AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She starts opening to-go containers and I move in behind her, kissing her neck just beneath her jaw, which distracts her enough to allow me to make her a plate. I can smell the remains of whatever she tried to cook for us lingering in the air, and the fact that she spent her day off doing that for me and then had to deal with Cricket makes me want to hold her and never let go.
“Thank you.” She takes the plate from me and goes to sits while I make my own.
“And?” I press when she doesn’t follow that up. “What did she want? Why was she here?”
“She wanted to try to seduce you because you’re hot. She probably likes you because who wouldn’t, even if you can sometimes be a bit of a jerk, and she wants the fellowship and figured your dick was the fastest track to winning it.”
My eyebrows jump. “She told you all that?”
She lifts her fork and uses the side of it to try to cut her burrito only to give up and lift it with both hands. “No. Of course not. Cricket is a bitch, but she’s not stupid.”
“Katy. I love you, but right now I’m having a little trouble decoding you.” I take my plate and sit down.
“I know. I’m fine. I promise. I just had a lot to think through and process about it because there’s more going on than her simply showing up at your door. I told her you were my boyfriend.”
I nearly choke on my bite of burrito. “You did?” For some reason that makes me laugh. Maybe because Katy was so hell-bent on keeping us a secret. At least for a while longer.
She shrugs. “I opened the door in your sweatshirt. But more than that, I wasn’t going to let her think you were in play. I also told her you’re no longer in charge of the fellowship. She didn’t like that.” Her head tilts contemplatively. “Well, she didn’t like any of it, actually. I think our being together pissed her off. She has a lot of resentment she needs to learn how to work through. But whatever. It’s done and she can’t say or do anything about it.”
“True.” I take another bite and wash it down with a sip of my water. “I’m glad you told her. Still, it was weird for her to just show up like that out of the blue.”
Katy turns serious, her eyes searching mine in rapid flicks, and I wonder if her trust in me was shaken. Maybe that’s why she’s a bit off, almost jumpy. She’s here and she doesn’t seem mad, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t hurt or possibly a bit worried given the pasts we’ve had with others. I’d fly off the fucking handle if some asshole showed up here looking to get in her pants. Katy isn’t just my end game; she is my only game.
But have I done enough to prove that to her?
“Bennett, there’s something we should talk about. The reason Cricket showed up here… It’s something I think you need?—”
Before she can finish, I rise and cut her off with a searing kiss. My hand cups her face, and my forehead melds to hers. “You know I don’t want her, right? You know it’s only you and will always only be you?”
“I did know that, and not simply because I couldn’t see you liking a woman who’s named after a bug.”
I chuckle against her lips.
Her fingers comb through the back of my hair, and I shift until I’m standing. In one motion, I lift her out of her chair and drop straight up into my arms. I can’t wait till I can do this and feel her belly bump against me, but we’re not there yet.
“You did?” I ask, retaking my seat with her straddling my thighs.
“I trust you,” she tells me, and my heart leaps in my chest. “In my heart, I knew you’d never do anything to betray me.”
“Never,” I swear and drag her lips back to mine, kissing her so deeply she has to gasp against me to catch air. Within seconds, our clothes are torn off, and we end up in a messy tangle of limbs and panted breaths. After that, we finish our dinner and then spend the rest of the evening wrapped around each other on the sofa while watching some Netflix show Katy’s obsessed with.
Everything is perfect between us. Too good to be true. But you know what they say when something is too good to be true…
It starts with a call on my way to work. A call I’m not paying attention to because I’m stuck in traffic and running a little late, which automatically grates on me. But with cars moving at a snail’s pace and cutting in and out of lanes, the road has my entire frustrated focus. Which is why I don’t think too deeply about it when I answer the random phone number across my screen.
“Hello?”
“Well, look who finally picked up. I guess getting a new number was all it took.”
Ice immediately slithers through my veins, hardening my grip on the steering wheel. “A new number I’m about to block. Bye, Liz.”
“No! Bennett wait. Please, wait. I need to talk to you. I’ve been trying for months.”
I grunt, running a hand through my hair before returning it to the wheel. “What do you want? Why haven’t you gotten the message and left me the hell alone yet?”
“I know that’s what you want. I know you hate me and feel you have every reason to do so. I’m not trying to win you back. I’m not foolish enough to believe that’s a possibility. But because I love you and have never stopped, because I care about you, I also feel like I owe you.”
“Owe me?”
