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Daniel spun on his heel and approached Ben so suddenly he didn’t have time to react. Daniel was several inches taller, and he towered over Ben as he grabbed him by the face and backed him up against the garage wall.
Before Ben could protest or shove him off, Daniel leaned in and took his mouth in a sharp, mean, biting kiss. It lasted all of the three seconds it took for Ben’s body to unfreeze, and then he curled his fist and landed a soft, purposeful punch against Daniel’s stomach.
The guy let out a quiet oomph and stumbled back a few steps.
“What the fuck?” Ben demanded, swiping the back of his hand over his mouth. “What iswrongwith you?”
“Oh my God, baby. Please don’t get your panties in a twist over this,” Daniel said. He was still grinning like a lunatic, and Ben was starting to feel true fear. Like Daniel might be a serial killer kind of fear. “I’m in a seriously good mood right now, and I don’t need you to ruin it.”
Ben’s gaze cut over to the sandwiches, then to the path that led to his car. He could make a run for it, but his muscles were stiff with the cold, and he wasn’t exactly athletic. Daniel was thin, but that belied the strength Ben had felt when the guy grabbed him.
Ben licked his lips slowly and edged toward the driveway. “What’s going on here?”
Daniel groaned and rolled his eyes as he walked over to the table and dug into the paper bag. He pulled out a sandwich and offered it to Ben, but he shook his head. Daniel shrugged, unwrapped it, and took a massive bite before trying to speak around it. “My ex is moving, but I wasn’t about to let her go without a little goodbye gift.”
Ben blinked at him, then looked past him at the moving boxes. “This is your ex’s house?”
Daniel snorted. “It was our place. I mean, I moved in with her, but that fucking bitch kicked me out. I told her I was going to make her sorry for that.”
Ben fought back a shiver of dread. “Which was the, uh…” He nodded his head toward the field where the guy had thrown the dildo.
Daniel’s grin looked unhinged. “It was her favorite toy. Most of the time, she wanted that instead of real dick.” He grabbed his crotch and shook it as he took another bite of the sandwich. “Dumb ho always keeps it in her dresser, and she forgot I have the code to the garage. Just like she forgot I have the password to her online bank account.”
Ben stared at him. “You’re serious right now?”
“Dude, don’t be such a fucking pussy,” Daniel snapped. He took the rest of the sandwich down in one bite, then crumpled the paper and let it fall to the floor. If anything, Ben thought, that was at least evidence. “It’s not like I can spend money. I just watch what she does. I want her to know that I’malwayswatching her.”
“Right. Well.” Ben cleared his throat, but Daniel interrupted him.
“We should get out of here, actually. She and her newboyfriend”—he sneered the word—“are going to be home in, like, ten minutes.”
Without waiting for Ben’s answer, Daniel started walking toward his car. Ben was quick to follow, but Daniel got there first and started tugging on the handle, growling softly when it didn’t open.
“What the fuck? Unlock the door. I’m freezing my balls off!”
Ben walked up to his door and, instead of using his fob, put the key in and turned it. “Hold on. The electronic lock always sticks,” he said. A stroke of genius—he hoped. Provided Daniel didn’t have some sort of weapon and wasn’t strong enough to punch the window out before Ben could act.
He slid into the driver’s seat, then hit the button to lock his door while starting the car. Daniel tugged on the handle again, then made a fist and hit the glass with it.
“What the fuck, dude?”
Ben waited until he took a step back from the car, then threw it into gear and peeled away. To his credit, Daniel didn’t try to chase him. Ben caught a glimpse of him throwing up his hands in the rearview mirror, and then he turned the corner, and he was gone.
seventeen
It tooka good ten minutes for the shock of the whole situation to actually set in, and Ben pulled over into a gas station parking lot the moment his world began to swim. His entire body was shaking, and his breath was hitched in his chest as the reality struck him: that could have gone so much worse. In fact, there was a good chance he might not have been able to walk away from it if he hadn’t been able to think on his feet.
Blowing out a few slow breaths, Ben dug into his pocket for his phone and saw it had blown up with messages from Daniel. He quickly took several screenshots without reading them, then blocked his number before dropping his forehead to the steering wheel.
His eyes were hot, and his throat was tight, and he couldn’t shake the feeling like he should be doing something more than falling apart in his front seat.
Picking up his phone again, he hit Nova’s name and listened to it ring. “Pick up,” he whispered. “Please. I need you.”
As if Nova could hear him, his voice sounded on the line a second later. “Hey, gorgeous. All finished? I was thinking we could—”
“I think I need to call the police.”
Nova’s silence was heavy. “What?” he said after a long moment. “What do you mean the police? What happened? Are you okay?”
