Need Me (Broke and Beautiful #2)(10)

“What did she mean? ‘This is him.’ ” He pointed at Abby, but he kept his gaze trained on Honey. “What did she mean by that?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Russell shoulder his way into the closet. “Hey man, let’s go upstairs and have a beer. This just sounds like a misunderstanding.”

Ben ignored his friend, batting away the hand he tried to lay on his shoulder. He couldn’t look at anyone but her, and God, she looked miserable. Too bad. Not his problem. “Answer me, Ms. Perribow.”

She flinched at the formal use of her name, those golden eyes imploring him to understand. “She didn’t mean anything. I didn’t mean to—”

“Was this your plan when you walked into my class this morning?” He could see immediately that it was. She ripped her gaze away so quickly that he almost stumbled forward at the loss of it, which made him twice as angry. I have my father’s weakness. It’s in my blood. What if she’s already there, too? “Did you stop to think of the consequences for someone besides yourself? Or has pretending to be a grown-up in your big Chelsea apartment gotten boring? So boring that you thought, I’ll f*ck with someone else’s life today.”

Abby stepped in between them and got right in his face. “That’s enough. You made your point, Ben.”

He didn’t like having Honey distanced from him. Not at all. He should want to get as far away from her as possible, but as soon as Abby blocked her from his view, he tried to get Honey back in his sights. Needed to. What the f*ck was wrong with him?

Russell shouldered up beside Abby. “Let’s go, Ben. I’ll walk you out.”

He actually considered shoving his friend out of the way to get a final look at her. That’s when he knew he had to go. Something told him that if he saw even an iota of hurt in her expression, hurt he’d caused, he would take back everything he’d said. He refused to do that. Refused to absolve her. If she chose, she could report him to the administration for misconduct with a student, and everything he’d worked for would vanish. Someone holding that type of power over him was unacceptable.

Not giving himself another minute to think, he left the closet and slammed out of the building.





Chapter 4



HONEY SET DOWN The History of Medicine and picked up Lolita. Really, she was only torturing herself, but she figured she kind of deserved it. What a complete clusterf*ck. She groaned at the memory of Ben storming out of the super’s closet last night, his parting shot still hanging in the air so heavy she could have reached up and plucked out the vowels. Thank God she didn’t have her Medical Sociology class until later this afternoon, because she needed a few hours to work up the nerve to leave the building. She’d come up to the roof in hopes of escaping Roxy and Abby, who were both a fun combination of hungover and annoyingly curious about what had gone down with Ben in the supply closet. Hell if she knew.

She rolled out the beach towel she’d brought from downstairs and lay back, sighing as the sun warmed her neck and shoulders. If she closed her eyes, she could be back in Bloomfield, sunbathing in the field behind their house. Dad would be blasting Tom Petty inside the barn, mom would be exercising the horses, and they’d all be pretending not to smell the occasional marijuana smoke drifting from her brother’s room. Just a typical day in the Perribow household.

No. She didn’t want to be in Bloomfield. New York City was where she’d decided to make her mark, and one incident, albeit a mortifying one, wouldn’t ruin the experience. Since she’d decided to become a doctor all those years ago, her parents had busted their butts and saved to make that hope a reality. Now she was here, and there would be no picturing herself riding in the back of her father’s pickup truck with their dog, Lolly. Or having a spitting contest with Jasper Burns, the old man who never left his post outside the town liquor store.

Aw, shit. She was homesick. Maybe because back home, she hadn’t gotten herself into situations like the one last night. She’d been the smart one. The one with ambition and a one-way ticket to big, bad New York after graduation. Sure, once in a blue moon she’d gotten up to no good, having had one too many helpings of spiked punch and streaking through the convenience store, but those antics had been harmless. What she’d done last night to Ben hadn’t been harmless. This wasn’t Kentucky, and she wasn’t seventeen anymore. This was real life, and there was comeuppance for each and every decision she made.

If her pulse still skittered and danced when she thought of Ben, it couldn’t be helped. She wouldn’t be going there again. No ma’am, you couldn’t drag her there by her hair. Even if the memory of Ben’s mouth moving across hers, where his hands had gone and almost done made her feel miles closer to the sun. Good Lord, she’d never kissed a man before. She’d kissed boys. Been on the receiving end of sweet summer kisses after chowing down on slices of watermelon and sloppy kisses after a triumphant keg stand. Last night, in that closet, she’d been well and truly mouth f*cked.

But just like all liars, she would now pay for what she’d done. Her punishment would be going to class every day, listening to Ben’s smooth baritone voice fill up the room like a thousand plush cushions and never hear it in her ear again. Never taste his mouth or have the pleasure of his hands on her body. Atonement was a bitch, but she’d take it like a woman. That’s what she was now, after all. Not some Lolita with a lollipop and pigtails who went around tempting men at their own peril. Although, hell. It had been kind of fun while it lasted.