Authors: Komal Kant
His eyes twinkled as he pulled me into his arms, lifting me off my feet and crushing his lips against mine. If we hadn’t been in school, I probably would’ve tried to take his shirt off. Actually, taking his shirt off sounded like a mighty fine idea, so I grabbed the bottom of it and slid my hand under it until I felt the firmness of his stomach muscles.
Thankfully, Lincoln had way more self-control than I did, because he laughed and placed me back on my feet. “I realize that I am probably the sexiest guy you’ve ever met, but you can’t take my clothes off until you buy me dinner, Hades.”
I placed a hand to my cheek and gasped, feigning offence. “How dare you, Mr. Bracks! I am a lady and I would never place myself in a compromising situation with a man who isn’t my betrothed.”
Laughing at my over-exaggerated Southern accent, Lincoln shook his head and kissed my forehead. “What did I do before you walked into my life?”
“Watch trashy reality TV?”
“Yeah, the
Real Housewives
is definitely my favorite,” he said quite seriously.
With a laugh, I turned to study his face, determined to memorize every inch of it. His tan complexion—though a lot more pallid than usual—was complemented by his straight, white teeth and those thick, dark lashes of his that framed the most beautiful shade of blue eyes I’d ever seen.
Lincoln’s looks were only an added bonus, because he was so much more than his looks gave him credit for. He was sweet, funny, kind, caring, and he loved me. Well, at least I think he did. He sure acted like it. I was pretty sure I was at least fifty percent in love with him.
I’m not sure what I’d done to deserve a guy as amazing as him, but I decided right here and now that I wasn’t going to let him go. Ever. I would stay with him for as long as he would put up with me. I would stay with him forever if I could.
“Hadie! Lincoln!” The familiar voice of my best friend caught my attention and I turned around, with Lincoln’s arm still around me.
As I turned, the arrival of my three best friends wasn’t the only thing that caught my attention. Bennett was standing against the opposite wall, unmasked fury clear on his face. That look froze my insides, but Lincoln’s arm around me was reassuring, so I bit down the anxiety that was building up within me.
Bennett didn’t matter to me anymore. I was over him for good.
Mariah and Lana’s mouth dropped open as they looked from between Lincoln and me, unable to hide their disbelief.
“Oh my God!” Mariah squealed. “Oh my God, no way!”
“You and Lincoln are dating!” Lana said, her smile shaken. “That is sooo cute!”
If the students filling the hallway hadn’t noticed Lincoln and me before, they definitely had now. Pretty much everyone was ogling us and I really wanted to sink through the floor and disappear.
Thankfully, Estella was her usual calm self and gave us one of her dazzling smiles. “Hey, Hadie, Lincoln, how was your weekend?”
Lincoln was the one who responded as the five of us began heading down the corridor to our classes. I caught another glimpse of Bennett through the crowd, but ignored him completely.
All day, that look on Bennett’s face bugged me. I couldn’t tell Estella, Lana or Mariah about it because Lincoln sat with us at lunch and I didn’t want him to be annoyed that I was talking about my ex-boyfriend.
By the time I got to work, all thoughts of Bennett were forgotten as I became distracted by the broken ice cream machine. After following all the instructions on the manual and declaring it unfixable, I made a call to Belle, even though it was her day off, and told her about my ice cream machine woes. Belle ensured me she would have someone swing by to fix it the next morning, and I finally staggered into the kitchen, completely exhausted even though it was only seven o’clock.
“Are you alright?” Eddie asked, as I collapsed into a nearby chair.
“Just tired,” I said, rubbing my temples in an effort to ward off the migraine I could feel heading my way.
Eddie put down the frying pan he’d had in his hand and walked over to me. “Do you want me to make you something to eat?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. My mom usually has food for me when I get home.”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Aw, shucks. There’s no way I could compete with your mom’s cooking.”
“She is a pretty amazing cook,” I agreed with a nod.
Eddie pulled up a chair and sat across from me, his hazel eyes a little wide. “So, um, I was wondering if you like music and stuff.”
It was a random question to ask considering we’d just been talking about my mom.
“Yeah, I guess I do,” I said with a shrug. “Why?”
Eddie pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me, his fingers shaking a little. I unfolded the paper and saw that it was a flyer. ‘SKEPTIC COIL’ was written across it in big, bold letters, and there was a black and white image of Eddie, Luca, and Riley Adamson. The flyer informed me they were performing at the local bar,
Benny’s
.
I looked up at him in surprise. “Oh, wow, you guys have a gig in town? That’s awesome!”
Eddie shrugged nonchalantly. “Ashton organized it for us. She knew a guy who knew a guy who knows Benny, so she managed to get us a gig there. They’re gonna pay us and everything.”
“Wow, that is so cool.” The idea of ex-cheerleader Ashton Summers organizing a performance for a rock band was bizarre, but considering she was dating Luca Byron nothing really surprised me anymore.
“So, will you come?” Eddie asked in earnest, leaning forward.
A grin spread across my face and I glanced down at the flyer again. “Of course I’ll come! Friday at eight, huh? I’ll have to get someone to cover my shift, but it should be fine. Is it okay if I bring a friend?”
I figured since Lincoln and I were dating now, we could make this our first official date as a couple. Lincoln was always telling me to try new things so this would be something fun we could do together.
I’d never been to
Benny’s
before, even though it was the only bar in town that allowed under 18’s in as long as they were supervised by an adult. That was the rule anyway, but they were pretty lax about it.
Bars weren’t really my thing but I knew from other people having been there that normally country music or folk rock was the crowd pleaser. It would be interesting to see a punk rock bad hitting the stage.
“Bring as many people as you like,” Eddie said graciously, a smile lingering on his lips. He leaned in a little closer, his eyes glued to mine. The expression on his face was so serious, so intense that I couldn’t fathom what could possibly be on his mind.
Feeling confused, I quickly stood up, tucking the flyer into the back pocket of my jeans just as the door to the kitchen swung open.
Laura stuck her head in and her eyes found me. There was a look of excitement on her face. “Hadie, I need you. We have a customer and you’ll never guess who it is! Oh, and that stupid bell fell off the door. You gotta tie it back up.”
Great. There was never a moment’s rest in this place. If it wasn’t the darn ice cream machine, it was the bell.
“Be there in a sec,” I called out, turning back to where Eddie was still sitting, his face bright red. “Thanks for inviting me to your gig. I’ll definitely be there!”
Eddie simply nodded and stared down at the floor, and I left him to his thoughts. When I walked out into the front and scanned the restaurant my mood worsened when I caught sight of the customer.
Bennett was here, sitting at the corner booth just like he had the last time he’d come in. Once again, he was by himself. Now, Laura’s excitement made sense. Unfortunately, his presence had the opposite effect on me.
Seriously, what was up with him? Wasn’t there somewhere else he could go and eat? Granted, I didn’t usually work on Mondays, but it seemed as though he’d somehow known I’d be working today and come in.
The last thing I wanted to do was go over and talk to him like he was a valued customer, but Belle was always telling me that no matter how rude or disagreeable the customer was, we had to be warm and hospitable.
Gritting my teeth, I walked over to Bennett’s table. He looked up at me and gave me a half-smile. “Hey, Hadie.”
I blinked. Really? He was going to sit there and exchange formalities with me? He was going to act like everything was fine and that he hadn’t cheated on me and consequently broken my heart into a million tiny pieces?
“Hi,” I said with a forced smile. “Cheeseburger, no pickles, fries, and a chocolate milkshake?”
Bennett nodded, absently playing with the napkin on the table. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but I turned and walked back to the counter where Laura was watching us eagerly.
“Can you get this order to Eddie?” I asked, jotting it down in my notebook and tearing out the page. “I’m going to fix that stupid bell.”
“What is he doing here again?” Laura hissed, knowing very well that I didn’t like to talk about my relationship with Bennett.
For some reason, most likely because Bennett was a jock, people had a weird fascination with wanting to know the details of our relationship. I generally laid low and was a private person so I wasn’t about to divulge everything to a junior who spread gossip like herpes.
I shrugged my shoulders. “As long as he eats and leaves quickly, I don’t care what he does.”
Trying my best to ignore Bennett’s obvious presence, I walked over to the door and picked up the bell that’d fallen on the floor. Belle had used a pretty basic system where a bit of string would tense and pull the bell which made it rang. The bell had fallen loose from the string, so all I had to do was tie it up again.
Standing up on my tippy-toes, I tried to reach the loose bit of string that was dangling above me, just out of reach. This was one example of my height being a pain. I’d have to get a chair to reach the darn string.
As I turned around, I smacked right into a hard chest, almost knocking the wind out of myself. Firm hands grasped me around the waist and steadied me. That chest and those hands were achingly familiar. They, of course, belonged to Bennett.
“Do you need some assistance?” he asked, his voice low and husky.
I shook my head stubbornly, refusing to let him help me. “No, I just need a chair and…”
“Shorty,” Bennett said, using the nickname he’d called me since we were young. It’d seemed so much more endearing back then. Now, it just sounded like a taunt. “What’s the point of getting a chair when I’m standing right here? I can do it for you.”
Before I could argue back, Bennett had taken the bell out of my hand and was already reattaching it to the string. When he was done, he tilted his head to the side. “Is that how you want it?”
I nodded, and muttered, “Thanks.”
Bennett took a few steps closer to me, and I stood rooted to the spot like an idiot because, well, I was a complete idiot.
Why the heck wasn’t I moving? Why did Bennett have this immobilizing effect on me? I didn’t want to be affected by him; I didn’t want to be anything by him. I just wanted him to leave me alone.
“Hadie,” he breathed, dipping his head low, “can I ask you a question?”
“What?” I spat out.
A crease appeared between his brows as he bit down on his bottom lip. He only got that look when something was bothering him.
He was so close that I could see the way the cornflower blue mixed with the flecks of darker blue in his eyes. I hated being this close to him.
“Are you going out with that new guy? I saw you together a few days ago…and then this morning it looked like…” He trailed off and looked at me, holding his breath as he waited for my response.
“His name is Lincoln,” I managed to say without punching him in the face, “and, yes, he is my boyfriend. Not that it’s any of your business.”
I started to walk past him, but he stopped me with a hand. When I shot him a glare, he blew out an irritated breath. “I don’t like him, Hadie. He’s no good for you. You don’t know anything about him. He actually had the nerve to tell
me
what to do.”
It surprised me to learn that Lincoln had spoken to Bennett without my knowledge. I mean, he was free to talk to whoever he wanted, but it was startling to know that he had approached my ex-boyfriend and warned him to stay away from me.
My curiosity was piqued. “What did he say exactly?”
“He threatened me, told me to stay away from you and that I didn’t know what he was capable of. Who the fuck does he think he is anyway? He’s been in this town for, what, two minutes and he thinks he can tell me what to do!” Bennett’s face was turning an ugly shade of purple-red from all the animosity that was building up within him.
As I studied him, I couldn’t help but laugh. It was hard to believe that I had once been hopelessly in love with this incompetent, insecure, arrogant jerk. I’d always thought the best of Bennett, even when his bad side had come out. I’d always stood by him and supported him. And I’d loved him, but he wasn’t deserving of my love.
I leaned in until our faces were inches apart. “I think Lincoln has an excellent judge of character. And I happen to agree with him—you need to stay away from me.”