AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He sat at a bus station bench across the street to watch them at the restaurant and hated thinking of what Ben did to her to make her act the way she did. Wolfgang could see she was uncomfortable with him. The fucker didn't even respect her enough to hold the door open for her. It puzzled Wolfie what she ever saw in Ben, that might be a question for him to bring up later.
He pulled out his tablet from his old backpack and observed the battery life, the network here barely worked with the software from the island. He searched the route from Sacramento to Whitmore, California and searched to find bus tickets. To find buses ran to Redding, but not to Whitmore. That would be another thirty miles. The car parked next to him had a for sale poster in the window. He didn’t have the money but that didn’t stop him from thinking about driving north. He had never driven three hours straight, throughout the day, sure, but not at once.
He was tired of sleeping outside and he was starving half the time. He wouldn't be surprised if he lost weight since he's been here, but he didn't care about that or where he was going to be sleeping tonight. All he wanted was getting juniper to himself and making sure that loser of an ex didn’t tag along this time.
Frustrated at his battery life he powered it down. He still had a good twenty percent and had found Juniper but didn’t want to waste it. He shoved it in his bag and placed the sack between his feet, he stretched his chest out, taking up the whole bench, manspreading, as he watched across the street. Waiting.
Roxtyn
Ben would not shut up about his oysters rockefeller and how he had better someplace else. Roxy didn’t care, her anger towards him had grownfrom earlier. They stepped outside and across the street she saw Wolfgang at a bench, grab his bag and stand. She continued walking with Ben towards their apartment a few streets over. She didn’t think Wolfgang would be on top of them so fast but he had followed her all the way here and she was hoping to not have to spend one more night with Ben.
“The wine was okay, and your food looked okay.” She tuned him out and agreed when it sounded like she needed to.
Two blocks passed, she looked back and saw a dark figure following them, making sure he watched every turn they took. She tuned back in, “It’s okay, next time you can wear something nicer, you knew it was formal but decided to wear that.” Ben didn’t acknowledge that she didn’t own anything nice because of their situation but still blamed her.
“Sorry.” She whispered sarcastically enough to please herself but not for him to know. She mentally noted Wolfie’s steps behind her, she could hear them, each step comforted her and her heart thickened in her chest.
They passed the parking garage and lined up to the door to enter the side of the building. Ben put in the passcode for the door and opened it just enough for Roxy to catch it. She grabbed the handle and opened it, and held it open to be courteous forwhoeverwas following.
Wolfie grabbed the handle and didn’t look at her, he muttered, “Thanks.” and stood next to them at the elevator. Roxy’s heart raced, she slowly breathed in and out audibly to calm herself. “Are you okay?” Ben looked at her.
“Yeah,” She pressed her stomach, “Maybe it was my dinner not agreeing with me.” The elevator dinged and the doors opened.
Ben stepped in and then Roxy and then Wolfgang. She pressed the thirteen button, lighting it up. Wolfie reached across her, “Excuse me.” He pressed fourteen. She wanted anything at that moment, to run to Wolfie for protection. She didn’t know his plan but she knew it wasn’t time. Roxy would follow his lead.
Ben picked their conversation up thinking he was quieter than he was as the box closed and ascended, “Too bad, that ruins any fun we could have later.” She squirmed as he pulled her in by her torso, stepping away from the stranger in the elevator and into him. “We should go to bed early though. You had two glasses of wine and a breadstick more than you should have, you’ll have to hit the gym extra hard in the morning, we don’t want you getting any bigger.”
She was startled by Wolfgang’s sharp exhale through his nose and jumped under Ben’s arm around her. Ben comforted her by saying, “You’re okay.” As she looked at Wolfie, his knuckles white, gripping his backpack strap. His head turned slowly and she caught his expression of anger crossed with disgust while trying to stay cool after spotting the camera in the corner.
The door dinged and Ben ushered her off. She couldn’t even concentrate on what Ben was saying, She didn’t care either. He was quiet up the rest of the hall and stopping at their door, “I’m kind of tired Rox. Can you pour me a glass of rum while I change?” He opened the door, letting himself in first, dropping his keys on the counter and walked towards the bedroom.
“Yes.” She turned to close the door slowly, locking eyes with Wolfgang walking to their door. The door latched before he could reach it. She wanted to act normal and didn’t know where the line was, when the charade was over. She stepped back waiting for a knock, expecting a bang or the door to fly off its hinges and all that came through was a few gentle taps. She dropped her purse behind her and opened the unlocked door, “Hello?”
Her face lifted to Wolfie as he gripped the door frame from above and spoke loudly, “Hello ma’am I seem to be locked out of my apartment. Can I come in for a while and wait for management?” His deep voice traveled into the apartment as she heard shuffling and the bedroom door shut.
“Can I help you?” Ben appeared, still dressed.
Wolfgang took two steps in, slammed the door behind him and dropped his bag, “Yeah, you can.” He pushed Ben into the bedroom hallway with his chest.
Ben's voice rose, “Roxtyn, call nine one one!”
Wolfgang chuckled inches from Ben's face and placed each of his hands against the wall lining up with Ben’s ears, “You really think she’s going to help you?”
“She’s my girlfriend, Roxtyn!” He cried out.
“I don’t think she is.”
Ben's panicked eyes flickered to Roxtyn and back to Wolfgang. “Help you stupid bit-” he screamed but was cut short by Wolfgang's hand around his throat.
“Do you want to know where she was the last five months?” He breathed inches from Ben’s face, teeth gritted.
Ben gawked at wolfgang's eyes, until he lightly nodded, “ With me and I think she’s beautiful, has the body of a goddess and mostly, she sure as fuck isn’t stupid.”
Ben’s eyes darted to her still body until Wolfgang’s hand shifted up, covering his mouth, pulling his face back to him, “I’ve been watching you and you didn’t say very nice things to her the whole way home, or in the elevator. She deserves an apology.”
Gripping his jaw harder than Ben could ever have done to Juniper, he dragged him to the chair Roxy favored, “Sit.” Ben’s body collapsed in the chair and Wolfie watched Ben’s eyes flicker to the side and turned to see his phone on the floor, Wolfie stepped back and flipped it into his palm. He stared into Ben’s eyes as the glass cracked from his hands bending the plastic sides towards each other. “Now that there are no distractions,” He chucked the phone across the room and dropped a knee next to the chair, “She deserves a lot more than an apology but let's start there.”
“S-Sorry.” His eyes focused onRoxtynas she stood and stared at him, pissed still.
