“I mean, it’s pretty obvious.” My right knee bounces up and down, double time. “She’s the owner’s daughter. Probably not my best decision ever.”
My chest aches as I acknowledge the core issue.
Bennett fucks up. Again.
“I’m just out here meeting expectations.” I mean it as a joke, but the words come out sharp and bitter.
“People expect you to make poor decisions.” She says it as a statement, not a question, and her words hit me like an arrow straight through my heart.
Because they’re usually right.
“Yeah,” I whisper, my voice wobbly.
Fuck, this is embarrassing.
My palms slick and the carpet swirls blur.
“Tori expects that too?”
I snap my head up so fast the room spins, my eyes flicking to Dr. Sparks.
“I mean, initially.” I swipe my palms on my joggers. “But I thought we moved past it.”
“Thought?” Dr. Sparks presses, her elbows resting on the table. Hands folded calmly beneath her chin, the dark blue lanyard around her neck swinging slightly.
I huff out another deep breath, rake my hand through my damp hair. “This is confidential, right? Like — you can’t tell anyone.”
She nods. “Correct. Unless you tell me you’re harming yourself or someone else, our sessions stay in this room. Prince doesn’t get summaries,” she adds, like she can read my mind. “He pays for the support, not the details.”
“Right. So…” I steady my knee with my hand. “We slept together. More than once. Attraction’s mutual. But it’s complicated. With her dad, the team.”
“Sure.”
“I don’t know where we go from here. I thought we were on the same page, but now she’s talking about boundaries. And I don’t do boundaries. I’m all in or I’m nothing.”
“Perhaps that’s the appeal.”
“What do you mean?” I cock my head at her.
“Think about your pattern, Bennett. It’s not that you don’t ‘do boundaries.’” She air quotes my words. “It’s that you don’t respect them. You challenge them, break through them.”
She has a point.
“Why do you think that is?” Dr. Sparks pauses, waiting for my response.
Now I’m sweating under my arms too, all my bad life choices roaring back. The women, the parties, the fights. Staying out late, missing curfew.
Tori.
Constantly pushing it and testing the line.
Reckless.
I lift my eyes to Dr. Sparks, clear the lump in my throat.
“It’s who I am.”
“Okay. But why?”
