CHAPTER FIVE #2
Throwing her head back against the concrete, she did what she was told. More moans filled the air as Benny’s mouth continued to tease her. Stubble scraped while his tongue soothed as he worked his way to the soft curve of her neck.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Her skin tingled and her body burned. She was close to exploding all over Lucy’s patchwork rug.
So close. And when those expert lips latched on to her shoulder, she was so sure relief was just a breath away.
But instead of sweet release, she could hear another voice. One that was neither hers or Benny’s.
“Oh, I’m sorry, have I walked in on the past?” It was Lucy.
Crap. It’s Lucy.
Her brain might have been switching back on, but she was left aching as Benny pulled back. Strung so tight, she was genuinely worried her body would betray her, and she’d drag him back to finish the job he’d started.
Because being caught humping his leg isn’t humiliating enough?
Okay. Good point.
“Uh, hey, Luce.” Her hand lifted as she gave her best friend a pathetic wave.
“Lucy.” Benny nodded, going on to clear his throat. “Um, I should... I should go.”
Yes. He should. But she didn’t want him to.
You’re so fucked.
“Yeah. I reckon that’s for the best,” her friend replied. Giving Benny the perfect opportunity to sneak out. Not daring to utter a word or even look back at Bethany as he made a beeline for the front door.
When the heavy door slammed, the air was still crackling.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Lucy was clearly unimpressed, her arms crossing over her chest while her head tilted in question.
This was the first time Bethany had seen her friend looking remotely angry.
And disappointed. Usually, her energy reflected the same warmth and ease as the golden strands of her hair.
“So?” Lucy prompted when Bethany remained silent.
“I fucked up.”
“Yeah, you did. What was that?”
Is she talking about the humping or the kissing?
Deciding they were both equally bad, Bethany sighed. “We were fighting, about the break-up and then...”
“You fell on his face?” Wide blue eyes mocked her. “Come on, B, people don’t just go from fighting to—”
“Fucking?” Bethany bit back a smile. “Is that the word you’re looking for, Luce?”
Bethany shouldn’t be finding the horror on her friend’s face so funny, or the tinge of pink now splashing her cheeks.
But she did. The truth was, Lucy Mills was as innocent as they came.
She didn’t swear, she barely drank, and she definitely wasn’t having sex based off the teddy bear bed sheets in her room.
She was the polar opposite of Bethany. Who was most certainly going straight to hell.
Yet their friendship worked. And they’d gone from a casual friendship in school to sister-like love when Lucy had made the first of many trips out to Denver to visit her.
“You weren’t...is that what you...were you going to?”
Great. She’d broken her.
Taking her friend’s hand, she led them both over to the couch and gestured her down. Once comfortable, she tried her best to explain what was going on in her still very frazzled brain.
“Look, I’m not perfect.” Understatement of the year. Shut up! “Yes, Benny and I are done. So done.”
“But?”
“But...it may have been a long time. A really long time. But it’s the first time I’ve seen him since we broke up.”
This is how you’re justifying it?
Yes. It was. Because the day Benjamin Tucker broke up with her, was the last she ever saw of him. Until her wedding day. As soon as he’d told her he’d changed his mind about moving to Denver with her, she’d packed up her things and got the hell out of Woodvalley Pines and never looked back.
“And?” Even the most patient person she knew was looking more and more frustrated as creases started to furrow Lucy’s porcelain brow.
“And...what I’m trying to say is that I’m not sure I ever had that closure that people talk about.
‘Cause I never saw him again. And now...now it feels like I’m stuck in this weird-ass time warp where emotionally I’ve moved on but physically.
..physically I’m still there. Ten years ago.
When I’m around him, I just can’t help it, my body just does its own thing. ”
“Does its own thing?” Bethany didn’t miss the skepticism in her friend’s voice.
“Yes,” she replied, exasperated. “It goes rogue! It’s like—why aren’t we kissing? Why aren’t we touching? Let me hump your leg! I don’t know.” She let her eyes flutter closed. “He just brings out a side of me that I’ve not seen for a long time.”
And that was the scary truth. Who she was when she was with Doug was very different to who she was with Benny.
All this time, she’d put the difference down to growth and maturity.
But what she was starting to realize was it wasn’t that.
Because who she was around her ex was exactly who she was when she was alone. Single. With her friends.
Just hornier.
She felt Lucy’s arms wrap around her and she gladly nestled in her hold.
“Maybe don’t hump his leg next time?” her friend softly teased.
“Right.” She chuckled. “Baby steps.”
***
“Did you hear me, Bethany?”
Bethany’s eyes snapped up, her focus going back to Dr. Brunswick’s flattened and wholly unimpressed lips.
“Um,” she coughed. “Yes, um, lifetime relationships, got it.” She pretended to scribble something in her notebook, hoping the older man’s gray eyes had moved onto another student in the small consultation room.
It felt surreal to be back at work. And not to mention humiliating. Her morning had consisted of endless congratulations followed shortly by her awkwardly explaining to every individual person how she didn’t actually end up getting married, after all.
Now here she was, at Goldacre Medical Clinic, zoning in and out during the lunchtime workshop.
“Exactly, as local physicians, we develop relationships with our patients over the course of a lifetime.” Dr. Brunswick continued.
“Which is why nurturing these relationships early is essential. With that in mind, I’ll be assigning you each with a task designed to get you more involved with your local community. ”
Bethany zoned back out after that. Her mind easily wandering back to the message she’d received last night, mere hours after their kiss.
Benny: We need to talk
How did he even get my number?
Also, why did he still have the same number, ten years later?
They most definitely didn’t need to talk. What they needed was to spend the remainder of her time in Woodvalley at least fifty yards apart at all times. Maybe even a hundred.
The only problem, of course, was that it was a small town, and her residency would keep her here another year.
You could get a place in Goldacre?
She could. Although she doubted it would make that much of a difference seeing as most Woodvalley residents frequented Goldacre to shop, eat and socialize.
Woodvalley was great but it consisted of a couple of restaurants, one bar, a diner, a bakery, the Farm n’ Fresh and rather randomly, a large number of antique stores.
Unable to stop herself, she sighed. A little too loud.
“Am I boring you, Bethany?”
Shit.
The next few minutes were spent attempting to convince her mentor that he had mistaken boredom for silently processing his wise words. It didn’t go well.
Thankfully, by the time she’d finished humiliating herself, it was time to hand out assignments. As she stared down at the paper that had hers on it, Dr. Brunswick hovered a while longer, feeling the need to explain.
“It’s a cancer survivor support group,” he said. “Now and again, they have a physician stop by and answer any questions members may have, but I’d like you to go for more than one session. I want you to get to know these people. Find out their stories. Connect.”
Bethany nodded. She could do that. She could sit and listen. Connect. She was actually looking forward to it. Finally, something to take her mind off her disaster of a life.