RUIN - Part Three (The RUIN Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

told him about my break up and now he's assuming that I saw Parker when I was in Boston. It's an assumption anyone would leap to. I can't deny that if Ben wasn't in the picture, and I wasn't in search of my long lost damage deposit, that I wouldn't have wanted to meet up with Parker. I needed the closure last Saturday had given me. I just hadn't realized it until I walked out of his apartment.
    "He's an ass, yes," I confirm with a sly smile. "I'm not sure what I ever saw in him."
    "Happiness," he offers as he takes a sip of the water in front of him. "You moved back to Boston to be with him a few months ago. You must have cared a lot about him."
    "I did." There's a bite of pleasure as I use the past tense. "I don't care about him anymore."
    His eyes waft over the table next to us before they settle back on my face. "I'm glad. He really hurt you."
    "Alexa told you how he left me." I can't meet his eyes. I'm afraid I'll cry. I thought I was over the pain of Saturday, but now, talking about Parker again has brought everything that I heard between him and Ben back to the surface.
    I sense him moving forward as I hear the table creak beneath the weight of his elbows. "Alexa didn't tell me, Kayla. Ben did."
     

Chapter 6
     
    I opened my mouth to respond just as the waitress showed up with our food. It's a diner. I should have expected that it wouldn't take more than a couple of minutes for her to return. The entire philosophy of the place is fast food. I take one look at the murky darkness of my soup and decide that my stomach will thank me later if I don't indulge. Noah dives into his food with full force, taking mouthful after mouthful with barely a chew in between. His mannerisms almost match Ben's each movement, as he ate lunch in front of me in a bistro not more than a few weeks ago.
    "I saw Ben yesterday," he says as he swallows. "He asked Ron to arrange it."
    I take a deep breath to rein in my crumbling emotions. I had no idea. There's no way I could have known that Noah and Ben spoke. The last I heard Noah was open to giving Ben another chance. I was actually in route to arrange a meeting between them when I'd been sidetracked by the overheard confessions of Ben and Parker. "Your father arranged it?" I ask in a quiet voice.
    "He said Ben called him from Boston on Saturday night. He was torn up about you and about me." He cocks a brow. "He told Ron it was urgent that he speak to me."
    "That's why you texted me so many times," I whisper as much into the air between us as at Noah.
    "I texted you more than twenty times, Kayla." He sighs audibly. "I wanted to know what happened in Boston. I wanted to know what you told Ben about me before I saw him."
    The answer to that is simple. "Nothing, Noah. We never got around to talking about you other than…" my voice trails. This is where I'm supposed to tell Noah that Ben was following me to watch our secret meetings.
    "Other than what?" He leans forward waiting for me to respond.
    "I heard him say something to Parker about you," I begin because it's where I need to start emotionally. I'm not going to throw Ben's devious behavior in Noah's face without some warning to soften it.
    He motions towards me with his fork. "Ben told me about that. Christ, that's fucked up, Kayla."
    It's all fucked up. All of it is. Even this part of it where I'm sitting in a diner listening to Noah tell me that he knows more about my situation than I ever wanted him to. I'm humiliated that I cared for Ben. I'm ashamed that I gave my heart to Parker and I'm hopeful that I can escape this dinner with some of my dignity still in place.
    I only nod in response because trying to find words to express how I've messed up my life isn't possible right now.
    He wipes the paper napkin over his lips before he places his large hands on the table. "Ben followed you twice when you and I met."
    "I know." My eyes dart from his face to his hands. I didn't know that it was only twice but considering the fact that Noah and I