Page 19 of Break Me
“He’s the CEO of a tech company,” Benji answers, sensing Riley’s discomfort. “He’s also a lawyer. And his family is wealthy.” He explains it all for me in those few sentences, finally looking at me.
I look away. Quickly. “Ah,” I say. “Got it.”
Riley smiles. “Yeah,” she says, a little awkwardly. Like she’s uncomfortable discussing money.
“How long have you two been engaged? When’s the wedding?” I ask, since no one seems to be picking up the cards and I can see Benji staring at me out of the corner of my eye. This is not how I assumed I’d spend my Wednesday night, but it’s interesting, to say the least.
“A few weeks,” Riley says, and she can’t stop the grin stretching on her face.
“Wow, congratulations,” I offer her. Still new.
“Yeah, we’re planning for a wedding next summer.”
Relatively fast for engagements nowadays, but when you know, I guess you know. I have no idea what that’s like. And probably never will. The idea of one man for the rest of my life seems foreign to me. Although, if Riley wasn’t here, would I mind crawling back onto Benji’s lap?
I shove that thought down deep.
“You dating anyone, Ava?” Benji asks me. Even though he kind of already asked that.
I clear my throat. “Nope.” It’s not a lie, right? “You? Girlfriend?” You better not have one after you just made me straddle you like that, is what I want to say. But of course I don’t.
Benji grins, as if he knows what I’m thinking. “Not for a long time.”
Riley looks up at that, away from her nearly empty glass. She’s been downing the alcohol and I wonder if she usually drinks so much or if she’s just uncomfortable in social situations.
Benji doesn’t offer anything else about his love life. Or lack of. Instead, he looks to Riley. “When Tyler gets in, you wanna go out?”
Riley looks to me. “What do you think?” she asks me.
I shrug. “I’m down for whatever.” At this rate, I won’t make it to my morning class, so why the hell not?
Which is how all four of us—Riley, her friend Tyler, Benji and me—find ourselves at a shockingly crowded club in Raleigh, the closest city, an hour later.
Riley came to life when Tyler arrived, and he seemed really happy to see her. I see him now, dancing with Riley on the crowded club floor, and I nudge Benji, who’s sitting beside me on a couch, watching her. We both have drinks in hand, and I’m feeling everything I’ve drank tonight.
“Won’t her fiancé be pissed about that?” I ask him, speaking up over the thud of the music.
He tilts his head back and laughs before looking at me in the dim lights of the club. “Tyler is gay. Not interested in her. In that way.” His eyes flick down to my thighs and I tug down my dress a little more. He smirks at me, lazily looking his fill up my body, before his eyes meet mine again.
“Are you?” I press, feeling bold.
“Am I what?” he asks before he tips back his drink.
“Are you interested in her, in that way?”
His eyes flash as he leans down, putting his drink on the table at our knees. His hand grazes my leg as he sits back up, and he lets it rest there. “I’ve already had her in that way.”
My jaw drops. I look from Riley, her head tilted back and resting on Tyler’s shoulder as they dance, back to Benji, shocked. What the fuck? I feel like even in Toronto it can’t be the norm for someone to fuck their best friend’s fiancée. And then be okay with them hanging out at their condo.
Benji just watches me, looking amused, letting me puzzle this over. His fingers trace circles over the patterns of my dress. The soft touch sends warmth to my core but I fight it back.
I’m done puzzling over Benji. Dumont has blown up my phone all night, resorting to all caps texts asking me where the hell I am, and Dad had text to say Mom would like to see me tomorrow after school which made my stomach drop, because they’ve been keeping me away to keep her healthy. Afraid I might bring home some university germs and make her sicker.
I’m feeling this vodka, and I want to dance and forget about this shit. Including Benji’s weird relationship to Riley, and his hand on my leg right now.
I set my drink down and stand to my feet, feeling a little dizzy. And then, without another word to Benji, I stalk past him, onto the dance floor, ready to lose myself in the music. Someone will dance with me. I sure as hell don’t need it to be Benji.
