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"Sammy." He stares right at me. "I fucking called her over to help me deal with my mother's death."

I can't wrap my brain around what he's telling me. None of it fits into what Ben has shared with me. "Samantha was there? Ben saw her with you?"

"I told him she was my girlfriend." He throws his head back and I see the thick vein in his neck pulsing out a beat. "I fucking told my brother that the woman he just lost his virginity to was my fucking girlfriend."

"What did Ben do? What did Sammy say?"

His hands leap to his face. "Ben fell on the floor. He fell on the floor and cried and she just fucking stood there with her mouth shut."

"She didn't tell you about Ben?" I push the question out through a sob. "She didn't tell you she slept with him?"

He turns so swiftly that I almost fall off the side of the bench. "She didn't say a word."

"Why didn't Ben tell you?" It doesn’t make sense. All Ben had to do was confess to Noah that he'd slept with Sammy that day. It would have lifted the cloud of uncertainty about his role in his mother's death. It would have given his story the witness that he needed.

"He was trying to protect me." He pulls himself up from the bench. "My little brother was trying to protect my feelings and he ruined his life to do it."

Chapter 19

"You're in Boston?" Alexa's voice carries through my phone. "Why the hell are you there? It's not your family is it? Is someone sick?"

I stare out the window of the taxi I hopped into as soon as I exited the airport. "No." I need to level my voice. "It's not that. I'm here to see a friend."

"You're coming back tomorrow, right?" She pauses. "I mean I need some help with some wedding stuff. I'm flipping out Kayla. There's still a lot to do."

"I'll be there," I say it with conviction. Noah and I had ridden the subway back to my place after our talk. He wanted to see Ben in person and when I told him he was in Boston, we mutually agreed that I should come here to ease Ben into the idea of sitting down for a discussion with Noah. I'm here to do just that. The added bonus of enjoying the look of surprise on his face when he sees me is making my heart beat faster.

"You should pick up your damage deposit while you're there." I can hear the distant tapping of her fingers against something. "I forgot to remind you to call your old landlord last week. Now that you're there in person, you can pick it up."

"That's a great idea, Lex." I stare out the window as we race through the streets of the city I've called home most of my life. "You're tapping your fingers on your desk, aren't you?"

The rhythmic background noise stops. "It's a stressful day. I'm in the school on a Saturday grading papers when I should be out doing things for the wedding."

"Focus on work today, Lex." I breathe deeply. "I'll be back tomorrow and we'll tackle all the wedding stuff as a team. You, me and Sadie."

"Okay." I hear the trepidation in her tone. She's definitely not going to concentrate on anything but whether her special day will go off without a hitch.

"I need to go. I'll call you as soon as I'm back in New York."

"You better." She laughs as she ends the call.

***

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but you're mistaken." The burly man behind the desk doesn’t even look at me as he repeats the same phrase for the third time.

"I don't think I am," I say even though I'm certain that he's right. I've been standing in the lobby of this hotel in Times Square for the past ten minutes. This is the third person I've asked about the medical conference that is supposed to be taking place here. Not one of them has any clue about what I'm talking about.

His eyes dart over the counter to peer directly at me. "Let me make a few calls and I'll see if I can locate the right hotel for you."

I nod. I should be more appreciative. I check the log of my text messages again comparing the name of the hotel Ben told me he'd be at to the name on the wall behind the check-in desk. They are definitely one in the same.

I stare down at my phone when I feel it vibrate in my hand.

"Hey, Noah," I say with ease. "How are you?"

"Good." His voice is curt and restrained. "Have you talked to him yet?"

I smile at how eager he is to smooth things over with Ben. It's been what I'd hoped for since I realized the struggle that the two of them have faced all these years. "I just landed an hour ago. I'm at the hotel he said the conference was at, but he's not here."


Tags: Deborah Bladon Ruin Romance