Chapter Fourteen
The air outside made goosebumps spring up all over Ben’s skin as soon as he left the warm, cozy confines of his and Sam’s room, but he needed a moment to think, so he braved it anyway. It wasn’t cold, exactly, but he’d been so warm next to Sam that it seemed that way.
Living in LA all his life had turned him into the kind of person who didn’t deal well with the cold, though he imagined Sam had learned to. There were lots of things Sam would have learned that Ben never had.
That didn’t mean anything, though. Doubts kept creeping into Ben’s mind, but none of them held up as soon as he shone a light on them. So what if Sam had seen the world? Some people would have killed to spend all their working life in Los Angeles instead.
Ben had been worried about not being up to Sam’s expectations, but the sex had felt good, and he hoped Sam would have told him if he needed something else. There was no reason they wouldn’t be okay.
No reason except Ben letting his doubts and fears get to him, again.
He had to be smarter than that this time. Knowing now what he and Sam could have had back when they were younger, he couldn’t lose it all over again.
Although, maybe they couldn’t have had this. Maybe they were both too young and stupid, maybe they would have burned hot and fast, but fizzled out. Ben was starting to convince himself that this was all for the best.
He and Sam were finally both in a place where they could love each other, and their youthful inexperience wasn’t going to get in the way.
“Looks like this place is working for you.”
Ben turned around to see Annie approaching him from behind. He’d thought he was alone, and the sudden intrusion was a shock.
“I don’t follow,” Ben said, though he had to admit to himself that she was right. Somehow, this actually had worked at getting him back together with Sam.
Or getting them together in the first place. Ben still wasn’t sure how to label what they’d had before, or what they had now, but he was starting to think it didn’t matter. As long as Sam was there beside him, he didn’t really care what they called it.
“You and Sam are having sex again. I know the look.”
Ben blushed, but held her gaze. He wasn’t embarrassed about Sam.
He was proud. He was proud that someone like Sam, someone so bright, so experienced, so brave and fun and everything he wasn’t would want to be with him.
There wasn’t really any point in lying about it.
“Uh, yeah,” Ben said, watching her closely as she took a few more steps toward him. It felt too close, but then, this was an uncomfortable conversation.
Not because it involved Sam, exactly, but because it was happening at all.
“Good.” Annie smiled brightly at him.
Then, before Ben could react, she closed the gap between them, wrapped her hand around the back of his neck, and pulled him down into a kiss.
Shock prevented him from pushing her away at first, then fear of hurting her made him pause before he pulled back, stumbling away, dazed by the sudden, unexpected assault.
He’d noticed Annie flirting with him, but this… this was still not something he’d expected.
The look on Annie’s face changed immediately. The bright, pleasant smile twisted into a heart-wrenching smirk, one that made Ben’s stomach go cold.
The feeling of having fallen into a trap, with the walls closing around him, set in immediately. This was like looking up from the bottom of a hole and seeing a wolf circling at the top.
“He means a lot to you,” Annie said. “But he’s unsure of your feelings for him. Something happened to him, something that left him scarred and changed. He doesn’t think you still love him.”
Ben swallowed.
What if that was true? What if she meant to tell Sam that Ben had left him asleep and immediately gone out to cheat on him.
“He’ll believe me when I show him the conveniently-recorded video of this. His bisexual boyfriend who wouldn’t have sex with him cheating on him with a woman? That has to be all his worst fears right there. He’s gonna think you were so repulsed by him that you had to scrub the taste out of your mouth. Metaphorically speaking.” She smirked. “Or not.”
Ben realized then that Annie had read the situation between them just a little wrong—she hadn’t clued in that they were never together before, that they’d come here as friends… but then why was she doing this?
