by Lexi Archer
5: What's He Doing Here?
When we walked into the massive gym attached to the church my heart nearly stopped. I definitely stopped walking, and a moment later Diana was turning to look at me with a question plain on her face.
“Is something wrong Sean?”
I shook my head. I looked across the gym. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was him. My mortal enemy. The biggest asshole in the world as far as I was concerned. The man who so recently had said he was going to do his best to get with Diana. The man I'd decided not to warn her about because I didn't think there was a chance the two of them would meet.
Ben.
Damn it.
“What’s he doing here?” I asked.
Diana followed my gaze and a small smile played across her face as her eyes landed on Ben. Now that was definitely odd. Why the hell was my fiancée smiling like that as she looked at him? She knew how much I hated him.
“Ben? His niece goes to the youth group. He probably volunteered to help out with chaperoning,” Diana said.
I shook my head. Great. Just great. That was the last thing I needed. Ben parading around the place doing his best to get in my fiancee's pants. Why hadn't I said something to her? And it wasn't like I could talk about it here while we were surrounded by people. Or that I could get her away on our own again after what we'd just done in her dad's office. She'd think I was trying to get her alone for a little more fun.
God how I hated him, and suddenly the fun I’d been looking forward to later in the night sneaking away to one of those off-limits places with my fiancée didn’t seem worth it if this asshole was here. I felt all my hopes for the evening crumbling as I looked at him. As I wondered how I was going to keep her away from him. Or maybe get her alone so I could tell her why he was probably really here.
As though speaking of the devil was enough to draw his attention suddenly Ben looked over and locked eyes with us. Smiled. It was an innocent enough smile, Diana even smiled back at him and waved just a little which surprised me since I didn't think they knew each other all that well, but I knew what was hiding under that not-so-innocent smile. I felt panic rising as he jogged over to us.
“Why is he coming over here?”
Diana reached out and pushed my shoulder. “Hush and be nice. I know you two don't get along, but there’s no reason you can’t both be adults here in front of the kids!”
I looked at my gorgeous fiancée as though she’d suddenly sprouted a second head. What the hell was she talking about? We “don't get along?” She knew exactly how much I hated him and what an asshole he was. I talked about it all the time.
Surprises piled on top of surprises as he walked over and smiled at both of us, and then he scooped Diana up in a huge hug! What the hell?
“Diana! So good to see you!” he said. He put her down and she had a blush running across her face. A blush! I felt like this situation was spiraling out of control. What the hell was going on here? He turned to me again and that smile suddenly took on a distinctly predatory gleam. I didn't like that at all. Suddenly I thought this nice act he was pulling might not be so nice after all.
"Good to see you too Ben," she said. "Though I was surprised to see you."
I looked between the two of them still not quite believing what I was seeing. They were talking like they were old friends. When the hell did that happen and where the hell was I? And what did that mean for the little situation? For the bet he seemed to be pursuing even though I'd told him to fuck off, though not in so many words? It was obvious he was here working an angle, and with the way the two of them were chatting like they were buddies I felt something new aside from anger and arousal.
Worry.
This was new. This was different. This wasn't part of the plan when I decided to throw my fiancee to the wolf standing before us thinking he'd never actually be standing before us. Damn it, damn it, damn it!
“You two know each other?”
"Sort of," Diana mumbled.
Ben didn't say anything. He just had that smile. That stupid smile that I wanted to punch off of his face, but if I wasn't going to do it at David's house earlier in the week I sure as hell wasn't going to do it here in front of all these witnesses!
I didn't like that smile. There was definitely a hell of a lot going on here that I needed to get to the bottom of.
Ben turned to me and stuck out a hand. “I know we don't always get along Sean, but maybe a truce for tonight considering where we are?”
I didn’t move to take his hand at first, but Diana nudged me in the shoulder. Reluctantly I stuck my hand out and grasped his. For a surprise he didn’t try to turn the handshake into a dick measuring contest. No, instead he pulled me in for a hug. What the hell was going on here? It was like I’d been transported to some sort of bizarro world where nothing made sense!
Only everything made sense if this was an act. If this was his attempt to get in Diana's good graces. If only for one night. That's all he would need to win the bet in his head.
The asshole. It was a good enough act. Only I was studying his face very closely. I was watching for any sign as to his true motives. You didn’t have a worst enemy for years without learning a bit about how they operated. And staring so closely was exactly what allowed me to catch it.
It was the briefest flicker of motion. His eyes moved to Diana and for just a moment there was something else there. Something other than sincerity. It was a look that chilled me to the bone.
Hunger. Lust. In that brief look as his eyes moved over my fiancées body, and I knew just how gorgeous her body was. It didn't seem the look was entirely lost on Diana either considering the way she was blushing! Either way, it was clear with that one look that this whole thing was a sham. This whole thing was for Diana's benefit, or maybe for his benefit. There was no sincerity there. There was only a desire to look good in front of my fiancée, and I had a pretty damn good idea what game he was playing.
I really needed to get her alone to tell her what this was all about, only even as I thought that I wondered if it would even work at this point. If I'd told her right after the little altercation at David's house then she might've believed me. If I did it now she might just think I was making it up to make him look bad.
Damn it!
I was instantly on guard as I pulled my hand away. This was a snake in the grass who was planning something. And from the way he looked at Diana I had a pretty good idea of exactly what was he was up to. Still, I could take consolation in one fact that was my trump card in this bet that I didn't even want to make: she was taken and even if she did give into his advances there was no way he was getting around her whole waiting for marriage policy.
I hoped. Or did I considering how turned on thinking about that made me? I just didn't know. It was so damned confusing!
“Anyways,” Ben said. “I need to get back to my niece and her friends, but maybe I’ll see you around tonight?”
“Maybe,” I muttered as Diana smiled and said “Of course!”
I looked at her and there was suspicion written plainly on my face. I couldn’t help it. And when she looked at me, when she saw that look on my face, rather than getting upset like I imagined she would if I was suspicious of her, especially after we’d been together for a few years now and we were engaged, there was something else there. Guilt. A fresh blush rose to her face.
Something weird was definitely going on here beyond what I'd originally suspected. I needed to find out what it was, but I was worried that I definitely wasn’t going to like it when I did find out!
I was about to pull Diana aside and off to someplace more secluded, I didn't care what she said we were going to have a chat, when a bundle of blonde activity appeared beside us smiling up with bright blue eyes.
"Hey guys!" Breanne said. "Just the two I was looking for! Diana, I need you to do a morality patrol pre-check for the girls' sleeping area, and I was hoping Sean could hit the guys' side?"
Diana grinned. "Of cou
rse!"
And then she was gone. Damn it. Morality patrol. The two sleeping areas were intentionally on opposite ends of the church to prevent any mingling between the sexes after dark, which meant that if I was doing a pre-check I was going to be as far from Diana as it was possible to be.
I looked after her as she disappeared and briefly thought about ignoring Breanne, but she cleared her throat and gestured off in the direction of the guys' sleeping area. I sighed and headed off in that direction.
I could always talk to Diana later. It's not like she was going to get in much trouble in the ten minutes it took to get to the other side of the church or anything.
6: Morality Patrol
We called it the morality patrol. It was a little joke about exactly what it was we were supposed to be preventing chaperoning a bunch of teenagers in a giant church with plenty of dark areas to go off and get up to no good, though in all honesty we hadn't ever had too much trouble with people trying to sneak off and have a little fun.
At least we'd never caught anybody.
Church leaders figured that was a sign that everything they were teaching was actually taking root. I always figured it was just a sign that the church chaperones weren't as good at ferreting out people up to no good as they thought they were, but I kept those thoughts to myself. I was already not exactly a favorite of Diana's father by simple virtue of the fact that I was the one dating his little girl, and he didn't take too kindly to people contradicting his view of the world.
I'd learned long ago not to rock that boat.
So I bided my time. I figured all I had to do was wait until we were married and I could finally get her away from the asshole for good. At least I hoped and prayed to a God I wasn't nearly as sure existed as her dad was that I'd be able to get her away from him.
Hell, that was part of the reason why I was even at this shindig in the first place. I'd gone to a couple of these lock ins with Diana when we were in school, but I hadn't tried anything crazy. I never tried to sneak over to the girls' side of the church where they slept because I figured that would be the end of both my life and my relationship with Diana if I was caught and word inevitably got back to her father.
The first patrol of the night was pretty straightforward. It was just a spot check of the parts of the church where everybody would be sent off to sleep if they got tired. Most of the actual fun and activities happened in a massive pole barn/gym combo that served as the activity room for the church, but they also wanted to provide a nice quiet place for people to go and get some shut eye if they actually got tired. Just because it was a lock-in didn't mean they were going to force the kids to stay up all night.
Of course providing a nice quiet dark place for people to sleep meant an added layer of difficulty for the people who were chaperoning the damn thing. It meant one more area we needed to keep an eye on, as though the rest of the massive church wasn't trouble enough. Locking down some areas helped out a little, but it was still one hell of an undertaking for the number of people chaperoning.
It annoyed me. All the more so because I didn't really want to be here in the first place. The only reason I volunteered in the first place was because it was the only way I was going to see Diana on this particular Friday night, and maybe even Saturday night too considering that she was usually pretty beat after staying up all night for one of these things.
The guys' sleeping area was a pretty big room. There was no shortage of large meeting rooms at this church. It was an old brick monstrosity that had been built over a century ago, with additions surrounding it that were added in the years since that definitely didn't match the original architecture.
I looked into the room and glanced around quickly. There were piles of sleeping bags and overnight bags and whatnot, but nobody in here. The lights were still on, even. Nobody had decided to retire for the night yet, which didn't surprise me considering how early it was.
I grinned. I had a little fun worked up for later when most of the lights did go out. I figured I might finally be able to prove to that old asshole that the people at his church weren't as pure as he thought, but that was a surprise for later. Right now I just needed to get back to the gym where hopefully I'd find Diana and I could pull her aside to warn her about Ben and his less-than-pure intentions towards her this evening.
Only as I was turning to head back to the gym something occurred to me. Diana had disappeared off to the other side of the church where the girls' room was set up. That was in the old church proper, and not in one of the auxiliary buildings that had been added in the years since. And she was all alone over there as far as I knew.
That caused some very naughty thoughts to suddenly bubble up in my mind. Maybe they'd never actually caught any of the horny teenagers having fun in one of these rooms, but that didn't mean I couldn't have some fun if I happened to run into my fiancée all alone in one of those rooms, did it? After all, this early it was probably as deserted on her side of the church as it was over here.
It seemed like a perfect opportunity to get up to some hanky-panky that her dad definitely wouldn't approve of. And it was made all the more delicious because he wouldn't approve of it. Because I would be defiling that asshole's precious church at the same time that I was defiling his daughter.
I smiled. No, that was definitely too good of an opportunity to pass up. And so instead of turning back to the gym I turned and made my way over to the part of the church where the girls' rooms were located.
As I made my way down the hall, it smelled musty and old just like everything in the old wing of the church, I was surprised to hear something. Voices up ahead.
I don't know why, but for some reason that made me stop short. Why would there be voices up ahead? People going there to sleep were supposed to be quiet, but it was way too early in the evening for anyone to be thinking about sleep. No, those rooms should be absolutely quiet. Even if Diana was in there it's not like she would be talking to herself, would she?
No, definitely not. Besides, that was definitely her voice, and there was also a male voice in there. My eyes narrowed. A male voice I was pretty sure I recognized.
Ben. Of course it would be Ben. Apparently he'd decided to take full advantage of his status as a chaperone, and he'd managed to get some alone time with my future wife in a way that I never would have anticipated.
I had to give him credit. The man was crafty. Sure it was also partly my fault. Sure I could've put his game to an end before it started if I'd just told Diana what he was up to, but it was too late for that now.
No, I was getting exactly what I asked for. I'd wanted to teach her a lesson. I'd wanted to teach her what it meant to have a real player angling for her instead of a nice guy like me. I'd wanted her to get a feel for that experience and realize just how good she had it with me. I didn't think anything would actually happen. I didn't think it would go this far. I didn't think he'd ever be in this position in the first place!
What the hell were they doing in there? It's not like it was exactly forbidden for opposite sex chaperones to go off on their own to different parts of the church. It was something that had to be done as a part of the job sometimes. Still, it also wasn't something that was exactly smiled upon. That they were out here alone was out of the ordinary, and it was very out of the ordinary considering what Ben was up to.
I briefly considered bursting into the room and interrupting, but I didn't. I was interested in this new mystery. In how friendly they'd been with each other down in the gym. In finding out why they were here alone in the church in a mirror of an idea that I'd had moments ago.
It seems Ben beat me to my own big idea.
Maybe it was stupid, but curiosity got the better of me. I moved right up next to the door, got down close to the ground making sure to make as little noise as possible, and peered around the edge. I was very interested in what was going on in there, let me tell you!
The room was fairly long and ran against the outside wall of the old church on the s
econd floor. It had the same musty and dusty smell as the rest of the old church. It seemed like no matter how much time the cleaning people spent, and that wasn't much considering it was a volunteer force of little old ladies who did most of the work, they could never get that smell out.
Just like the room where I'd been, there were sleeping bags and overnight bags and backpacks strewn about. The lights were still on in here as well. Along the back wall were several floor to ceiling storage closets that held who knew what. There were also several knee level storage areas that doubled as benches running below stained glass windows on the outside wall. And standing in the middle of the room was Ben looking Diana up and down.
"I told you Ben," she said. "You shouldn't be in here. You of all people should know the rules!"
Ben smiled at her. "And you of all people should know what I think about those rules Diana. I never did like them when my parents forced me to go to these things."
I blinked. I felt like a bolt of lightning had come out of the sky and hit me straight in the chest. I felt like a ball of ice had settled down there. The old days when his parents forced him to come to these things? Had he actually gone to this church? Had he been a part of Diana's youth group? Did he know my fiancée beyond just seeing each other in school like I'd initially suspected?
She'd never mentioned knowing Ben that well before. She'd always been ambivalent when I brought him up, but she was definitely more than aware of how much I hated the asshole.
So if they'd gone to the youth group, if they went to the same church, then why the hell hadn't she ever mentioned anything? For that matter, why hadn't he brought it up all those times he was talking about my fiancée?
It was definitely an interesting added wrinkle to the whole situation.
This new information had me very uncomfortable even as I was very turned on watching her in there with him. The way she was looking at him, the way they were standing so close to one another, it almost made me think there was something going on between them. Of course there couldn't be anything going on between them. Her dad had her under tight wraps, and whenever she wasn't with him she was either at class or with me. She just didn't have time to step out on me.