beat in a frantic, desperate rhythm. “Why did you have to ruin things?”
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, never taking his eyes off me. “Are you going to tell him?”
I had to, right? I couldn’t keep this from Jude. But the thought of telling him, uttering those words, admitting another man’s mouth had touched mine, made me physically ill. I had to swallow back bile.
“Can we talk about this later?” I averted my gaze to the dust from my eyeshadow dotting the white porcelain sink. “I need to get ready.”
Seconds ticked by before Ben answered. When he did, he didn’t sound like himself. He sounded resigned and sad. “Nah, Tals. No need to talk. What’s done is done.” He left me alone in the bathroom, reeling.
Where had that come from? Why tell me about the bracelet now? My fingers flew to my lips. They felt the same, but not entirely my own anymore. Ben hadn’t hurt me, but he’d taken something I would have never offered freely.
I’d been to plenty of shows where my ass had been grabbed or some dumb punk had pressed himself against me, but this was the first time I felt truly violated. It wasn’t the act; it was who had done it. My friend.Jude’sfriend. How dare he put us in this position?
I stood here, leaning against the sink, fingering my bracelets, wanting to erase the last few minutes. Tino walked by the open door, backing up when he saw me.
“Natalia Marie, we’re leaving in five. You look spectacular in anything, but I’m thinking shorts aren’t your planned ensemble?” He gave me a pointed once over that sprung me into action.
“No, they’re not. I’ll be ready in five, though, if you’d stop harassing me.”
He snorted, waving me off. “Chop, chop, woman.”
Once I’d changed into a much cuter outfit and white Docs, we piled into Juan’s SUV. Nina and Heather were meeting us at the club along with a few other friends.
Ben stared out the window, not even acknowledging my presence.
I attempted to have a normal conversation with Juan and Tino, but my heart was barely in it. Right then, I hated Ben for ruining this night for me. The fact that he chosethisnight, Jude’s big night, told me a lot.
When we walked up to the 9:30 Club after parking, there was a line waiting to get in. We went straight to the door with our VIP passes. A mountain of a man with a shiny bald head, bushy beard, and septum piercing checked them before giving us a shockingly friendly and sweet smile…given his resting tough guy face.
Once inside, Tino leaned close. “They call him OBMF.”
I raised a questioning eyebrow. “OBMF?”
He nodded. “One Big Motherfucker.”
I huffed a short laugh. That was all I could manage. “I guess that’s an apt name.”
We went upstairs to a reserved area on the balcony where our friends were waiting for us. Nina and Heather were in each other’s faces, bickering back and forth. It was a sight I’d gotten used to, which I hated for my cousin.
A waitress came by with drinks, and I’d never wanted a beer more than I did then. As I basically chugged it down, Nina pulled herself away from Heather to lean against the railing next to me.
“Hey, girl,” she said.
“Hey.”
Reaching out, she brushed my hair from my face. “What’s wrong?”
I turned to her, taking in the tear tracks on her cheeks and hickey on her neck. “I think I should ask you the same.”
She nodded, eyes meeting mine. “You know what’s wrong with me. Same story, different day. But you, you should be celebrating, so why do you look like your dog died?”
I dreaded saying the words aloud, but maybe once I did, it would be easier next time. “Ben kissed me earlier.”
She jerked back. “Holy shit. Did you kiss him back?”
