Page 126 of Promise Me Nothing
After coming out of such tragedy and loss, I feel like I owe it to her to try and patch things up with my brother.
Though, really, I don’t even know where to begin.
“Sorry, I was just…”
“Ogling my waitress.”
I finally really look at Ben, grimacing when I see his smirk.
“You know, I wondered why you wanted to sit inside, downstairs, instead of at your precious rooftop table.” He waves out a hand in Hannah’s direction. “Now I know. It’s because of the girl.”
I roll my eyes, irritated that he caught me.
That it was so easy to see.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me,” he says, though I can hear the bit of teasing in his voice.
It gives me pause, because normally, Ben and I aren’t teasers. We don’tplaywith each other. At least we haven’t in years. A decade, probably. Maybe longer.
But I stay silent, feeling awfully broody for a man who is supposed to be trying to patch things up. I should be saying something important. About family and relationships.
All I can manage to do, though, is watch Hannah smile at patrons and move lithely between tables carrying a heavy tray of food, her figure looking just as sexy in her uniform as it does in a pair of panties and a bra.
“Why are we here, Wyatt?” Ben finally asks. “I can count on one hand the number of times in my entire life that you’ve wanted to get dinner with me for the fuck of it. So there has to be a reason.”
I sigh, looking over at him. Seeing the focus of his attention directed at me.
Sack up,I tell myself.
I’m here for a reason. A good one. An altruistic one. It’s time for me to just say what have to say.
“We should spend more time together. That’s what I wanted to say.”
Ben freezes, a fry half-way to his mouth.
“I know things are awkward and tense and there are probably things I’ve done to bother you, because there are definitely things you’ve done to bother me.” I shake my head. “But we can’t keep going with this hatred anymore. This resentment. With what’s happening with Ivy, we can’t let this rift be here anymore.”
He drops his fry back to his plate and leans against the booth behind him, his expression solemn.
“You could have bet me a million dollars and I never would have guessed something like that would have come out of your mouth.”
I furrow my brow.
“Something is different. With you.” He leans forward, folding his hands together on the table. “And I can’t figure out what it is. But I like this version of you. So don’t stop whatever is going on.”
I swallow thickly and can’t help it when my eyes stray to Hannah.
Ben laughs, a sound I haven’t heard from him in a while. Not with any real joy behind it.
“Ofcourseit’s because of the girl.” He glances back at Hannah. “She’s beautiful, I’ll give you that. But you know who she is, just like I do. And I think you’re gambling with something, here. Something bigger, with more risk than you have the ability to bet.”
He’s right. I’m taking a huge risk. My feelings for Hannah continue to develop. My desire to see her happy growing by leaps and bounds.
But Hannah’s happiness isn’t the only one I have to consider. And when I take all of the lives I care about and balance them out, it becomes pretty clear that one wrong move will tip everything over.
“Can I give you some advice?” he asks, and I nod. “Be honest with her. About everything.”
“That worked out so well for you,” I say, drily, remembering what happened to him a few years back.
