Bennett (On the Line Book 2)(60)

“Right.” I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my tone, but it crept in.

“Boy needs to learn how to treat women,” he continued. “How to respect them.”

It was all I could do not to laugh. Liam Holloway was a manwhore. At least he had been before Keri. But I wasn’t letting him get to me since Charlotte would be here any minute, and I refused to fight with him in front of her.

“You still seeing Keri?” I asked him.

“Yep.”

A minute of silence passed before I gave up on a conversation with him. I’d just started chopping vegetables for a salad to go with the pork chops and potatoes I was making when Charlotte knocked on the front door once and then came in.

“Oh . . . hey,” she said to Liam. “You’re here.”

“Hey, sis.” He crossed the living room and gave her a hug. “How’s my nephew doing?”

She grinned. “Big, as you can see.”

“He’s gonna be a hockey player like his uncle.”

I ignored the jab and winked at Charlotte as she walked into the kitchen.

“Hi, babe,” I said, bending to kiss her.

“Hey.”

Liam huffed his disgust. “Does Mom know you’re shacking up with this loser?”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “We don’t live together, and even if we did, I wouldn’t care what she thought. She’d probably encourage me to live with him if it might be a prelude to marriage.”

“Marriage?” A vein bulged in Liam’s neck. “To him?”

“I’m right f*cking here,” I said, pointing the knife at him.

“You know she’s all about getting her hooks in as fast as she can,” Charlotte said.

The wheels in Liam’s head were spinning, I could see it. “You’re so much better than that, Charlie. Don’t let her convince you to get married just for the hell of it.”

“It wouldn’t be for the hell of it,” I cut in, glaring at him.

“An independent woman like her doesn’t need a man to take care of shit. She’s got it covered.”

I shook my head in disgust. “Marriage is about a hell of a lot more than taking care of shit. You two just had a piss-poor example.”

“We turned out okay, though.” Liam gave Charlotte a nod of approval.

He was trying to make it them against me. I couldn’t let him do that.

“Charlotte’s amazing,” I said, kissing her again. “Jury’s still out on you.”

Charlotte cupped my cheek and gave me a secret smile. “Can I help with that?”

“Nope. You can sit down and relax while I make dinner.” I looked over at my roommate. “Liam said he wants to help.”

“Yeah, I can make dinner and not make a wreck out of the kitchen in the process,” he said, pulling out a chair at the table for Charlotte.

“Be my guest,” I said, offering him the knife.

He narrowed his eyes at me and got another knife to peel potatoes.

“Liam, what’s going on with you?’ Charlotte asked. “It’s been way too long. Tell me everything.”

He talked about him and Keri, hockey, and the community service he’d done at the injured veterans charity. Charlotte talked about the nursery and baby names she liked. I said very little, which was fine by me. After all these months, I was realizing that Liam might never get past his anger toward me over Charlotte. I’d live with that if I had to, as long as their relationship was okay.

In a way, I’d traded Liam for Charlotte. I wasn’t sorry. It would’ve been nice to have them both, but Liam thought I was unworthy of his sister. I’d thought it was a knee-jerk reaction at first, but time had proven me wrong. He genuinely thought I was a dirtbag, which meant we’d never really been friends anyway.





Charlotte

We were about ten minutes into the trip home from Bennett’s parents’ house before I could put into words how I was feeling.

“Your family is amazing,” I said softly. “You have what I always wished Liam and I could have.”

He glanced over from the driver’s seat and smiled. “You’ve got ’em now, babe. They loved you.”

“Your mom just talked to us about us and the baby the whole time. There was no drama about her own life. My mom’s gotten a little better about it, but it used to be that every conversation ended up revolving around her.”

“My dad told me not to let you get away. He said you’ve got the one-two punch—smart and stunning.”

“Aw . . .” My cheeks warmed. “I never really knew life with a dad. I’m so glad our son will have one like you.”

Bennett’s coffee-with-cream eyes softened. “Thanks, babe.”

I adjusted my hips in the car seat to get less uncomfortable. That was my best hope these days. Something Bennett’s mom had said popped into my head.

“Your mom told you when we were leaving that she has a feeling she’ll be seeing more of us soon . . . What did she mean?”

Bennett looked uncomfortable for a second, his lips pressed together. “She was saying she thinks I’ll be getting called up soon.”

“Called up . . . that’s good, right? To an NHL team?”