Chapter 7 #3
As the click sounded, Benny thought about putting on a show for the onlookers so it looked like he was teasing Jack.
But there was no Marcus or Felicity around.
Jack settled into his seat, smirk still on display.
“Oh, don’t worry, that one was for me.”
Benny didn't bother trying to recover after that.
“You-You need to watch yourself, Mr. Knox,” he said, the first to meet their destined loud. “It was almost a disaster in there and now you’re trying to play cute out here?”
Jack started the truck but didn’t wait until they were driving to start in.
“Almost a disaster?” he repeated. “Almost a disaster? We went in there for tiny sandwiches and some light lying and we came out with plans to be in a pageant, throw a party for the entire town, and—the surprise request they threw at us before we could leave—make a parade float! All in two weeks. Two. Weeks.” Jack shook his head and laughed a laugh that was all frustrated grump.
“My God, man. Why stop there? Why not headline the Bay concert too? I don’t know how to play any instruments, but, hey apparently you think two weeks is enough time to get just about anything done in this town. ”
He was right.
But his tone was wrong.
Benny had no choice but to address it with his own.
“First of all, I panicked, so sue me,” he rallied. “Lies are like dominoes. Once I knocked the first one over, the rest just kept falling and I tried to think of a way to avoid all of it but then—well, you saw it. I was being verbally water boarded and just trying to survive.
“Secondly, you wanted press for the bar and all of that nonsense is going to get you a lot of it. Which is why we agreed to this arrangement in the first place. Press. And the party? Well, I’m sorry, but that was to help you out.
Your ex, the same one you didn't bother to tell me about by the way, just— Well, she just felt kind of condescending when she was talking about you and the bar and so I helped.”
Benny had been surprised at just how much he'd disliked the way Felicity had spoken about the bar. Like she was the one who was tired. Who was frustrated. Who had personal stakes in its failure.
Jack’s muted reaction had only added to Benny’s sudden urgency to defend both.
“Felicity always has that tone when it comes to Cassidy’s,” Jack said now, still staring out the windshield, expression going sour. “It could be named the top bar in all of the South and she’d still find a way to make it sound like a dive bar standing on its last leg.”
“Well, how the hell was I supposed to know that?” Benny countered.
“I've never actually met her before. If I had known we were going to be dining with your ex, I might have asked for some fun facts before Ruby, of all people, blindsided me.” The thought turned into a grievance felt so strongly in the moment that Benny inhaled for optimal emphasis.
“You knew Marcus's fiancée was Felicity. Your longtime ex. That’s why you agreed to this? To get press and to get back at her? Or—oh my God—are you trying to steal her from Marcus?”
Jack held out his hand in an attempt to pause the man’s spiral.
It barely did the trick.
“I found out last night right after Marcus showed up at the bar that she was the one he got engaged to,” he said.
“But even after knowing, that never factored into me kissing you or me wanting to fake date. It’s just a damn good example of how living in a small town can be a damn pain in the ass, is all. ”
Benny wasn’t buying it.
He crossed his arms over his chest, nipple no longer hard.
Jack sighed.
“Cassidy’s Place needs press and proving to my ex that I don't need a trust fund to be worthwhile? Well, yeah, fine, that's an unforeseen added bonus, but that's all I want when it comes to her.” Jack shrugged. “I've already been down the road with Felicity and she exited the car like it was on fire. So there’s no way I’m driving her again. Or—well, you know what I mean. What I’m doing with you isn’t because of her. Nothing I do anymore is.”
Benny narrowed his eyes.
He waited a beat.
Then relented.
“I don't know you well enough to know if you're lying or not,” he admitted.
Jack slowed to a stop. They were already at the four-way that had them entering the main part of town. No one else was around. Jack swept his gaze over the intersection before he put his foot back on the gas pedal.
“Well, you don’t worry about that anymore because you’re about to get to know me real good.”
Benny couldn’t describe it as accurately as he would have liked but, in that moment, he felt like there was something mischievous there. Something just behind the bartender’s eyes that was warning him just as much as it was trying to lure him.
“I am?”
Jack leaned over, not breaking their eye contact.
Benny’s nipple hardened in seatbelt panic.
The smirk—the closeness—changed into one fluid movement of obvious annoyance.
“Because there's no way in hell I'm doing any of this bullshit by myself,” Jack decided. “As far as I'm concerned? You, Benny De Carlo, are not leaving my side for the next two weeks.”