Boyfriend Bargain (Hawthorne University #1)(33)

Taylor squeaks. “Fuck a duck in a bowtie. Tell us all the details.”

I laugh at the saying he picked up from Mara, reach over to grab what’s left of his martini, and drink it. Zack Morgan is the most confusing person. I shake my head, still trying to suss it out, replaying the interaction in my head. “Dude bolted out of here like a speeding bullet.” I lean back against the booth. “And Reece wouldn’t even talk to me. Weird.”

“What about that guy they called Boone? I want an intro to him,” Poppy says as she leans forward over the table.

I laugh. “He’s younger than you.”

“And that’s a problem?” she says.

“Poppy, your necktie thingie is in the fries,” Taylor says, giggling. Poppy has a tendency to be a bit spacey.

“Oh!” She pulls back up, straightening her cardigan around her shoulders as she giggles. “Too many martinis.”

Taylor stiffens as his eyes go to the front door and widen. “Bloody hell. Is there a full moon?”

“What?” I say, arching my neck to see who or what he’s looking at.

Tall and handsome with wavy black hair and a trim, lean physique, Bennett has just waltzed in the door. An anvil lands square on my chest at the sight of him. I can’t stop staring, taking him in, the strong chin with a dimple in the center, the way his hair flops in his face. A girl is attached to him like glue.

She’s pretty with cropped shoulder-length brown hair and a svelte figure that’s draped in a clingy black dress and sleek, thigh-high boots with three-inch heels.

A bitter laugh comes from me. “He always liked brunettes in dresses.”

Poppy pats my hand. “He’s a dick. He wanted to change you.”

I sigh. It’s true. He complained about my casual attire constantly. “I wasn’t rock star enough for him. He wanted a sultry sexpot.”

Poppy frowns. “Girl, you are sultry. He just isn’t the one.”

Taylor lets out a long sigh. “Ladies and gents, the night is officially over. Let’s fix our crowns and be brave—and get the hell out of here.”

Bennett’s head comes up and he sees us. He whispers something to the girl and starts walking our way.

I watch him get closer and closer, my chest heaving as I think back to the times we spent together. The magical summer at his parents’ lake house in Michigan, the time he made me chicken soup when I had the flu…

First love—first everything. It cuts you open and flays you alive.

And seeing him again—which is damn hard not to do in a town as small as Sparrow Lake—I feel frozen.

I can’t lie. I miss him. You can’t spend that much time with someone and not.

He comes to a stop at our table and I take in the expensively ripped grey T-shirt with the black jacket on top. The coat has zippers everywhere, on the sides, the collar, and the cuffs. It fits him like a glove, the material hugging his slender waist. Up close I see he’s wearing his hair a little longer, the raven waves brushing against the skin of his jawline. He’s handsome, alarming so, with an easy smile and deep brown eyes. He has this way of looking at you as if you are the center of the entire universe—until you aren’t.

“Sugar…”

I stiffen. “Bennett.”

“You never answered my texts or calls. I even went to BB’s last week to look for you. Mara wasn’t exactly friendly, but whatever, I’m—I’m so glad to see you.”

I stare at him.

He swallows. “I’ve been to your dorm room a few times…”

I know. I’ve gotten the texts when I wasn’t there.

His brown eyes devour my face. “I just want to talk.”

Poppy’s back goes ramrod straight. “She has nothing to say to you.”

“Mhmm,” Taylor adds. “And no one invited you over to our table either, so scat.” He makes a move on along motion with his hand.

But it isn’t easy to dissuade Bennett. His tenacity is one of the things I love—loved—about him. He pursued me for three months our sophomore year before I finally gave in and went out with him.

He leans in, his gaze completely on me, as if Poppy and Taylor aren’t even here. “I miss you.”

My jaw tightens. “Yet you’re here with someone?”

He straightens up. “I’m not a monk, and if you won’t even talk to me…what else am I supposed to do? She doesn’t mean anything to me, babe.”

“Jump off a cliff,” Poppy says under her breath.

I tilt my head at the girl at the nearby table who’s eyeing us with interest over the top of a drink menu. “Is she the one you were with that night?” I didn’t see her face, just long legs and a dress.

He sighs.

“Can’t you just admit it?” I say. “I saw you.”

He darts a look at Taylor and then Poppy.

“They know everything, Bennett.”

He holds both hands up to accentuate his words. “It was one time, Sugar, one time, and I was trashed. It didn’t mean shit. You were caught up in your classes and law school applications, and I was lonely. It was a mistake.”

I blink rapidly. The nerve of him to blame this on me.

“All it takes is one time, Bennett. One time. I trusted you.”