“Oh, I don’t know, maybe, hurry the hell up!”she impatiently huffed, her arms crossing over her chest.“If you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of in a rush?”
She didn’t know why she was so mad at him.Actually, scrap that.She knew.She was annoyed he was there to witness the shitshow that is her life.Pissed he’d had the audacity to show up to her wedding.And to top it all off, she was angry as hell that he still looked so damn fine.
Ten years had been kind to Benjamin Tucker.His boyish features had matured.His toned body had turned muscular.His wild chestnut hair, tamed.Even the bump in his nose he’d received after a classmate slammed open the locker door next to him, looked rugged paired with day-old stubble.
Men suck.
“I’m sorry I’m not living up to your getaway driver standards, B!”he snorted.“Maybe you want to explain to me what the fuck is going on?”
She stayed quiet.That was definitely not something she wanted to do.At least they were moving.And there were no signs of her being followed.
“Or, whereabouts I’m taking you?”he pressed.
She didn’t have an answer for that, either.Running out on her wedding wasn’t exactly on her list of things to do today.Right now, she was supposed to be Mrs.Douglas Wright.But she couldn’t do it.Staring at her reflection in that bathroom mirror, it had hit her like a ton of bricks.Her nausea wasn’t nerves.The tightness in her chest on the drive over wasn’t anticipation.And the churn in her stomach certainly wasn’t butterflies.
The adrenaline was waning though, which meant she had to start feeling.It’s why she let her eyes flutter shut at the first sign of stinging.
“B?”Benny called out.
Hello?I’m trying not to cry here!
Hearing her first love’s voice wasn’t helping.It was no wonder the tears won.
“Hey?”She noticed Benny’s voice gentled.“NeNe, baby, you okay?”
The use of his nickname for her, combined with a ‘baby,’ was enough to jolt her back to reality and quite possibly push her over the edge.
“No, I’m not okay.I just ran out on my wedding.Myfreakingwedding!”Her voice might have risen.“I have nowhere to go ‘cause my parents will be pissed as hell I’ve run out on a weddingtheypaid for.I can’t go back to my brand-new apartment ‘cause the man I just left standing at the altar lives there.And if that’s not enough of a shit sandwich, I’m currently sitting in a big-ass white wedding dress in a truck I not only lost my virginity in, but with the man who fucking took it—with no money, no clothes and no idea what the hell I’m going to do.So, no.I’m not o-fucking-kay.”
She threw her head back, loudly sighing as it met metal.She forgot there was no headrest.You don’t deserve a headrest.No.She didn’t.She needed to prepare for discomfort before her trip to hell.
You might have already arrived.
Unsurprisingly, her rant was met with silence, which she was taking as a good thing.She didn’t have any answers to his questions.She needed time, quiet, to figure out some sort of a plan.
Ten minutes of charged silence later, she let out a sigh when she still hadn’t come up with one.When the truck began to slow, her attention went from the ring finger she’d been fiddling with to the front window, just in time to watch Benny pull into a cobblestone driveway.
“Where are we?”Bethany asked as she kept her gaze on the modest wood house.
Benny was already out of the truck and rounding the hood when he hollered, “Come on.”Before she knew it, he’d swung open her door and was offering his hand.
“Where are we?”she repeated as she allowed him to help her out.There was too much tulle to turn him down.
“My place, NeNe.You’re staying with me.”
Like hell she was!
***
Bethany’s white weddingdress had been mocking her, so after a quick change, she’d come back downstairs to find Benny in his kitchen.It wasn’t at all what she’d expected.With butcher block counters, freshly painted duck egg cabinets and a gleaming cream backsplash, the space had a cozy country cottage feel to it.It was also spotless, as if it had been finished just yesterday.
Impressive.
Her gaze went to the half bottle of whiskey on the floating island they stood beside.A tumbler streaked with sticky amber residue signaling her ex had just downed a drink.She was tempted to pour a measure for herself.Or five.
“Are those my boxer shorts?”Her focus went back to Benny.His nostrils flaring as his gaze drifted down the length of her.
She recognized that look.And how dangerous it was.The heat in his eyes.A healthy dose of pissed off tinging the dark green, which was only getting darker as he stalked toward her.
