by Amber Lacie
He sat, absorbing everything I threw at him. After I had finished, he sat in silence for a moment. “Wow,” he breathed. If he were anything like me, he would have been trying to find the flaws in the story, trying to sort out the truth from the lies. In truth, I wouldn’t have been offended. He had no reason to trust me, much less anything I said. After all, I had already proven myself to be the villain in their story
“Look, I’m not asking for forgiveness. One day he may ask questions––I know if I were him, I’d want the truth. I would want all the pieces to the puzzle, no matter how screwed up they are.” I was beginning to feel like I had made a mistake. August was just sitting there, staring at me like I had three fucking heads “Fuck it. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here. I see that now.” Everything finally made sense to me. They didn’t need answers or closure––I was the one that needed them. I watched his mouth twitch as I stood to leave. I knew that look well. He had a war raging in his mind. To speak, or not to speak.
When he finally spoke the words that exited his mouth were nowhere near what I had expected. “I’m not sorry.”
“What?” I asked in a confused whisper.
“You’re a dick. You’re a complete fucking asshole. I’m not saying you’re not. All I’m saying is that I love my son with everything in my being. Without you, there wouldn’t have been a Jack, and I can’t even begin to comprehend a world where he doesn’t exist. Because of that, I’m willing to make you an offer.”
Is he insane? What can he possibly give me? “For?”
“When you pull your head out of your ass, when you finally decide to grow the fuck up, and you finish whatever it is you’re about to do, you come find me. Maybe by then we can work something out so that you can meet him. Now, I’m not saying it’s for sure going to happen. God knows Arlington is going to fucking fight me on this, but I’m a firm believer in forgiveness. Although, you should be prepared…Jack may not want you in his life, and that’ll be his choice. But it needs to be his choice. It would kill me to find out after he’s grown up that he wanted to know about you, and we had denied him the truth. I think he’s old enough to have a say.”
Jesus. I blinked, trying to process what he was saying. “I don’t…I mean—”
“This is all of course pending on you completely turning your life around. You bring any of that shit near my family and I will kill you. I mean it. Fuck your father, or whomever you’re involved with. I will annihilate you. Do not make me regret this, Ben.”
I nodded my head in silence. What else could I say? There was nothing to add to the conversation, so I headed back through the storage area, down the hall, to where Terri was leaning back in a chair, a girl with deep black hair and coffee colored skin wrapped around her. I gave a quick tap on her door and waved to let her know I was leaving.
She pulled her lips away from the girl’s neck just long enough to catch me before I walked out the back door. “Whoa, slow down, Benjamin? We good? Everything good back there?”
“Everything and everyone are just how I found them. We’re good.”
“Great. Now don’t ever fucking come back here.”
“You got it.” Once again, her lips found the girl’s neck, and I slipped quietly out the back door as if this night had never happened.
There’s no way in hell I would have ever guessed the night was going to end like that. Pulling my helmet on, I hopped on my bike. I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around Piper and revel in her beauty.
As much as I wanted to believe Ben, I knew he was still hiding something from me. It probably should have bothered me more than it did, but I trusted him. Completely. Whether it was a sane decision or not was still up in the air. There were times in the beginning where I contemplated running. I was never sure where to go or how far I could get, but deep down I knew he would come for me. For some insane reason it was that knowledge that comforted me. No matter where I was, or where I went, I knew he would come for me.
I tried my best to stay awake after he left, but the bath was too relaxing. The warmth of the water, and the soft blankets on our bed, had stolen any energy I had left. Closing my eyes, I fell asleep dreaming of Ben and a life we would probably never have. In my dream we were walking along a grassy field while a little boy running around us. I wasn’t naive enough to believe it would ever happen, but I enjoyed the dream nonetheless.
It must have been after midnight by the time Ben got home. I heard our bedroom door open and a few minutes later the end of the mattress dipped down from his weight. Rolling over, I took in the sight of the gorgeous man sitting next to me, watching me. “Hey,” I mumbled, still not fully awake.
“Hey, you. Do you know how beautiful you are?”
“No. How about you tell me?”
Ben chuckled as he pulled his shirt over his head and crawled up the bed to lie next to me. He must have been in the room longer than I thought because he had already kicked his jeans to the floor. Taking in the sight of him, I couldn’t help but stare. He was pure perfection lying next to me in nothing but his boxers. The contour of his stomach, along with the trail of hair leading down under the elastic band, had my heart doing backflips. He controlled all of me. My pulse. My soul. All of it.
Lying next to him, I rested my head on his chest as his fingers circled the soft skin of my arm. “You, my gorgeous creature, are perfection.” Giving me a light squeeze, I heard him sigh. “Piper?”
“Yeah?”
“I need to come clean about some things, but I’m scared you’re going to run––or hate me for it.”
I was right. He is keeping something from me. Taking a steady breath, I cast a silent prayer in the air that he wouldn’t hurt before finally answering him. “Just say it.”
“Tonight, I met with my ex’s husband. I wanted to clear the air between us about what happened with his wife, my son, and me.”
Son? Holy fuck. I’m not sure what I had imagined he was going to tell me, but it was definitely not that. Did he want them back? “What happened?” I asked, trying to hide my fear.
“I was an asshole. I got caught up with my father and I paid the ultimate price. My son was born while I was in prison. Like I said, I’m not the good guy.”
“And the girl? Did you love her?” It killed me to ask, but I needed to know. If there was even a chance he wanted her back, I needed to prepare myself for it, no matter how deeply it would cut me.
“I thought I did. Looking back, I think it was more of what she represented. She was a way out. I was playing house and pretending none of this existed.”
“What do you mean?” Is that what he’s doing with me? Am I just a distraction?
“I wanted a life away from my father, away from the drugs, and from working illegal job after illegal job. I thought having her around would make it all go away, but then she got pregnant. I was never meant to be a father, you’ve got to understand that. I thought if my father knew about them, he’d let me out. I figured he’d let me leave and we could be a family.”
As stupid as it was, the feeling of being a consolation prize overtook me. Is he with me because he couldn’t have her? Is that why he left to meet with them? Leaning up on my arm, I looked down at him. “Is that what you want? Your family?”
“What?”
“Do you want her back?” I choked.
Ben reached up for me and pulled me back to his chest. “Is that what you think I’m telling you? Piper, I only want you. I’m just trying to be truthful with you.”
“I don’t know what to think. Why meet with them? Why now?”
“Not them––just her husband. I wanted him to know that I was sorry for how everything went down. I should never have gotten mixed up with her. I also wanted to thank him for being the man I couldn’t be for my son. He’s the one she should have been with all along. He surprised me though.”
“Oh? How’s that?”
His fingers slowly began to trail up and down my arm. When he spoke, his voice soft and low, a
s if he were still in shock. “He told me that when this is all over, if I cleaned up my act, I could meet my son.”
“Wow. What did you say?”
“Nothing. What do you say to that? I know I’m a fuck up. I know what kind of life I’ve led. The only thing good about me is lying next to me.”
I wanted to believe him, but at the same time I was wondering if I was his new out––his new distraction. “I thought you were the bad guy.”
“Oh, baby, I am. I’m a monster, but I’m so fucking in love with you I can’t breathe when I’m not next to you.”
FLIP. FLOP. THUMP. THUMP, THUMP. My heart scattered a new beat in my chest. He loves me? “Ben—”
“No, don’t say anything just yet. You might not forgive me after what I have to tell you, but I needed you to know that I love you.”
I laid still, waiting for whatever explosion was about to happen next.
“Like I told you a while ago, Ox has been looking for you. You also know about the dollar sign he put on your head. What you don’t know is that I’m supposed to bring you to him.”
There it was. The explosion strong enough to end me.
Pain rippled through my chest. The ground swallowed me whole as I lay there trying to process what he was telling me. He is the one who’s supposed to bring me in. Is that why he won’t let me out of his sight? I thought he was protecting me, and this whole time I was his hostage. Fuck. This. Shit.
Quickly pushing myself up from his chest, I began trying to scoot back on the bed, away from him, but he wasn’t having it. Springing up from the bed, he grabbed my shoulders, pushed me back on to the mattress, and straddled my waist. When I started smacking at him in an effort to push him off of me, he grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head. I tried so hard to buck him off, but it was no use. He was so much stronger than me. Tears of betrayal cascaded down my cheeks.
“Calm. The. Fuck. Down.”
“No. You––you lied to me! You’re just like them!”
A muscle in his jaw twitched as he took a deep breath, pinning me to the mattress. “Do. Not. Ever. Compare. Me. To. Them. We clear? Fucking never.”
“Explain the difference. You’re just biding your time until you turn me over. What is it? The money? Are you that desperate?”
“Got damn it, Piper. Shut up so I can explain.”
“Explain what?”
“If you were quiet for more than two fucking seconds, I would be able to tell you.”
I huffed. He can say whatever he wants, it won’t change the fact that he played me.
“I’m not taking you to him. I never was.”
“But you said—”
“I know what I said. Now shut up so I can explain everything.”
I lay quietly underneath him, waiting for him for to speak. Fighting him now would be pointless. The damage had already been done.
“From the very first time I saw you, there was no going back for me. I knew I was going to bring you back here with me. At that time, I didn’t even know Ox knew about you. I didn’t find that out until he gave me the job of bringing you in. By then, I was already in love with you. I just wasn’t ready to admit it yet. I told him I would do it to get him off my trail, but it looks like I didn’t do a good enough job.” A look of confusion crossed my face, but before I could say anything, he continued. “I thought if I kept you next to me, I could protect you. I was wrong.”
This man was like two completely different magnets all at the same time––one pushing me away and the other pulling at my heart. My body went lax as he slowly loosened his grip on my arms. Once I had control of my hands again, I reached out towards him, pulling his lips down to mine. I didn’t care how much of a monster he thought he was, I saw right through him. He was putting his life on the line to protect me. That didn’t make him the bad guy he was so desperate to be. No, he was the good guy.
His lips softly brushed against mine and then pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. “I didn’t expect a kiss for all of that. I lied to you,” he said, looking down in shame.
“You thought you were protecting me.”
“I obviously didn’t do a very good job at it. Now Jim has gone and made some dumb fucking deal, which I still need to fix. As much as I hate this, I’m going to have to let the FBI take over now. I don’t fully trust them, but I can’t let Jim risk his life for mine.”
“Okay,” I whispered, confused about what that meant for me.
“There’s more.”
Of course there is. “Spit it out, Benjamin.”
“Lady, that’s a thin line. Very few people can use my full name and live to tell about it.”
“I’m not scared. I know you won’t hurt me. Not unless I ask you to.”
Ben chuckled and rolled off of me and onto his side. “Your level of crazy is so fucking sexy. Here I am telling you everything bad about me, and you’re asking me to hurt you.”
“Not my heart though. I just want you to bite me, or like maybe, a little smack on the ass.” I shrugged my shoulders, trying to explain my reasoning.
“Fucking insanely hot. But let me finish spilling my guts first.”
“Sorry. Explain away,” I said, motioning for him to continue.
“My uncle works for the government, so I asked him for a favor. He’s looking for your sister. If he can find her, I’m going to take you to her. I’ll need you to stay there for a bit until my father is no longer a threat.”
“Christina? Seriously? How can he do that?”
“He’s FBI. I think they can do just about anything they want.”
“You can take me to her, but you have to stay with me. I’m not letting you leave me.”
He frowned. “It seems you and I are going to have to agree to disagree on this matter.”
“No, you just need to do what you are told.”
“Who died and made you the boss?”
“No one. I put myself in charge. This is a dictatorship. You don’t get a vote. This is Piper Island. On my island you stay with me. It’s the law.”
“Right, well you’ve finally gone completely mad. How about we just table it for the night? No matter how you label me, I’m still a monster, baby.”
“You’re not going to give up on that are you?” I asked. He shook his head. “Fine. You can be a monster as long as you’re my monster.” I was rewarded with an incredibly sexy smile and one lone dimple. It was a rare sight to see him smile like that, and knowing I was the cause of his happiness was an incredible feeling, almost immeasurable.
“I will always be yours. You are so fucking beautiful. I’m not sure I can lay here much longer and not be inside of you.”
Holy. Fucking. Shit. One sentence and I’m fucking putty in his hands. He was so fucking sexy, and I reveled in the moment, knowing he had finally opened up to me. His hand softly trailed the inner part of my thigh, nearing the edge of my shirt. Goosebumps spread across my skin as his fingers slipped under the elastic of my panties, gently moving them to the side.
“You should just be naked all the time.”
“I could be, but then Jim would see me.”
His eyes darkened and his pupils flared. “Don’t say things like that. I’ll lose my fucking mind.”
“Sorry, but it’s true.”
He let out a harsh breath against the skin of my neck. “Fine. Then when I’m with you in here, you need to be naked.”
“When you’re with me.” His eyes lit up as I grabbed the hem of my shirt and slowly shimmied it over my head, tossing it onto the floor.
“And these?” His fingers traced the elastic of my panties he had shifted earlier, allowing his finger to graze against my skin at the same time. He knew exactly what power he had over my body. Suddenly, the nickname he had given me earlier made so much sense. I am his puppet. He is the master at pulling my strings, guiding my movements. A giggle fell from my lips as he slid my panties down my legs, followed by a trail of soft kisses from his lips. I sat up, reaching for him. Pulling hi
m back towards me, we collapsed on the bed, entangled in each other’s limbs. We were desperate to show our love for one another. The way I felt under him, with his hands touching my skin, was intoxicating. I was drunk on him.
The sound of my name across his lips as he lost himself in me was pure heavenly bliss. We lay there together, talking about random things, just happy in the moments we had together. As the night wore on, my eyes began to grow heavy, though one thought lingered as I fell asleep in his arms. How long will it last?
The sun rose early the next morning, taking Ben with it. He had left me lying in bed wearing one of his shirts, which I had added to my personal wardrobe. I watched his every move before he walked out of our bedroom door that morning. Just before he left, he turned around to tell me he loved me, and I melted into a puddle. I loved him so much it hurt. However, it was also a pain I knew I couldn’t live without.
Aaron was already sitting at a table by the time I got to the café. It killed me to leave Piper lying in the bed looking sexy as fuck in my shirt, but I needed to ask for his help with Jim, and I was hoping he’d have an update on her sister. God knows we needed some good news. Slowly pushing open the glass door, I heard the bell chime as I stepped inside, catching my uncle’s attention. Giving me a quick wave, I nodded, making my way over to the table and sliding into the seat across from him.
“I’m assuming I’m here because you have had some kind of revelation in your horribly laid plan,” Aaron said, forgoing greetings.
“Sort of. My father has upped the mark on Piper’s head. Unfortunately, Jim decided to try and cut a deal with my father to give us three days to get as far away as possible. I can’t let him take the fall like that for me. Tell me you can help. And what about her sister? Were you able to find out anything? I’m desperate.”