“I’ll be counting the hours until you’re back in my arms.” I try to encourage her, but it’s hard. I don’t want her anywhere but at my side.

Ben beeps again, and she turns around to indicate she’s coming.

“I love you, Eric Young,” she cries, standing on her tiptoes to give me a quick peck on the cheek.

I want to grab her and hold her close, but I don’t. I know she has to go. It’s getting late, and I don’t want her rushing. Hearing her say my name gives me an idea—it might be just the thing I need to endure this separation until she returns.

“I love you, you crazy girl,” I whisper as she walks backward toward Ben’s truck, never taking her eyes off me.

She gets in and barely has her seatbelt buckled when Ben tears out of the driveway, hitting the road with a cloud of dust forming in his wake. He’s no doubt showing off for her. But he better cut the crap and slow down.

Because he has my whole world riding next to him…

Ivy

I don’t like the idea of being alone with a teenage boy.

I focus on the acres of farmland flying by in order to calm my nerves—anything to distract myself from reliving some pretty bad memories. It’s been three months since Ryan tried to force himself on me, and I’m a little on edge from being in a similar situation. I’ve seen the way Ben looks at me when Eric’s not around. He has that quarterback swagger, and he’s used to having girls fall at his feet. He’s heard me fooling around with Eric on multiple occasions, and his eyes linger on certain areas of my body that they shouldn’t.

I cringe inside, wondering if he’s seen me naked, and it brings the whole thing with Ryan flooding back. I can’t stand the thought of another horny guy jerking off to me. Look where it led the last time. I have to be more careful. I need to maintain control. Ben may view me as a piece of meat, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to get a taste.

The windows are down and the radio is blasting. He hasn’t really said much. I don’t know what’s going on in that head of his. I’m blatantly aware of his physicality, his tattooed biceps bulging through the sleeves of his t-shirt. If I had to defend myself against him, I don’t think I’d win. He’s way stronger than I am. It wouldn’t be a fair fight, that’s for sure. Now would be the time to establish some boundaries.

“Could you roll up the windows? I’m getting blown to bits over here,” I ask him nicely.

He smirks but grudgingly complies. “I don’t know about you, but I kinda like getting blown.”

I cringe inside and mutter, “Fuck you,” under my breath.

“What was that?” he asks, turning down the radio.

“Thank you,” I respond, giving him a fake smile.

“See, you can be sweet when you want to be,” he snickers, egging me on.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He’s deliberately pushing my buttons and it’s killing me that I’m letting him do it.

“I don’t know. Word is you can be one hell of a tease.” His eyes shift over to me then back to the road.

“Excuse me?” I can’t believe the taunts that are coming out of his mouth.

“You heard me. Or maybe you’d like to explain just what exactly went on between you and Ryan Price.” He stops sharply, throwing me back against the seat as the car he’s tailgating hits the brakes.

“Why? What’s he been saying?” I haven’t heard a word from Ryan after his fight with Eric. I thought he’d licked his wounds and was over it, but apparently not.

“He’s been talking shit about you all over school. How you came on to him in his Jeep. How he turned you down. How you slept with Eric to get back at him.” Ben spouts off Ryan’s lies so casually, like he couldn’t care less if they’re true or not. “Then you ended up pregnant, and Eric, being the honorable guy he is, took your slutty ass in even though you’re only milking him for all it’s worth because you have nowhere else to go.”

“Hmm, that’s it?” I might as well hear it all and pretend that what he’s saying isn’t affecting me in the slightest.

“He says you stabbed his stepsister in the back when she was the only one nice enough to give you a job and that you suck as a writer because she had to rewrite all of your pieces and…” He pauses as I interrupt him.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s more?” I ask sarcastically.

“Oh yeah. Apparently, you have this sick fascination with Cassidy and you want to be her or something.” He glances at me out of the corner of his eye, probably too afraid to look at my face.

“Really?” I can’t even speak. I’m so mad.

“You got yourself pregnant. You’re wearing her clothes and living in the house Eric built for her. So yeah, pretty much.” He shrugs like these phony accusations are completely logical.

“How do you even know about that?” My heart starts to race when I recall Eric’s reaction when he saw me wearing the shirt he bought for Cassidy. I’ll never forget the look he gave me as long as I live.

“Ryan said that the dry cleaner told him that you brought in something he remembered Cassidy wearing in one of the pictures they showed of her on the news, that you ruined it.” Ben shakes his head. “Man, talk about all of the puzzle pieces coming together.”

“Ryan’s saying an awful lot for a guy who should be keeping his mouth shut.” I don’t know how much I should reveal to Ben. He could go back to Ryan and tell him everything I say, turning this battle into an all-out war. I thought when Ryan found out that Will had told me what he was up to that would be the end of it, but apparently not. I’ve been living in a bubble of blissful delusion while Ryan has been launching a total smear campaign against me. I knew Lauren was out there making some nasty remarks, but I didn’t think Ryan would stoop so low.

“I don’t know, Ivy. I mean, c’mon.” Ben scratches the back of his head, squinting. “Why am I driving you to get on a plane to meet Will, the guy I just so happened to see you kissing in the Main Street diner last summer? You’re telling me that Eric is okay with this?”

“God, you were there that day?” I’m so sick of how small our town really is. Everybody knows everything about everybody.

“Yeah, and it pissed me off that the girl I was there with couldn’t take her eyes off of Will. I think every woman in the place wanted to jump him, but you were the one he kissed. So you definitely made an impression for being able to snag the guy all the girls wanted—not only once, but twice, if you count Eric,” Ben declares like he’s a prosecutor making a closing argument in a murder case. It seems like I’m guilty until proven innocent.

“I know how it must’ve looked, but it wasn’t like that. Will’s been playing a game with me my entire life. He was just toying with me that day to get what he wanted. It meant absolutely nothing.” My cheeks burn as I fall into the trap of defending myself.

“But it still doesn’t explain why you’re hopping on a plane to go and see him.” Ben sounds so smug like he has me all figured out, but all he’s doing is twisting my words and throwing them back at me.

“It’s strictly business. That’s it. Nothing more. I’m not leaving town because I want to. I’m going because I have to.” I cross my arms defiantly in front of my chest. Why won’t Ben even give me the benefit of the doubt? Is this really the way the whole town sees me? Or is it just him?

“Ivy, you gotta admit that it doesn’t look good. If you keep on making these kinds of moves, people are gonna talk.” His tone is consoling now, like he has my best interest at heart.

“What, are you friends with Ryan or something? Funny, he never mentioned hanging out with any dumb jocks.” If Ben’s going to patronize me, I don’t feel bad for insulting him.

“Huh, that’s funny,” he says, clearly mocking me. “I’m smart enough to figure you out.”

“But why are you being so hostile toward me? The only way I see it is that Ryan put you up to it because I never did anything for you to attack me like this. You don’t have all the details. You don’t know what really happened.” I can’t stop my voice from shaking, and he immediately picks up on it. It’s not cool to upset a pregnant woman, no matter how much of a thug he is.