Read Online Beautiful Stranger by Zoey Dean - Free Book Online

put on the word
potential
made it sound like the Ebola virus.
    Anna was taken aback by his anger. All that she’d been doing was trying to help. When they’d arrived at the shop, she’d been totally skeptical. By the time they’d sat down with his father, she’d felt something close to supportive, even if she didn’t think his opening this club right now was a good idea. “But I
do
think it has potential!”
    “You made it sound like you agreed with him. Like I’m just some overindulged child who wants to play in a bigger sandbox.”
    Anna’s heart was pounding. “That’s not fair.”
    “I asked you to be here because I wanted to have someone backing me up,” he said quietly, his eyes focused on the hard ground of the alley behind the shop.
    Anna’s heart began to sink. She knew Ben was over-reacting, but at least now she knew why. She’d been so carefully buttoned-up about her true opinions when he’d first voiced his plan to her, and then she’d only let her hesitation show in front of his father. He must have felt utterly betrayed.
    “Ben, just … listen to me a minute.” She touched his arm lightly. “I’m sorry I didn’t back you up the way you wanted me to. Very sorry. But you have to admit it’s possible that your dad is right. Sure, you could drop out of Princeton. But to turn your back on your education to open a nightclub—”
    “My God. You sound just like him!” Ben muttered, tugging his arm out from under her fingers.
    She moved her folding chair closer to his. “I know this might be what you want right now, but who’s to say what you’re going to want in five years? What if what you want then requires a college education? It might not even be that long—if the club isn’t a success, you might find yourself—”
    “Don’t go there, Anna,” Ben cut her off, his tone warning.
    “What are you—?”
    “Don’t start lecturing me on not knowing myself, not knowing what I want.” His voice was low, almost for-boding. His piercing blue eyes suddenly had a dangerous glint to them. “Not when you don’t even know if you want Caine or me.”
    “Is that what this is really about?” Anna sat up straighter in her hard chair, surprised. “You’re still angry about Caine? You don’t need to be. Caine told me—”
    “You know, I don’t want to hear about that asshole. Save it.” He stood abruptly and chucked his father’s empty Fiji water bottle toward the black metal trash can by the door. It bounced off the side, but he made no effort to retrieve it. Instead, Anna saw his shoulders sag in defeat. Then he turned and regarded her. “The thing that kills me is, for all your talk about a five-year plan, you don’t even know what
you
want or who
you
are—you’re just doing what was set out for you.” His tone was icy and had an edge to it she’d never heard before. The glint in his eyes was still there.
    She felt her cheeks redden. “That’s not fair,” she said quietly, almost in a whisper. “Don’t take your anger at your father out on me.”
    Ben grabbed his full beer bottle from the table, took an angry swig, and then threw it into the trash can too. It landed with a loud, reverberating clang. “No, really Anna. Tell me. Are you the New York intellectual I met on the plane, or are you the West Coast party chick? You came to L.A. to get to know your dad better. Did you do that? Or did you give up on him as quickly as I’m watching you give up on me? Don’t talk to me about consistency, about knowing what I want. You want me, then you don’t want me; then you want me again. You set up these impossible standards and when I don’t live up to them—when I don’t even know what they
are
—you get all disappointed in my lack of perfection.”
    “I don’t deserve this, Ben.” She was trying desperately to control the tremor in her voice. It didn’t work. Tears came to her eyes.
    “It’s easy to take the path everyone expects of you, Anna.” He started folding