Page 13 of Broken By the Bad Boy

“Oh. Okay. Can I ask how?”

“Nope,” I say. My smile is forced and fake, and my heart picks up its rhythm. She pulls her hand out of my grasp to cover mine. I need to say something. “They have really nice clam chowder.”

“Yeah? Clam chowder it is.”

Gracie’s excitement spills to the surface and spreads over me. A smile replaces her frown as she picks up the menu once more. I make our order while she decides on our drinks. When our meal is dropped to the table, she sniffs the air and sighs. I chuckle and stomp my foot on the floor, my ribs hurting from laughing too hard. She’s not skinny, but she doesn’t look the type to overeat.

My phone vibrates. I pull it out of my pocket. One look at the text and my heart slams against my ribcage. What does she want? She wasn’t at the house for Thanksgiving. She never comes for the holidays. On instinct, I steal a glance around the place. It’s full except for a few empty tables.

Gracie clears her throat and grabs the spoon without a word. Her eyes close as she savors the meal, and I forget all about eating and the person who haunts my dreams. She has no idea how much I like her. Our eyes connect, and everything blurs. She blushes. I think I’m also blushing.

Pointing at her bowl, she says, “It’s lovely. You should try it.”

She shoves a spoon into her bowl and holds it to my lips. My mouth closes around the spoon, but I don’t get to swallow because my nightmare walks in. The monster finds a seat at the back and waves.

My heart drops. How dare she?

“Well?” Gracie implores.

The soup loses taste in my mouth. I return Gracie’s expectant smile with one of mine.

“I—”

Sweat grows under my armpits. My palms become clammy, and I swipe them over my knees. I focus on Gracie instead of her. But that ugly face clouds my vision, and my heart clenches. The knots in my stomach push up to my chest, and breathing becomes impossibly harder.

First, she was at Asher’s game, and now she’s here. I bet she sent me that text. Was she following me?

“Benny, are you okay?” my girlfriend asks. I nod. But she looks in the direction my eyes seem to stray every few minutes. “Do you see someone you know?” I wish I didn’t know that woman. I shake my head, but she doesn’t appear convinced. I’m not sure when she moves, but she’s beside me in a heartbeat. Her palm connects with my cheek. “You’re sweating, Benny. Are you fine?”

No. I want to leave. I want to go home.

Brown eyes watch me from behind the menu held up to her face, unaware of the effect her presence has on me. Oblivious to my suffering, Gracie hugs me from the side. My eyes shut, and I listen to the sound of her voice. At first, it sounds distant but grows clearer with each second.

“You are okay, Benny. I’m here, babe,” she whispers. “You are okay, Romeo.”

“I’m okay,” I mutter in a voice barely above hers.

“Mom will be home soon,” she tells me. “We will have to leave, if that’s okay with you.”

Every word Gracie utters is more for my sake. She has thirty minutes until her curfew. I ruined our date. I nod once, twice, until my head is bobbing nonstop. She shifts up my lap, and my arm circles her waist. Gracie is here. My nightmares can’t hurt me if I’m in the present with Gracie.

“Let’s go,” she murmurs. She helps me up and settles the bill.

Am I the worst boyfriend, or what?

Gracie doesn’t let me speak, not that I can. She kisses the rest of the words on my lips, guiding me out of the place. We leave without so much as a backward glance at our unfinished meal.

“I’ll make it up to you, I swear,” I say when we are closer to my bike. The claws sinking into my chest retract. She kisses the tip of my nose. “I’m sorry. We can come again another time, yeah?”

“It’s fine. I didn’t even like their soup.”

Lies.

They have the best clam chowder. When she brings my head down for a forehead kiss, butterflies rouse in my belly, and my heart flips. I think I feel what Romeo felt for his Juliet, or maybe more.

We ride to my girlfriend’s house in silence. Gracie is scared of bikes, but none of that fear manifests on our way back. I park in front of the house after scanning the environment to be sure no one followed us. I don’t trust that woman not to pull a funny stunt. She’s the devil’s cousin.

Gracie removes the helmet. She’s about to kiss me when a light goes off in their house.

---