Page 26 of Just Enough

“Why didn’t you tell me about the wreck?” he asked.

“Because you worry worse than a mother hen when it comes to me.”

He gave me a heated glare. “I wish you’d stop placing me as a mom. Do I look like a mother hen?”

I squinted my eyes, messing with him. “Hmm.” I finally eased up. “No, but you sure do act like one.”

“It’s not me being motherly, Emily. It’s me going fucking crazy because you make me worry so damn much.”

“Yeah, I know and it’s not healthy,” I told him.

“W-what?” He looked surprised. “Why?”

“Because I’ve become too dependent on you over the years and no girlfriend wants to see her boyfriend fretting over his friend like you do me. It makes me feel bad for her.”

He sighed and sat down on the bed. “She knows we’re nothing more than friends. And she already knows how I am…” He looked at me. “How I am with you.”

“Hmm.” I grinned. “Then maybe she’s the one for us.”

He groaned and fell back on the bed. “Don’t start with that again.”

“You wouldn’t let me live with you and your wife?” I asked him.

He was looking at the ceiling. “I’d let you live with me anytime you want.” He raised up and ran his hand through his hair before glancing at me again. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

I rolled off my belly and raised up into a sitting position. “No, because you’re already hard enough on my parents as it is.” I gave him the truth in those words.

His eyes darkened. “What the hell?” He practically growled. “Was your dad driving drunk?”

“He’s been sober since then.” I defended him.

“That doesn’t make up for driving with you,” he hissed. He was literally fuming. “He could have killed you!”

“Shh!” I warned him. “He’ll hear you.”

He stood up. “Yeah, good. I need to give him some advice.”

I grabbed his arm and yanked him down. “Stop! He knows he screwed up, but I was the one that jumped in the truck with him trying to stop him. He made a mistake, and he’s trying.” I met his eyes with my pleading ones. “Don’t. Mom’s been hard enough on him and so have I. And he’s been plenty hard on himself, but Benjamin, hestoppeddrinking.”

The muscles in his arms loosened in my grip. “He’s here alone all day while you work, and you’ll be gone even longer once school starts back. How do you know he’s not drinking?” I hated how Benjamin didn’t want to believe in my dad.

“Because…” I sighed. “He put me in charge of his check. He even switched it to my checking account so that I know he couldn’t touch it. He has no money on him whatsoever. I handle everything, our bills, the food,everything.”

And it was working.

Benjamin still looked upset. “I’m so fucking pissed right now, I don’t know how to shut it off,” he told me darkly.

“Don’t be.” I shook his arm and smiled. “I even make him drive me back and forth to work because it forces him to get out of the house. It forces him to want to be sober and to think it.”

“And it’s working?” Benjamin sounded disbelieving.

“It is.”

His shoulders sagged and the next moment, I was wrapped in his big arms, pressed against his warm chest. I closed my eyes and smiled, reveled in the comfort and smell that was Benjamin. He kissed my forehead and although it was the first time he ever did it, I didn’t mind. I welcomed it because I knew how much he worried about me.

I peeled my nose from his chest and leaned up and kissed his cheek. He stiffened. Our eyes met. I smiled. He frowned through obscure eyes. “Why did you kiss my cheek?” he asked me.

“You kissed my forehead,” I answered, confused. His eyes ate me up. Did I make him uncomfortable? “What?” I whispered softly. “I thought we were showing affection.”

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