Page 9 of Pretty Broken Promises

He smiles at me and brushes his knuckles across my cheek. “Don’t you know by now, Tessie? I’d wait forever for you.”

Not going to lie, I swoon a little. My friend just made me swoon. Maybe crossing that line won’t be so hard after all.

“We’ve got a couple of hours before our dinner reservations. You’ve had an eventful night. Do you want to rest for a while? I’ll lie down with you for a while and hold you.”

I raise my eyebrow. “Is that all? Just cuddle up on your bed.”

“When we’re together it’s our bed. Our relationship might be changing, but not the fact that you can always trust me. I know what you’ve been through. I’m in no hurry, Tessie. I have waited this long for you. I can wait much longer. Forever if I have to.”

“So you haven’t—” I can’t even get the words out of my mouth.

“I’m not a monk. I haven’t been with anyone since I knew I couldn’t pretend anymore that I only wanted to be friends. Before that, there were some women I saw casually.” He exhales. “Do we really have to talk about this? I don’t want you to tell me if you and Ford have been together again since you’ve been back here. As far as I’m concerned this is the moment when we begin, and nothing before this matters. Can we agree on that?”

I loop my arms around his neck and kiss him slowly. “I love you, Benji.” And hopefully, someday I’ll love him in the same way he seems to love me.

* * *

“Okay,I’ve let you play fairy godmother.” I swish around the bottom of the dress he laid out for me after he comforted me into a mini coma. It’s a beautiful cobalt blue with a black lace overlay. “I’m even wearing the shoes you picked out. The least you could do is tell me where we’re going.”

Benji glances at me out of the corner of his eye as he navigates the streets of a swanky part of Playa Pacifica. The cracked sidewalks and grimy windows covered by bars are replaced with pristine pavement and glittering glass buildings. “You’re worse than a kid at Christmas, you know that?”

He’s not wrong. I’m wiggling and bouncing exactly like a child ready to rip into boxes covered in bright, shiny paper. For once, Benji doesn’t cave into my pouting and give me what I want. I won’t tell him this, but I like it when he resists me. Life is boring if you don’t have to work for anything.

I start to recognize the scenery as we get closer to the Ocean Bluff neighborhood of Playa. My heart starts to race, and not with excitement. “Benji, why are we going to my old neighborhood?”

He reaches across the console and takes my hand. “Shit, Tessie, I didn’t think about that. I’m not going to spring a surprise reunion on you or anything. I wanted to take you to Mack’s on the Pier. Tracy told me that it’s the most romantic place in the city.”

I exhale in relief. Being back here dredges up a lot of painful memories. All the months I’ve been in Playa I have avoided stepping foot in Ocean Bluff. This might not be the site of my worst memories, but this is the place where it all started to go wrong.

Benji pulls into the parking lot down by the pier. He turns to look at me, and his lips curl into that grin I love so much. The sun is just starting to sink into the Pacific, throwing a rosy glow across his face, and making his baby blues look a little violet in the waning light. Sitting here with him I can see how the pieces fit together.

I wish I could undo more than a few of the things I’ve experienced, but who knows where I’d be now if I could. Untie just one string, and maybe the entire web comes undone. As corny as it sounds, even inside my own head, if I’m going to tie a knot to someone else’s string, I’m lucky it gets to be Benji’s.

He wipes his hands on the front of his slacks. “Why am I so nervous? You’re already wearing the ring,” he mutters, mostly to himself.

This time I’m the one who needs to lend my strength. I tip my head to the door. “Shall we?”

He really has thought of everything. The maître d’ shows us to a table outside where the boardwalk juts out over the water. The sky is full of color as the sun makes its final descent. The stage is set for the perfect proposal. Benji already knows my answer. I’m already burning this moment into my mind to tell our kids about someday. Then as it always is with my life, the illusion shatters.

One of the empty chairs at our table squeaks across the planks as it’s pulled away from the table. The sounds of heavy footsteps approach the other side of the table until we’re surrounded by Ford and his entourage of idiots. Shane, Teddy, and Sin drag over chairs of their own and join us.

“Hey, sis, what’s going on?” Ford says.

My hand closes around the first thing I can grab, which just so happens to be a fork. I squeeze until my knuckles go white.

“What are you doing here, brother dearest?” I ask through clenched teeth.

My earlier apprehension is proving to be prophetic. Ocean Bluff never has been a lucky place for me. I look across the table and see the confused expression on Benji’s face, and remember the only time they were introduced was months ago in a dark nightclub. Earlier today I doubt he even noticed them with how focused he was on me.

“Benji, this is my idiot stepbrother, Ford, and his friends,” I say, gesturing to them with the fork I’m still holding with a death grip.

Sin grabs my hand and pries the fork free. “Easy there, killer.”

I shoot him a look, because seriously, Sin is calling me a killer? He shoots me a smirk in response and I roll my eyes.

Shane knocks on the table, stealing my attention away from Sin. “We are your friends too, Tess.”

I raise my eyebrow at his bold assertion. “Really? You’re my friend? So all those times you could have stepped in and stopped this one,” I jerk my thumb back at Ford without looking at him, “from ostracizing me, you did nothing because we’re friends. Right?”

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