Five Ways to Fall (Ten Tiny Breaths, #4)(26)

A perfectly targeted knife through my back, directly into my heart. As if that weren’t enough, I catch her thumb worm its way under the sleeve of Jared’s T-shirt, playfully drawing circles as she pushes the material up to reveal a new tattoo. A cloaked figure holding up a welding torch.

Right where my name used to be.

I close my eyes against the painful lump in my throat and the dull ache swelling inside my chest, wishing I were wearing a long-sleeved shirt or my riding jacket right now. Anything to cover up the tattoo that I haven’t rid my body of. I don’t doubt for a second that the move was completely intentional on her part. Caroline isn’t the sweet little Georgia peach she pretends to be.

This is just too much to handle. I always knew that actually facing Jared for the first time since our appalling breakup would be difficult. I just never comprehended the magnitude of the ripple through my carefully guarded heart, seeing the very real and very painful way in which he has moved on and, in so many ways, I have not.

Jared clears his throat and lifts his arm over Caroline’s shoulder, effectively hiding the tattoo from my line of sight. “So, where are you working these days, Reese?”

I’m still trying to find my voice when the sound of Ben’s chair scraping pulls me from my silent hell. “She works at my law firm,” Ben answers for me. He stands and takes my hand, hauling me out of my chair. I follow blindly.

“Law firm?” Jared’s eyes spike with disbelief as Ben throws an arm over my shoulders. Now that Ben’s standing, the difference in size between the two of them is staggering. I always thought Jared was big, but he’s on the lean side in comparison.

“One of the smartest women I’ve ever met. She has half the attorneys there running in circles to keep up, including me.” Peering down at me with that mischievous smile of his, he murmurs, “Isn’t that right, babe?”

I offer him a tight-lipped smile.

“In fact, she’s going to be stuck in the office helping me all weekend. But she’s amazing. She never complains about it. Right?” Ben’s eyes are on me, waiting expectantly.

He’s got me in a corner and he knows it. I heave a sigh. “I do what I can.”

He winks as if sealing our silent deal. And then the cocky * pulls me against him, close enough to lean down and kiss me right on the lips. He doesn’t even attempt to make it appropriate for the middle of a café and an audience, his tongue sliding in leisurely before finally breaking away.

Under normal circumstances, that might have been a pleasant surprise because, despite having convinced myself that it was just the tequila, Ben actually is an incredible kisser. Right now, though, I’m just trying to come to grips with the first significant aftershock of the quake that rocked my world.

I don’t know what the hell I’m feeling.

All I know is that I’m a little light-headed, Jared is staring hard at me, and Caroline is staring at her husband, an odd, stony expression on her face.

Ben’s free hand reaches back to get his wallet. He pulls out a twenty and tosses it onto the table to cover my bill. Grabbing his pie box, he offers, “Nice meeting you two. I need to get my girl back to work. We have a long weekend ahead of us.” Swiveling my stiff body around and toward the exit, he sticks a hand into my back pocket, getting a good grip of my left ass cheek that he emphasizes with a squeeze, and adds in that loud, obnoxious voice, “You know, I think you should help me paint my office red.”

The air vanishes from my lungs as my cheeks burn.

I’m going to gut him.

And Mason, because Ben obviously found out about the red paint “incident” and my failed marriage from my stepbrother, who was just looking for a way to make me look bad, no doubt.

Whistling softly, Ben guides me toward the exit. I don’t dare turn around. All I can focus on is putting one foot in front of the other and try my hardest not to cripple Ben with a sharp elbow to his ribs. “Thanks for reminding them about that!” I hiss between clenched teeth.

“About what, the paint?” He lets out a loud snort. “You honestly think they don’t remember?” His hand escapes my pocket, freeing his arm to drape over my shoulders again. “I was just letting him know that I don’t care if my girlfriend is a complete whack job. I want to hear more about it sometime, though. I’m betting it’s a good story.”

“Way to take advantage of the situation. Ten points for being a douchebag,” I mutter as we stop on the sidewalk and wait for the light to change.

“I just helped you make your ex-husband jealous, so you’re welcome. I don’t do pretend boyfriend shit. I’m normally Switzerland. I went rogue for you, so be grateful.”

“All out of the kindness of your heart?”

“Definitely for an organ of mine,” I think I hear him mutter under his breath, and then I catch the crooked smile as he says more loudly, “Exactly. Don’t be a chick and read anything into it, okay?”

The arm around my shoulder slides off, allowing him to reach up and grasp my chin. He pulls my face up to meet his crystal-blue eyes. “You still have a thing for him?”

“No.”

Obviously not believing me, he adds in a much softer timbre, “You know it took both of them, right?”

“I know.”

He sighs, and for the first time I don’t see humor anywhere in his face. “You’re not stupid, Reese. So don’t be one of those stupid girls who pines over an *. Especially one who’s married.”