Chapter 97 Chapter 97

Chapter 97 Chapter 97
Ben

This is the place Kimberley Smith should’ve flourished. This should’ve been the springboard to the future she deserves. Instead, she got dragged down into the mud with three assholes too tormented by their own demons to protect the fucking angel in their midst.

There’s so much more I want to tell Kimberley, but I’m shit with words. That’s why I just dove in and said what I’ve been thinking. But her reaction catches me off guard.

Fire flashes in her eyes, and her cheeks flush a pretty pink. Her lips press into a thin line, and her hands curl into fists.

“Are you… fucking kidding?” she demands in a low, strained whisper.

I shake my head. “I’m serious. I want to help you get back into school. I’m not sure how yet, but—”
“No.”

Her voice is like an anvil falling. I meet her gaze, surprised, and see something like panic mixing with the anger on her face.

“No,” she says again, louder this time. “You guys don’t get to do this. You can’t do this to me. You can’t keep making promises, making me trust you, and then—”

“It’s not like that, Kimberley. Not this time.”

“Oh, it’s not?” She laughs softly, and the sound has a manic edge to it. “God, I’m losing my fucking mind. I almost believed him too. How do you get so far under my skin that you make me want to believe you?”

Him? Him, who?

Cold certainty fills me, followed by a rush of rage like I’ve never felt toward either of my best friends before.

She’s not talking about Caden. I know she wouldn’t believe that fucker right now if he told her the sky is blue.

Which means she’s talking about Darren.
What did he do? Did he talk to her? Did he make promises to her too? Is he trying to claim her for his own?

Maybe he’s the one who deserves her most. He’s done less to hurt her than Caden or I have. He didn’t steal her virginity in a supply closet or get her kicked out of Evergreen Bay.

But even as that thought occurs to me, primal anger burns in my chest, and I know I can’t just back down and let him have her.

All my muscles have gone tense again, and I suck in a breath through my nostrils, working hard to get myself back under control.

“I’m not lying, Kimberley,” I say slowly. “I want to fix this.”

For several long moments, my words hang in the air as silence reigns between us. Her deep brown eyes are wide as she stares at me, and her body is frozen, poised, and still, like a prey animal who’s sensed danger but doesn’t know quite where the threat will come from.

Then she moves, shoving her chair back so hard and fast that it nearly tips over. She stands, already backing away as she shakes her head. As if she’s afraid of me. As if she’s afraid of herself around me.

“No. No. I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but I’m done playing this fucking game, Ben. We’re only playing one game now, and it’s ‘I ruin you before you ruin me.’ And believe me, I’m playing to win this time.”

With that, she turns on her heel and strides toward the door.

I watch her go, and for a split second, I imagine what would happen if I just dropped all of this. Kimberley is no good for me, clearly—and I’m even worse for her. I’m insane for this woman. I want her to disappear, but I hate living without her. I’m consumed by violent jealousy if another man touches her, and yet… I let Caden rip her from our lives.

Maybe she’s better off without all of us.
But whether she is or not, I can’t let her go.
Surging to my feet, I stalk after her, catching up to her just before she reaches the door. There’s a hallway off to one side that leads to more seating in a separate room, and I drag her into the small space, pinning her to the wall next to the door to the men’s room.

She yelps in surprise, and a look of fury passes over her face, mixed with a sort of vindication. As if I’ve just proved myself to be nothing more than the brute she thinks I am.

“Get the fuck off me, you asshole,” she hisses, shoving hard at my chest.

Leaning into her, I absorb the blow as if it was nothing, pressing her into the wall with more of my body. One hand comes up to cover her mouth before she can scream and bring the waitress running back here, and her eyes widen in shock.
I feel her open her mouth, and I’m pretty fucking sure she’s about to bite me. So I lean in, putting my face within inches of hers.

“I don’t know what anyone else told you,” I say softly, my voice a low rasp. “But I won’t play that game with you anymore. I’m on your side. I’ll pick you from now on. I’ll fight for you.”

The words sound almost like a threat, but I need her to understand that I mean them. If I could cut open my chest and let her examine my heart, I fucking would. I would carve a hole in my ribs and let her see all the way down to the core of me. But since I can’t do that, all I have is my words, and the weight of my body against hers, keeping her from pushing me away again.

She stiffens beneath me, and her nostrils flare. But she doesn’t try to bite, so I leave my hand right where it is, my fingers and thumb gripping her jaw as my palm covers her mouth. I can feel her heart beating wildly against mine, and her pulse flutters in her neck like a trapped bird.

“I told you once that I would’ve treated you best, Kim,” I murmur. “And I meant it. I’ve wanted you since the first fucking moment I laid eyes on you, and I still want you. More than anything else in the whole damn world.”

She blinks, gorgeous and fierce and frantic.
Slowly, she drags her trapped hands out from between us and hooks my forearm, pulling my palm away from her mouth. I don’t fight her, although I don’t back away from her either. I’ve said my piece, and I just needed her to listen. She can do whatever she wants now.

Her fingers dig into my arm, her grip surprisingly strong for such small, delicate hands. We’re so close together that her hands and mine get trapped between us just below our chins, and it feels almost like she’s holding my hand to her heart.

Tension gathers in the fraction of space between us, seeming to spark something electric in the air.
She pushes on my arm, and I finally take a step backward, releasing her from the wall.

I think this is it. I expect her to slip away from me and run for the door, or maybe to scream after all.
What I don’t expect—what I never even dared to fucking hope for—is for her to reach up and palm the back of my neck, rising up onto her tiptoes to kiss me.