Page 52 of Reverse Pass
“There a problem?” he asks, his tone clipped but his eyes are soft as he looks at me.
My stomach churns at what he might have heard.
“We’re fine. Go back to fucking your coed, kid.” Cameron sneers at him.
I see a shift in Ben, his body tightening up and his jaw setting like he’s ready for a fight, but his eyes stay locked on me.
“It’s fine. He’s leaving anyway to get to his conference. Right?”
“Right. I made dinner reservations for tonight, after you get out of your gallery opening program.”
I don’t answer him, because the last thing I want to do right now is have dinner with him but saying it is only going to fuel the fire.
A blonde head of hair appears just behind Ben, and I realize Cameron wasn’t lying when he said she was here all night.
“I’m sorry if we woke you guys up. I’m gonna go get some pastries and coffee down the street. I’ll bring you some,” I apologize, feeling insanely awkward.
“It’s fine. Just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Ben’s eyes follow Cameron’s back as he puts his things back into his bag, and then they snag on his jersey sitting on the bed. He looks down, closing his eyes.
“I’ll see you tonight.” Cameron turns toward me, planting a kiss on my cheek. “Love you.”
The last bit more for Ben’s benefit than my own, and he disappears down the hall.
“Violet?” Ben asks quietly.
“I’m fine. Any special requests for breakfast?” My eyes travel past him involuntarily, trying so hard not to imagine the two of them in his room last night. I plaster a fake smile on my face.
“No. Are you sure?”
“I’m fine.” I shake my head, smiling at him because I will not cry before I get him out of the doorway. “Go get some more sleep.”
My hand is on the door and I’m pushing it shut despite the look he’s giving me.
* * *
“So wanna talk about it,or are you just gonna sullenly pour wine all evening?” Joss bumps her hip into mine as she fills a plastic cup with merlot. It’s opening night at the campus gallery, and we’d volunteered to serve drinks and food behind the bar for a few hours so the other staff that worked on the exhibit could mingle for a bit.
“Option C. Fall into a black pit, never to be seen again?”
“It can’t be that bad.”
“The first words Cameron said to me this morning were, and I quote, ‘The sheets smell like him’. And I’m pretty sure Ben heard the whole thing.”
The little old lady whose white wine glass I’m currently filling looks up at me, her eyes practically sparkling with interest. I’m glad I can liven someone’s night. I hand it to her, and she gives me a little half toast as she walks away.
“He didn’t say that.” Joss looks surprised, which is a feat.
“He did, and then proceeded to slut shame me,” I say, once we’re alone again because offering a bit of titillating intrigue is one thing but I don’t need these trust funders to know all my tabloid gossip.
“Where the fuck does he get off doing that? Isn’t he fucking his way through Europe?”
“That’s what I said.”
“I knew he would do this. All bravado when he’s running around sticking his dick in French women, and then freaking the fuck out when you finally get properly railed by someone who knows what he’s doing.”
“He is nothing if not a hypocrite,” I grump.
“That’s almost his entire personality,” Joss echoes my irritation.
