Page 52 of Crimson Promises
“Yeah. I know.”
“I can give you a lift to pick it up tomorrow morning.”
“Are you fucking serious?”
He drew his eyebrows together.
“First, you are hot and cold all night. Then you gave me the most intense make-out session of my life, and then when Vic interrupted, you acted like I’m a leper.”
“The most intense make-out session of your life.” He smirked. “Does the most intense mean ‘best’?”
“Seriously?”Why do men feel the need to turn everything into a pissing contest?
“As you could probably tell—or feel—I was very much an active participant in our…ahem…activities tonight. But my life is a mess right now, Aurora, and as much as I’d like to explore things with you, it would also infinitely complicate things.”
“It can only complicate things if you let it.”
“I wish it was as easy as that. I’ve genuinely enjoyed spending time with you, and you seem to have a lot going on yourself. We have this project we have to work through. Let’s see how that pans out, and we can go from there. Friends? It seems like a safe middle ground.”
My logic was nodding along with his entire spiel, but disappointment swelled through me.It’s not like we were a couple or anything. I just stupidly read into something that wasn’t there.I had expectations I shouldn’t have. Being friends was safer.
“Sure, let’s be friends.” I extended my hand towards his. A handshake was all thisfriendwas going to get. New plan: get this assignment done as fast as possible and stay far away from him.
“Friends.” Ben clasped my hand. I could have sworn it lingered there longer than usual, but I refused to read into things anymore.Good thing I decided to give Riley a second chance—he didn’t want to be my “friend.”
I took a step back, putting some distance between us. “Well, goodnight. And thanks again for coming with me.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Oh, and Aurora?” Ben said, halting me before I could walk away. “Everyone has secrets. Don’t worry. Yours are safe with me.”
With that, he pulled his helmet on and sped off, the engine’s roar echoing down the unusually quiet street. I don’t remember giving him my address. But I don’t focus on that right now. I stood there longer than I should have.
I tossed and turned all night. It wasn’t just the usual nightmare this time. Deep into the night, Ben left me wondering… If everyone had secrets, what were his?
ChapterSix
Bennett
What in the actual fuck was I doing? I revved the throttle as I headed left onto Interstate 101.
Things wentwaytoo far. I should have stopped before she was sitting on my dick, making all of those breathy mewing sounds. But kissing her was intoxicating, a type of drug I’d never experienced. Pushing her off my lap was one of the most challenging things I ever had to do, and I’ve done my fair share of messed up things. If Vic hadn’t interrupted us, I would have buried myself in her heat, my balls empty and satiated. Now I was horny and alone, driving in the middle of the night in the opposite direction of where she was to avoid showing up at her door and finishing what I started earlier tonight.
Everything was already in tatters. I needed to fucking control myself. I wasn’t a teenager. You’d think I could demonstrate an ounce of restraint.Not.
After the second demon attack the night of the Alpha Phi Alpha party, Michael wanted answers to questions I couldn’t give him, watching from the periphery of her life. I decided that the only way I could protect her the way she needed was to get close to her.
I had reached out to a buddy I had met in Seattle a few years back who could get you whatever you needed for the right price, no questions asked. Gill, which probably wasn’t his real name, helped assemble a history for Bennett Valiance. Keeping my real name and history as similar as possible helped keep the lies straight. The last thing I needed was for her to get suspicious.
A benefit of protecting her was I already knew her routine. I knew what classes she had, when she worked, and places she would usually frequent on campus. When I met with the university advisor, I requested the same classics course. I decided to sit in the alcove that Aurora went out of her way to travel to each class to be alone while listening to her lecture. Selecting Classics (Greek and Latin) and Classical Civilizations as a double major was easy when you roamed the earth long enough to see the rise and fall of both empires.
What I didn’t anticipate was her reaction to me. The last time I had seen her, Aurora and the angelfucker were secluded in the pavilion. The thought of him with her had me grinding my teeth together. Walking into the tight nook, I was met with an overwhelming lust I had never experienced before. So much so that I couldn’t even respond the first time she said hello to me.
Aurora was easygoing and sweet, but she had a fire in her that I had never seen before. She was passionate and strong-willed. Aurora wasn’t afraid to call me on my shit, and it made me respect the hell out of her.
When we had gone for coffee, I never anticipated telling her about Jos. It wasn’t a topic I discussed withanyone. Michael was the only one who knew about the mark it had left on my soul and how his death propelled every decision I had made since then. Her empathy and genuine curiosity took me off-guard. Jos would have loved her and smacked me for being an idiot. It was in those moments that she somehow managed to burrow a hole past the airtight barriers I had erected since his death.
Women had only served one purpose for me—a release. Nothing had ever mattered more than avenging Jos. Aurora put all of that in jeopardy. Being around her was like finally being warmed by the sun after centuries of living in endless darkness.
