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He could see she didn’t want to discuss it, but he knew she needed to.
“It’s not easy to talk about, Bennett.”
“Many things are not, but sometimes they are easier after you do.” He was speaking from personal experience. When he’d left the Marines, there were things that’d haunted him, things he’d needed to discuss. Even to this day he fought the flashbacks. Bennett had seen too many of his buddies who kept everything bottled up inside and chose to escape in a bottle or with drugs. He tried helping them, and he’d been able to reach a few and give them a job, a purpose again. But there’d been many that’d slipped through the cracks with unseen pain. He knew if it wasn’t for Doug Atwood counseling him when he had, he most likely would’ve been another statistic. Doug’s was one number he’d never delete from his phone. Although he hadn’t needed to reach out to him in almost two years, he wasn’t foolish enough to believe that meant the ghost from his past wouldn’t return. He never knew what was going to be the trigger, and when it was going to blindside him.
Bennett understood asking someone to trust and open up was easy, but nearly impossible for them to do. Even his closest friends didn’t know what he’d faced when he left the Marines. It wasn’t only what he’d seen, but what he had to do. No matter how many times he heard it said that he was only doing his job, it didn’t help him sleep at night. The people may be nameless, but their faces and the looks in their eyes wouldn’t ever fade. This anguish was something he’d carry with him until the day he died. A turmoil he carried alone. And I’m keeping it that way.
Yet, here he was asking Zoey to do what he was incapable of doing. He knew he should respect her wish for privacy, let her sort through her feelings alone, but something drew him to her and wouldn’t let him leave. Not until he knew she was okay. He knew he’d stay as long as she needed him.
“You wouldn’t understand, Bennett. No one would. I’ve lived it, and I don’t even understand it.”
“Whether or not I understand isn’t important. It’s that you know I’m here to listen.”
She turned her face up to meet his eyes, and he saw so much pain and confusion in them. All he could do was hope he wasn’t adding to it. His life—his business—depended on reading people, so why was he having such a difficult time pinpointing anything with Zoey? She wasn’t a complex woman by any means. But, oddly, he found himself saying or doing things out of the ordinary around her.
“Tonight was the first time I’ve ever had my entire family over.”
He arched a brow. Bennett didn’t have a large family, but gatherings were a standard occurrence with them. “That’s a good thing.”
She shook her head. “You’d think so. But all it did was make me remember why we seldom get together. I mean we barely do now, once a month we go to Brice and Lena’s for brunch. But I’m the only girl in the family. I should’ve been hosting something all along. Sadly, I never have. Worse than that, I never wanted to. I’m a horrible person.”
Bennett squeezed her hand. “No, you’re not. Why are you trying to fit into someone else’s mold?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Your family dynamics. You’re all different, but that doesn’t mean you don’t love each other. Trust me. I was outside with your brothers long enough to know how much they care. I’m not a man to be fu—messed—with, yet they had no problem threatening me if I hurt you. They didn’t do that because of what you served for dinner.”
Bennett wasn’t sure where all his words of logic and consoling were coming from. Hell, I’m not even sure it makes any sense. But damn it, I hate seeing her hurt.
“I know it’s not about food. It’s just that I don’t think I’ll ever feel comfortable doing it. I didn’t even plan it this time. Lena stepped in and worked with Renita and Vincent. The success of this beautiful event was all theirs. Not mine. The entire party, just like you and me, was a façade. No different than everything else in my life.”
He realized right then that this had absolutely nothing to do with tonight. “Tell me what it was like.”
“What was like?”
“Growing up with James Henderson as your father.” He read enough about the man to dislike everything he stood for. Besides, there was nothing about his personal life in the report. He could only assume it was equally as bad.
“You don’t want to hear about that. It’s not pretty.”
Pain in life normally isn’t. “Let me be the judge.”
She pulled her hands away from his and folded them on her lap. He watched as she twisted her fingers so tightly it must’ve hurt. It was as though she needed to divert what was inside her.
“You can watch the news and see horror stories about abused families. No one ever thinks it happens in some of the wealthiest and most influential families.”
He needed to hold his cool. The thought of anyone ever hurting Zoey, never mind abusing her, made him want to snap. The man wasn’t alive any longer, yet the anger overwhelmed him, and Bennett still didn’t even have any details. Don’t talk, just listen.
“My brothers are... difficult men. There are good reasons for that. We grew up in the spotlight. Ironically, no one really knew who we were, or unfortunately that our father was truly a monster. They only saw, and believed, the façade my father allowed them to see. Controlling isn’t strong enough to describe him. It’d mean there were options. In his house you either did what he said, or you felt his wrath.”
“He hit you?” Bennett hadn’t meant to ask, yet he couldn’t hold back.
She let out a sarcastic laugh. “A beating would’ve been easier. The bruises would’ve faded away. He only slapped me once, across my face. Other than that he never physically touched me but what he did to me will never leave me. I can never trust anyone. I will always be... alone because of him.”
He’d only slapped her once? Good. Those scars can run deep. But what did he do to Zoey to cause her to never trust? “You trust me.”
She shot him a look of surprise. “I... why do you say that?”
Bennett smiled at her. “Actions speak louder than words, Zoey. You trusted me enough to come to me for help. You let me talk with your family when it scared the hell out of you, and now you trust me to talk about your childhood.”
