AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ah—same,” she told the barista.
“I remember you used to drink them in high school,” he said, smiling to himself as he paid for both of them.
“Thanks. So, you haven’t seen her?” Bianca said, ignoring the fact that he was not so subtly trying to turn this into some kind of date. “Did you ever get your car back?”
He gave her a look. “My car’s right there,” he said, pointing to the Lambo.
“No, the other one. The hypercar.” Bianca had actually forgotten the name of it for a moment. “The Lykan!” she said, remembering all of a sudden. She laughed at herself.
“I don’t own a Lykan,” he said, frowning. “Those are tough to get here in the US. Easier in Singapore, but I don’t have one there, either. They’re not really for me,” he added, turning up his nose. “Thanks,” he said, taking their lattes from the barista.
“Eden said she borrowed it from you,” she said, following Ben to a table. She saw opposite him and he put her latte in front of her.
“She must have mistaken me for someone else,” he said.
While that statement was patently ridiculous, he said it so smoothly that there was no way for Bianca to refute it.
“That’s a pretty big mistake,” Bianca said, flustered.
Ben’s eyes flashed a warning. “Eden was doing a lot of drugs lately.”
“No, she wasn’t—”
“Anyway, you two were old friends, right?” he said, talking over her and not allowing her to argue for Eden. “You probably still think of her like you did when we were kids. She’s changed a lot. I mean, that's what I’ve heard, anyway. I don’t really know her.”
Bianca sat back in her chair, realizing that Ben had a story he was trying to sell, and he was trying to make her a part of it.
“You don’t reallyknowher?” Bianca repeated suspiciously.
“No,” he repeated, all of the excited banter he’d plied her with earlier gone in a moment. “I’ve seen her around here and there, but we never hung out. You know that from school. You and Eden were the old-money kids. You never hung out with us foreigners.”
Bianca recoiled from what he said, asking herself if that was true. Had she avoided Ben Goh because he wasn’t white? She thought back to all of the friends she spent time with at school, and she had to admit, almost all of them were old money, and very few of them were non-white.
“You’re right. Most of my friends were white and old money, and I never even thought to think about whether or not that was right or fair. I just went along with my privilege,” Bianca said, accepting responsibility. “And maybe you’re right about Eden doing more drugs, and hiding them from me. But if I can remember borrowing a pencil from you in seventh grade, I’m pretty sure evenhighshe could remember borrowing your two-million-dollar car.”
Ben Goh stared at her. “Are you sure that’s how you want it to be?” he asked her.
Bianca’s eyes widened in surprise as she registered the menacing edge to his voice. “Is that a threat?”
“Just making sure,” he said, standing up. “Bianca Loring. You know I used to have the biggest crush on you?Nowyou remember me,” he said, clucking his tongue like it was a shame. “Before you go remembering too much, maybe talk to Eden’s dad.”
He left the café with Bianca staring after him. She wandered out a few minutes later, still dazed, and told her driver to take her home. When she got back to her place, she saw Elias’ Shelby parked out front.
As soon as he saw her, he got out of his car, but waited by the passenger side door for her to come to him. She went to him slowly, thinking about what she was going to say to him. She was considering telling him about Ben Goh, but she decided that she had to deal with whatever was going on between she and Elias first. She didn’t even know where they stood at the moment.
Elias was leaning up against the hood of his car with his hands in his pockets, looking so beautiful Bianca thought he might leave a mark on her eyes, like the sun does.
“Hi,” he said, smiling at her contritely.
“Hi,” she said back, trying to resist his charm, and utterly failing.
His smile grew, sensing he was winning her over. “Still mad at me?”
“Not really,” she admitted. “But I am worried.”
He paused, holding very still, like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. “About what?”
“About you, about us, and what sets you off, and how strange that whole thing this morning was,” she said, listing everything that came into her head. “Last night you fell asleep saying you want me to meet your parents. When you wake up, you’re pretty much accusing me of sleeping with someone else. It doesn’t make sense.”
