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34
Ben
Taking Back What’s Mine… And His.
“Did you think you could leave without saying goodbye?” I stalk forward slowly and thrill at the way her eyes grow wider. “Found you, baby.”
Her plump lips shake, the chocolate sauce and beer from her snack slowly slide down her legs from when she dropped them. “Ben. What are you doing here?”
Her question is barely a whisper. Weak and terrified; like she should be. I’ve sat at the end of the estate driveway every night for a week. A week of sleeping in my car, a week of takeout food, rather than the homecooked meals she promised in her vows. A week of pissing on the grass.
A week of waiting for the right time to strike.
“I’m here to see my family, of course.” I take slow, predatory steps forward. She’s being stalked, and like the lone deer in a lion’s den, she knows it. “I’m sorry I missed reading the bedtime story, though.”
Every step I take forward, she matches it with a step back. She angles her body and blocks my way to the hall. To the children’s room. “Why’d you leave, baby?”
“Please, I want you to leave, Ben. I have a restraining order. I don’t want you to get into trouble for being here.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t get in trouble.” I take another step forward and smile at her jerky movements. Lamb, sheep, deer… she’s one and the same. She’ll die tonight.
She knows it. I know it.
And for the first time since I met her, she makes my heart beat faster.
Scaring her thrills me.
“Please go,” she whines and takes another step back. “Please, Ben. I’m begging you.”
“Good. Keep begging. It turns me on.” The silver glint of a phone in her hand has my eyes snapping down. Stomping forward with fury coursing through my veins, I slam her hand against the wall and smash her wrist until she cries out.
“Ben!” She cries out the way she hasn’t in so long. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder, because she hasn’t cried for me in months. “Just go.” She wipes tears from her cheeks. “Please leave us.”
“I’ll leave soon, baby, I promise. But first, I wanna play a game.” I smile wolfishly when she cowers back against the wall.
“Mommy?”
“No!” She spins on her heels and stands between Benny Junior and me. “Go back to your room, babe.”
I look over her shoulder and barely disguise my disgust. Crying already. Disney dinosaurs on his pyjamas. She’s the reason why he’s the way he is. The reason he won’t sleep. The reason he’s still in diapers at night. She’s too fucking soft on him.
Spare the rod…I shake my head. “Too fucking soft. And now look at him.”
“Go to bed, Benny.” She hurries to shuffle him back to the stairs, but before she can escape, I step forward and fist her hair, bringing her to a stop in midair. She screams out in pain and reaches for my hand. “No!”
“Not time for you to go yet, baby.”
“Just let me put him back to bed,” she sobs. “Please let me get him back to his room.”
I shake her like a ragdoll. “Nope. Not time to go yet.”
“Mommy?” Ben cries and clutches a filthy teddy to his chest. Lindsi won’t be coming with us after tonight. Livi won’t be, either. Benny will, because we’re men, and men stick together, but that fucking teddy won’t be leaving this house.
“Go to your room, Ben.” She pulls against me, despite the chunks of hair I tear from her scalp. “Now!”
“Benjamin.” I wait for his watery eyes to meet mine. They’re ocean blue and feminine, just like his mother’s. “Go to your room and grab your backpack, boy. Pack your clothes. We’re leaving.”
“No!” She dangles from my hand. Like a cartoon running on air, she moves her legs, but she gets nowhere. “Don’t leave. Ben, no!” Her nails dig into the top of my hand. “You can’t take him.”
