Bennett (On the Line 2)

“I hate that I came between you and Liam.”

“You didn’t.”

He looked over at me skeptically. “If not for me, you guys wouldn’t be pissed at each other right now.”

“Maybe not over this, but we’d probably be pissed at each other over something else. We’ve always been this way. It’s because we’re both strong-minded.”

“Strong-minded?” He laughed softly.

“Yes. What’s funny?”

“Nothing.” He turned on his side, cringing from the pain in his ribs, and leaned up on an elbow. “You know he and I will work this out, right?”

“Why would you even want to? Look what he did to your face.”

“Babe, I get beat on all the time. That’s hockey. We settle shit with our fists. That fight between Liam and me needed to happen.”

Bennett’s eye was still swollen and purple. I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t bothered by Liam’s low opinion of him. Or, apparently, his trip to the police station today and the community service he now had to do.

“He owes us both an apology.”

“For standing up for his sister?”

My eyes bulged with anger as I sat up in bed. “I didn’t need standing up for, Bennett!”

“I know that. But that’s how Liam is. He cares about very few people, but the ones he loves, he loves with everything.”

“He thinks you’re not good enough for me.”

“You’re his sister. No one’s good enough for you in his eyes. And since your dad split when you guys were young, he probably feels a fatherly responsibility to look out for you.”

I had to ask him the question that was nagging at me. “Does he know something I don’t? Do you see other women on the road?”

“No. There haven’t been any other women since you.”

I exhaled with relief. “So what are you saying? That I should just forget what he did today?”

“No, but you should forgive him for it. He’s my best friend and I know him well. He shoots from the hip. Hell, I kind of like that about him. And life’s too short for holding grudges.”

His expression was earnest. I sensed a deeper meaning to what he was saying, but I didn’t want to push. I liked knowing Bennett was opening up to me because he wanted to, not because I was forcing him to.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll think about it.”

“How many people in this world do you love?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

“Nope. How many? Would you need both hands to count them?”

I thought about it for a second. There was my mom, Liam, the baby, and maybe . . . Bennett. Not that I was ready to admit that. I cared for other people, but love was a strong word. My mom had no family other than me, Liam, and her husband. My circle was small.

“I could count them on one hand,” I admitted.

“Then don’t let this come between you and one of those people. I think we’ve got something great going, and I don’t want this clouding our relationship.”

I smiled and met his eyes. “We have a relationship.”

“I know, right? I can call you my girlfriend now.”