AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He gripped my chin and brought mylips closer to his. “Tomorrow,” he agreed before sealing his lipsto mine in a gentle caress.
I was left breathless as he pulledaway. He smiled down at me with those pearly whites and I wasreminded again of how strikingly handsome he was. I flushed andgrinned as I turned my face away from him. I could get lost soeasily with him if I allowed myself.
The bell above the entrance dingedloudly and I glanced up. I sucked in a startled breath as I wasforced back to reality. Anna stood there looking the opposite wayas I sat up straight. I removed my hand from Ian’s thigh and hemoved his arm up to lie on the back of the booth instead of myshoulders. I immediately wanted to ask him to lay it back down. Achill snaked up my back at the loss of his warmth.
I shook myself as I flagged downAnna. She glanced my way as I waved toward her. My smile turnedinto a frown as I watched my best friend head our way. Her usuallybeautiful face was marred with worry as she stepped up to us. Herlips were sunk in and her normally honey-colored skin looked paleand not just from the cold.
She looked over her shoulderbefore removing her coat like she was searching for someone. “Hey,what’s wrong?” I asked, worried. Ian removed his arm from behind meand sat forward on alert. He sensed something was wrong with hertoo.
Anna flung her gaze back to me andthat’s when I saw confusion laced through her eyes. She slid intothe booth and sat next to me, shivering as she turned towardme.
“Anna, what is it?” Ian’s deepvoice sounded from behind my turned body.
Anna shook her head and eyed bothof us before finally speaking. “I don’t really know,” she saidshakily. I furrowed my brows and willed her to continue. She lickedher lips and looked back toward the front entrance before lockingeyes with me again. “I think Ben and Melonie hooked up in thedressing room.”
I felt my jaw drop before I hadthe common sense to catch it. “What?” I questioned louder thannecessary. Anna nodded as our waitress stepped up to our table anddeposited five waters. She muttered a quick thank you as she pickedhers up and took a big gulp. I stared at her like she’d grown twoheads as our waitress left again.
“Yeah, I mean, I can’t be sure butthey were in there for areallylong time. And then before Iknew what was happening Melonie burst out of the room. She wasjerking her coat on like she was pissed off and it looked like shewas about to start … crying?” Anna screwed her face up inconfusion.
I was left reeling and I didn’teven feel Ian place his hand on my knee under the table until hesqueezed me. “Wh—” I stuttered. “What happened then?” I asked in arush.
“That’s the weird part.” Annaseemed to finally be calming down as she gripped her menu in frontof her while still looking at me. “Melonie mumbled something aboutcatching up with us later and Ben—”
“Ben, what?” a familiar voicespoke, causing Anna and me to both jump.
Ben stood in front of our tablewith a sugary-sweet smile as he stared down at us. He even flashedIan the same smile before unzipping his coat. I felt Ian tensebeside me as he scowled at him.
Anna, ever the one to rufflefeathers, spoke first, “You tell us. What happened with Melonie atthe boutique?” she asked with a pointed glare.
Ben shrugged before removing hiscoat and hanging it next to ours. He said nothing as he slid intothe booth next to Anna and grabbed his menu. We all sat stock stillas he glanced over the lunch specials like he didn’t have a care inthe world.
“Ben,” I was the first one tospeak. Ian’s hand on my knee flexed and released as if to hold meback from speaking further.
Ben looked up at me and I swore Isaw anger flash in his hazel eyes before it disappeared completely.“I don’t see how anything I do with Melonie is any of yourbusiness, Lindsey,” he said firmly before smirking. “You certainlydon’t take my feelings into account beforeyoufuck otherpeople.”
I flinched back at his words asthough he’d struck me.Did he just insinuate I was a whore?I felt Ian tense before he moved to get out of the booth. I slappedmy hand down on his thigh to stop him but it did nothing of thesort. He was about to stand when Anna blustered at my otherside.
“You know I put up with a lot ofshit from you and I’m just about fed up with it,Ben.If youwant to show your ass and make a fool of yourself then that’s yourprerogative. You want to fuck Melonie in a dressing room as somesort of sick way to punish Lindsey for not returning youraffection, go ahead.” She leaned into his space as she quietlyuttered her next words. “But if you ever think to insinuate thatLindsey is a whore ever again, I will cut your balls off one at atime and shove them so far down your throat they come out your ass,and I will make sure you’re forced to fucking watch as I do it.” Icouldn’t see the look she was giving Ben but he had common senseenough to slide further away from her.
Ben’s eyes flickered from myseething bestie to an equally as pissed Ian and then finally to mebefore nodding. “I–I didn’t mean … I’m sorry, Lyns,” he stammeredas he shook his head. It seemed like he was coming out of some sortof trance as he looked confusingly down at his lap.
The bell above the door rang againand I looked over in time to see Melonie marching our way. Ian andAnna kept their gazes locked on Ben as she approached.
For the first time since I’d metMelonie, she looked disheveled. Her hair was falling out of herperfect ponytail, her coat was buttoned incorrectly, and she lookedfidgety. Worry marred my brow as she looked at Ben like she washalf frightened by his presence. She stared at the side of his headand back toward the door like she was contemplating runningaway.
“Are you okay?” I asked as shestood in front of the table. She jumped as if she just rememberedthere were other people at the table. When she realized I was theone that spoke her fearful expression was pulled into a look ofannoyance.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she scoffedand rolled her eyes as she climbed into the booth next to Ben.
Both refused to make eye contactwith one another as they thumbed through their menus. Silenceensued as Ian and Anna both relaxed next to me. I released a breathas I tried to process how this day was panning out.
I was still confused as to why Benwas acting the way he was but I decided to shelve the feeling fornow. Maybe when we got back home and into our normal routine thingswould calm down.Well, almost normal.I smiled to myself.One thing would be changing when we got back and that was that Ianand I would be together.
I wanted to experience all thethings that made my heart flutter with him. Not only that, I wantedto experience what it was like to be in a fully committedrelationship. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel awkwardor uncertain about the possibility of having a love life. It wasboth exhilarating and frightening.
“Well, this is awkward,” Annastated loudly. I snorted at her obvious description of how thisshopping day had gone. She smiled at me before nudging me with hershoulder. “What do you say to hitting the slopes after lunch? Youalmost made it down the entire bunny slope last time withoutfalling,” she teased.
My eyes widened at the thought ofskiing again. It was abundantly obvious that it wasn’t my forte.“Actually, would you hate me if I just stayed at the cabin andrelaxed for the rest of the day?” I winced.
