by Abi Walters
“Did you expect something else?” He questioned curiously.
“Maybe a brothel on speed dial or something,” She played with the flare of her shirt.
It didn’t amuse Benson. His lips thinned as he grew frustrated with her. He had given her no reason to doubt his commitment to her, however confusing it was. She knew just what buttons to press to make Benson mad, and she was becoming increasingly good at the game.
“I’ll be busy today,” Benson said stiffly. “I’m meeting an associate for lunch, and I will probably work late. Tomorrow I will be full, as well.”
They pulled to a stop outside Monarch Records. Mia clutched her bag and tried to leave the SUV quickly. She didn’t know if she wanted to cry or punch Benson, so she figured her best course of action was to leave before either happened. He was an expert at switching between lovable and caring and stone cold. He stopped her only to press a chaste kiss on her lips. As she entered the building and entered the elevator cab, she wondered how if it was all an act. Had Benson played her?
Her phone vibrated loudly in her purse. She waited until she was in the gentle embrace of her office to look at the message.
I’m sorry. I really am busy. Dinner Friday?
Mia slid her phone into a drawer, not knowing how to respond. She started her computer and settled into her routine. She checked her email and the gossip blogs, thankful that none of Monarch’s musicians had made the headlines for scandalous behavior. Things had been incredibly tame in terms of press, both negative and positive. One of the pop stars signed to the label had had a nasty car accident at the beginning of summer, and there had been a few charity events, but aside from the occasional anomaly, her job had been mostly paper pushing and coordinating press for big gigs.
She was pleased to see the annual invitation for her boss’s Halloween masquerade ball. Alan Monarch never threw a dull party, and his masquerade balls were exceptionally fun. They were always over the top, just like Monarch himself. Mia wondered if Benson would accompany her. She wondered where they would be in three weeks, period. She bit her lip and pulled her phone from her drawer, opening up her messages and finally texting him back.
Only if it is take-out and a movie at my place. I want to stay in with you.
Benson had told her he was busy, and he was. His schedule that week had been painfully packed full of meetings and conferences. Despite this, however, he texted her back a few minutes later.
I’ll pack a weekend bag. I can’t wait, precious.
She smiled and put her phone away. If she had Benson in her apartment the whole weekend, they’d be safe. They wouldn’t have to worry about ex-lovers or jealous businessmen or anything but one another. She wanted Benson for more than just sex, even more so after the small glimpses of domestic life they already had. Not that she didn’t want the sex, too. She wanted the moments between.
When they had first met, Mia had laughed at the idea of Benson Ward being romantic… or anything other than a hard and handsome businessman who had his fair share of women. He very obviously didn’t want a relationship outside of the bedroom. But he had an arsenal of sweet words and promises for her. He made her restless and weak. The taste of his lips pulled her in, and the playful smile that followed kept her around. And though her one rule of not mixing business and pleasure flashed like a bright neon sign in her head, she couldn’t help but admit that she liked him. A lot. She locked away the worrying thoughts of heartbreak in a box deep inside her stomach and threw away the key.
Mia caught up on the work she had missed on her sick day. She stopped by Brett’s office on the way to lunch, thanking him for taking over at the meeting. They grabbed lunch together at the deli across the street from the office, indulging in office gossip. They parted ways on their respective floors, and as Mia flopped back down at her desk and tapped a bored rhythm on her desk. When her phone buzzed, she jumped, trying not to let her smile fade too much after seeing it was from Lora and not Benson.
So… my date with Zach. He’s a good kisser :)
Mia typed back quickly,Come over tonight and SPILL!!!
Lora confirmed their date, letting Mia know what time she’d be over. Instead of working, Mia mentally flipped through the best pizza places around her apartment, trying to settle on what to have for dinner. Her thoughts drifted to the weekend and all the fun her and Benson would have. Maybe they’d get to finish an episode of Law and Order. As she thought of their weekend, her secretary rang to let her know that Tyler Abbot and the boys from Burnside wanted to see her. As soon as they passed through the door, Tyler held a hand up. She noted that Max was missing from the bunch. He hadn’t been at their apartment the day before either.
“I know you said if I stopped by unannounced I’d be leaving with a bloody nose, but we just had that meeting for the Stella video.”
She laughed, “I also told you to stop by this week. So, how did it go? Sorry I don’t have enough seats for you guys, by the way. I don’t often get five guys in my office.” Her voice sobered up as she eyed Tyler. “And where is Max?”
He winced, “Good question.”
“He wasn’t around last night, but he texted me saying he was with some girl,” Colin said coldly, crossing his arms. “I can’t believe he wasn’t here today. It makes us look so bad.”
“Yes, it does,” Mia admitted. “But he’s not the first rock star to miss a meeting, believe me. You better lock him down before I have to clean up the mess.”
“I’m trying,” He huffed. “He thinks he’s some damn drumming god.”
“Knock him down a few pegs,” She warned.
“So about that video,” Cap rocked on his heels, his hands shoved in his pockets. “They loved our idea. We’re supposed to shoot next week already.”
Her face lit up, “What’s the idea?”
“Well…,” Ryan looked away. The rest of the band mocked his motions.
Cautiously, Mia asked the question again, “What’s the idea, Tyler?”
His eyes met hers, “I may or may not have recorded you dancing around the apartment yesterday, and I may or may not have showed it to the director who may or may not think we need to have a video where you dance around the band while they play.”
Mia wasn’t sure whether to be angry or flattered, so she settled on both, “You took a video of me?” Tyler nodded. “And showed it to people I work with?” Tyler nodded again. “And now want me to be in your video?”
“I tried telling him we should get a video girl or something, but he wants you, Mia. He says it won’t be the same.”
“You may just leave here with a bloody lip after all, Abbott,” Mia threatened, her finger wagging. “How could you?”
“We won’t do it if you don’t want to,” Colin cut in. “It’s just… you’ve been such a big part of our success and all, we want you to be in the video too.”
She tried to flash him a doubtful look, though she couldn’t help the creeping smile on her face, “That sweet talk gets you a lot of ladies, doesn’t it, Colin?”
“Not working on you, huh?” He flashed a pearly smile.
“I’m flattered, guys, but I don’t know if legally I’m even allowed to and what kind of dancing would I even be doing? Because I’m sure I looked like a psycho last night.”
“A sexy psycho,” Tyler grinned. She was glad he was back to his old self, at least a little. “The production team said it would be okay and someone named Maya Dover said she’d be emailing you today.”
“I know Maya,” Mia nodded. “So explain to me, again, the concept?”
“We wanted to keep it simple since it’s our first video and Pierre-”
“Pierre Bisset?” Mia interrupted. “He’s a good director.”
Tyler nodded, “Yeah, Pierre said that would be a good idea since we’re still trying to define our creative presence or something. I showed him the video and said it would be cool if they were in an abandoned warehouse or a really fancy theater or something just playing and you were dancing
. He loved it- said something about showing friendship and playfulness. I just thought it would be hot.”
“You’re not helping your case, Tyler,” Mia pressed, her voice a flat line.
“Please?” Cap clasped his hands together in front of him and shook. He repeated himself, this time Ryan accompanied his beg. By the thirteenth cry, all five of the boys were singing the word, and Tyler had even taken to falling to his knees.
Mia was dealing with a bunch of five year olds. A bunch of persuasive five year olds. She caved, “Okay! Just shut up.” They erupted in cheers. “Yeah, yeah. Now get out before I change my mind.”
As they said goodbye and shuffled out of the room, Mia made sure to tell Tyler she’d be busy all weekend and not to be bothered unless it was urgent. He looked as if he was going to press her and ask, but he dropped his head and shook, his messy hair flopping from side to side. He left, the door clicking behind him and easing the room into an unsettling calm. Mia opened up her email waiting for a notification from Maya. In the meantime, she grabbed her phone and texted Max, accosting him for his behavior. By the end of the workday, Maya’s email still hadn’t arrived. She had only worked with the woman directly once or twice, but she remembered her being tardy and unorganized. Mia rolled her eyes as she gathered herself and left the building. She had more important things to do than worry about the email. The most important, of course, was preparing for her night with Lora.
Chapter Seven
Mia was thankful for Victor’s presence after work. She decided against pizza and needed to stop at a market before heading home. She strolled through the store gathering ingredients for fajitas, making sure to grab a giant tub of mint ice cream – Lora’s favorite, as well. Knowing her booze stock was alarmingly low; Mia added a bottle of wine and a case of beer to her cart. A few frozen meals and snacks later, Victor was helping load the bags into the back of the Bentley. Once at her apartment, he even helped carry the load of groceries up to her apartment. He wished her a good night and then headed out.
Victor both scared and comforted Mia. He was an older gentleman, sporting a head full of grey hair. It looked nice with his dark skin and chocolate eyes. His posture always made Mia wonder if he was ex-military. She felt safe when he was around, but she also felt like he could snap her neck at any moment. That was probably why Benson liked the man so much.
After unpacking the groceries, putting away what she wasn’t going to use, Mia slipped into a pair of yoga pants and a black spaghetti strap tank top. She put in a load of laundry, forgetting that the night before she had attempted to do some before Benson had arrived. With her hair in a tight ponytail and a playlist of her favorite songs floating through the air, Mia began preparing dinner. Halfway through cooking, she cracked open a beer and danced over to her phone while the steak cooked.
Having a party tonight without me, precious?
Mia smiled. She imagined Benson’s eyebrow cocked and a smirk on his delightfully delicious face. She texted him back:
Lora’s coming over for a girl’s night. Apparently her date with Zach went well. I miss you.
I miss you too, Mia.
Knowing Benson missed her sent a swarm of butterflies through her system. As she set her phone back on the dock and turned on her most danceable tune, she bounced back to the kitchen. Mia felt like she was on cloud nine as she used her hips to close drawers and utilized wooden spoons as makeshift microphones. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so happy- so giddy. When the doorbell rang, Mia danced over, throwing it open and pulling an unsuspecting Lora into the studio. She kicked the door shut and then spun into her best friend, smoothly taking her messenger bag and dropping it off at the neglected dining room table.
“Are you drunk already?” Lora laughed as she took her shoes and jacket off.
“Not even close,” Mia grinned after turning the volume of the music down.
Lora sniffed the air and licked her lips, “What are you making? I thought we were getting pizza?”
“I had an urgent craving for fajitas,” Mia was back in the kitchen. “There’s ice cream in the freezer, too.”
“Mmmm,” Lora moaned in culinary excitement, throwing the freezer door open and seeing her holy grail of ice cream. “You seem better today.”
“Enough about me. Tell me about your date with Zach,” Mia wiggled her eyes.
Lora blushed briefly before starting her story. While she spoke, Mia combined the meat and the cooked vegetables in one pan, and then finished up the last of dinner.
“We went to the botanical garden in Brooklyn. How have I never been there before? It’s seriously gorgeous. Not to mention Zach has an adorable knowledge of flora. He’s a history guy and he knows flora, Mia! Flora! We didn’t get to stay long because they were closing, but it was so sweet. He said the garden reminded him of me and he wanted to go, even if just for a few minutes, so he could show me.”
“You sound lovesick,” Mia teased. She passed Lora a plate. “Here, dinner’s up.”
She crafted her food and Lora continued a few seconds later, now standing next to her, “After that we ate at this delicious mom and pop BBQ place and went to Bridge Park. We rode the carousel and he kissed me.”
Mia nearly spit out her beer, “This Zach guy knows how to please a lady.”
“He’s so sweet, Mia,” Lora smiled, the flutter in her heart plastered on her face. “He pulled a blanket out of his backpack and we laid in the park just talking about everything. We held hands and listened to some kid play crappy music on his guitar and…” Lora sighed. “It was just perfect.”
“Crappy guitar music, huh? Sounds like my kina of date,” Mia giggled, grabbing her phone and settling on the couch with her plate in her lap. “Did you sleep with him?”
“I wanted to. I actually invited him upstairs for coffee.”
“And he said no?” Mia quirked a brow, her fajita inches from her face.
Lora picked up the remote and flicked through the channels, “He kissed me really hard and passionately and said he doesn’t want to mess things up with me.”
“How chivalrous of him,” Mia couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she sank into her food again.
“It was sweet. I mean, I get it. I don’t necessarily want to take things at a snail pace, though,” Lora settled on a reality TV dating show- her guilty pleasure. “We’re going out again this weekend. You think you can cook something for us?”
Mia looked over at her teasing friend and shook her head, “No thank you. I’ve got plans, anyway.”
Lora proceeded with caution, “Such as?”
“Benson is going to stay the weekend.”
“As of yesterday evening you two weren’t talking to each other and now he’s spending the weekend with you? Did I miss something?”
“He came over last night,” Mia proceeded to tell her friend about the entire evening, sparing no detail. Much to her surprise, Lora didn’t bat an eye over Benson. Her queasy stomach was targeted at Mia’s conversation with her brother.
“You should just change your number. I can’t believe he still calls you.”
“I did change it,” Mia reminded her. “And he’s my brother. He went through a lot with me. We both got fucked up pretty bad, but unlike me, he didn’t turn into a psycho.”
“You’re not a psycho, you were abused as a child,” Lora reminded her.
Mia had heard the speech dozens of times in her life, yet it never made her feel any better. “Sucks for you, though. Your family will never get rid of me at Thanksgiving. Want another beer?”
Lora followed her into the kitchen and rinsed her plate, “My family loves you, Mia. How about that ice cream instead?”
They returned to the couch, a beer in Mia’s hand and the gallon of ice cream in Lora’s. They found a rerun of Dirty Dancing. Over the course of the movie, Mia polished off a few more beers and Lora made herself sick eating half the tub of mint ice cream. They swooned over Baby and Johnny, making small jokes about their own lo
ve lives.
Mia wondered what a movie of her and Benson’s relationship would look like. Porn. It would look like porn. She kept her snicker to herself and cozied deeper into the couch. It wasn’t too much to ask for fantastic sex and a sound relationship, was it? They made it look easy in the movies and books. They made it seem like someone with a messed up past could find love. Johnny and Baby did it, after all, and they were completely different people.
Johnny had spilled his guts on the screen, talking about women throwing themselves at him. She always giggled when he said they smelled good. It had been one of her favorite parts growing up. Her life had been a cluster of bad timing and horrible situations, but she also had good times, curled up on the couch with her mom and Eddie watching movies or the news. Unfortunately, the bad times took precedence over the good times. Mia watched with bated breath as Baby accused Johnny of using women, then let the air out in an exhausting exhale when he countered back saying the women were using him.
Was that how it was with Benson? Successful and sexy, he had no shortage of women. She had seen the pictures of him and attractive arm candy. She tried to think of the pictures. She’d been nursing a bottle of wine that night and couldn’t remember anything clearly. Coolly, she slid her phone off of the table and typed in his name on Google, clicking over to the images tab. Among the covers of business magazines and expose pictures were ones from galas and events. Pictures of Benson and pretty blondes outside restaurants and on the street. Mia looked closer and she wasn’t sure if her heart swelled or broke.
Benson Ward never looked at the women. They were an accessory, a necessary part of his life. But those women looked at Benson like the chiseled god he was. They clung to him like glue. Maybe they had gotten a whiff of his cologne- a musky mix of leather and wood. That smell made her want to drop her panties every time he was near. Mia gazed at the expression of woman after woman. She looked at Benson like that. But as Mia put her phone away and returned her attention to the movie, she realized he looked at her like that, too.