MERRITT
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
For the second time in a single week, I kissed Bennett Legros.
Only this time, it was him who kissed me.
How does this keep happening? And twice in two freaking days?
Better yet, why were his lips so soft but still felt firm and commanding as he moved them against mine?
And why did it make every single muscle in my body go lax and soften like I was melting when he curved his big, rough palm at the edge of my jaw?
And why did the fingers that tangled into the hair at my nape make me feel like I was actually levitating off the bed?
It shouldn’t have felt the way that it did. It shouldn’t have felt so… good.
Better than it’s ever felt to kiss anyone.
It took a solid three minutes for my brain to catch up with my stupid, horny vagina, which meant ninety whole seconds of making out with Bennett like I didn’t actively dislike everything about him.
Aside from his stupidly talented mouth, that is.
That’s one thing that I can’t seem to deny, even to myself.
In the time that’s passed since that night our sophomore year… the one that I desperately try to never think about, I’ve clearly forgotten how incredible he kisses.
Likely trauma blocked it out from the humiliation, but now that it’s happened twice in a single freaking week, I can’t stop thinking about it.
About him.
Undoubtedly, the guy kisses the same way he fucks, and it makes me want to bang my head against the wall just thinking about it.
I. Am. Not. Going. There.
Nope. Absolutely not.
No matter how magical his mouth is.
“Merritttttttttt.”
The singsongy voice pulls me out of my head, far away from the traitorous thoughts filtering through my brain, and I blink, turning to look at Stella, who’s sitting beside me on the floor of my room. Mads is on the other side of her, pinning me with the same look that Stella is.
“What?” I say.
It’s Sunday, and we’re having a “Slasher Sunday” where we binge our favorite old horror films, eat an exorbitant amount of junk food, and catch up with each other.
It was our weekly tradition during high school, but now that we’re all at different schools in different places, it’s harder and harder to get together.
Usually at my house since I’m home with Elliott, and my Dad’s usually gone. Thankfully, he respects the sanctity of these days and gives us peace and quiet to gossip and stuff our faces while watching our favorite cult-classic slasher movies.
Stella laughs. “Girl, you’re on a whole different planet and clearly not watching this movie with us. What’s going on?”
Shit.
I tell my best friends everything, but this… I don’t know about this.
Telling them means admitting out loud, not just to myself, that I’m unfortunately attracted to Bennett Legros.
That I actually want him to bend me over the nearest flat surface and rail me into next week.
A girl has needs and wants. So, sooooo many wants.
And that kind of makes me feel… weak? Out of control?
Stupid for being one of the girls I said I would never be again. Especially when it comes to him.
Yet, my body has a completely different reaction when it comes to him.
“Oh hell no, you better spill, bitch,” Mads says, pushing off the thick, fluffy blanket covering her lap and crawling over Stella’s legs until she’s perched directly in front of me.
“Spill what?” I say, feigning innocence. “There’s nothing to spill.”
Mads lifts a brow, reading right through me. “Bullshit. Something’s going on, and you’re not telling us.”
This is what I get for sharing everything with them. I don’t have the ability to hide things without either of them noticing.
My gaze moves between both of them.
Stella, as always, lets Mads take the lead, and I exhale, shaking my head.
“You know, the fact that you have the ability to read me so well is honestly a little concerning.”
Mads smirks, lifting a shoulder. “Or some would say it’s a gift. Now, talk.”
“Fine. So you know how I’m partnered with Bennett Legros for our Creative Writing project?”
Stella’s eyes widen, and Mads gasps, “Oh shit.”
I nod somberly. “Somehow, that led to us kissing… twice?”
“No fucking way!” Mads cries, nearly flying off the floor. “You little slut, keeping something like this from us! How could you? Wait, I thought we hated him. We did hate him, right?” She nudges Stella in the side, and she snaps out of her stupor.
“I mean, I thought I did? But then we got partnered on this project together, and he’s painfully annoying and still tragically as charming as I remember. But it kind of, I don’t know, just accidentally happened?”
Stella waggles her brows, “Accidentally happened twice?”
Once is an accident, but twice is…
“Actually, can we just talk about anything other than this?” I cry, looking between both of my friends, who are staring at me with far too much amusement on their faces. “It was obviously just a… momentary lapse in judgment that isn’t going to happen again.”
Seriously.
It’s never happening again.
I lost my head… twice, and now I’m going to stop. Cold turkey.
It was just a kiss that meant absolutely nothing.
They already know about Blake showing up at Ever After the other day and that he brought his new girlfriend, aka the girl he cheated with, to flaunt in front of me, or at least that’s what I’m assuming was his plan.
I just… didn’t add in the part about Bennett pretending to be my boyfriend orrrrrr the fact that I kissed him in front of Blake.
And also left out the entire part about Bennett’s whole fake dating idea because it’s ridiculous and not even worth repeating.
Bennett Legros has clearly taken too many hits to his head. That’s the only reason he’d even suggest something as ridiculous as fake dating. Even for the sake of superstition.
And even if I were considering it, which I’m obviously, you know… not, I barely have time to sleep as it is. I can’t even fathom taking on yet another… responsibility. Because that’s what it would be. I’m juggling a thousand different things, and most days not very well.
Plus, being his girlfriend, fake or not, is literally the last thing anyone who actually knows me would believe.
Why does it sound like I’m arguing a case to myself right now?
Mads laughs, and I pull my gaze from the TV to hers. “Mhmmmm. Yeah, no, I don’t actually believe you, but if you want to lie to yourself…”
See? This is exactly what I was worried about in telling them. That they’d get some stupid thing in their head that I actually am interested in Bennett.
“Nope,” I say adamantly, shaking my head. “No fucking way. I knew you two would do this.”
Stella lifts her hands. “Woah now, I haven’t said a thing.”
I pin her with a stare, and she crumples under a single second later. “I’m not saying you want him to fuck you into the mattress…” She trails off and rolls her lips together as she stifles a laugh. “But I’m also not.”
“I hate you. Both,” I groan, grabbing the pillow from behind me and slamming it over my face. “It was a one-off. I want nothing to do with Bennett Legros outside of this project that we have to work on together.”
“What was that? Sorry, I couldn’t hear all of your jumbled lies with the pillow covering your face,” Mads says before wrenching said pillow off and tossing it to the ground.
“Look, all Stella and I are saying is that if you did happen to want to ride a certain hockey player until the next Blood Moon, it wouldn’t be the worst thing, Merritt. You deserve all the orgasms.”
“Yeah,” Stella interjects. “Honestly, you could prob use some orgasms with how… stressed you are. Orgasms make people happy.”
“And happy people don’t kill their husbands,” I add.
“They just don’t,” both of my best friends say in unison, and we all laugh. It’s our favorite iconic line from Legally Blonde, and being the perpetual nostalgic nerd that I am, it makes me insanely happy that my best friends make me feel seen in all the ways.
The truth is I haven’t really stopped thinking about Bennett’s proposition… or the kiss since it happened, despite trying to push it out of my head.
He did make some good points. Blake already thinks we’re dating, and he’s his teammate. He’s going to know if I’m suddenly never around, and the thought of Blake thinking I lied is too horrifying to even think about.
I would actually die.
I just… Bennett’s charm and enthusiasm are confusing me. Because I’m supposed to be stronger than this. I’m not supposed to want to melt into a puddle right at his feet, and somehow, over the last few days, all I’ve done is think about him and that kiss.
Sighing, I reach for both of my best friends, slipping my arms around their necks and pulling them to me. “Love you both. Can we go back to The Blair Witch Project, please? It’s far less scary than thinking about Legros in any capacity.”
Hours later, after we’ve all fallen asleep in a sugar coma, I wake up only because of the insistent screaming of my bladder from drinking too much. I groggily untangle myself from Stella and Mads, stepping over them to stumble to the bathroom.
Before going back to sleep, I check my phone and see a text from a couple of hours ago from Bennett.
GOOD BOY: Shutout tonight. 3-0.
GOOD BOY: Told you I was going to prove it to you, Mer Bear. Looks like I’m going to be needing a lot more of you in the coming weeks, specifically those pretty little lips.
GOOD BOY: