Page 143 of The Rules
“I didn’t fuck him,” she said, the words coming out hollow. Soft. Like something cracked inside her to say them. “Happy?”
Ben didn’t answer. Not right away.
Hejust watched her. Unblinking. And when he finally spoke, it wasn’t loud—but it landed like a knife.
“Did he try?”
Katherine blinked. “What?”
“Joshua,” Ben said again, quieter now. “Did he want you?”
The moment the words left his mouth, regret twisted low in his gut. Of course he did. How could he not? The question was pathetic—weak. And worse, he already knew the answer.
She looked away. “I didn’t ask.”
Didn’t matter.
He saw the answer.
“He kissed you.”
Silence. Too long. Ben caught it.
“Was it just once?” he asked, tone deceptively calm. “Or did you let him again?”
She swallowed, expression tightened.
“Did you kiss him back, Winters?” he pressed, a whisper now. "Or were you too busy picturing me the whole time?"
Her hands fisted at her sides, but he barely noticed. He was too focused on her face, her eyes, the crack forming just beneath the surface.
And then she broke.
“You want the truth?” she snapped, voice low and raw.
“Yes. He kissed me.”
A pause. The words almost caught—but she forced them through.
“Yes, I kissed him back.”
Ben didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. But something shifted—deep, unwelcome, curling slow and sour in his gut.
She blinked, her throat tightening. "It was once," she said, quieter now. "Just one kiss."
“And the whole time I was trying not to feel it,”
she continued, voice barely holding together. “Trying not to feel, down to my bones, how much itwasn’twhat I wanted.”
Her eyes locked on his—fragile, furious. Breaking.
“Because it wasn’t…”
Her voice caught. She didn’t finish the sentence—but her hand lifted, almost involuntarily, fingertips hovering for a split second near the edge of his suit jacket.
That was the answer.
Silence detonated between them.
