Page 175 of Burn Bright
Ben didn’t mention that Beckett has pleaded with him to stay at their apartment.
“I can’t,” Ben shakes his head. “I can’t be there.”
“Why?” Eliot’s brows knit together. “Beckett said it was nothing you did.” I assume Ben doesn’t believe this. “He’s ok?—”
“I can’t.”
Charlie pinches the bridge of his nose. He’s aggravated. It seems like anything Ben says is an annoyance to him.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Tom gapes at his phone, then puts it to his ear. “No, dude.No,the song isn’t ready. We’re not playing it—it’s not good enough. Yeah, I said so, Warner.” He’s on a call with his bassist. “I’m not a tyrant! I just know what sounds good and what sounds like shit. Warner—Warner.” Tom plugs one of his ears as the Yankees fans grow noisier in the back. They’ll likely want another round soon. “Shit.” He looks up. “Ben, is there a storage room or somewhere quiet I can go take this?”
“Yeah, I’ll show you. We need to restock the Jameson anyway.” His hand slips off my back as he leaves.
I’m rarely alone with Charlie and Eliot. Last time I wastrulyalone with Charlie, I offered to blow him. It still makes me cringe, but weirdly that whirlwind of a night feels forever ago. No one has necessarily buried what I did. It’s become the sand. Harmless in light gusts, blowing past us.
“Let’s cut to the chase,” Charlie says to me while Eliot angles sideways, observing the beefy dickhead’s every move from the corner of his eye.
“Okay?” I grab an empty pint glass a girl brings to the bar and say to her, “Thanks, you want another?”
“Uh, no I’m good. I’ve already closed out.” Her voice trembles with nerves being so close to Charlie. I want to tell her this bitter Boy Genius is not worth the anxiety. She side-eyes him, likely yearning and praying for a single glance from him, even if it’s a mean one.
He’s ignoring her existence.
When she shuffles away, Charlie immediately resumes the conversation. “Why is Ben working at a bar? Is it for you or for the paycheck?”
I shrug, not wanting to be an untrustworthy friend. Even if I think theyshouldknow. I asked Ben why he doesn’t just tell his family about his money issue and how he’s leaving New York soon.
He said, “It’ll turn into a bigger ordeal. They’ll try to stop me, and I don’t want them to.”
I want them to.
But I can’t break Ben’s trust. There is no coming back from that—our friendship would beobliterated, and I’d rather not cause him that type of pain, especially when there’s no guarantee telling Charlie and Eliot anything will make Ben stay.
“Does it matter why he’s bartending?” I rinse out the pint glass.
Charlie twists the glass on the wooden counter, scrutinizing me. “It does if he needs money. That would imply he’s burned through millions.”
I process this. “How would you know he has that much money?”
“Because we all receive the same amount on the same day. Ben first asked to access his trust fund on his sixteenth birthday. To buy a car. The car he would eventually crash.”
Okay…I’m shocked Charlie is just delivering this personal information to me like it’s a greeting card and not gold bars locked in a vault. “And you’re saying he has millions?”
“It would accumulate that high, easily.” His eyes ping around the bar. “So him blowing the bank—that does matter to us.”
“He could be in danger,” Eliot says, his glimmering blue eyes shaded with worries. Is he…afraid?
“Ben’s not in danger.”He just wants to live out of the city, I want to say.In nature.I picture him on a solo adventure among dense foliage and dangerous wildlife. I’m guessing this would freak out any protective, loving family, and he’s doing his best not to trigger their concern.
“Does he need money?” Charlie questions.
Eliot observes me like Charlie, but his eyes are layered with a dark protectiveness.
I dry the clean glass. “Can’t you just ask him yourself?”
“Were you here thirty seconds ago?” Charlie rebuts. “You don’t think we’ve tried? He’ll talk circles around us and be purposefully vague. I’d rather Ben stuff aluminum foil in my ear.”
I shrug. “Maybe that’s your dynamic with him, dude. I can’t get in the middle.”
