Page 35 of Crimson Promises
Ben’s eyebrows reached his hairline. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested. No time for a relationship right now. Too many other important things I need to focus on.”
“Of course, I get it.”
“But,” Ben began drumming his fingers on his knee. “I am curious... for someone who doesn’t seem like my biggest fan, why would you be willing to set me up with your friend?”
Here we go. “Meg is lovely, but we aren’t exactly friends who hang out. I’m a regular customer here, as you already took note of. We struck up an acquaintanceship while I waited for my coffee.” Now that Ben brought it up, I wondered why I never asked Meg to hang out. I should make a point of doing that sometime. “It’s not up to me to decide for Meg who she should or shouldn’t go out with. If she asked for my opinion on you... now, that’s a different story.”
“And what opinion would you give her?”
That you’re gorgeous, arrogant, and cocky. That choosing you would be a path that’s dark and twisted, mysterious like midnight but potentially one hell of a ride. Something more simmers beneath your surface. Something tells me you’ve been touched by darkness like I have, and it’s a stain on your soul that has festered into something dark and angry. Yet there is a softness and vulnerability that makes me think once you let someone in, they’d be your entire world. Having you and then you leaving me would rip my whole world apart. I’d be shattered.Instead, I said, “Well, that’s for me to know, and you never to find out.”
“Touche.”
A waiter interrupted with a tray of our drinks and my lunch. It looked so delicious I nearly salivated. The server placed the salad in the middle as if Ben and I were sharing.Hell no.
“Is there anything else I can get you guys?” He asked as he pulled two rolls of cutlery and napkins from his waist apron.
“No, thank you,” I said.
“Enjoy.” He smiled and walked away.
I slid the salad toward me and dug in. Ben sat there, watching me.
I held a hand in front of my mouth to conceal the mouthful of falafel, avocado, bacon, and arugula.
“What?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human devour a salad that quickly.”
“Human?” I scrunched up my nose, my hand still covering my mouth.
“Another person. You know what I mean.”
I rubbed my temple with my free hand. “Sure.”
“Are you living on or off-campus?”
“Uh…off-campus.”
“Are you in one of those sororities?”
“Nope.” I chuckled. “I’m not their usual type of recruit.”
“Good, some come off so desperate. On Friday, they all seemed like clones of each other.” He stuck out his tongue as if that had left a bad taste in his mouth.
“Wait,” my fork hovered in mid-air. “Were you at the Alpha Phi Alpha party?”
“I was,” he admitted.
“Me too,” I put my fork back in my bowl for a minute. “I thought you looked familiar. I guess I recognized you from the party.”
“Probably.” He took a small sip of his green tea before muttering “fuck” and immediately blowing on the steam. “I didn’t think that would be so hot.”
Something about seeing him off-kilter brought me an immense amount of joy.
“Now that you mention it, I think I saw you there too. You were with your boyfriend.” His words came out garbled as if he was trying to talk around his tongue.
“Oh,” I paused and ran my tongue over my teeth. “You mean Riley—he’s not my boyfriend.”
