Susan laughed, a strangled sound. “I can’t. Once it’s started, it can’t stop.” She choked. “Besides, you can’t kill me, Ben. Doug will destroy your girls if you do.”
His anger cooled to an utter rage, the likes of which he had never known. Gene might have been the criminal in the family, but Ben realized he was capable of committing multiple murders. Boom—he’d end Susan and Doug’s lives without another thought. Hell, he could use their own gun.
He might even enjoy it. How dare they threaten his family, which seemed, at the moment, to include Seven?
“No, Doug won’t be hurting the children, Susan.”
Ben’s head shot up. A man he’d never seen before stood in the doorway, calmly watching him hold Susan on the ground. Where had this man come from? Had Ben been so clouded by his own rage that he hadn’t heard him arrive? As Ben watched, the stranger stuck the gun into a holster on his belt buckle.
“Please.” The blond man strode slowly toward them. “Don’t kill her, Mr. Lavelle. I have her husband locked in the back of my car. It would be my pleasure to take Susan in as well. Imagine a hidden Conditioned couple spending their life targeting other Conditioned.”
Ben breathed hard as he stared at the stranger. “Who are you?”
“My name is Roman Lewis.” He smiled, a mirthless grin. “I’m a Fury.”
Suddenly awash with fear for Seven on the floor and Daphne in the car, Ben got off Susan. He backed up a few steps until he kneeled in front of Seven.
“I don’t understand. How can Susan be targeting Conditioned? She’s been here for years and years.”
Roman sighed. “She and Doug travel a lot for business. I had a hard time figuring them out, which is unusual for me. In that way, Susan, I’m quite impressed.”
The Fury rolled Susan over until she lay on her stomach. In two swift moves, he had her cuffed. She struggled and cursed, regaining full use of her voice again. Roman laughed. “Now, now, Susan, I’ve never heard language quite like that.”
He looked up at Ben. “How do you like having a regular Conditioned serial killer living down the block?” Roman placed his hand on Susan’s head. “Sleep,” he instructed her. Seconds later, Ben heard a loud snore emit from her mouth. “There, now, we shouldn’t have any more problems with her.”
“I’m confused.” And Ben was not used to feeling out of his element.
As Roman nodded, he looked at Seven. “Of course you are. And unfortunately, I’m not allowed to illuminate too much more for you. It goes against the rules.”
“I see.” Ben stood up. “The rules, huh? I was up all last night reading the so-called rules about the Conditioned. As far as I can tell, there is no such thing. It’s just a bunch of the Institutions doing what they want, getting away with it, and no one complaining because what is supposed to be the law is horrendous anyway, so why should anyone bother to make a stink?”
Roman regarded him steadily. The man had no external tics, nothing to show Ben what he thought or felt. He was the most still person Ben had ever seen before.
“Most people don’t feel as you do, Mr. Lavelle. Most people are glad to have them locked up, glad people like me exist who hunt out stray Conditioned and make sure they stay locked up.”
“Yeah, well.” Ben ran a hand through his hair. “Most people are morons, apparently.” He pointed at Seven. She was still in so much pain. It made his heart clench. “Can you help her?”
Ben didn’t know if he’d just doomed Seven to an earlier death by asking Roman. He might have made things worse for her. But he couldn’t leave her as she was. If she could have come back from the ghost light, she would have.
“I can.” Roman placed a hand on Seven’s shoulder. “She’s pretty, isn’t she? For a Conditioned, that is.”
“She’s pretty no matter what she is. She’s the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen.” And I want you to get your fucking hands off her.
It seemed a good idea to keep that last thought to himself. The man was helping Seven. After she was awake and fine, Ben might decide to use some of his pent-up aggression to tell Roman where he could shove his rules and regulations.
Seven’s eyes fluttered open, and she groaned. Ben threw himself down on the floor next to her. Roman had pulled away his hand, which had been on Seven’s shoulders.
“Are you okay?”
Seven tried to sit up, and Ben reached out to help her, his hands under her neck. She closed her eyes as if they pained her.
“It might take a few minutes for your body to reorient itself.”
Her eyes flew open, and she gasped. “Fury.”
Seven said the word like all the horror in the universe could be contained within it. To Ben’s surprise, Roman smiled and a hint of humor lit up his eyes.
“Roman Lewis, at your service.”
Seven grabbed Ben’s hand and squeezed. “I didn’t mean to mess this up. I’ve never seen so much energy. It was everywhere, and it kept coming and coming. I would clear it and then it rushed back.”
Roman nodded. “It was a trap. It’s been handled. None of this is your fault.”
“A trap?”
“I can’t explain it. I’m sorry. It’s Institution business.” He scratched his head.
“Do you remember me?”
Seven blinked. “Have we met before? I’m so sorry, sir, I don’t remember.”
“It’s okay, Seven. I don’t think he’s going to skin you alive for not being able to recall meeting him.” Ben looked up to hold Roman’s steady gaze. “Are you?”
“I would be surprised if she did remember me. It was a long time ago.”
Seven shuddered in Ben’s embrace. “When?”
“The last time you got into a mess like this.”
Ben hadn’t asked for much clarification on this before. He needed more now.
“Seven, you’ve had this happen before?”
“When I was young. It nearly killed me. I woke up from a coma, back in Crescent, a long time later.”
Roman shook his head. “I worked on you for days and days. I’ve never seen someone so close to being gone. But I brought you back.”
“I had no idea. No one ever told me what happened.”
“Well, I’ve never forgotten it. You’re clearly much stronger now. That level of distress would have killed you back then. I’m interested in why it’s happened to you twice. Susan and Doug didn’t start their antics until a few years ago.” He laughed. “But I suppose it doesn’t matter, since I understand you’re to be terminated very shortly.”
Seven pulled herself to her feet. “Yes, I suppose it will be very soon now that I’ve failed at this and it’s over.”
Ben shook his head. “It’s not over.”
Roman exhaled a long breath. “Not nearly, no. There is still the matter of all the ghost energy left in the homes here. It should be pretty easy for you to take down now that it’s not being fueled by psychopaths.”
There was something going on with this man, and it made Ben’s skin ache that he couldn’t figure out what it was. For a Fury, and Lord knew he’d heard enough about the Fury over the years, he seemed incredibly caring toward Ben’s girl. He would always be immensely grateful to him for bringing her back from wherever she’d gotten lost—something Ben was well aware he could not have done himself—but Roman didn’t act how he was pretty sure the Fury should act.
Why was he being gentle?
“Seven is, I understand, slated to be killed as soon as she’s returned. Why bring her back at all? Why save her when she was younger? I don’t think I understand your motivations here, Mr. Lewis.” A thought dawned on Ben. “And I feel like I know your name from somewhere. Lewis. Was it in the news recently?”
After picking up Susan and swinging her over his shoulder, Roman stalked to the door. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s a fairly common name.” Liar.
Ben might have been out of his depth, but he knew a lie when he heard one. It left a bad taste in his mouth. Unti
l that moment, Roman had restrained himself completely, but something Ben had just said to him had clearly thrown him off his game.
“And my reasons for saving the girl are my own.”
Ben chased after him. “They matter in whatever way they relate to Seven. Everything about her matters to me. I have to stop the execution.”
He couldn’t believe he’d just admitted that to a Fury—a member of the organization that would be seeing to her death. But he’d done it, and he wasn’t going to take it back. Roman had affection for Seven, and Ben was willing to use every advantage he could get in his drive to save Seven’s life.
Roman stopped moving and whirled around. “There is nothing I can do about the girl’s death. Not a thing. And I have to tell you that in the Conditioned world, I can do just about anything. I’ve asked myself for years why I can track people across continents and perform tasks that most mere mortals can’t even imagine, but I can’t stop the girl’s early execution.”
It was driving Ben crazy that Roman kept calling her “the girl.”
“She has a name. It’s Seven.”
Roman laughed, a cold, hard sound. “Seven isn’t a name, Mr. Lavelle. It’s a number. If you can save her life, I wish you good luck. Madame is determined she will die. The most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen is to die next week, and I can’t do a damn thing to stop it.”
As if he’d made some grand statement, Roman turned on his heel and left the house as silently as he’d entered it.
“It was a good question.”
Seven’s voice sounded hoarse. He turned around to look at her. “What was?” Ben had asked so many questions he wasn’t sure which one she meant.
“Why does he bother to keep saving my life? He should have just left me in the dark to die years ago, surrounded by that life sucking energy, and saved everyone the trouble of dealing with me.”
He heard the hitch in her voice right before, to his utter horror, tears streamed down her face.
Oh, hell.
Somehow, he’d just made her cry. “Seven?”
“I don’t know, Ben. I thought we were friends. I thought you cared about me. I know, stupid. Non-Conditioned never really care about us. It’s always a nightmare. What was I thinking?”
She covered her face with her hands. Oh no. He couldn’t stand it. Within two seconds, he had her in his arms.
“Seven, no. You misunderstood.”
She sniffed as another sob rocked her body. “I sat right here. I heard every word that you said.” She tried to pull out of his embrace, but he had no intention of letting her go. Instead, he pushed her up against the wall. “Let me go. Please.”
“First of all, you have no need to be afraid of me. I’m not going to do anything to you that you don’t want. Ever. I don’t treat women that way. You were safe last night in my house, and you’re safe now. Do you believe me?”
She nodded. “I’m not afraid of you, Ben. I’m just hurt, which I don’t need you to tell me is really dumb.”
“No, you have every right to be feeling bad if you really think that’s what I meant when I spoke to Roman. But that wasn’t it.” He shook his head. “I don’t trust Roman. He has a game. I can feel it, but I can’t pinpoint it.”
“What does that have to do with anything? I know I can’t follow a lot of stuff, but this I should be able to understand.”
He brushed her hair off her forehead. God, it was so soft. Everything about her felt visceral to him. He wanted to touch, to feel, to breathe in her unique scent. “You understand things on a whole level that I can’t follow. I can’t even begin to grasp what your life has been like.”
“Ben, I—”
“Listen, here’s the thing. You’re mine. That’s all there is to it. You shouldn’t be. I know it’s dangerous for me, for you, for my girls—who have to come first in my life. And yet…”
That was all there was to it. And yet. She was. As impossible as it should have been.
Eight
Seven lay in the dark, listening to the utter silence of Ben’s house. You’re mine.
She could still hear his voice as he’d said those words to her. Husky, possessive. And then his girls had burst through the front door of the house. She and Ben hadn’t gotten to continue their discussion.
As she grabbed the pillow, she rolled over onto her stomach. This might be one of her last nights sleeping on a bed as comfortable as this one, and she was wasting it obsessing over something that couldn’t possibly be true. She couldn’t be his. She was Conditioned. He wasn’t. Plus, he had to hide dear Daphne from the Fury or anyone else who wanted to harm her. Seven was the last person who should be in his life.
She threw the covers off herself, exposing her legs to the air conditioning. The blue-green nightgown Ms. McKidd had included in her purchases barely covered her thighs. It was much different from the full-length white sleeper gown she wore in the Institution. She pushed on a pair of slippers that she’d found in the clothing bag and padded her way softly out of the room.
It would be better to get this idea out of Ben’s mind sooner rather than later, before he went and did something stupid that got his whole family in trouble. She was one little Conditioned girl, and her time on the planet was limited. It was dumb that she’d cried over Ben’s comment. Her hysterics had forced him to make a statement he never should have had to.
Of course, she couldn’t deny that his heated words had done funny things to her insides. Before the horror of what he’d said had dawned on her, she’d actually felt warm in places she hadn’t known could feel like that.
The girls’ room was on the left. The door was slightly cracked, and she poked her head inside. They each had their own bed, but Daphne was curled up next to Ella in the same bed. The scene was so familial, so sweet, that tears sprang out of Seven’s eyes before she could stop them. Quickly, she wiped them away.
As she forced herself to move from the sight of the girls sound asleep, she crept farther down the hall to Ben’s room. She touched the door handle and froze. Could she do this? Could she enter his room uninvited? Her hand shook slightly. It wasn’t as if she was in the Institution. Ben wasn’t going to beat her. He might yell, he might throw her out, but it wasn’t as though she was going to be taken to task physically for intruding on his sleep.
She turned the handle. The room was completely dark except for some light creeping in from outside the window. Ben hadn’t closed his shades. He lay on top of the covers, dressed only in his dark pajama pants. Lying on his stomach with his face turned to the side, Ben breathed in and out with a soft sound.
Seven waited for a second to see if he would wake up. When he didn’t budge, she stepped into his room and closed the door quietly behind her. Wow. Ben was a really sound sleeper. In the Institution, it was important to be able to wake up in an instant and be fully alert. She never knew when they were going to do a random inspection, or if Madame was suddenly going to insist they all get up and clean the place from top to bottom.
She crossed quietly to the side of the bed. It was all she could do to keep from crying again as she looked down at him. He was so beautiful. It wasn’t fair. Men shouldn’t be that breathtaking to regard. Of course, he had told her that she was his. Did that make him hers as well?
Even though she was about to dissuade him of either idea, it was nice that for the brief period of time she had left on the planet, she could think of herself that way.
“Ben.” She whispered his name. It felt silly that she was being so quiet. She wanted him to wake up. Still, he looked so peaceful, and there was a part of her that really didn’t want him to wake up to the millions of burdens she knew he currently shouldered. Maybe she should leave him alone.
His eyes flew open. They were dazed and unfocused. “Seven? Baby? You okay?”
She felt herself tugged down onto the bed next to him. He scooted slightly over until he’d pulled her up against his body.
His hand immediately started tracing circles on her back
.
“Couldn’t sleep? I’m glad you came in here.”
Okay. So he wasn’t going to yell at her for disturbing him. This was almost worse. She hadn’t braced herself for this kind of reception. Kindness was always harder for her to take than abuse. She had so little experience handling it.
“I couldn’t sleep, and I thought we should talk about it.”
He pressed his forehead against hers. “Talk?”
“Yes.” She paused. “Is that okay?”
His voice was barely a whisper. “I don’t know how coherent I am, sweetheart, but I can try.” He rubbed his eyes. “Is this the type of conversation I should go make coffee for?”
“I have no idea how to answer that. I’ve never had coffee.”
He laughed, a low guttural sound that made shivers of pleasure travel up her spine. “We can remedy that in the morning. What time is it, anyway?” He lifted his head to look over her shoulder. It took her a moment to realize he was staring at the clock. “It’s three in the morning. Whatever you want to talk about, can it wait until six or seven?”
Ben was right. This was a really bad move on her part. It was the middle of the night. He needed his sleep. She tried to pull out of his arms.
“Don’t leave.” His voice was low, soothing, like the sound of rain on the rooftop of the Institution dorms. “I like having you here. I’m even willing to talk, if that’s what you need right now.” He brushed her hair out of her eyes, and she sighed.
The man was like a drug that she couldn’t let herself get addicted to.
“Did you have a bad dream?”
“I haven’t been asleep.”
He kissed her nose, and she gasped, but he only grinned at her reaction. “Too much tension today, maybe?”
“No. I can’t sleep because of what you said.”
Her eyes must have been adjusting to the dark, because she clearly made out one of his jet-black eyebrows lift in confusion. “What I said?”
“That I’m yours. I can’t be yours.”
Ben fell silent. Okay, she knew what would happen next. Now he would start to scream.
Illicit Connections (Illicit Minds Book 2) Page 8