Page 51 of Loved By The Bad Boy

I ruffle his hair, but his frown doesn’t slide off his face. “Is Benny jealous?”

Emotions shadow his eyes, and I take his hands. Mom, Dad, Imani, and Mira have taken over the makeshift dancefloor. Maria and Calum are busy chatting, leaving us alone in our bubble.

“I just need to be sure you won’t start liking him and leave me for him.” My heart breaks at his honest admission. I’ll never do that. He takes my hand. “I don’t want you to leave me, Gracie.”

“Do you know what I wished for? I wished for us to be together forever.” A smile breaks out on his lips. I kiss him on the cheek. “It’s you and me forever, Benny. Calum is just my friend.”

We move to the beat of the song playing in the background. I look up at him and turn the other way when he notices. Ben catches onto my antics. “What is it? You look kinda nervous, babe.”

My voice lowers. “If you don’t want me to be friends with him, it’s okay. I’ll understand that.”

“Na. It’s cool,” he murmurs. We turn to look at Calum. He is talking to Dad while Maria and Mom chat away. “I’m cool with it. I know I’ll always have you. I will always have you, right?”

Our bubble deflates at Mom’s clap. She’s the first one to offer me a gift. A small box with a tiny ribbon around it. It contains a necklace that Ben hooks around my neck. My fingers run over the pendant. A customized pendant of my name. Dad is up next. His box is bigger. A peek inside the box reveals a pair of leather boots. I squeal and clap. My shoe collection is growing.

The Mending Hearts crew is next.

“This one is from all of us,” Calum says. It’s a bracelet with letter beads arranged to form the words: Mending Hearts. It follows the same concept as the bracelet Ben first gave me.

The mischievous glint in Maria’s eyes hints at her gift. Ben also finds her grin suspicious.

She drops a small box on my lap, one hand curved around her mouth as she whispers, “Open it when you’re alone.” Curiosity gets the best of me. I steal a peek, and my cheeks warm in embarrassment. “I tried to warn ya.”

My best friend is foolish. If she weren’t, she wouldn’t have gifted me a pack of flavored condoms.

Ben doesn’t give me anything but inches closer to murmur in my ear. “Babe, your gift is in your room.” My brows shoot up. “Sorry, I went into your room without your permission.”

A snicker tunnels out of my throat. “How could you?” I whisper.

Ben pales. I think my new favorite hobby is pranking him, or maybe it’s revenge for keeping the surprise from me. “Your mom allowed me, but she stood watch at the door. Are you mad?” I make a disappointed face. My acting skill has gotten much better. “Sorry, don’t be mad, Gracie.”

“I’m not.”

“Then smile for me.”

I do exactly as my boyfriend asks, showing off my dentition, and he kisses my cheek. Minutes later, the guests begin to leave. The Mending Hearts crew goes first. Maria promises to visit later to play catch up. I help Ben up. We can have the Saturday discussion that never happened now.

“We are going to my room,” I say to no one in particular.

Before a response comes from my parents, I yank Ben toward the staircase, and we race upstairs.

“Keep the door open,” Mom calls after us.

Ben and I are giggling as we enter my room. I don’t think Mom has forgotten or forgiven my comment about sex. But it won’t happen today. My first time can’t be with them in the house.

My steps falter once I step into my room. The first thing I notice is the box on my bed, the same one I gave to my neighbor. Ben brought it back to me. The combat boots are inside. Ben’s notes and other gifts. I take off my shoes and put on the boots. They are as comfortable as I remember.

Ben joins me on the bed and pulls my feet to his legs. “You’re not supposed to return gifts, you know?”

“You’re not supposed to break your girlfriend’s heart, you know?”

I empty the remaining content of the box on the bed. My hair clip is there, so I slip it on. Ben flicks my hair behind my ear and runs a finger over the butterfly on the clip. I hug him from the side, and my head nestles in the curve of his shoulder. My room here is bigger, and so is my bed. We settle in the middle of the bed and start arranging the notes in order. Butterflies storm my belly each time he reads out a line to me. What was I thinking returning these silly notes? I love them.

A white envelope on the vanity table catches my eye. It wasn’t there this morning. Ben shrugs when he notices what I am staring at. Is that his gift? I don’t know what I expected, but it’s not a letter.

Is that a letter?

There’s a picture of Ben kissing my cheek glued to the mirror. I may have put that there as soon as we reconciled. I stagger to the vanity, and he comes after me. He hooks his arms around my waist from behind, and a kiss on the back of my neck has my toes curling. We stay like that until his fingers brush the picture. From the mirror, I see his face contort like he’s holding in his laughter, and I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow.

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