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“So you named me after something that irritates the hell out of you?”
“It seemed to fit at the time.” He shrugs his shoulders and gives me a wink.
“Well you just destroyed any chance you had of getting laid tonight, mister,” I huff, hands on my hips.
“Baby—” Ben replies. He tries to stifle his laughter, but does a bad job of it.
“Don’t you Baby me,” I respond, also trying to keep the laughter out of my voice and failing.
“If it makes you feel better, I want to fuck you when you get like that, too.”
“Silver tongued devil,” I mumble. “How did I get so lucky?”
“You got that backwards, Baby. I’m the one that’s lucky, because I have you.”
His reply melts me. I’m surprised I’m still standing and not just a big pile of goo. I lean up on my tiptoes and kiss his lips briefly, just a small touch, my tongue dragging against his bottom lip before I step away.
“I really do love you, Ben.”
“I love you too, Junie.”
My heart trembles, air tightens in my lungs. My chest feels as if it’s seizing. He’s never said that before. He’s never said he loved me. I thought he liked me, and I know he cared for me. But helovesme. My lips stretch out into a smile that’s so big, it hurts my face, but I do it anyway. Happiness, so large that I can’t even describe it, explodes inside of me.
He loves me.
Before I can say anything else, before I can let him in on the joy that is surging through me, it all stops.
“Hey, Juniper.”
A loud,nasally voice calls out, that makes all the goodness that I was feeling just seconds before fade into the past. Ben and I both jerk around to face the street. There’s a baby blue Mercedes pulled up along the curb. The passenger window is down and as I peer through it, I see Greg.
He’s got a sadistic look on his face, and I know he’s taking pleasure from ruining my day. I don’t feel the fear that I thought I would. Instead, I’m pissed off that he ruined what should’ve been the most important time that Ben and I have shared—at least so far. I mean, Ben told me he loved me for the very first time, for Christ sake. Before I can tell him how much that means to me, Greg walks up to ruin it all. OK, he drove.
Whatever.
Ben tries to jerk away from my body, and I know his intent is to go after Greg, but I pull on his hand.
“I don’t think you want to do that, Sheriff. After all, I’m on a public street and there’s no law against that, is there? It’s not like Juniper lives here. Hell, I’m probably one hundred and fifty feet away from her. Not that there’s any order on record saying I have to be. The bitch took all my money and dropped all her fake charges, didn’t you, Punkin?”
“I’m going to kill you, motherfucker,” Ben snarls. His voice is so laced with hate that it sends shivers of a different sort through me. Ben isdeadlyserious. Suddenly, worry of a different sort takes a hold of me. I can’t let Ben get into trouble. Greg would take great pleasure in derailing Ben’s life.
“Ben, stop. He’s not worth it,” I beg. I wrap both arms around him, hoping that will keep him with me.
“That’s right, Sheriff, listen to your whore. Tell me, does she beg to gag on your cock like she used to with me? Juniper loves sucking cock, doesn’t she? I think that’s one of the things I miss the most.”
“Get out of here, before I fucking kill you, you son of a bitch.”
“Now, now. That sounds like a threat, Sheriff, and in front of all of these witnesses. You better be careful. A man could press charges against you.”
“Try it, motherfucker. I dare you.”
“I just might. We’ll see how brave you are when they arrest you and you’re forced in a jail cell with all of the men you threw in there. I hear they don’t like cops much in prison—unless it’s to make them take it up the ass,” Greg sneers.
“You’re real good at playing on people’s fears, aren’t you, asshole? You forgot just one thing, asshole. You aren’t dealing with someone who can’t hit you back twice as hard. You want to try something? Go ahead. I’ll bury you so deep in the ground, they won’t ever find your ass. You try messing with me, motherfucker, you try. If you think you’re brave enough.”
Greg’s face tightens, and I can see it even from this distance. It’s the same look he got every time he beat the shit out of me. I brace myself as old memories threaten to come back, but somehow, I manage to stifle them. Greg doesn’t have a hold on me like he once did.Not anymore. Greg sits here for another minute. Then, all at once, he peels out with a cloud of smoke, black rubber, and screeching tires, just as the guy in the car behind him has to slam on his brakes to keep from hitting his rear end.
Ben and I both stand here until Greg’s car goes out of sight.
