Run (Disasters in Love: Book 1) (Part 1 COMPLETE)

Chapter 24

Kat
February 20, 2005

*

Same day

*

Oh crap. Did I break him again?

Maybe I don't really want honesty... No, of course I want to know. Don't I?

All I asked him for was a number, hoping it would be smaller than I thought, but now...

Oh god. How high can it be?

And I had his disease stick in my mouth... Gross.

How many women came before me? I feel my stomach flip, the thought nauseating me.

He sighs. "Fine, but I need to explain first. Okay?" He seems to have calmed down a little, but his earlier reaction is still making me nervous.

"Okay..." I don't have anything else to say. I just want the number so I know if I need to go gargle some bleach and get an STD test.

He blows out a breath. "In high school, you might remember, I was a scrawny, geeky kid."

"Yeah..." I prompt him. This story needs to go faster. I'm totally freaking out.

"Well, there was this girl, Samantha." His stares at the floor, looking insecure and adorable.

Not adorable. He's gross, remember? Wait... Samantha? Where do I know that name from?

"Oh... The one I deleted from your phone?" Ignoring the voice telling me to shut up so he will talk faster.

"That's the one." His voice sounding bitter as he runs his hand through his short curls. "She was beautiful and nobody understood why, but she liked me. To say I was head over heels for her would be an understatement. She was so perfect to me, even when other people told me she wasn't. I defended her. Even when I was told she cheated on me. Several times."

"Oh no..." My stomach drops. I hope this isn't going where I think it is.

"I finally asked her about it and she didn't deny it. In fact, she didn't even feel bad about it. We broke up, of course, but it shattered me." His face is pained as though he's reliving it.

"Oh Ben, I'm so sorry. That must have been really hard." Poor Ben... But wait, what does that have to do with how many girls he's slept with?

"I wish that was the end, Beautiful." He says softly. Oh no, there's more?

"She came back and said how sorry she was. She told me that none of them meant anything to her. She said she still loved me... and I believed her." His eyes shine with unshed tears.

I stay quiet, hoping he doesn't stop talking.

"She was good. She even found a way to make me feel guilty about her sleeping around on me." He scoffs.

"But... how?" I can't even comprehend how anyone could do that, especially to this vulnerable man sitting in front of me.

"We hadn't slept together. Not to sound like a girl or anything, but it was my first time and it just never felt right. At first, something was always getting in the way. I honestly thought she was trying not to sleep with me. But then I started hearing about the other guys and I just couldn't do it without knowing first. And well, you know what happened." He sighs.

"Yeah..." I'm still not sure how this relates to the amount of women he's been with, but I don't want him to stop talking.

"After weaseling her way back into my life again, she took over. I was consumed with her. I wanted to make sure she wouldn't leave me this time, so I set up an elaborate picnic in my old tree house. I got flowers and lit candles all over. That was probably a huge fire hazard, now that I think about it." He lets out a small laugh.