Page 81 of Bullied By The Bad Boy

Protect me from what he started? My head rounds to him, and he grimaces. I exhale loudly. “You can’t protect me if you are part of the problem, Ben. That day I hugged you, and you just acted like it meant nothing. Like I was some clingy pest you wished never existed. Who does that?”

“Gracie—”

“Only you, Ben,” I cut in. My finger juts at the windshield. If we were outside, facing each other, I might have stuck the finger in his eye. “You punched me, yet I was still nice to you. You held me back so your non-girlfriend could hit me!” I pause to catch my breath, my palms sting, and I open them to see the tiny cuts made by my fingernails. Lifting my gaze to the annoying human beside me, I let out a shaky breath. “Now you talk about protecting me? Oh, please. If you want to protect me, tell her to stop being a bitch, and you can stop being such an arrogant jerkface.”

Still fuming, I roll down the window to let out the bad air. I don’t try to hide my irritation as my foot drums into the floor. I might like Ben, but I’m not dumb. He opens the door and puts out a leg.

He doesn’t leave, but he doesn’t say anything either. “I didn’t see your bike,” I say after a second.

“It’s at the mechanic.”

How was he planning on leaving? I insert the key in the ignition. “Where’s Asher?”

“Went with the bus. He’s sleeping over at Samuel’s.”

A moment of uncertainty passes between us. I might regret it, but I still say, “I’ll give you a ride.”

“You don’t have to.” I spare him an angry glance. He frowns. “Gracie,” he calls out.

My heart flutters, and I almost forget every reason to be mad at him. “It’s fine,” I murmur.

“The punch was an accident. I was waiting for Noah, and you showed up. Did you follow me?”

I let out a squeak, throwing an annoyed look his way. “Get over yourself, Benny.”

Ben jams the door close and hoists me on his lap. His big hand cups my face. I lean into him and sigh softly. “I’m sorry, Gracie. It really was an accident.” I don’t know if I believe that, but he has his eyes on me, so I nod slowly. “You know? You cheated. You were not fair to me that night.”

We only talked on Halloween night, and I was more than fair. I kissed him. We talked, and we were cool. Oh, he’s not talking about that. He’s talking about our match. About that one kick.

“It’s not cheating if I got back the points.” He tsks. “It was a means to an end. I had to win.”

“Yeah. By any means necessary, right?” Ben says, but I can sense he’s holding back. I cup his face, loving the smoothness of his skin on my palm. Ben pouts. I want to know what makes him tick, what makes him laugh. Why he does the things he does. He brings my hand to his mouth to place kisses on my knuckles. “We should get going.”

“Yeah,” I reply. Ben nods, but his arms loop around my waist to keep me close.

I raise my brows in question, and he smiles. I love and hate his smile. “Thank you for the cake.”

I freeze. “You knew?” If he knew, why did he kiss her?

Ben shakes his head. “Found out yesterday. I overheard you and Asher talking, but I never got a chance to grill him.” He drags a hand through his hair. A rare smile touches his lips, and I squirm on his lap. “Why didn’t you say anything, Gracie? I would have kissed you instead, you know?”

“What does it matter? You kissed her, and you looked happy. Didn’t want to ruin the moment.”

His eyes find mine, and he hooks a finger under my jaw. “You were jealous. Is that why you cried? You snapped in class.” I hate his brain. Why does he have to remember? I nod again. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be, Benny.”

Ben frowns, and my head drops to his shoulder. I have no idea what I’m doing, but my arms lock behind his waist. This is lovely. “But I should be. I’m sorry I made you cry. I do that a lot, yeah?”

“Well, you are kind of an asshole and a big bully,” I murmur. “At least to me.”

“I’m sorry, Gracie. I’m sorry I punched you.”

Oh, Ben. He sounds so sincere and remorseful. But it doesn’t matter.

This won’t work.

I pull away from Ben to take a deep breath and create some space between us, which is almost impossible because I’m right on his lap. Finally working up the courage, I mutter, “Look, your apology is cool. But we can’t keep doing this. I like you, and you don’t like me back. It’s fine.”

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