Unscripted - Nicole Kronzer Page 0,59

good to walk. At least that was forward progress of some kind. My toes ached a little, which slowed me down some.

That’s probably how Ben caught up with me.

“Hey.”

I stopped, not turning around. My body tensed as I felt his warmth a half second before he wrapped his arms around me.

“You,” he started kissing my neck, “were wonderful.” He lowered my bag to the ground and turned me around. “You”—he kissed my neck again. I shivered—“kept your emotions in check. Xander was being an asshole, but you didn’t react. You’re becoming a woman who owns her sexuality. You’re becoming a professional.”

I felt removed from his attentions like I was floating above my body. I watched as he backed me up against a tree.

“Well done, Ellie,” he growled.

Now his mouth was on mine. I tried to pay attention to what his lips were doing. What his tongue was doing. I tried to mimic their movement. Kissing was supposed to be fun? I was supposed to want this?

Then his hand crept under my T-shirt and fluttered against the skin at my waist. Slowly, he took a step in closer to me and pressed his body against mine. He groaned.

He was back to kissing my neck and then his left hand moved north. His right hand moved up my back. My breathing grew shallow. I had a guess where he was going. Did I want that? Would anyone else ever want that of me? Was it okay to let him touch me just so I could feel what it felt like for someone to touch me there?

Before I had a chance to make a decision, the fingers of his right hand unclasped my bra and his left hand grabbed my boob.

The moment he made contact, I knew I didn’t want it. I tried to step back, but I was still pushed up against the tree.

“Shhh,” he whispered in my ear. “Relax, Ellie.”

“Don’t. Please, Ben. Just—” I tried to push him away with my hands, but he ground into me.

“It’s okay,” he murmured. “You’re so sexy. I can’t help myself.”

“Ben—” I protested again, pushing at his chest, but he covered his mouth with mine.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

I ceased my protests, stunned, but snapped to life when one hand started moving south.

A switch flipped in my head. A message flashed in my mind with lightning speed and clarity: Ben was not what love looked like. He was what danger looked like. And that’s when Dad’s voice shouted in my head, Prime attack zones: spectacles and testicles!

I jerked up my knee as hard as I could and rammed it into his crotch.

“Jesus!” he shouted. But it had the desired effect. Bent in half, clutching his groin, he backed up, and I skirted around him and grabbed my bag.

“Whoops! See you back in rehearsal!” I called.

And then, despite my aching toes, I ran like hell.

CHAPTER TWENTY

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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Somehow, it was lunch and I was sitting with the Gildas. I hadn’t told them what had happened yet. I couldn’t find the words. Plus, how much of that had I been responsible for? I’d let him kiss me, after all. I hadn’t protested right away when he’d touched me.

Ben appeared. “Come sit with us,” he said coldly. “Team lunch.”

I shuddered. I knew I was safe in public, but what was going to happen if he got me alone?

“She’s eating with the Gildas.” Sirena smiled, but it was forced.

Ben smirked. “I don’t think so.”

Hanna and Paloma clattered to their feet, but I did, too, holding up a hand. “I’ll just go,” I said, figuring the calmer I could keep him, the better off I’d be. I avoided their eyes as I found my bag, grabbed my tray, and followed him.

He pointed at the seat next to him. I sat.

He reached for the salt and whispered, “Your knee slipped.”

I stared at my tray, not daring to speak.

“Right?” he said so quietly, I almost didn’t hear him. “It was an accident.”

Except it wasn’t. I moved the turkey tetrazzini to the other side of the middle square of my divided tray.

“Because I know you would never intentionally do that.”

Yet . . . I picked up one pea at a time and nestled them into the mountain of tetrazzini.

“Because if you did do that intentionally, and you told anyone, everyone would know you only got on Varsity because I thought you were hot.”

“Think,” I corrected him, eyes still on my peas. “They would think that’s the