I exhaled. “Please. I – ”
Ben silenced me with his mouth over mine. He released one of my wrists to hold my head still by a handful of my hair, thrusting his rough tongue between my lips as his free hand clasped mine over his groin. My protests were muffled as he held it there, revulsion seeping from my throat as I felt him get hard.
“See?” he laughed into my mouth while rubbing against me, taunting me with his growing stiffness in my palm.
“Get the fuck off me!”
I finally ripped my body away from him, falling to my knees. My heels scraped the hardwood as I scrambled to my feet, grabbing my phone and stumbling out the door and down the stairs. Now I needed more than anything to be around everyone, the chatty, nosy Woodhillers that Ben would never torment me in front of. I grabbed the railing hard as I bounded down the stairs, my legs buckling every other step.
“Oh my.” Bree Hannigan cast me a knowing smile at the bottom of the staircase. She eyed my tousled hair and crooked dress before giving me a nod of approval. “Keep that man happy, sweetheart.” She gave me a wink. “I won’t tell on you.”
The moment I realized what she’d assumed, my disgusted feet walked me away before my mouth could explain that no, I hadn’t been having sex with Ben in my room. She wouldn’t even believe me if I told her what he just did, I realized, nauseated as I gravitated to where the crowd was – the deck.
“There she is!” a voice trilled as I was immediately herded over to the circle of Woodhillers that my mother stood among.
“Oh!” one of them said, flashing everyone the same look that Bree had given me. It made me feel dirty.
“I want you to meet Mrs. Lockman, Nina. She owns a lovely gallery in the city and they need an intern!” Mom said brightly, trying not to look flustered as she combed my hair back with one hand and straightened my dress with the other. I looked up at Ms. Lockman, who stared at me with a stiff smile, no doubt uncomfortable with the fact that I appeared a post-coital mess. Despite the awkwardness, I managed polite small talk with her — at least until the topic broached Ben. Mom swiftly took over to make up for my sudden silence, giving me the time to glance at the person I could feel staring at me through my peripheral vision.
Daniel.
He was at my house. Standing on my deck in a light blue shirt with the first two buttons undone, he looked handsome in a way that would’ve riled me up had Ben not just turned my stomach. There was a frown in his blue eyes as they tried to read my expression, but when our gaze locked for too long, he turned away like he did on the football field, resuming his conversation with Mr. Davies as if he hadn’t seen me at all. I couldn’t linger on my hurt because Mom’s shrill chirp disrupted my thoughts.
“Speak of the devil!”
I turned to see what she was looking at, my face falling to the floor when I spotted Ben strolling our way. He didn’t fucking leave? I glared, amazed at his nerve. I could see Daniel watching me again, but my seething eyes were decidedly fixed on Ben and his shit-eating grin. He was delighted with himself as he came over, lowering his mouth to my ear.
“You’re gonna finish me off later,” he whispered before kissing Mom on the cheek and making introductions. Beyond sick to my stomach, I turned on my heel and speed-walked away, prompting the collective “aww” of disappointment from Mom and her friends.
“She gets embarrassed when I show him off!” I heard her say as I stormed back into the house through the kitchen, praying like hell that the footsteps behind me didn’t belong to Ben.
“Don’t be a bitch, Nina. Come here.”
They did.
“Get away from me, loser.” Profanity didn’t get to Ben, but that dumb word always did. His footsteps instantly halted. The two servers in the room barely looked up before rushing the hell out with their trays of crostini. He spoke the moment they were gone.
“Watch your fucking mouth, Nina.”
“No.” That word got to him too.
“Then how about I shut it for you with this?”
I didn’t have to turn to know that he was grabbing his dick. His footsteps started up again, prompting mine to move faster. But since my pride forbade me to look frightened and run, he soon had me by the arm.
“You don’t walk away from me,” he said evenly, as if it were a basic fact of life. While his tone was cool, he squeezed me hard, yanking me back when I dared to keep walking.
But when the patio door opened, he quickly released. I cursed him, rubbing the burning from my arm as I spun around, freezing when I saw whom it was coming through the door. Daniel. His eyes fixed intently on me as he let himself in, his brows rising in a silent question. Are you okay? I gave a small nod though it was an obvious lie. Ben peered over his shoulder, laughing with bitter disbelief at the intrusion.
“What’s up, buddy,” he said, though it might as well have been, “Fuck off, asshole.” When Daniel didn’t immediately make himself scarce, Ben shot him an incredulous look before nodding out the doorway. “We’ll talk upstairs, Nina.”
“No, we won’t.”
Ben’s head cocked threateningly, fire immediately burning in his eyes. They asked me if I was sure I wanted to do this – embarrass him in front of another guy. It was just about what he hated most. When I stayed put, his hard gaze floated away from me and his hand wiped a smirk onto his face. I rolled my eyes at his signature reaction to an ego bruise, waiting for his customary chuckle to convey how entertaining he found me.
But instead of that, I got his hand grabbing me by the same spot as before, hard enough that I felt his fingers on my bone. “Ben!” Everything below his grip quickly tingled with numbness, my hand feeling as if it were starting to swell. The pain only spread when he let go and it took me a second to register the low, snarling mutter I heard – from Daniel.
I looked up, horrified to see their faces a mere inch apart, Ben on the tips of his toes as Daniel held him by the front of his shirt, veins bulging from his neck and forearms, every muscle flexing under the cotton of his blue button-up. Ben’s lip curled, indignant as he heard his own grunts and snorts of resistance. Feet skidding and squeaking on the floor, he still attempted a haughty sneer.