Heart Breaker: Heartbreaker series: 1

Chapter four

So Bennett is driving me home. He hasn’t said much and I know what he’s wondering.

Suspicious minds starts playing on the radio. Perfect. How does the radio god always know to play the right tune at the wrong time.

Bennett taps the steering wheel  in time to the music and I see a smug grin spread across his gorgeous face. Smart ass.

I sigh, loud and long.

“You got something on your mind, pretty one,” he says.

Ha ,very funny. I cross my arms. “No.”

“You sure, you don’t want to share?” The grin disappears now.

“What do you mean?” I ask fiddling with my seatbelt.

Bennett turns the volume down on the radio. Uh oh, now I'm in trouble.

We don’t have far to go. We’ve been driving for about twenty minutes and I know we’ll be home in less than ten, so if I drag out the conversation with vague answers, I can avoid this. Or so I think.

“Well, I know that you don’t get  IV drugs just for concussion.”

“You do?”

If he knows, I’m wondering if Dad does too. Double uh oh.

“Bales, you were bleeding. Bleeding really badly.”

I squeeze my hands together. I’m so not ready to talk about this.

“Who told you that?”

“The doctors told your dad, and your dad told me.”

Shit.

“Dad knows?”

“Yeah. They had to tell him. You were out cold. They had to get his consent to take you to theater.”

Double shit. Duh! I am so stupid.

“Um … why didn’t he say anything?”

Bennett arches a brow and twists his lips.

I fling my head back on the headrest and close my eyes. Now home is not the haven I thought it was going to be. Maybe I should get Bennett to drive in the opposite direction, but I know he won’t.

“Bales ...” He starts and then stops.

Dear god, I wish I could disappear. I know what he wants to ask.

“Is this why?”

I grit my teeth. I can’t answer. I don’t want to talk about it. I never thought I’d have to.

I am such an idiot of epic proportions. Of course moving on would never be this simple. Nothing is ever simple for Bailey Ryan. She screws things up, then screws them up some more, so things are screwed so tight, there’s too much damage to unscrew them.

“Bales, is this why you took them? I have to know.”

I shake my head. No you don’t.

Bennett hits the steering wheel and clenches his jaw. “I am so going to kick the Double A's ass into next week.”

“No!” I scream out and cough on a sob, that nearly chokes me.

Bennett puts his foot on the brakes and pulls over to the side of the road. He moves so quickly taking off my seatbelt before I can blink and pulls me in for a hug. A hug I don’t really deserve. I’ve been nothing but dishonest with him. I choke out another sob and he holds me tighter. He rubs my back and I can’t stop it. I can’t stop the tears. Tears I thought I’d shed and finished with. But they won’t stop this time. I’m drowning in my own tears and I can’t see my way to swim free.