I reach around him to the top drawer of his dresser, the condom drawer. “I think what you want is in here.”
He pulls me against him with one hand and takes a packet out of the drawer with the other. I grab an extra for good measure and wrap my arms around him again. When I kiss him, he knocks the drawer shut with his shoulder and carries me to the bed, gently laying me down.
Ben lifts the jersey and then my tank and finds skin underneath, moving his fingers up my side until his thumb reaches my nipple. He strokes it lightly.
“I like being on your team, Ben.”
He smiles and covers my mouth with his.
Chapter Sixteen
Ben
After I deal with the condom, I kiss Megan’s forehead and move her hair away from her face. “Thanks for staying with me.”
“You’re welcome,” she whispers.
“Thanks for trusting me with your secrets.”
Her eyes start to droop and she yawns. “You’re welcome again.”
“Thanks for the amazing sex.”
She burrows into my chest. “My pleasure, believe me.”
I tug her hair to keep her awake. “What can I do for you? To help you?”
“Let me sleep." She whines the words and turns to kiss my chest, and then she settles back into me.
I squeeze my arms around her. “You know what I mean.”
She reaches across me, entangling her arms in mine. “Maybe you can drive me to Fort Lee tomorrow?” Her voice cracks.
“Of course.” I answer without hesitation.
When I shut my eyes, she jolts up next to me. “What do I say to her?”
She looks up at me like I have the answers. I don’t, so I reach out to touch her earlobe and go with my gut. “I guess start with ‘hi’ and take it from there.”
She nods then stretches next to me again. She fits perfectly—her head on my chest, her legs intertwined with mine. “You’re right.”
Within minutes, her breath evens out. I’m just about to fall asleep myself when a key slides into the doorknob.
When the door clicks open and the knob turns, Megan stirs. “Oh no. Chase,” she moans, pulling the sheet over her head.
It’s not Chase though. It’s Juliet. She’s wearing an NJU sweatshirt and flannel pants, like Megan’s, and her long brown hair is up in a ponytail. She’s carrying an armload of stuff.
“Ben? Wake up. I need you.” She flips on the light. When she looks at the bed, she sees the lump next to me. “That better be Megan under there.”
Meg flips the sheet away from her face and groans. “It’s me.”
Jules huffs. “Thank God. At least one man who lives in this room hasn’t lost his mind.”
She throws her armload of stuff onto Chase’s bed. “I’ll be right back with the rest.”
When she stomps away, Megan grimaces and points. “What’s that about?”
I rub my face. With Jules it can be anything. “I have no idea.” I consider bolting the door.
“Maybe I should go.” She rubs her eyes and yawns, and then she stretches and tries to maneuver out of bed.
I pull the sheets up around her. “No. You stay. She goes.”
Before we can argue about it, Jules barges back in with another load of crap that she throws on Chase’s bed. She murmurs something about men and her dead body.
Megan scowls at me then smiles sweetly at Jules. “Everything okay, Juliet?”
Jules walks to the bed and lifts her chin. “I’m kicking Chase out.”
I groan and cover my face with my hands. “Can we talk about this tomorrow?” I roll over to put my arms around Megan’s waist and hide.
“Ben!” Jules whines. “We’re breaking up!”
I burrow into Megan and shut my eyes. “Can’t you see I have company?” Sometimes Jules’s selfishness gets on my nerves.
Megan shakes my shoulder. “That’s not nice.” I open one eye and peek up at her. She holds the sheet to her chest and gives me the evil eye.
I sigh, rub my beard, and sit up. “Fine.” I scoff at Jules, who seems happy to have my attention. “You realize we’re naked, right?”
Juliet doesn’t answer as she paces the room. “I can’t even believe him.” She points past us to the wall indicating Chase is a few doors down.
Megan nudges me and whispers, “Fix her.”
It’s what I do. I keep my hand on Megan under the sheet and turn to Jules. “What happened? In tweet form. 140 characters or less. Go.”
Jules scrunches her face, walks to me, then pokes my bare chest. “Ew! If you’re going to be so mean and uncaring, I’ll just tell Megan.”
Megan reaches past me, elbowing me in the process, and grabs Juliet’s hands, using her armpits to keep the sheet tight against her chest. “Tell me.”
I scurry down under the blanket and try to disappear, or at least ignore. When I touch Meg’s leg, she kicks me away.
Juliet sighs. Here come the dramatics. I know her routine. I peek out from under the blanket.
“Chase is going to Europe with Tina.” She shakes her head and twists her hair around her fist.
“What?” Megan yells.
I reluctantly sit up and join the conversation. “That doesn’t make sense. What’s the rest of the story?”
As if on cue, Chase bursts through the door. He does a double take when he sees Megan in my bed.
Meg waves. “Hey, Chase.”
He shakes his head and waves back. “Megan. You’re naked in my room.”
“Yes, I am. Sorry—”
“No sorries.” He nods, staring at her, frozen in his spot. “Huh.”
Jules gives me a look and points her chin toward him.
“Can you stop staring?” I bark.
He shakes his head then turns to his girlfriend. “Juliet. Come on, you’re being unreasonable.”
She marches toward him, standing between him and the bed. “It’s unreasonable for me to not want my boyfriend to spend the summer in Europe with another girl? That’s unreasonable?” She looks to Megan for support.
Meg lifts her chin and looks down her nose at Chase. “It doesn’t sound unreasonable to me.”
Chase moves past Jules to Megan and talks to her. “It’s not all summer. It’s two weeks. For an art seminar. A once in a lifetime art seminar that Tina will be at too.”
Jules pushes in front of him for counterargument. “She invited him. It’s not like she’s going to randomly be there.” She turns to Chase, her eyes shooting daggers. “I knew this would happen with her. She’s been after you since day one. I thought I’d try to be nice since she helped with the mural and all, but I should have known.”
Chase runs his hands through his hair and looks up at the ceiling. “For the millionth time, she’s not like that. We’re just friends.”
Juliet huffs and looks to us on the bed, pointing to Chase. “Do you believe this? I mean, I told Ben I couldn’t go to his brother’s wedding because of him. I thought he’d be uncomfortable. Yet he thinks it’s okay to go to Paris with another woman? For two weeks?”
At the mention of my brother’s wedding, I dart up. I’d forgotten all about it. While Jules and Chase argue, I smile at Megan and whisper, “Remember your promise to go out with me?”
She groans. “That promise was made under duress. I’m not going to a wedding with you.”
“I need a date. Jules isn’t going. It’s you or Carly.”
She flushes right away and smacks my arm. “We’ll discuss it later. Let’s get rid of these two.” She nods toward my roommate and my friend yelling at each other a few feet away.
“You know what, Chase?” Jules points at his chest. “Go. I won’t stop you. Go with Tina. But don’t expect me to be here when you get back.”
Chase shrugs his shoulders and looks to us. “Do you believe this?” He turns back to Jules. “I love you, Juliet, but you can’t run my life. Tina is a friend. She’s into art. I can’t help that she’s female. She knows that we’re togethe
r. You’re just going to have to trust me and deal.”
Juliet freezes and spins slowly toward Chase. “Deal?”
I cringe. There’s no way Jules will stand for that, so I try to diffuse the situation. “What Chase is trying to say is you have nothing to worry about with Tina. I know her too, and she’s not interested in Chase.”
Jules snaps her head to stare me down. “She’s wanted to fuck Chase since the first night of school!”
“Juliet!” Chase says. “You’re way off base.”
“Oh, no she’s not!” Megan’s tiny voice is louder than I’ve ever heard. “Don’t be naïve, Chase. Of course she wants you.”
We all stare at Megan, waiting. She points to Chase and waves her hand around. “Well, look at him. He’s hot as they come.”
Juliet grimaces at Meg, who shrugs.
“Uh, hi?” I wave at Meg when she turns to me. “Remember me?”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m not into that that pretty boy look.” To Chase she says, “No offense.”
“None taken. Megan thinks I’m hot, Megan thinks I’m hot…”
He sings until Juliet smacks his arm. “Egomaniac.” She turns to us, focuses on Megan and whispers, “He is really hot though. I mean, Ben’s hot too, but in a different way.”
Megan lowers her voice and scoots closer to the edge of the bed, and the two of them converse about our hotness. “Yeah, agreed. Different, but both hot.”
Chase looks at me and shakes his head, gesturing to the girls. I shrug, drop my head back against the wall, and cover my eyes with my hands.
Juliet. “Do you believe this Tina shit? I’m glad you and Ben are hooking up.”
Megan. “Really? I appreciate that. I’d hug you, but I’m naked under this sheet.”
“Uh, hi again. Still here.” I wave my arms between Chase and me. “We’re listening you know.”
I catch Meg wink at Jules. “You know.” She speaks loudly and clears her throat. “You should let Chase go to Paris with Tina. Then he can’t complain about you going to Moscow with Sven.”
With her back turned to Chase, Juliet smirks at Megan. I lift my eyebrows wondering if Chase will buy this. “Sven?” I murmur. “That’s not even Russian.” Megan jabs me in the ribs.
“Who’s Sven?” Chase watches Jules. Yep, he’s gonna buy it.
“The Moscow Ballet. He asked you, when?” Megan acts like she’s speaking to Jules, but Chase is all ears. “Around Christmas, right? If you’d go to the workshop next season and be his partner?”
Juliet nods. “You’re right! I forgot since I had a boyfriend who I didn’t want to disrespect. But hey, Sven is my friend. He’s not into me, and he’s into ballet and all. I can’t help that he’s male. It’s only for a week—”
Chase’s face flushes, and he shakes his head. “You’re not going anywhere with Sven.”
We all stop and stare at Chase. Jules scoffs and looks to us, pointing at him. Chase purses his lips together and squeezes his eyes shut. Then he groans and opens them again. “Fine!” he yells.
Tension is still high in the room, so I revert to patient, nice Ben. “Jules. You have to let Chase follow his dreams, right? He’s going to be around women, and you’re going to have to trust him.” Her shoulders slump.
Then I turn to a beaming Chase. “You, though. This is too much. It’s your first summer with Jules. We’ve all been through a rough year. If the girls think Tina’s into you, then they are probably right. Her motives aren’t purely art-related.”
Chase looks at Megan, who shrugs. “He’s right.”
“Now you two go apologize to each other and work this out. Somewhere else.”
Chase gives me the finger as he leads Juliet to the door. “I can’t spend two weeks away from you anyway, gorgeous.”
Jules snorts. “As if I’d let you take another woman to Paris for your first trip there. You want to go to Paris? We’ll go together.”
“Sounds good,” I say. “Now everyone out. Buh-bye.”
Meg giggles next to me.
“You still love me?” Chase asks Jules.
“You’re hot as they come,” she says, taking Megan’s line.
Chase and Jules kiss at the door and I clap. “Yay. Okay now go away.”
Megan joins me, clapping too. “Out.”
“You two are so mean.” Jules smiles. Chase gives a nod and follows her out.
He grabs her hand. “You have to stop bothering Ben with your problems.”
“Well then stop being a problem.” She pulls back her hand and smacks him on the ass.
Chase freezes for a moment, and I think they’ll never leave. “There’s not really a Sven, right?”
Juliet turns to look into the room and rolls her eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want us to stay?”
“Oh my God, get out!” Megan demands.
“Shut off the light and lock the door!” I yell.
When the door closes, I reach for Meg, happy for the silence and the darkness. “I’m sorry about Jules barging in. I’m going to have to talk to her about establishing boundaries.”
Her voice is soft as she wiggles closer. “You’re really good at fixing drama. I appreciate you trying to get her to leave. You picked me. Thanks.”
“I’ll always pick you. If you let me.”
“I’m not good at people like you are. I’ll try though. How about that?”
“I think you’re better at people than you realize. Hey, listen. About that wedding...” I kiss her ear.
“Tomorrow. Let’s just sleep now.”
Megan silences me with a kiss—a sweet, gentle kiss on the lips—and doesn’t try to run away. “I could get used to this,” I whisper. I’m not sure she hears, but I hold her until I can’t fight sleep any longer.
Megan
I’m floating in a dream and hear my father call me. Amelia, Amelia. I try to talk but can’t move my lips. Not now, Daddy, I’m so tired. He’s shaking me. No, I don’t want to get up.
“Meg. Wake up.” It’s Ben’s voice I hear now. As I open my eyes, I can’t help smiling at the sight of his messy mop of bed head. He kisses my nose. “Someone’s yelling ‘Amelia’ in the hallway.”
I sit up and hear the voice from my dream. “Pick up your phone.” He’s banging on my door down the hall. Thank God Maggie’s probably up and out already.
“Shit!” I jump up and reach for my phone, and then I dial and get dressed at the same time.
Ben’s watching. “Can I meet him?”
I look at his bare chest and point up and down his body. Damn he’s nice to look at. “Um, no.”
“I’ll put clothes on. Come on! Please?” He jumps out of bed and opens his dresser.
“No, Ben,” I say a little too harshly as Dad’s phone rings in my ear.
He sits up and flips the blankets as I appreciate his flexing abs. He finds his boxers then stares at me. “Why not? I’m going to have to meet him at some point. What’s the problem?”
I fall into a trance watching him pull the boxers over his naked hips. Wowzers. As he stands up and rants, I loop the boxer scene in my mind. Somewhere my dad’s voice is saying, “Princess?”, but I’m in boxer land while Ben’s lifts his naked hips…
The crash of the phone on the floor pulls me back to reality.
Crap. I pick it up, hearing my dad’s muffled voice. “I’m here!”
Ben looks at me with his puppy dog eyes.
Puppy dog eyes will not work. Will. Not. But he’s so cute… I shake my head.
Dad’s booming voice comes at me over the phone and from the hallway. “Meet me in the parking lot,” I tell him. When he hangs up, the noise in the hallway ceases.
Ben shakes his Big Joe jersey at me, and I sneak a peek at his biceps. “Pleassseee?”
I sigh at the scene but say, “No. I’m sorry, but no. This always happens. I know this is casual with us, but whenever a guy finds out about my dad they do the whole ‘Smith to Pisko for the championship!’ thing. Then they meet my dad,
and I lose them.”
His eyes grow even wider. “I don’t know about these other jerks you dated, but I’m not going to dump you or use you or anything like that because your dad is Big Joe.”
“You say that now. Did I ever tell you about Henry?”
He sighs. “No. Who’s Henry?”
“Henry and I dated in high school. He told me he loved me. I thought we’d be forever. We had sex, and I thought I could trust him since he seemed to have no interest in football. The minute he met my dad, everything in our relationship became about that.”
He throws the shirt on his bed and pulls me into a hug. “Henry’s an asshole, and if I ever meet him, I’ll kick the shit out of him for you. But I’m not Henry. You said I passed the test last night! Let me meet your dad. I promise you won’t lose me. I just got you back.” Hot and sweet. “We… we have a contract.”
I pull away. “I’m not supposed to date football players. He knows about our disastrous September date.”
Ben scrunches his face. “Will he kill me?”
I press my lips together and nod. “He may actually kill you.” It’s a fib. Ben had already passed the private investigator test.
He drops to his knees in front of me pouting, hands clasped in prayer. “Please?” he sings. “Pretty please, pretty lady? I’ll take the risk.”
Pretty lady… sigh. Like I’d ever be able to resist that. I wave my arms around. “Oh, fine!”
He fist-pumps and springs into action, opening drawers, throwing clothes around. “Just don’t embarrass me. Or yourself. He’s a normal guy, okay? Get decent and I’ll meet you out there.”
“Yeah, yeah. Okay.” He pulls another shirt out of the pile and sniffs it.
I leave Ben to his primping and jog out of Sheridan. Dad stands next to his Beemer in the middle of the lot. It’s only a matter of time before someone notices him. When I’m within reach, I hug him. “Are you crazy banging around inside like that? Everyone’s asleep still.”
He squeezes me a little too tightly and I groan. “I’m sorry, princess. I’ll be calling your RA about you kids letting people into the building. I walked in behind a girl who had no clue I was even there. But I needed to see you. You won’t return my calls. I miss you.”
She Runs Away (The Sheridan Hall Series Book 2) Page 17