Chapter 5 #2
Allyson and Gabe stand on either side of me as we watch him jog down the sidewalk, where his friends have already loaded up into a doorless white Jeep Wrangler.
Brody taps his wrist as Bennett climbs into the driver’s seat.
Even though the setting sun on the other side of the road makes it almost impossible to see them as they drive by, I feel his gaze on me the whole time.
“Hey, what are you guys still doing outside? You didn’t have to wait for me!” The sound of a voice breaks us all out of the spell we seem to be under as Gabe’s boyfriend, Chase, approaches from the opposite direction. “Sorry, it took me a while to find somewhere to park. Is everything okay?”
“Alright,” Ally says, turning to look me straight in the eye. “I’m going to need you to explain to me how in the hell you know Wolf fucking Bennett.”
Apparently, Gabe’s younger sister recognized Bennett and his friends from the moment she laid eyes on them.
Allyson—unlike her brother—has been an EWE fan since her eighth-grade boyfriend introduced her to it.
She was obsessed with “The Great” Fata and Brooks Taylor, like most people.
But Wolf Bennett? Once she learned his family lived a few towns over, it has always been her delusional fantasy that they’d meet and fall madly in love.
Listening to her tell me all of this over the weekly special at Marie’s last night made my head spin.
If I saw Allyson Hart on the street, I would never think she’s a diehard EWE fan.
Then again, I’d say the same thing about Sophia, and my best friend has been a fan ever since she was a kid.
And while I now plan to ask Ally all about her perspective as a fan of EWE, I decided it’s better to wait until after today.
I don’t want her to slip and accidentally tell them what I’m working on. I’m already nervous enough about Gabe.
Despite her ability to keep it together last night, I’ve slowly watched Ally get more and more nervous as we get closer to the James home. The farther we get from town, the bigger the houses get and the more distance there is between properties.
From the side of his glasses, I see Gabe’s eyes glance up from the road into the rearview mirror, first at his boyfriend, and then at his sister. He rolls his eyes. “Oh, for the love of God, Ally. Would you relax? They are normal people. You saw that last night.”
“I am calm!”
“Oh, yeah, cool as a cucumber,” Chase draws out, earning a smack to the arm.
He laughs, and Gabe rolls his eyes again.
“Okay, serious talk for a second,” Chase says after a moment, leaning forward between the two front seats.
“What’s the goal here? Are we supposed to be talking you up to this guy, Sloane? ”
This time, the man next to me laughs. “I don’t think you have to.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
Gabe doesn’t answer, only glances my way before he flips the lever and turns into the driveway.
The concrete dissipates into gravel a few hundred feet inside the property as we drive through a tunnel of mature maple trees.
Ally’s head moves on a swivel, taking in every inch of her surroundings.
Her eyes widen when she looks straight ahead, and I can’t hide my own surprise when I see what’s caught her attention.
A beautiful brick manor home comes into view as the trees disappear.
It has a perfectly balanced, proportional design with a central entrance under a curved portico supported by two large columns on either side.
Three dormer windows on top of the main section of the house, with one more on each wing.
There’s an open veranda on the front of the left wing, while the other looks like a sunroom, offering a space to enjoy the outdoors during any season.
Trimmed hedges line a sidewalk surrounding a fountain, with meticulously landscaped flowerbeds around the fountain and front of the house.
Gabe pulls into an open space near the end of a line of cars parked in the green space to the right of the property.
“Damn, they’re rich-rich,” Chase says, climbing out of the backseat.
“His stepdad was the CFO of some big company in the city for a long time, and started investing in real estate. They’re loaded,” Allyson says.
Of course, she knows that.
“Of course, you know that,” Gabe says, echoing my thoughts, and I can’t contain my giggle. His sister sticks her tongue out at him and takes Chase by the hand, dragging him farther down the gravel driveway.
I take another moment to scan the house, the landscape, and everything in between. Nothing about this screams Bennett to me, at least not the Bennett that sat across from me that night in the diner. He seemed so…normal. Down-to-Earth.
“Take it all in, Sloane.” Gabe drapes his left arm around my shoulders, using his right hand to gesture in front of us. “This could be your new life. Just don’t forget to remember us little people when you become one of those WAGs you write about.”
I roll my eyes, pulling out of his grasp. “Oh, shut up, Gabe.”
“So, what’s the game plan here, Lolo?” he asks, turning far more serious than I’ve seen him in a long time. “Are we here solely to help you get this story, or are you really into this guy?”
“It’s just a story, Gabe.”
“You sure about that?” His perfectly manicured brow arches. “You didn’t see the look on your face yesterday once you recognized him. I’d dare to say there’s some unfinished business here, on both sides.”
“There is nothing going on between Bennett and me.” At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. It’s hard to ignore the strange pull I feel toward him, but I know I have to if I’m going to write this story. “Today is about gathering as much information as I can before I never see these people again.”
Gabe scoffs. “Never see them again? What about when he asks you out again? Something tells me if today goes well, he’s going to ask, and if that happens, you have to tell him the truth.”
“Are you coming or not?” Ally yells from the side of the house about fifteen yards away, no longer clutching onto Chase’s arm. She crosses her arms, popping her hip out to one side.
“Ally, you’re at an eleven, I need you at eight,” Gabe yells back, and her face scrunches in reply, but she doesn’t budge.
“She’s going to stand there until we join them,” I say, earning a grumble in reply. “Look, Gabe, I don’t like him like that. If Bennett asked me on a date, I would only entertain the idea so I can get closer to the source.”
My friend stares at me for a long moment before he breathes out a heavy sigh. “Whatever you say, Lolo.” Gabe loops his right arm through my left, forcing me to take the first step. “How much do you want to bet she loses her cool in front of at least one of them today?”
“Wolf is over there!” Ally bounces on the balls of her feet, scouring the crowd.
She shields her face with her hand, despite the sunglasses over her eyes.
“Or he was. Wait, where did he go?” She lifts the tinted glasses from her eyes, as if that’s going to help her see any better, and does another sweep of the crowd. “He was standing right there with—”
“I was starting to think you’d changed your mind.
” Bennett’s voice draws our attention to the left, toward the side of the house.
He lets the screen door slam behind him, earning a scolding from inside that I can’t quite make out, but I know it’s a woman.
His mother, maybe? Or an aunt? The voice sounds feminine, but more mature, not young enough to be a sister or cousin.
He gallops down the stairs with a lopsided smile, making a beeline for me the second his feet hit the pavement.
“Sorry, we’re late,” I say, unable to contain a smile that matches his own. “We had brunch with Gabe’s parents this morning, but they were more than happy to kick us out as soon as that was over.”
“They’re probably glad we’re not going to be around today,” Gabe says, extending his hand toward Bennett. “I’m sorry, we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. I’m Gabe.”
Bennett’s smile falters slightly, and he switches his beer from one hand to the other to shake Gabe’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“And this is Chase!” Allyson adds quickly, pushing the newest member of our group forward. “Gabe’s boyfriend. He was parking the car last night when we ran into you.”
The right corner of Bennett’s mouth quirks upward, and I roll my eyes, knowing exactly what she’s doing.
He clears his throat and extends his hand again.
“It’s nice to meet you, Chase.” With a soft inhale, Bennett turns his attention back to me.
“Should we go in? There are a few people I want you to meet.”
“Wolf, is that you again?” a woman calls inside the house, hearing the hinges of the screen door vibrate, stretched too thin.
“I’ll be right there, Ma,” Bennett says over my head.