He pulled too hard on my hand which triggered pain in my wrist, and I vocalized the pain before I could stop it which unfortunately made me out myself.
He whips his head around so fast I’m not able to pull my hand back in time before he pulls up my sweatshirt sleeve to look at my arm.
“I’m going to kill that fucking bastard,” he snarls in a low guttural voice.
He drops my hand, allowing the sleeve to fall back down and angrily stalks to the barn where he keeps his motorcycles. I chase after him, panicked about what he might do.
“Ben! Ben, stop!” I grab his arm, but he angrily rips it away from me. “Ben! You can’t do this; you need to leaveit alone. You showed him what he did was wrong last night, you don’t need to go back over there.”
Tears cloud my vision and trail down my cheeks. Damnit, I’m so weak now. He faces me, a crazed look in his eye, one of anger resembling last night’s only with more fire.
“He’s a fucking piece of shit. I cannot believe he left marks on you. He needs to have his ass handed to him properly, and he needs to be reported for assault.”
His chest heaves but he stays with me instead of turning back toward the barn. I need to buy more time and calm him down.
“Don’t leave me, please. I’m asking you, for me, not to do this. Jared will get what’s coming to him, but you going over there is only going to make things worse. I’ll file a police report against him and let the authorities handle it if you want, but I donotwant you risking your future for me on a guy who is the scum of the earth. Don’t let Jared win. You let him win if you let your anger control you and end up in jail because ofhisactions. Plus…I—I need you right now. I don’t want you to leave me alone right now.”
His eyes search mine for any sign that I’m not okay and for answers on what he can do to make any lingering pain go away. I grab his arm and boldly put itaround my waist. His breath catches at my touch, but his hand relaxes against my hip.
I wrap my arms around his waist, wetting my sweatshirt from the residual rain and sweat on his clothes. His shirt’s cool against my skin, the dip in his back perfect for me to rest my arms in. I lay my cheek against his shirt and close my eyes, breathing him in. He stiffens, not hugging me back, instead letting me lead.
“I’m going to be okay, Ben. Because of you, I’m going to be okay. Please don’t leave me right now. Don’t leave and ruin your party. Let’s celebrate you tonight and the wonderful life you’re going to have. Let’s not give Jared another moment of our time. We both know he’ll get what’s coming to him, eventually. So, please. Stay with me. I need you.” My voice cracks at the end, sounding more like a whimper than a plea.
His body relaxes at these last words, his arms fully wrapping around me, his head resting on mine. He kisses the top of my head. Lightening shoots through to my toes, making me squeeze him tighter and nuzzle into him.
“I won’t leave you, I promise. I’ll let it go, but only because you’ve asked me to. But I swear, if anything like this happens again, Iwillkill him or whoever puts you in that situation and you won’t stop me next time.”
He kisses me again in the same spot and holds me tightly, smushing my face further into his chest. God, he smellssogood. His sweat mixed with the rain melts together to create an earthy scent mixed with his usual leathery-mint cologne.
His protectiveness over me is turning me on, I’ll admit, but I don’t want him to follow through on any of those violent threats. I only want him to be safe.
“I need you too, Char,” he whispers into my hair. He pauses then says, “By the way, risking my future for you is worth it, you know.”
Butterflies fly into my breasts, tingling my nipples and almost exploding out of me. I lean back and meet his gaze.
“No, it’s not. Not over something stupid like that,” I scold him.
He nips my nose and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “We’ll agree to disagree then.”
“I do not agree to disagree,” I retort, loosening my grip and stepping away.
He pulls me back and holds me there, his wet hair slightly falling over his face as he gazes down at me with a soft smile, but it quickly fades into something different, something that lights my soul on fire. Meeting his stare, I notice his focus moves down to my mouth. He slowlyleans in, his eyelids beginning to close and my body sighs against his in anticipation.
“Charlotte! Hey! I see you came early to help us set up, huh?”
We release each other at the same time and awkwardly stand side by side, hands behind our backs. My cheeks blush from being caught in whatever we were doing. I don’t know if he was actually going to kiss me this time, but I was hoping, praying he was.
His mom runs over, her pruning shears sticking out of the front of her jeans, dirt on her knees from whatever gardening she was doing and a long sleeve-flannel flowing in the breeze.
“Hi Joan! Yup, came over to help set up!” I say brightly, trying to act normal. I’m still attempting to catch my breath, my heart pounding from the adrenaline surging through me. Ben sheepishly shoves his hands into his back-pockets, his cheeks tinted a deep red.
“Good! Ben, did you finish cutting wood?”
“Nah, the rain washed me out, but since it’s stopping, I’m going to finish up here in a minute. I was actually about to show Charlotte her gift in the barn.”
“Oh! Well don’t let me interrupt. Give that to her and then you finish up the wood-cutting and have Charlotte come find me. She can help me start setting up tablesunder the canopy Koa and I put up in case it starts raining again.”
“Sure thing, Ma. Char, let’s go.”
