Page 80 of Devil's Bargain

I bite back my smile and eat a piece of pancake while he gulps water. “Wow! This is good!” I say around a mouthful.

He sits back down. This time with a glass of water for us both. It’s probably a good idea, who knows what other weird shit will come out of my mouth.

“Thank you for this!”

He smiles. “It’s just pancakes.”

“No, I mean everything. The food, the talk. You listen to me and don’t judge. It means a lot.”

He waits until he’s swallowed down his mouthful of food to speak. “Anytime, April.”

I moan as I take another bite, my eyes fluttering closed. “So good!” When I look at him again, he’s staring at my mouth.

He clears his throat and looks down at his plate. “Are you coming to my game later?”

I bring the glass of water to my lips. “You won’t stop asking?”

“Not until you’re in the stands.”

I take a sip, eyeing him over the rim. “I’ll think about it.”

He grins as if I’ve already agreed.

“But no love hearts.”

He laughs a deep and rich sound. “I promise. No love hearts.”

* * *

I don’t return home. I dread what I’ll come across this time, so instead, I find myself on Ben’s run-down porch.

I knock on the door and wait.

It opens. Ben leans on the frame with his hands in his pockets. His green hair is a tousled mess like he only just woke up.

“Can I come in?”

He moves aside.

“Is Dallas home?”

“She’s out with Steph.” He shuts the door and swaggers past me into the living room.

“Where’s Emily?”

“She’ll be over later.” He drops down on the couch and puts his feet on the coffee table. Unlike mine back home, his is absent of empty bottles.

I sink down on the recliner chair to his left. “I didn’t want to go home.”

His tongue darts out, and he toys with the lip barbel at the corner of his lip. “Want to talk about it?”

“I don’t think I can.”

He nods as if that makes sense, then stands back up and walks into the kitchen. He returns with a beer for us each.

I take a sip of my mine. “I’m in deep shit, Ben!”

He plops back down on the couch. “Why don’t you tell me what you can?”

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