Page 102 of Ghost
I expected him to be blushing—goodness knows I was. But what I didn’t expect was the careful, blank mask over his expression.
His voice was firm. “I’ll tell you right now, if you agree to be with me—with us—in any capacity, that wouldn’t happen. You aren’t a one night stand, and no one would treat you as such.”
My heart fell. That being said, I knew where this was going. But I didn’t want to know about other girls.
“And Icanspeak for everyone when I say that we have no desire now, or in the future, to ‘fulfill our needs’ elsewhere.” Damen said, musing. “But now that I know you’re interested, I’ll have to think about this. There must be something we can do about this situation.”
I gasped, horrified by the falseness of his first statement. “But blue balls! Won’t they kill you in the end?”
Damen groaned, covering his face with his hand. “I cannot believe that I am having this conversation.”
“But—”
“No, Bianca.” When Damen met my gaze, he spoke without a hint of embarrassment. “A man will notdiefrom not having sex. Although, you might need to be understanding if someone needs to leave the room or wants privacy.”
“Oh, but—”
“Which brings up something else.” Damen frowned, rubbing his chin. His grey eyes watched my face. “How is it that you don’t know what a happy ending is, but you know about friends with benefits and blue balls?”
My heart, which had been racing with anxiety, stumbled over itself at the enormity of my mistake.
“There’s something different about your expectations of sex.” Damen’s eyes never left mine. “Are you speaking from personal experience?”
The blood rushed from my head, and I felt faint. I could not believe we were talking about this. “No.”
“And friends with benefits… out of everything in the world to know. Along with the fact that you know the lies that men use to get what they want.” Damen kept on going. “Did Finn ever—”
“No!” I pushed back, landing on my butt. My back against the stool as I wrapped my arms around my knees. This was the most horrifying conversation ever.
“I’m not completely stupid!” I continued, my voice taking on a slightly panicky tone. “Butno, I’ve never heard of the termfriends with benefitsbefore in my life. Thank you for enlightening me on what it actually means.”
“What the hell, Damen?” Julian stormed into the room, followed by Miles. Both their faces were pictures of fury as they ganged up on Damen without hesitation.
Julian glowered at Damen, grabbing his shirt and pressing him against the wall. “You came up here to apologize. And, finally, we come to see what is taking so long. Only to discover that you’re talking about friends with benefits! What the hell did you say to her?”
Miles glared at Damen, who was watching Julian with consternation. Miles’ hand was holding onto Julian’s arm, and it was only that which prevented Damen from being in too much danger.
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Damen replied. “It was only another of those things.”
Julian relaxed slightly, blinking at Damen. “Those things? What things?”
“A misunderstanding,” I interjected, rushing forward and tugging on Julian’s arm.
Julian glanced at me, his deep blue eyes softening as they met mine. “About what?”
“Damen explained to me why you can’t have girlfriends. But I know that you’ve all been flirting with me. So I told him that you guys can keep doing it if you want, so long as we know not to have any expectations.” I waved my hand in the air, trying to sound nonchalant about this strange arrangement.
It made sense. They would provide me with the friendship I longed for. And I could be that female presence in their lives that also alleviated their desire to flirt. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement for us all.
For some reason, the newly-arrived men didn’t like my explanation. Julian dropped his arm even as his and Miles’ stony gazes returned to Damen, who only shrugged in response.
After a moment, Miles spoke. His voice husky and gaze wary. “And… friends with benefits?” He narrowed his eyes at Damen. “You better not have—”
“That option is off-limits,” Damen interrupted, fixing the neck of his shirt. “We were discussing limits. I am not going to risk what we have over an alternative arrangement.”
“What wehave?” Julian slumped onto the bed. “Will someone please explain to me what you’re talking about? What is it that we have? We’re supposed to be friends. Why are we even talking about this?”
“Yes,” Damen shrugged. “And if anyone asks we are friends. We aren’t breaking any rules. But now we know there’s something there.”
