Let Me Be the One: Prologue
Lainey
Lainey
Trying not to shiver in the cool night air, I step towards my boyfriend, wanting a buffer from the wind. We’re not actually touching, but I can feel the tension emanating from him. After a second, he quits glaring at the main road and focuses on me.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
Lucas wraps his arms around me, pulling me against him. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You know why.” I reach up and touch his face softly. “You’re protective of Amber, and you’ve never been all that complimentary about any of her boyfriends.”
“Because she always picks the arseholes that are never good enough for her.”
My smile nearly slips, but I manage to hold it. Just. “But she’s known Ben for ages, and she seems happy with him. Shouldn’t we give him the benefit of the doubt?”
“I’ve known him for a while, too, Lainey. He’s not right for her.”
My heart beats faster as I take in the look on his face. “Would any man be right for her, Lucas?”
He stares down at me. “You know they would be. Amber is my best friend, and she has been for more than a decade. Is it wrong that I want her to be as happy with someone as I am with you?”
“Of course not.”
I’m just not sure the overprotectiveness he feels is right, either.
Lucas has told me his love for Amber is platonic. He’s told me he can’t be in love with his best friend when he’s in love with me. Am I stupid for wanting to believe him? For letting myself fall further and further in love with him every day? I hope not, because the idea of walking away from him splits my ribcage in two and makes it impossible to breathe.
Lucas’s thumb scrolls across my cheekbone, and the ache in my chest dissipates enough that I can breathe a small sigh of contentment.
“You’re not regretting your decision to come bowling, are you?” Lucas asks, nodding to the bowling alley behind us.
I’ve never enjoyed bowling all that much, but Lucas and Amber wanted to come here, so I didn’t put up a fight.
“Yeah, it’ll be fun, right?”
“I think so.” Lucas stands up straighter, his eyes back on the main road that leads into the carpark. “That’s them now.”
I turn my head towards the entry point in time to see the motorbike roaring in. Those things scare the crap out of me, and I’m glad it’s Amber on the back of the bike and not me. Lucas’s friend looks like she’s loving every minute of the ride as her boyfriend parks the bike and she slides off, taking her helmet off and beaming at us.
I smile back, relieved she looks so happy, the knot in my gut loosening. Amber starts towards us before stopping to wait for Ben.
With the helmet covering his face, I can’t see what Amber’s new boyfriend looks like, but I can tell he’s well built. Like, extremely well built. I envision him in the Army or Navy until he takes off his helmet and wedges it under his arm.
Immediately, my romance writer’s brain whirs into action as I take in the complete package. Long, messy dark hair, black leather jacket, boots, jeans, and tats peeking above the collar of his jacket. Standing next to his bike, he looks just like a cover model for a book called ‘Falling for the Bad Boy’. Not only does he look the part, but his romance with Amber fits the brother’s-best-friend trope.
His expression is serious yet soft as he looks at Amber, and when she grins up at him, he puts his arm around her, guiding her towards us.
Lucas squeezes my hand and I squeeze his in return.
“Hi, guys,” Amber says, hugging me before moving to hug Lucas, kissing his cheek.
“This is Ben,” she says to me, snuggling into her new man’s side and patting his chest.
I meet Ben’s dark eyes, noting he’s attractive with a strong jaw, a bit of a beard around full lips. His handshake is strong, too, but not too strong—he’s not trying to crush me.
“Nice to meet you,” I say.
“Same,” he says before shaking Lucas’s hand.
“Lucas.”
“Ben.”
Amber nods at the bowling alley before looking back at Lucas. “When was the last time we came here?”
Lucas grins. “My birthday, three years ago. I believe I beat you by at least a hundred points.”
“I don’t think so. It was no more than twenty points.”
“You wish.”
Amber gives Lucas a little shove, and Lucas playfully grabs her in a headlock, rubbing his knuckles over her head.
Irritation flickers through me before I quickly quell it. Amber is lovely and easy to get along with. She makes it impossible to dislike her, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel resentful when it’s her my boyfriend calls first with news, or when Lucas spends so much time reminiscing with her about the good old days. Amber does her best to clue me in on their inside jokes, but sometimes their relationship feels more than friendly.
I don’t want to be that girl. The one who lives up to the jealous and possessive girlfriend cliché. I do everything I can to snuff out the small fires of insecurity that flare up inside of me whenever Amber and Lucas appear to forget I’m there with them. Now that Ben is dating Amber, however, I hope that I won’t have to spend so much time trying to smother those fires. Maybe I can relax a little knowing Amber is happy with someone else.
Amber pushes Lucas off. “You’re ruining my hair.”
Lucas grins maniacally. “Sorry.”
“Yeah, you look it, too.”
“Are they always like this?”
My attention turns to Ben, who watches me with a raised eyebrow.
I force a smile. “They have a lot of history.”
He doesn’t say anything, merely holds my gaze for a second before his attention flits back to the best friends who are still verbally sparring a few meters away. Ben and I continue watching the other two in silence. The silence isn’t uncomfortable, per se, but as Amber and Lucas continue teasing each other and seem to forget about us, I’m compelled to speak. I don’t want Ben to lose patience with their silliness. I know he’s been around Amber and Lucas before, but he might not have seen them quite like this.
“So, you know Amber’s family?” I ask, drawing Ben’s attention back to me as I fish for information.
“Her brother and I went to high school together.”
Amber finally stops stirring Lucas and comes back to us. “I went to the private college a couple of suburbs over with Lucas, but my brother liked sports and he insisted on going to the public school down the road.” Amber looks up at Ben, then back at me. “He and Duncan were in the same classes, and they started out hating each other.”
When I look at Ben, he shrugs. “You could say we were rivals.”
Amber grins. “They pursued the same girl, wound up in a fight, and ended up serving detention together. Somehow, they ended up thick as thieves after that.”
“Yeah, we’re real bosom buddies,” Ben says dryly.
The words ‘bosom buddies’ from this man sound so funny, I snort, and the side of his mouth kicks up in response.
“What he means,” Amber says, shooting Ben a playful glare, “is they both liked to get in trouble sneaking cigarettes on the school oval, and they were both manwhores.”
Ben smiles down at his girlfriend, his expression hot and tender. “I quit for you. The smoking and the manwhoring. I’m reformed.”
“We’ll see about that.” Amber wraps her arms around Ben’s waist, squeezing him while still looking up at him. “Should we go inside?”
Ben presses a kiss to the top of Amber’s head and pulls her tighter against him. “Yeah, babe.”
The affection in his deep, rumbling voice warms me. And as Amber and Ben walk in ahead of us, I can’t keep the smile off my face. Ben seems like the strong and silent type, the opposite of Amber, but it’s clear he adores her. No matter what Lucas has said about Ben, the guy is smitten.
Turning to Lucas, I whisper, “I like him. He’s nice.”
Lucas frowns, not taking his eyes off Amber as we follow the other couple into the bowling centre. The tick in his jaw tells me he doesn’t agree with my assessment. I shrug off his lack of enthusiasm. Amber and Ben are going to work out. I can feel it. And if Lucas really wants his friend to be happy with someone, he’ll learn to like Ben, too.