A Shattered Moment (Fractured Lives 1)

“No comprendo,” he said, not looking up.

“Yeah, right. Maybe I’ll be the next person to do the punching.”

Both of them burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, looking back and forth at them as they roared with laughter.

“You couldn’t hurt a fly,” Chad said, squeezing my bicep.

“Hey, I’m tougher than I look.”

“We know,” Bentley said to pacify me. “We both think you could hurt a fly.”

Chad laughed again.

“You’re both assholes,” I complained, sinking back against the couch cushions as Bentley pulled the sweats I’d borrowed down over my bandaged knees. The sweats were huge on me, but I liked them.

“Yeah, and you’re adorable,” Bentley answered, leaning in to give me a kiss on the head.

“Again with the adorable. Keep it up and I’m going to take my adorable cane and shove it somewhere.”

“Damn,” Chad said, mockingly covering his ass with his hand.

Bentley finished up the first-aid service by taking care of my hands, and we decided to relax and watch TV. After fighting over the remote, he and Chad finally settled on an old science fiction movie about aliens. I didn’t know how to break it to them that I didn’t like science fiction, but just like Ferris Bueller, they claimed it was a classic, so I kept my mouth closed and resigned myself to a two-hour torture fest. If all else failed, I could take a nap or play on my phone.

As it turned out, the movie wasn’t all that bad. It was intense and had me gripping Bentley’s knee more times than I should have, not to mention making me jump several times.

Chad had a bad habit of talking throughout the movie. Bentley shushed him on more than one occasion, telling him he was ruining the movie for me, but I didn’t mind. It was a bittersweet moment. In a way, Chad reminded me of Dan. As he talked, it made me feel at peace. It was nice to be included and not treated like the victim.

By the time the movie ended, I was yawning. It was later than I thought and I was ready to crawl into bed. Bentley offered me the use of his bed, claiming he could take the couch, but I declined the tempting offer. I had an early class and I wasn’t ready for Bentley to see what I looked like in the morning.

Saying a sleepy good night to Chad, I burrowed back in Bentley’s arms as he carried me from the apartment and down the stairs. He was spoiling me and I should have protested, but his arms felt so good. I almost dozed off by the time we reached the car. I yawned big, apologizing.

“You could have stayed at my apartment,” he said, reaching over to grab my hand as we drove.

“Too soon,” I answered honestly as he pulled in front of my dorm building.

“I told you I would have slept on the couch.”

“I know. It just feels too soon for that. It’s really only been a couple weeks that we’ve known each other. We have to take it slow,” I said, flushing when I remembered the scene from his apartment earlier. That definitely hadn’t been slow. I wondered if he would call me on it. Call me a tease. It’s not like I had any real experience with guys other than Zach, but I knew no one liked to feel like they were being led on.

“I can do slow.” He climbed from the car to help me out, but I refused to let him carry me into the building. It was late, but there was no telling who would still be sitting in the common room inside. There was no way I was going to open that can of worms.

Our progress was annoyingly slow. I hadn’t noticed in all the time sitting on Bentley’s couch, but now that I was walking around, I was pretty sore from my fall earlier. My movements were a mix of stiff hobbling and shuffling.

“I had fun tonight,” I said when we finally reached the entrance.

“You sure? You look like you’re in pain just walking around.”

“Well, I’m not going to lie. I’m a bit sore, but the game was fun and the after was, uh—”

“Better than a party?” he offered, placing his hands on my hips.

“Definitely better.” I dragged my bottom lip into my mouth, which had become a nervous habit anytime we were this close.

“You know, when you do that, it makes the whole going slow thing tougher.” His lips left a hot trail across my cheek. I didn’t need to ask what he was talking about. It was pretty clear when his mouth found my bottom lip and dragged it in. He sucked on it for a moment before moving to the rest of my mouth.

I clenched his shirt tightly into my fists, holding on as my head swam. Pressing myself as close to him as our standing positions would allow, I wished with everything inside me that I would have taken him up on his offer to stay over. Even though it was my idea, taking it slow was as hard for me as it was for him.