Page 15 of Friends with Benefits (Club Risqué)

She grasped her hands tightly together to stop them from shaking while Christian kept on speaking.

None of his words penetrated any more. She couldn't process them anyway. They almost didn't make sense.

A blessed blanket of numbness settled around her and was almost peaceful.

Eyes unfocused, she stared ahead, wondering when the inevitable pain would come. Her hands were cold, she thought dully, wondering why that odd fact would be something she noticed at a time like this, when her entire life was falling apart all around her.

"Does Krista know?" she interrupted tonelessly.

Would she feel more or less betrayed if Christian's mother was already aware of this development, she wondered detachedly.

Christian blinked in surprise and paused in what he was saying, not that she'd been taking any notice. It was like her brain had switched off to save it from any more pain.

"God, no!" he exclaimed. "I'm looking forward to that conversation even less than this one." He laughed humourlessly, then realised what he had said and caught himself, his expression sheepish as he looked away.

"You'd better not waste any more time before you tell her," Taryn said carefully, but something in her tone must have prickled Christian's conscience because he peered at her with a frown of worried concern on his beautiful face.

Taryn knew her own expression was blank. Her whole mind was swaddled in a cloak of blessed detachment, and she seemed to be functioning on some kind of self-preservation autopilot, but she was still keen to get rid of him. Despite the way her mind seemed to have shut down, she wasn't entirely sure how long she could hold it together.

Realising that she was dismissing him, Christian's features grew sad and uncertain. "You'll always be my best friend, Tara."

Ah! There was that knife…nasty, long, rusty thing that it was, as it lodged, fatally, right in the centre of her heart.

"Taryn!" she corrected automatically. Like it was even important anymore.

For a brief moment, Christian's heart seemed to be in his eyes, and they were filled with uncertainty. "Taryn," he agreed quietly.

Standing, Christian looked torn for the first time since he’d arrived. "I'll invite you to the wedding," he said hesitantly and the knife that was still lodged in her chest raked its blunted edges as it twisted a little more.

"Well, you'd better go and tell your mother the news," Taryn pressed, wanting him out of her home. "You don't want her to hear this from anyone else, now that the cat's out of the bag."

"Taryn..." Christian trailed off as if, for once in his life, he didn't know what to say. What else was there to say, anyway? Taryn wondered forlornly.

He took a step toward her and looked almost uncomfortable as he tried to take her into his arms.

Taryn sidestepped the gesture. She didn't want to feel his hands upon her right now. It would be more than she could bear.

Instead, she headed for the door and opened it for him. "I hope you'll be very happy," she said stiffly, avoiding looking at him as he stepped across the threshold.

For all his protestations that they would remain the best of friends, Taryn had an icy premonition that this might be the last time she saw him.

Turned out, she was right.

ChapterEleven

Taryn continued to visit Krista for a while, but the visits were bittersweet and difficult.

Christian's mother was beside herself the first time she visited after Christian’s shocking announcement. Not that she’d expected anything less, knowing that Krista would be thrown into a complete panic at the idea of losing her son.

What had surprised her was Krista's astuteness. "You love him, don't you?" she enquired quietly once her anxious tirade was over and she'd calmed herself somewhat, amidst the realisation that she wasn't the only one who was hurting.

"I know the two of you were lovers, have been for a number of years…" she trailed off as if at a loss.

For the first and last time in her life, Trinity admitted her feelings for Christian. "Yes, I do," she replied softly, her voice barely audible under the heavy weight of sorrow that weighed her down. "But I can't talk about it, Krista. And I don't want to hear about Christian. I couldn't bear to hear the plans and arrangements for his wedding, so if it's okay, we need to skip those particular areas of conversation."

"He's an idiot," Krista sobbed. "I can't believe he's doing this to either of us!"

She wondered if things would have been any different if Christian had wanted to marry her instead of the mysterious and kinky Bianca, but Krista was as good as her word and Christian wasn't mentioned again. For a few months, at least.

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