Page 100 of Broken Promises

I smile. It’s the first time he’s acknowledged that we’re friends. He sees my stupid grin and rolls his eyes.

“Don’t let it go to your head.” I just grin wider at that, but then sober when his expression turns sad. “You might be my best friend.”

“I don’t like that me being your best friend makes you sad.”

Ben snorts. “It doesn’t.”

When it’s clear he isn’t going to elaborate, I change the subject.

“Since we’re best friends, are you going to tell me where you got that nasty scar?” I ask, pointing to the jagged scar the runs from his right temple to the center of his forehead.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me what has you so stressed out,” Ben counters.

I scratch the stubble on my jaw, examining his face. His bushy beard covers the lower half of his face, which makes him hard to read sometimes, but his brown eyes are only showing sincerity.

He sighs. “I know about Jon. It was all over the news. Is that what it is?”

“Partially,” I admit. There’s no use denying it since he’s right. It’s all over the news.

“Would talking about it make you play better tonight?” he asks, the corner of his lip twitching.

I glare at him before slowly nodding. “I just don’t want to drag you into it.”

He shrugs. “It won’t leave this room. I can’t be dragged into something I don’t know anything about as far as anyone else knows.”

That logic works for me, and I immediately tell him what’s been going on. Ezra, Jon/Patrick, how fucking terrified I am that something will happen to Willa when we’re on the road. She stays with Kai and Belle when I’m gone, but not having her close leaves me in a constant state of anxiety. I even tell him about having to approach Sinclair after the season is over. There’s something about Ben that makes you want to confess everything.

He takes it all in stride. His facial expressions barely change, just some slight widening of his eyes at certain points. Like whenI told him James left a journal for Maverick that he’s refusing to read. Or when Cal went into hiding with his family.

“Yeah, I can see why you’re not excited to be here right now.”

“Any advice for me?” I ask.

Ben thinks for a moment. “Is Willa safe?”

“As safe as she can be. She’s flying in on Logan’s private jet with Belle, Kai, and Maggie for tonight’s game. She flies back out right after.” She refused to just watch the game from home. We argued for days until we agreed she could come as long as she flew private and watched from a private box that I hired security for. She’s not thrilled about not being able to watch with the fans, but she understands I won’t be able to focus on the game if she’s out in the open like that.

“I can go with you to talk to Sinclair if you want, but other than that, I don’t think there’s much I can offer you. You’re already doing everything you can. Listening to Harlow’s dad and Theo seems smart from what you’ve said.”

I blow out a breath, my shoulders relaxing even though I didn’t realize I was tensing them. That’s all I needed. Someone on the outside to tell me I was doing the right thing.

“I might take you up on the Sinclair thing because he honestly scares the shit out of me.”

Ben laughs and nods in agreement. “Me too.”

“So,” I say, pointing to his head. “Scar.”

“It’s not as good of a story as yours.”

“Good. I don’t think I can handle more at that level,” I admit.

Ben laughs. “I like to run at night. I lived in the South for a little while after college and it was too hot to run during the day. I went for a run after midnight, tripped over something, and slammed my face against a rock. It knocked me out for a while.” He gestures to his scar. “I was young and embarrassed so I didn’t go to the hospital for stitches like a probably should have.”

I laugh. “Yeah, you definitely should have.” I look at how thick the scar is. He definitely needed stitches. “We should come up with a better story, though. Make you sound like a hero.”

“What?” Ben asks, laughing and shaking his head at me.

“Maybe you wrestled a guy and saved someone from being murdered and he got you with his knife,” I say, making Ben laugh harder. “Oh! How about you saved a little girl from a hungry tiger that escaped from the zoo?”

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