“Just listen to me, Em? Please. And if you still think that after I’ve had my say, I swear I’ll go.”
“Fine.” I stomped over to the tiny sofa shoved into the corner of my apartment and tried not to be embarrassed that Ben was seeing where I really lived.
How I lived.
For the next twenty-four hours. I tried not to crumble at the thought.
Bruno jumped up after me and nestled close to my side. I smiled as I rubbed behind his ears. He’d been such a good boy today.
“Who’s this?” Ben asked as he followed us and knelt in front of us. Reaching out, he held his hand in front of Bruno.
After a couple of sniffs, Bruno’s tail thumped against the couch, and he licked the back of Ben’s hand.
Traitor.
“What do you want, Reuben? Don’t you need to get on the road and onto your next con, I mean show?” I leaned back against the couch and crossed my arms over my chest.
Ben sighed and sat back on the floor with his legs extended but his knees bent. He stared at me for a long moment before sighing again. “It was never a con, Em. I just…liked being a regular guy with you.”
“You were never a regular guy.” I laughed incredulously. “I thought you were a producer, remember? Actually, I thought you were a model at first. You can’t not stand out. I mean look at you.” I gestured at him.
He shook his head. “I’m still just a guy. The fame, the money, and all the attention don’t mean anything if you don’t have people in your corner. And I was hoping that would be you.” He paused and waved a hand. “When you’re not busy touring yourself, that is.”
“You don’t need me. You have your dad. And Roscoe. And all those other people I saw all over you last night.”
“Every single person you saw last night were there for a paycheck—including my father. I fired him last night, by the way.”
“What?” My eyes widened. “Why?”
“Roscoe told me what he’d said to you.” He said it simply like that was explanation enough.
“So?”
“So, that was bullshit. He had no business talking to you, let alone trying to scare you off with all those lies about me needing to stay single to be popular. I told him as much, and then he’d tried to hit me with his ‘just looking out for you, kid’ line like he’d done it for me and not for his bullshit bottom line or his gross need to feed off my groupies. And it is bullshit. I’ll still be bankable and popular because you and me being together won’t change anything. I’ll still be making music. I’ll still be me.”
“The you who loves to rap about bitches and slashing tires and whatever else was in that gross song.”
Ben winced. “Not all the lyrics are like that. Didn’t you hear my song ‘Don’t Leave’? Or ‘Maybe Forever’?”
I shook my head. “After listening to the lyrics to that first song and finding out who you really are, I blocked the rest of it out. Roscoe was nice enough to give me fresh earplugs.”
“Remind me to thank him,” Ben muttered before rocking forward to kneel at my feet. “I’m not going to deny that I wrote those lyrics, but I was a different person then. I was angry—mostly at my parents—but also at the world. At what happened once I hit it big. Everyone crowding around me just wanted a piece of me—of my money or my fame or the women hanging around me. No one cared aboutme. No one saw me as a person anymore. I was a commodity. And after a while, that fucks with your head.”
I was silent for a minute as I absorbed his words. “I wouldn’t have looked at you that way.”
Ben smiled sadly. “I was afraid to give you the benefit of the doubt. Most people in my life have screwed me over one way or another.”
“That’s really sad.” I hunched into myself. “I can’t trust someone who doesn’t trust me.”
“I do trust you, Emma. I was just scared.”
I rolled my eyes. “Reuben Bello was scared of little ole me? Give me a break.”
“It’s true.” He blinked those golden eyes at me, and I felt my resolve crumbling. “You weren’t exactly shy about your absolute hatred of me and my music. Telling you the truth about who I really was scared the shit outta me.” He leaned forward and held my hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of it as he stared into my eyes. “Because you already mean so much to me. I didn’t want to lose you.”
“Ben.” I stared back at him and shook my head slightly.
And that was when I felt it.
