AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fine. I’m fine,” Ben said, though his voice was shaking more than he wanted it to. “I think this guy was an honest-to-God psychopath, and I’m terrified that he’s going to kill his ex-girlfriend tonight.”
“Are you in immediate danger?” Nova asked. His voice was sharp—all business now. Ben heard a strange clicking on the other end of the phone, and then Nova asked, “And where are you?”
“I’m safe. And I’m at Exxon.” Ben glanced over at the traffic lights. “On the corner of First and Orange.”
“Lyft will be here in two minutes. Can you wait for me?”
“Oh my God, no. Nova, you don’t need to—”
“Twelve minutes total. Can you wait for me?” Nova pressed.
Ben sat back and rubbed at his eyes with one hand. “Yeah. Yes. I can wait for you. I just don’t know what to do.”
“Tell me what happened. Start at the beginning,” Nova said. In the background, Ben heard the door slam, and he recognized it as the bar’s side door that led to the alley. “We can figure it out together.”
Ben almost laughed. Then he almost cried. But in the end, he just opened his mouth and eventually told Nova everything that he just went through.
* * *
“Okay,” Nova said quietly. He was in the back seat of Ben’s car now, still parked at the gas station. Ben was curled up against his side, taking comfort in the warm, familiar smell clinging to his jacket. “We definitely need to call the cops and report this. But I also think we should maybe go back and leave a note for this woman or something.”
Ben’s head snapped up. “He’s probably still there, like, lying in wait in the bushes. I’m not trying to die tonight, Nova.”
Nova cupped his cheek softly, carefully. “I’m not going to lose you to some wacko on a dating app, sweetheart. But there’s a chance the cops aren’t going to do anything about this except take a report down, and don’t you think she should know what this guy did?”
Ben bit his lip. “I guess itismy word against his.”
“Unless he said something about it in the texts,” Nova suggested.
Ben winced. “I didn’t read them. I’m sorry. I just…”
“No,” Nova said. He leaned in and gently pressed his lips to Ben’s. “No, sweetheart. You don’t need to read them, okay. Let me take a look.”
Ben felt a punch of relief when he was able to hand off his phone, but a strange feeling of guilt was on its heels. “I don’t know why I’m acting like this. It’s not like he even did anything to me…besides that disgusting kiss.”
He saw a tendon tighten in Nova’s jaw, and his eyes narrowed just a bit. After a beat, Nova took a calming breath. “That’s assault. I don’t care if it’s just a kiss, and I don’t care if it lasted three seconds or three minutes. If I ever see that fucker, I’m going to jail.”
Ben closed his eyes in a long, slow blink to gather himself. Then he curled his hand around the back of Nova’s neck and squeezed to get his attention. “I’d prefer you out of jail and with me. He’s not worth it. But you’re right. I can’t just do nothing.”
Nova’s expression softened, and his eyes went a little sad. “This is so not how I wanted our first real date to go.”
Ben laughed. “Me either. But I’m fine. And I’m here, right? Can that be enough?”
Nova dropped the phone in his lap and cradled Ben’s cheeks with both hands. “Gonna kiss you again,” he warned, and Ben’s lips parted just so, feeling a rush of contentment and just the edge of ecstasy as Nova carefully pushed his tongue into Ben’s mouth.
The kiss deepened, heated, making Ben hard in spite of the fact that he was still a little shaken up. But this kiss did what the hysterical kisses of relief and hello hadn’t done when Nova first showed up: they erased the sensation of Daniel’s mouth on his.
Nova’s hands were gentle, fingers carding through his hair, careful not to disrupt his hard work too much. They trailed a touch down Ben’s neck where he was most sensitive, and then Nova curled them into the front of his shirt and held him possessively. “You being here will always be enough. Now, let me finish this because I have big plans for us tonight, and I’m not going to let some would-be serial killer ruin this. We’ve waited too long.”
Ben couldn’t disagree. They had. He’d been through hell, and Daniel had been that last circle before heaven waited, and looking at Nova, he finally understood what it meant when someone said they could see their forever.
“He said plenty to incriminate himself. Make the call,” Nova whispered after a long while. He pressed the phone into Ben’s hand, and Ben took a moment to himself before he opened up his keypad and began to dial.
The call itself didn’t take long. He provided the address and the time and then agreed to stay where he was with Nova while an officer was being sent his way. The dispatcher couldn’t give him a time, so they were resigned to possibly spending the rest of the night in the back seat of his car, under the harsh gas station parking lot lamps.
He felt sort of on edge and a little terrified after a while because Nova was right. This was not how he pictured their first real date to go. Granted, they’d already skipped a few steps, but Ben still wanted those moments. He didn’t want his crappy week of dates to rob him and Nova of their beginning.
“You look upset,” Nova said, stroking a finger over Ben’s left eyebrow.
