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“Nope. Some assets belonging to my father were discovered in a safe deposit box we didn’t know about. My mom gave me a big chunk of it and I am now the proud owner of a brand new used Toyota Tacoma. Drove it all the way here from Coral Beach.” He runs a hand over his jaw. “Might have forgotten to shave on the drive.”
I nuzzle his cheek. “I think I like the semi beard.”
Ben abruptly pulls back and just stares at me in silence until I start to squirm.
“What’s wrong?”
He grows serious and cups my chin in his palm. “Camden, your face has been in my mind every hour of every day. And yet when I look at you I’m completely blown away by how beautiful you are.”
“Ben.” I kiss him and then prop my chin on his shoulder, squeezing him close, rejoicing in the hard expanse of his chest and the soapy scent of his skin. “I love you so much.”
He sighs into my hair. “I love you too, baby.”
I want so badly to be alone with him, to feel his naked skin against mine and make love until he understands how loved he is and how desperately I’ve missed him.
And we’ll get to that.
First I want to hear all about what he’s been through since the day I watched him drive away from my house.
We hold hands on our walk out of Black Mountain Academy and Ben leads me to a silver pickup truck. He claims to have gotten a great deal on it.
“Did your mom drive home with you?” I ask after he sits behind the wheel and cranks up the heater.
“She’ll fly home the day after tomorrow. She was invited to a local talk show down there to tell her story. I don’t know.” He shrugs. “Not my thing but after the years of silence and worry, talking seems to help her finally come to terms with everything.”
I touch his knee. “I read some online articles.”
He nods and stares out the windshield. “So you already know how it ends.”
I know that the Drexler men decided to change their version of events. They pinned the murder of Ben’s father on Ben’s Uncle Layton, who conveniently died last year. Angus and his father were the only other witnesses besides Ben and they told the same incredulous story. They said Layton was arguing with his brother and pulled a gun. They said after Ben’s father was killed they were afraid. They said Layton had threatened them. They said Ben had simply been mistaken about what he saw. Understandable, since witnessing his father’s death was a traumatic event. Of course some details got mixed up. Sure, they were awful sorry that they lied all this time but that was in the past. Everyone could move on now.
As for Angus’s injuries, he would be recuperating for a long time following an unfortunate ‘skiing accident’ over the holidays.
And the missing couple?
The case remains cold with no evidence to tie their disappearance to the Drexler Group.
Reading between the lines, it’s easy to see that there has been a long list of people, from politicians to reporters, who have been bribed or threatened to make them cooperate with this new fiction being peddled by the Drexlers. I guess all the money in the world can do that. The idea is terrifying and I don’t know how Ben can stand it. Then again, he doesn’t have a choice. Perhaps someday justice will be served. Until then, life can’t be placed on pause indefinitely.
Since I left my rice bowl behind in the cafeteria Ben offers to take me to lunch at a small retro diner in Black Mountain. We choose a cozy booth in the back and Ben stays on my side with his arm around me.
“So.” I snuggle against him and try to sort out which question I want to ask first.
He peers at me. “So?”
“Well, for starters, what name should I call you from now on?”
“You should call me Ben.” He tugs at a piece of my hair. “Like you always have.”
“And is it Ben Drexler or Ben Beltran?”
He massages my neck and becomes pensive. “I gave that a lot of thought. I wondered if I was dishonoring my father by abandoning the family name for good. Then I decided that my father would understand. He would understand that I stopped being Bennet Drexler a long time ago. Somewhere along the way I stopped simply pretending to be Ben Beltran.”
I kiss his cheek. “You are Ben Beltran.”
He grins. “Yup. Resident of Devil Valley. Devoted son. Second baseman for the Black Mountain Academy baseball team.” He reaches for me and runs his hand over my cheek. “And most importantly, Camden’s boyfriend.”
I grab him in a fierce hug, all the days of heartsick anxiety melting away now that he’s close to me again. “You’ll have to get comfortable in this position,” I warn him. “Because I’m never letting you go.”
