Page 89 of When Ben Loved Jace

“Hey!” It’s the same voice. No surprise there.

“This isn’t Tim,” I say. “It’s Jace’s boyfriend again. Tim told me everything. He said it was okay to call you, because I’m having a hard time trusting anyone right now.”

“Okay,” Aaron replies, sounding uncomfortable. “What do you want to know?”

I need confirmation. I basically already have that, but there can be no room for doubt. “I guess what I want to know most, is why you did it.”

Aaron sighs. “I needed the money.”

My stomach sinks. There it is. “So you never slept with Jace?”

“I’ve never even met him before. Can I go now?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

I hang up, my head spinning. I ruined everything. And for what?

“Hey!” Tim says, reappearing with a towel around his waist. I can barely bring myself to look at him. “What’s taking so long?”

He notices that I’m holding his phone.

“Did I miss a call or something?”

“Yeah. It was Aaron.”

Tim blinks. “Who?”

“Don’t you dare!” I snarl, loud enough to send Chinchilla scurrying off the bed. “I’m not bluffing. I talked to him! Youpaidhim to…”

Hurt Jace. And the worst part is that he didn’t act alone. I hurt him too. “Fuck this!”

I kick off the blankets, get up, and start pulling on clothes so I can leave.

“Wait a minute. Please! Let me explain.”

“I don’t need you to!” I shout back. That isn’t entirely true. I already know more than enough, but part of me wants to see ifhe’ll be honest, even when backed into a corner. “How did you find out where Jace lives?”

“Adrien mentioned the trailer on our date,” Tim says. “I looked his address up online. None of that matters though because—”

“None of it matters?”

Tim juts out his jaw. “That’s right! Not compared tous.”

And the sick thing is, part of me agrees with him. But even if I was willing to care only about that, I don’t trust him anymore. “You swore to God, Tim!”

“That’s right, I did.” He fixes me with an even stare. “I’m willing to burn in Hell for you, Benjamin.”

I search his eyes in disbelief, dumbfounded that finally getting what I’ve always wanted could feel so wrong. “I’ve gotta go.”

I grab my keys off the dresser.

“Don’t,” Tim says, following me into the hall. “I know you’re pissed at me—”

“It’s worse than that!” I say without stopping. “Now I hate myself!”

I can’t believe I did this to Jace. I threw it all away!

“You shouldn’t,” Tim says. “But yeah, I know exactly how you feel. The thing is, I love you. And you love me. That balances it out. What else do we need?”