Page 23 of Broken By the Bad Boy

“We will be there,” Ben answers on my behalf. Maria’s squeal is glorious. I plug my fingers into my ears. She hugs me and dashes out of sight as if afraid my boyfriend will change his mind. What is he thinking? I spin in his embrace. His smile dies at my frown, but his hands glue to my waist. I like how touchy he is. It makes it okay for me to be touchy too. “You want to go, right?”

More than anything in the world. I push my hands into my pockets. “Can we afford it?”

“The card.” A look flashes across his eyes. “I still have the card, remember?”

The card he doesn’t want to use because he will be more indebted to his stepdad. I can never forget it. When I am on my bed at night, staring at the ceiling, the pain in his voice when he spoke about the card Josef gifted him on his eighteenth birthday always returns to haunt me. I want him to live like a normal teen. He is hurting but hides it beneath his smiles, winks, and playful arrogance.

“Ben, we don’t have to—”

He shakes his head. “Shh. Don’t ruin it,” he whispers. “You want to go on a date with me, right?” I want us to play dress up and do all those cheesy things. “Then we will go. It’s a date.”

“Can we at least split the bills?” I ask.

Knowing he will have to repay it some day dampens the excitement I should feel. Ben glares at me. “Never. It’s my treat.” My shoulders sag in resignation. He hooks a finger under my jaw. “I love you.”

My hands wrap around his wrist. “I love you too.” I exhale a soft breath and say, “Always and forever.”

Eyes locked on mine, he replies, “Always and forever.”

Ten

“Daniel thinksnext Saturday will be great,” Maria tells me. We are headed to the library to get her another set of textbooks. She went during lunch but forgot to pick up some books. Maria links our hands and guides me through the path leading to the back of the library, grinning with excitement I don’t feel. Ben has a fight this Saturday. I am not sure about next week. “What do you think? Is that okay?”

“I’ll have to ask Ben,” I say and scratch the base of my neck.

It’s almost laughable that I can’t make plans without consulting my boyfriend. But this topic involves both of us, so I have to. Maria spares me a glance. A sound between a snicker and a sigh escapes her, but she keeps mute. I push ahead of her and stop at the foot of the short stairs leading to the door of our destination.

“Soo…” I murmur. She glances up, and I look away to the tall fence. “You and Daniel are a couple, or?”

Color rises to her neck. She covers her mouth with her hand and nods. I turn my back on our reflections on the glass doors of the library. Two weeks ago, she didn’t want to hear Daniel’s name. Now they are a couple. We both went in too fast with the dating, and I can’t help hoping we don’t regret it.

Maria’s brows furrow at my silence. My gaze trails down her body before returning to her face. Her dress matches mine. Not as flirty as I am used to, and the wheels in my head spin. For odd reasons, my mind wanders to dirty places. Ben and I have not had sex. I don’t think we ever will, and I am okay with that. But I want to hear Maria’s thoughts on it. We have never discussed sex. It’s too weird.

“Since when?”

One foot shoots out. She bites her glossed lips and looks away. “Since yesterday.”

Yesterday when she told Ben and me about the date. I pull out my phone from my pocket to text Ben, and my lips curl in a small smile. He already texted. He makes dating him so easy. I forget Maria for a bit as we text back and forth. This might be our first relationship, but we are killing it. I still have the notes he slides into my back pocket each morning, and I want to believe it’s the same for him. I doubled the puzzles.

Maria’s breath fans my neck as she draws closer to me. I tuck my phone into my pocket, and she stares at me for a long moment before asking, “Are you mad?”

Her lips are in a pout, and she blinks fast. I don’t tell her she looks like she’s about to experience a seizure. I have no reason to be upset if she is happy with Daniel, so I throw an arm around her shoulder.

“Nope,” I reply. “Not at all.”

Maria drags me into a hug. I snort when she grabs my wrists and bounces high. She squeals, letting out a sound only she can pull off. I look on with a bored expression, and she lets me go.

“We have boyfriends, Tessa.” Maria jumps and claps. “Both of us.” My smile is bigger than ever. Our bucket list is almost complete, and I am not super worried about the rest of the items. She hugs me once more, and I squeeze her tighter. “All our dreams will come to pass, Tessa.”

Because I don’t want to jinx it, I nod, and Maria breaks away from the hug to wiggle her brows. Ben calls me right as I open the door for the second time in five minutes, and she mouths for me to wait for her instead. I settle down on the stairs to take the call, legs kicked out in front of me.

He’s not here, but hearing his voice makes me feel hot and cold. His breathing on the other end of the phone tickles my ear.

“Hey.” My voice is hoarse like I spent the night screaming. I clear my throat and try again. “Hey, babe.”

“Hey. I miss you.”

A smile touches my lips. I tug on a loose thread on the knee of my jeans. “You saw me at the cafeteria, Benny.” I don’t mention his disappearance during lunch before he returned to shower me with kisses. It’s hard to question him when he has his lips on mine. “We ate lunch together.”

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