Ben smiled. He had an easy one. “You hungry?”
“Yes.” I smiled. “I’m usually always hungry.”
“Me too,” he said, and surprising me, he took my hand, leading me in the direction of all the different food vendors.
I finished off my apple as we decided on a place to eat. We both ordered massive pretzels with cheese, a carbonated water for me and a beer for him. Before Ben could end the order, I added a candy apple and a ball of cotton candy for later. I offered to pay for my half, but Ben waved my money away.
“I invited you,” he said. “My treat.”
“Thank you,” I said, as we took our seats. I dug right in, pulling the pretzel apart and dipping it in the gooey cheese. Paired with the cold, fizzy drink, it was so good, I almost wished I’d ordered two.
Feeling eyes on me, I looked up to find him watching me.
“What?” I said. “Do I have cheese on my face?” I went to grab for a napkin, but he put his hand over mine, stopping me.
“You’re really beautiful, Rosalia,” he said. “It’s no wonder Richie fell in love with you.”
I squeezed the napkin in my grip, even though his hand was still over mine. “He was in love with me?”
His eyes searched mine for a minute. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
“Nothing,” I said, my heart beating in time to the pulsing music coming from somewhere close. “I wish I could, but the memories…I just can’t remember.”
He nodded and removed his hand. “As far I know, he was in love with you. I left when my father and I had a difference of opinion about what he expected from me. I don’t have political aspirations like my father and Richie. Even though everyone expected me to come back and join them, I had no plans to. I built a company in England and had every intention of staying.”
“You came back because of what happened?”
“Yes. Richie was the golden egg. The one who did everything my father wanted. Now I’m here to see if I can fill his shoes.”
“Do you want to?”
He took a sip of his beer. “Do you want to continue to work for Club Desolation? For those men?”
The piece of pretzel I’d just pulled apart fell to my plate. When he’d said, “For those men,” he’d emphasizedthose. “It’s just a job.”
“We both know it’s more than that.”
“I’m not sure what you know,” I said, sitting back some, “but it’s just a job at an exclusive club is all I know.”
He watched me like I was watching him. Then something dawned on me.
“You said, ‘you really don’t remember, do you?’ You thought I was faking my memory loss?”
“I know very little about you,” he said. “Richie didn’t say much. Just that you were the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Charming as hell, too, and that he was going to marry you and wanted me to be his best man. Other than that, he didn’t say much.” He took another drink of his beer. “That’s why you agreed to meet me here. You want to know more.”
“I don’t want to know. I need to know.”
“I can give you all of the small details that made my brother my brother. What he loved to do. What his favorite food was. The kind of women he was attracted to. You, obviously.” He grinned at me. “But as far as what happened the day of the accident, I have no clue. That’s another reason I’m here. To find out. I think we both know it has something to do with that club you work at.”
“The driver swerved,” I said, feeling somewhat defensive suddenly. “Something must have run out into the drive—a deer, I’ve seen plenty of them before—and to avoid hitting it, he turned too fast and smashed into the tree.”
That was what the doctor had told me, and I believed her, until no one would fill me in on the time that was missing, and I got the feeling something else was going on. I wasn’t going that deep with Ben, though, because it seemed like he was doing his own research. There was no telling where his clues would lead him, and I wasn’t fucking with Club D.
If Ben Dalton knew what was good for him—no matter who his father was—he’d keep his thoughts to himself, even if he secretly searched for answers too.
He finished off his beer. “Maybe.”
I was going to regret this, but maybe I’d regret not asking later too. “What do you think happened?”
