Chapter 32
thirty-two
Harper
GINNY.
I’d thought telling Benny would make me feel weak, instead I felt lighter. The weight over me hadn’t lifted, but it had eased.
Benny hadn’t seen me the way I’d feared. Instead, he told me he was in awe of me.
Every new moment I spent with him only confirmed that he was the best person I’d ever met. Despite what he might say, I knew he was too good for someone like me, but I was learning that I planned on keeping him anyway. I’d find ways to make up for everything he deserved that I lacked.
Work was uneventful. There was nothing urgent that couldn’t wait until Monday, even though my father would disagree. I’d read all his emails, replied only to what was absolutely necessary, and then closed my laptop. I’d check again a bit later just to make sure nothing new came in.
Then I was rummaging through Benny’s pantry looking for where he stored the strawberry tea so I could make myself another one. When I couldn’t find it, I suspected he’d placed it on a shelf that was higher than I was capable of seeing.
With the assistance of a dark green chair I stole from his dining room, I found that I was right. The tea was on the top shelf where only that giant could reach it. Along with four other boxes of it. How much did he think I drank?
A throat cleared behind me. I turned quickly, nearly falling off the chair as my eyes landed on the stranger.
My heart thundered in my chest in panic as I stepped down, suddenly feeling like I might puke.
I recognized her. She was in the pictures on Benny’s wall, and now she was here, with familiar brown eyes that looked me up and down and saw far too much.
Of course Benny’s fucking mother had just walked in on me rummaging through his pantry…
wearing nothing but his giant hoodie. It was clearly his too.
It had his gym logo on the front and “Forrester” in giant bold letters across the back.
I hoped the fabric hadn’t lifted while I was reaching for the tea, because under it was a fucking butt plug holding her son’s cum in my ass.
Could I talk my way out of this?
My mind searched for any valid, non-suspicious, non-sexual reasons I might be in Benny’s house and dressed like this.
“So… you’re the one my Bear Bear has been smitten with lately.”
I swallowed.
“You’re also Rach’s boss, aren’t you? I recognize you.”
Fuck.
“I’m startin’ to understand why he was bein’ so damn sneaky.”
My mouth had completely dried out as she marched toward me, taking the tea from my hand and reading over the box before humming and opening the cupboard to pull another mug free.
I needed to escape.
I slowly walked backward, hoping to sneak away while she was distracted with the tea.
“I’m Ginny,” she said, turning her attention back to me. No such luck, then. “But you can call me Ma.”
Ginny wouldn’t let me escape.
Despite trying to keep my composure, I was sure she must have noticed my discomfort by now. Regardless, she wouldn’t let me get away from her.
“I should go get changed.” I tried a more direct approach.
Ginny waved a hand at me as she huffed. “Oh, please. Not like anythin’s showin’, or like I’m under any illusions about why you’re dressed like that.”
I was going to be sick. The strawberry tea Ginny had made for us both warmed my hands, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to swallow it if I tried.
“Relax, dear.”
Like that was possible.
At least I didn’t have to worry about talking. Ginny had a lot to say. She told me all about what she’d suspected was up with “Bear Bear” lately, and how he’d been “so, so sad,” and it had “honestly made him a bit of a turd to be around,” but she was pleased we’d finally sorted our shit out.
“Well, now that I know about all this, you have no reason not to come to family dinner.” She decided on my behalf.
“Thats um… thank you, Ginny—”
“Ma. I’ve decided it should be Ma.”
“Ma.” I swallowed. “That’s very kind, but it’s… complicated.”
“What’s so complicated about it?”
Explaining things to Benny had been difficult enough. Explaining them to his mother would be even more so. My mouth opened… and closed again when my mind refused to give me words.
“Do you love him?” Ginny asked.
Where the fuck was Benny and what was taking him so long? I couldn’t even text him because I’d left my phone upstairs and Ginny wouldn’t let me out of her sight.
I swallowed, and nodded.
“Right. And you don’t plan on leavin’ him and breakin’ his beautiful heart again?”
Well, that hurt. I deserved it. I shook my head.
“Then that’s all that matters. If you’re stickin’ around, then you come to family dinner.”
“But… well, the thing is…”
“And if this is about Rach workin’ for ya, then don’t you worry about that. She’ll keep her mouth shut or she’ll have me to deal with. Besides, she’s a terrible gossip, but she’d do nothin’ to harm her brother.”
Those words weren’t as reassuring as Ginny seemed to think they were.
The front door closed, and I exhaled heavily in relief.
“Ma!” Benny shouted from the entry.
“In here, Bear Bear,” Ginny shouted back.
When he rushed into the room to assess the very real threat I was up against, I saw why he’d taken so long. It turned out the something he was missing for lunch was several bags of groceries, and several bags from various other stores.
His eyes flicked between us, lingering on me, assessing if I was alright before switching back to his mother. “Ma, you can’t just be showin’ up here unannounced.”
“Course I can, Bear Bear, I’m your mother.”
“You can’t use that as an excuse for everythin’ you want to do when I tell you not to”
“’Course I can.” She beamed. “I’m your mother.”
Benny groaned, pacing over and picking off three of his bags to give them to me. “Go,” he whispered, and I didn’t need to be told twice.
“We weren’t done,” Ginny called after me.
“Jesus, Ma, let the man put some clothes on.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“Well, he does.”
Their voices faded as I dashed up the stairs and into Benny’s bedroom, closing and locking the door behind me.
With my back against it, I slid down onto the ground.
Coming here had been a mistake. Now Ginny knew about us. She knew who I was. It would only be a matter of time before she told Rachel and Rachel told people at work and then my father would find out and all of this would be over.
I wasn’t ready for this to be over.
I pulled the neck of Benny’s hoodie up, letting his lingering scent fill my lungs as I tried not to panic. There had to be something I could do. Could I bribe her? Would she take it? Would she be offended?
Fuck.
My head thumped against the door.
The room was covered in rose petals and our discarded clothing. Everything had been so perfect, so right. Now it was all wrong again, and I didn’t know how to fix it.
My arms wrapped around my knees. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there for, but eventually there was a soft knock on the other side of the door.
“Baby?” Benny’s voice was so soft I wouldn’t have been able to hear it had I not been sitting directly on the other side of the wood.
I shuffled to the side and reached up to unlock it.
The door slowly opened, then closed. He locked it again and then sat on the ground beside me.
“Your mom knows.”
He sighed. “Yeah.”
“She knows who I am. She recognized me.”
A deeper sigh. “Yeah.” His arm wrapped around the back of my shoulders and I leaned into him. “I’m so sorry, love. I had no idea she was comin’. I thought she’d be watchin’ the kids for Rach, but apparently they’re playin’ at a friend’s place.”
“What if she tells people?”
He placed a slow kiss to my temple. “She won’t. I’ve already made her promise she won’t tell anyone. Not even Rach, and I trust her.”
I wanted to trust her too, but I didn’t know her. I trusted Benny, though. I knew he wouldn’t lie to me. “She wants me to come to family dinner.”
He huffed. “Yeah. But you don’t have to do anythin’ you’re not ready for, baby.”
Nothing had changed. Ginny still knew about us before I was ready for her to, but just having Benny beside me made it all feel like maybe it wasn’t quite as bad as I’d thought.
I pushed my head toward him again and he kissed my temple like I hoped he would. “I’m not ready for that.”
His arm tightened around me. “That’s fine. I’ll make somethin’ up for her.”
“She wants me to call her Ma.”
“Yeah. She makes Rikky call her Ma too.”
Ma. As in Mom. She wanted me to call her Mom. My own mother didn’t like being called Mom, and Benny’s would just accept me? Just like that? Even knowing everything I’d put him through?
“She knows I hurt you… and she still wants me to call her Ma.”
“Of course she does. Because I love you, and she’ll love you because I love you. Because even though we both were hurt while we were apart, we’re goin’ to make each other so happy now.”
I sniffed, unsure of what else to say. I swung my legs over his and shuffled into his lap. He held me tighter. “I’m sorry.”
He gently grasped my chin between his thumb and finger and turned me to look at him. “I’m sorry too. But we’re okay now. We’re good.” His brow pinched as his eyes flicked between mine. “Right? I know you didn’t want her to know, but… you’re not gonna run away again, are you?”
The vulnerability in his expression and voice cut me like a blade. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a firm kiss. “I won’t run away again.”
Tension melted from his body as he nodded. “Good. Whatever happens, we’re in it together.”
Together. I buried my face in the warmth of his neck, breathing in my favorite scent and letting it ease all the fear.
“She might have seen the butt plug,” I murmured against his skin.
He laughed, loud and warm. “She’s seen worse.” He kissed the top of my head. “But maybe we get you dressed before we go back down. I don’t want anyone seein’ that perfect ass but me.”
I nodded and took one more deep inhale of him before letting go as we stood up.
Benny grabbed the bags I’d dropped on the floor and tipped them onto the bed. They’d been full of clothes, in pastels and bright colors. Clothes clearly meant for me.
“You went shopping for me?”
“I think you look so sexy in your suit, baby, but wearin’ those pants and comfortably relaxin’ just don’t exist in the same room as each other.”
I huffed and looked through what he’d collected.
Everything was so soft. Hoodies, T-shirts, sweatpants, shorts.
There was nothing black. The only thing that wasn’t brightly colored were light gray sweats, so I pulled those on.
And as much as I wanted to stay in his giant hoodie, I decided to swap it, at least while Ginny was here, to one of the new ones.
My options were light pink or yellow. The pink was softer, but I’d never worn that color in my life, and I’d had enough new things for one day, so I went with the yellow.
“We should probably go back down, huh?”
“Probably,” he agreed.
He was so beautiful and sexy, with his short hair still messy from our passionate night, a loose-fitting T-shirt, and sweatpants that looked impossibly stylish. How? They were sweatpants.
My chest ached with warmth and appreciation. I loved him. I loved him more than I’d ever loved anyone and I didn’t know what to do with it all, how to express it to him. It was too big a feeling for a creature like me.
“What?” he asked after I’d been staring for too long.
Instead of answering, I dropped to my knees in front of him and pulled his pants and boxers down.
He gasped. “My Ma is still downstairs.”
I looked up at him as my hand stroked his hardening cock. “You better be quiet, then.”