Page 84 of Loved By The Bad Boy

“I guess so,” I finally answer. “No more secrets.”

Ben takes out the clothes I shoved into the bag haphazardly and folds them. “No more secrets. I will be mad if you keep a secret from me.” Maybe I should tell him. His smile fades when I open and close my mouth. I play with the zip of my bag. It shouldn’t be this hard to confess it. “Babe, what is it?”

“Well, there’s one teeny weeny thing I have to tell you.” He halts midway into folding my towel. I bark out a false laugh, and he lowers the towel into the bag. “I may have lied. A white lie. My parents didn’t give their blessings for me to stay back. They are not happy with me being here.”

Ben’s mouth opens in shock, and I try to pass it off with a shrug. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” I reply. “Are you mad?”

“No. Not really.”

I take over the folding. “You are disappointed?”

“Nope. I think I know why you did it.” Ben’s smile grows, and I feel so stupid for making a big deal out of it. “I would have figured it out if I wasn’t so distracted. You are such a terrible liar.”

My mouth closes wordlessly. That’s true. I rehearsed so many times in front of the mirror before telling him to his face. I waved him off whenever he asked if they were fine with the extension.

“Besides, your dad probably wants to fry my balls. That man can hold a grudge.” I laugh. No lies detected. “Hayden hates me, and your mom… well, she thinks I’m cool. But it makes more sense that they wouldn’t want you to spend more than the agreed week. Do you want me to call them?”

“No.” I zip and unzip the bag twice. Ben stops it from happening a third time. Taking both of my hands, he clears his throat. I have no choice but to continue. “I guess they would need to know why I insisted on staying back with you, and I just need to know it’s okay for me to tell them…”

The unspoken words linger in the air between us. Ben cocks his head slightly, then nods. “Okay. Give them a summarized version.” Drawing me in for a kiss, he whispers against my lips, “No more secrets, not even one, or I will never kiss you again. What’s life without Benny’s kisses, Gracie?”

Heaven forbids that. As arrogant as he sounds, I need his kisses to function.

“Okay, Benny. No more secrets, for real.”

Thirty-Six

I didn’t tellmy parents we would be back today. Their anger wouldn’t have stopped them from coming to the airport. But I couldn’t do it. Matt is on his way to get us. He and Ben have grown closer over the weeks. It’s not an elderly brother relationship, but they are cool with each other.

Ben nudges me with his hip. “Are you okay?”

“I’m a bit nervous.”

We are still in the waiting area because Matt is an ass. He should have been here long ago. My parents wouldn’t have kept us waiting. And I’m reminded of that as people rush past us to hug family and friends while we watch and wait. Ben lets go of his box to draw me in for a side hug.

“Don’t be, babe.” Ben draws my lip between his teeth, and I make a throaty sound. Some of his confidence spills over me. “They will be too happy to see you to care about that. I promise.”

Not really. “Yeah.”

As the minutes pass, Ben’s fingers rap on his suitcase in a staccato that weirdly comforts me. I whisk out my phone to check Maria’s texts. There are a lot of pictures. Each image has a caption in caps lock. She gets crazier every day, and her growing fanbase loves her for that craziness.

I focus on her last message. It reads:You should do something about it.

About what? My head relaxes on Ben’s shoulder. He gives me a small smile and resumes the finger-tapping. It might be my imagination, but he seems different and more relaxed. Returning there healed him. Getting justice for himself chipped off the weight Ben never realized he carried like a second part of himself. Justice cost us a month, and my parents will never let me forget it.

But I’m good. We both are. I caught up on classes. I sent in my assignments via email. My GPA is fine. I’ll not risk my admission. Josef spoke to the principal. Calum has been helping us with important notes. It’s not as bad as they think. We only missed three weeks of physical lectures.

I download one of the million pictures Maria sent me, then another. They are all screenshots but from the different and popular accounts that reposted my vogue picture. I check on my Instagram account, and—holy fucking mother of God. I have a ton of followers. Tell me, why do I have fifty thousand likes on my picture? Why do I have an influx of twenty-nine thousand followers?

It might be hard to believe, but I was content with my less than one hundred followers count. The rise in followers isn’t the only new thing I notice. The pinned comment has generated more likes, same as mine. There are about one hundred replies under my comment, but I don’t check them.

This is so fucked up.

Back to my inbox, I send Maria a text.

Me:What’s going on?

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