by Ivy Smoak
I smiled and clinked my glass against his. My eyes stayed on his as I took a sip. Red wine was definitely better than whiskey.
“I’d tell you to start eating,” he said and grabbed his bag off the coffee table, “but you’ve already started without me.”
I looked down at my half-eaten burger. “I tend to be an incredibly rude houseguest. Feet on your table kind of houseguest.”
“Trust me, I don’t mind. It’s nice to have someone to spend the night with.”
And with those tantalizing words, he restarted the movie.
I tried to pay attention, but I had a million questions running through my head. Was I spending the night here? Would I spend it in his bed? With his arms wrapped around me? And when was the last time he had someone to spend the night with?
Chapter 18
“Addy you have to watch it to fully experience all its glory.” He pointed to the TV.
“Thank you for coming after me.” The wine had given me courage to say what I had been meaning to all night. No one had ever come after me before. He made me feel like I was in a fairytale. “When I stormed out,” I added when he didn’t say anything.
“You’re worth chasing.”
The way he said it made my whole body feel warm. It had been a long time since I had felt anything but worthless.
He lifted his feet onto the coffee table beside mine. “I’ll keep on chasing you if you make me. But I’m hoping you’ll like tonight so much that you stop running.” He winked at me before turning his attention back to the screen.
I’m sure the acting was good in Rocky. And it probably was a great movie. How could I not stare at Ben instead, though? I ran his words through my head on repeat. He wanted me to stay still. To stop resisting him. He wanted…me.
He pointed to the TV again.
I reluctantly turned back to the screen and took another sip of the wine. It truly felt like we were having a classic first date of dinner and a movie. Except for all the ice packs. But tonight, I was actually grateful for them. My body would have been overheated if not for the ice packs on my ankle and shoulder. Whenever I was near him, my heart always raced. The mix of alcohol and ice packs somehow managed to calm me down.
Maybe it made me bold too. When I set down my wine glass, I repositioned myself so that I could rest my head on Ben’s shoulder. I held my breath as I waited to see what he’d do. But I didn’t have to hold it long.
His arm looped lazily around my back, his hand resting on my hip.
For this one second in time, life was good.
It got better when he started tracing circles around my hipbone with his thumb.
I closed my eyes, completely forgetting about the movie. I never wanted to leave Ben’s side. I never wanted tonight to end.
The last thing I remembered was Rocky yelling for Adrian. And how similar it sounded to Adeline.
***
Apparently the combination of wine and ice packs was so relaxing that it put me right to sleep. I woke up alone on the leather couch, a blanket draped over my body.
I immediately pulled the blanket up to my chin. Without Ben beside me, the room was cold. Ben. My eyes flew open. Had I spent the night at his house? The birds were chirping outside. There was light flooding into the room through the blinds. It was definitely daytime.
Jesus. I must have been out cold. I cringed at the thought. Had he heard me snore? Had I mumbled something embarrassing in my sleep?
None of that mattered. What mattered was that I had spent the night on the couch, not in his bed. How had I managed to squander away that opportunity? I reached for my purse to check my phone, but it wasn’t where I had left it. My eyes wandered to my watch.
11:25. I blinked. The watch still read the same time. I pushed myself up into a seated position. 11:25! How had I slept so long? I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to erase my headache. I barely had two sips of wine. How did I have such a bad hangover?
I looked around for my purse again and cringed. My whole body felt sore, like I had just run a half marathon. I swallowed down the groan in my throat. I was too old to sleep on couches.
“Did you enjoy watching Sly last night?”
I ran my fingers through my hair and wiped the side of my face as Ben came into view. “Did I enjoy what?”
“Sly?”
I gave him a blank stare.
“Sylvester Stallone?”
“Oh. Yeah. He was good.”
“Good? Not great?” He handed me a cup of coffee.
“I actually had a hard time paying attention.” I looked down at the cup in my hands. I didn’t drink coffee. The caffeine in it made me anxious. Or was I told that the caffeine made me anxious? I didn’t remember ever having a cup and freaking out. I took a sip and sighed, the memories flooded back as soon as it touched my tongue. I used to drink it in college. And it had definitely never made me anxious. If anything, it helped me focus. And I loved the heat of it in my hands. It was so soothing. How had I forgotten about that?
“I thought for sure you’d admit it was a classic.”
“That was never going to happen anyway. It’s in color.”
He shook his head. “What is this obsession with black and white? It’s a little dull.”
Maybe he was too young to know. Maybe he hadn’t experienced anything like what I had. “Everything is black or white. Good or evil. There is no in-between.”
“That’s the most pessimistic thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It doesn’t make it untrue.”
He sat down on the edge of the coffee table, his knees bumping against mine. “What if someone committed a crime with good intention?”
“One good deed doesn’t cover up the evil.”
“So what are you, Addy? Good or evil?”
Evil. I didn’t have to think about it. But I didn’t need to offer him the truth. He’d discover it soon enough. “You’ll have to figure that out for yourself.”
“Well, can I trust you alone in here while I go do a few jobs?”
Absolutely not. “Of course.” There was a zero percent chance I wouldn’t snoop. I was pretty sure he had done the same thing at my house.
“I didn’t know what you liked for breakfast. I pulled out some different cereals for you. And there’s milk on the counter.”
“That’s because you didn’t ask what my favorite food was. You asked what kind of meat I liked in my mouth.”
He smiled and stood up. “Is there anything else you need? The ice packs are back in the freezer. You should probably use them again this afternoon.”
“I’m sorry I slept so long.”
“I would have woken you up, but you looked so peaceful. And non-argumentative.”
“Fair enough.”
“I’ll see you in a bit.” He leaned down and I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, he placed his lips against my forehead. It felt more intimate somehow. The action almost brought tears to my eyes.
“Okay,” I whispered as he walked out of the room. I heard the front door close and his truck roar to life.
I was all alone in Ben Jones’ house. A smile curled over my lips. I’m all alone in Ben Jones’ freaking house! I stood up and ignored the pain in my ankle. Screw the pain. And screw the cereal. I had some exploring to do.
Chapter 19
Nothing. I sat down on a stool at the kitchen counter. Ben had absolutely nothing incriminating in his house. How was that possible?
His underwear drawer wasn’t hiding any weird sex toys or a gun. His medicine cabinet didn’t have any odd prescriptions or foot fungus cream. There were no journals or dirty magazines under his mattress. But God did his sheets smell good.
I told myself that it was okay to snoop around his house. Because he had stolen my sneaker and I wanted it back. But I couldn’t even find that. Maybe it was in his truck. Or maybe it was in my house somewhere. I had been so sleepy recently, maybe I had just put it someplace random that I didn’t remember.
Ben had e
ven left his laptop on. Signed in and everything. He was practically begging me to look at his internet history. And again…nothing. Not even any porn. There weren’t any files in the recycle bin or in the folder marked “Important.” What kind of weirdo labeled a folder “Important” and didn’t put anything in it?
He was so much on the good side of the spectrum that it was almost disappointing.
The lack of anything juicy had made me come back downstairs. That with the combination of my growling stomach. I had given up on finding Ben’s flaw. Or maybe I had already found it. He was too perfect.
The only thing slightly odd was that his basement door was locked. At least, I thought it was the basement door. His house was a similar model to mine. And the only room I hadn’t found yet was the basement. The door was in a different spot than my basement door, but what else could be behind it? I was pretty sure every house in the neighborhood had a basement.
But even the fact that his basement door was locked wasn’t very suspicious. I kept mine locked. It was just annoying because his was locked with a key and mine was locked with a bolt. It just meant I couldn’t go down there and explore. But it was probably empty. Or filled with gym equipment. He clearly worked out and I hadn’t found any of that anywhere. That’s most likely what it was.
Although, I kept my basement door locked because I was terrified of intruders. Ben didn’t really seem terrified of anything. He had left a relative stranger alone in his house for God’s sake. I could have been a Russian spy. I could have been putting cameras up all over his house. I smiled to myself. Now that would have been a good idea. Then I could finally see him naked.
I sighed. I was definitely the evil one. And he was a goody-two-shoes. I poured myself a bowl of some healthy cereal I had never heard of and wandered back to his family room. My feet stopped at the basement door in the hall. I pressed my ear against the wood and then laughed at myself. What am I doing? I kept walking and sat down on the couch.
Searching through all his stuff had been a complete waste of time. Not only had I not found anything interesting, but I hadn’t found my sneaker either. And now that I thought about it, I still couldn’t find my purse. Where the hell was my stuff?
I looked over my shoulder into the hallway. At the locked door. It was going to drive me crazy. I could have searched how to pick locks on my phone, but my phone was missing. And I didn’t want to add anything suspicious to his perfect internet browsing history. I knew how to delete recently browsed things, but I knew that meant nothing to a computer nerd. Those guys could search through years of deleted data. What were the odds of Ben being a computer nerd? I hardly knew anything about him. But he did have those fancy binoculars. And he’d look damn good in a pair of glasses. It was probably better not to risk it.
I left my cereal to get soggy and walked back over to the locked door. Maybe I could climb in or see something through the basement windows outside. But then the neighbors would probably see me. And how would that look? I was hoping they believed my story from last night. I was also hoping they hadn’t noticed Ben run after me. Or me stepping out of his truck and into his house last night.
If Sally saw, maybe she’d keep her big mouth shut. Especially if she wanted her daughter to date Ben one day. Smearing his name wasn’t the best start to a relationship. Just the thought of Sally’s stupid daughter upset me. And it was even more upsetting that she wasn’t actually stupid. She’d probably be able to figure out how to pick a lock.
Bobby pins. I snapped my fingers. I had seen that on TV once. I pulled one out of my hair and stuffed it into the lock. Nothing. I wiggled it back and forth. Nothing. Was it supposed to click or something? I put my ear to the lock and wiggled the bobby pin again. Nothing.
I sighed. Maybe Ben had a movie that involved lock-picking. All I knew was that I had to get into that basement or it would drive me crazy.
I felt vindicated. The coffee definitely hadn’t made me anxious. It made my hyper-focused, just like I remembered. Hyper-focused to the point of destruction.
Chapter 20
I turned off Ocean’s Eleven and sighed. I had been fast-forwarding through a handful of movies for over half an hour. Why did no movies about robberies have a helpful lock-picking scene?
Probably because they didn’t want to aid lunatics like me. I’d just need to keep trying my bobby pin. I put the movie back on the shelf and walked over to the basement door.
Again, I pressed my ear against the wood. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to hear. Someone crying for help? An animal begging to be let up? But it was completely silent. I couldn’t even hear the whirl of a sump pump. Not that it had been raining.
It’s just a basement. A normal, regular, everyday basement. My thoughts didn’t stop me from dropping to my knees and stuffing my bobby pin back in the door. Come on. Opening that door had completely taken over my thoughts. I needed to get in. I needed to know what secrets he was hiding. Because I couldn’t be the only one with skeletons in my closet. There had to be something wrong with him too. I couldn’t be with someone so perfect.
That wasn’t really the issue. The question was, why the hell would he want to be with someone as messed up as me? He should have seen me fall and ran in the opposite direction. I was trouble. And Ben was out of his mind if he wanted me.
But he did want me. Every glance, every touch, I wasn’t insane. I wasn’t making our connection up in my head. He liked me. So he was the crazy one. Maybe that was his flaw. Wanting me. Desiring something so clearly broken. Wanting to save someone who couldn’t possibly be saved.
Come on. I wiggled the bobby pin to the left. My psychologist said I needed to think more positively. So for once in my life, I was attempting that technique. The lock would make a click or something soon. Any second now the door would open for me. Any second now. The bobby pin snapped in my fingers, half of it jammed into the lock. Shit. No! I put my eye right up next to the doorknob. Oh God, oh God, oh God. The end of it was lodged into the lock.
I grabbed the small piece that was jutting out and tried to pull it, but I couldn’t make purchase on it. It just slipped from my fingertips before I could even try to get it out.
How long had Ben been gone? An hour and a half? Tops. He said he had a few jobs. It took him a little less than half an hour to mow his lawn. That meant he could be home any minute. He couldn’t see this.
I had looked all over his house and I hadn’t seen a toolkit. Where did men keep their toolkits? I slammed my palm against the basement door. The basement. They kept them in the basement. What have I done?
My fingers slipped from the end of the bobby pin again. I couldn’t give up. There had to be something I could use. I ran into the kitchen and started throwing open drawers.
I lifted up the wine opener. With all the metal things sticking out of it, I thought one might be useful. But of course none of them were. I threw it back down and opened up another drawer. I almost screamed in delight. Tongs! I could use tongs!
I pulled them to my chest and thanked a God I didn’t believe in, before running back to the door. I knelt down and pinched the bobby pin with the tongs. The tongs immediately slid off the piece of metal. No. This was going to freaking work. It had to. I moved my fingers to the end of the tongs and tried to keep my hand steady as I performed what could have been classified as the hardest medical procedure ever known.
The end of the bobby pin was just starting to come out when I heard the front door open.
“Addy, I’m back!”
It felt like my heart was beating in my throat. Come on you stupid piece of… The bobby pin flung out of the doorknob, pinging against the wall behind me.
“Addy?”
I did the first thing I could think of and kicked the mutilated bobby pin under the gap underneath the basement door. No! Why? I reached my fingers underneath the door but couldn’t find it.
“Addy?”
His voice was closer. There were scratch marks all over the front of the doorknob.
A perfectionist would notice. I would have noticed. But Ben was a guy. He wouldn’t notice. Please don’t notice. I stood up and stuffed the tongs into the back of my jeans. “I’m here.” I sounded out of breath. I’d be suspicious of me. I ran into the kitchen and started shutting the drawers and cabinets I had opened.
“What are you doing?”
My hand froze on a drawer handle. “Oh. Um…” I closed the drawer and looked up at him. Half of the cabinets were still hanging open. Jesus. “I…” My voice trailed off. “Looking through all of your things of course.” He had caught me. There was no use lying. Besides, I couldn’t come up with a lie even if I had wanted to. The sight of him was too distracting. His shirt was damp with sweat below his neck and he had a smear of mud across his cheek. And all I wanted to do was jump him.
He laughed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the island. “I was able to avoid temptation.” He set my purse down on the granite countertop. “You must have left this in my car last night.”
I had been so suspicious of him, yet he hadn’t done anything wrong. We were the personification of good versus evil. I grabbed my purse off the counter and put it over my shoulder. “Okay, well…I guess I’ll just go.”
He laughed again. “I don’t want you to leave.”
“I was going through your things. I’d want me out. I get it. Really, I’m just going to go before I make things even worse.” I tried to brush past him but he caught my arm.
“You’re adorable.”
Adorable? Ha. Not even a little bit.
He ran the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. I hadn’t even realized I was pouting. “Stay. I need to go shower. You can finish snooping around before I get back down.”
I sighed. “Honestly, I’m already done.”
He raised both his eyebrows. “You’ve looked everywhere?”
“Pretty much.”
His smile never faded. “Find anything good?”
I was very aware of the pair of tongs shoved down my pants. The metal was digging into my back. “No. You’re officially perfect.”