Page 74 of Halloween Town

“Sue me,” Poppy told him, leaning back on her hands, completely relaxed. “And I’ll counter-sue you for emotional distress for screwing my bridesmaid.”

Benji’s cold expression didn’t change. “You didn’t really care about that,” he said, shrugging. “You were only marrying me to make your parents happy.”

Poppy’s mouth fell open, shocked that Benji had a smidgen of emotional intelligence. She would never have expected it from him. “When did it start?” she asked. Not because she cared, she was simply curious. How long had she ignored the signs?

“Since shortly after our engagement party.”

A year? Huh. She’d sleepwalked through life for the best part of a year. She was deeply ashamed of herself. “Well, it goes without saying that I’m really glad I found out before we said I do.”

Benji tipped his head and sent her a smile he’d borrowed from a shark. “My affair wasn’t the reason you ran. I think you only found out when she posted those old photos on social media. You didn’t know about her before.”

Poppy sat up slowly, her mind racing. How could he know that? She lifted her eyebrows, not wanting to ask how he’d figured that out.

“We spoke in the morning, Poppy, while you were getting dressed for the wedding. You told me you were nervous, that you’d see me in an hour in the church.”

Shit, she’d totally forgotten about that.

“There’s no way that in the space of forty-five minutes, someone—with my lover as one of your bridesmaids—squealed.” He shook his head. “Doesn’t track. Nope, you ran without knowing about her.”

Yeah, I ran out on you because two ghosts told me I was making a mistake. And God, they were right. Thank you, Ruby and Naomi. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Poppy was annoyed. Annoyed by him, annoyed that she’d wasted so much time on him. Simply annoyed. “If you aren’t here to talk to me, I presume you are looking for Thom?”

He nodded and angled his chin to the open front door. “Is he inside?”

She thought about lying, about sparing Thom the hassle of dealing with his brother, then realized she didn’t have the right to do that. Besides, Thom was a grown-ass man, he could handle his brother. She started to stand up. “I’ll call him.”

“Don’t bother, Poppy, I’m here.” Thom walked over to her and his hand on her shoulder forced her butt to connect with the stairs again. She looked up at him and winced at his granite-hard expression. He placed his hands on his hips, a modern-day warrior.

“First Mark, now you. What do you want, Benji?”

Benji looked from her to Thom and back again. “Let’s talk inside, in private.”

Thom shook his head. “Let’s not. Poppy, stay where you are.” His eyes drilled into Benji. “You can stay where you are, too. You’ve got five minutes. Speak.”

For the first time, Poppy saw Benji look unsure of himself, off-balance. “Five minutes might not be enough, Thom.”

“You’ve now got four and a half. Speak.”

Benji shifted on his eight-hundred-dollar loafers. “I need you to come back to Sheffield Strategy as CEO.”

Thom released a sharp bark of laughter. “The situation must be dire if you are here in person to ask me after the shit you pulled.”

Benji looked past him, and Poppy noticed his downturned mouth and his gaunt cheeks. Mmm, life wasn’t so easy for the golden boy these days. She couldn’t help feeling a little gleeful.

“If you come back as CEO, you and Mom can force the board to allow me to work as your deputy. If you don’t, I might get canned.”

And there it was. Benji’s job was in jeopardy and he expected Thom to sort it out for him. Because that’s what Thom always did: he took Benji’s shit, was expected to clean up his mess. She really hoped he wouldn’t, not this time. Benji had brought this on himself.

“So I heard,” Thom said, his expression not giving anything away.

“If I get canned, I probably won’t be able to enter politics later.”

Her heart bled. Did Boston need another narcissistic, dickhead politician? She thought not. She wanted to tell Thom that refusing his request would be a massive public service, but when she looked up at him and took in his cold, stone-hard face, she winced. She’d never seen Thom look so… Hurt was too soft a word.

His eyes flashed with resentment, fury, and devastation. Like he was finally seeing Benji in all his horrible glory, and that everything between them, their brotherhood, their history, their memories, were scattered, shattered pieces at his feet.

“No apology, Benji? No ‘hey, I know I messed up, but…’” Thom rubbed his hands over his face. Then he looked past Benji to the lake. “What am I even thinking? Of course, you won’t apologize, because nobody, including me, has ever made you face the consequences of your actions.”