Benson Siblings Series: A Dark Romance Boxset

by Sarah Bailey

  “Little one,” he murmured, stroking my hand.

  “I’m scared,” I whispered.

  He turned in my arms and took my face in his hands, staring down at me with those beautiful green eyes of his.

  “It’ll be okay.”

  “He asked why you look so familiar.”

  “Did you tell him?”

  I shook my head. He brushed a thumb over my bottom lip, leaning towards me.

  “We are going to have to explain it.”

  “I know.”

  He kissed me then, slowly at first, then it became heated as his tongue wound around mine, sending tingles down my spine. I stifled the urge to moan and pull him closer. He pulled back, smiling at me in that heart stopping way of his.

  “Go take those in and don’t worry too much.”

  He kissed my forehead before stepping away and checking on dinner again. I picked up the glasses he indicated and took them back through into the living room, setting them down on the dining table. Jensen had already set it for three.

  “He’s just finishing dinner,” I told James by way of explanation.

  He stood up and came over to me. I pointed at the big windows and we both looked out across the city.

  “You’re right, this view is incredible.”

  “Jensen is Ben’s brother,” I said quietly, knowing it was time I started giving him some honest truths about why I’d been keeping Jensen a secret.

  James looked at me, his eyes wide.

  “Wait, what? I didn’t know Ben had a brother.”

  “They don’t exactly get along.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Is that why you got freaked out at Liora’s birthday party and left suddenly? Dante and Jen were really worried about you but Ellie seemed to think you were okay.”

  I nodded.

  “Yeah, I didn’t know until I met Ben that day. That’s not exactly why we’ve been keeping our relationship a secret though.”

  I heard a noise behind us and turned, finding Jensen walking towards the table with plates in his hands. I gave him a slight smile.

  “Do you want help?”

  He shook his head and waved me off. So I put my hand on James’ arm and indicated we should sit. He took a seat across from me, leaving Jensen a place next to me, which I couldn’t say I was unhappy about.

  Jensen brought the rest of the food through and I started dishing it up. He’d made a seafood risotto with a dressed salad to accompany it. It smelt amazing. Jensen liked cooking, which I appreciated since I was a terrible cook.

  After we all tucked in, I hoped we could stay on neutral topics of conversation, but the first question out of James’ mouth had me flinching in my seat.

  “So, what do you do, Jensen?”

  Jensen put a hand on my knee and gave it a squeeze.

  “I’m a psychotherapist and a fully qualified doctor.”

  “And how did you meet my sister?”

  I noticed the way James’ eyes had narrowed to slits.

  “Well, as it happens, I met your sister in your girlfriend’s bar.”

  James’ eyebrows shot up and he looked at me with bewilderment in his expression. I was just going to have to lay it out for him. It’d be easier that way.

  “We met in Frankie’s and it wasn’t supposed to be a thing,” I started, resting my hand over Jensen’s on my knee. “I don’t think either of us expected to see each other again, but…”

  “I’m your sisters’ therapist,” Jensen said, saving me from having to admit the truth.

  James sat back and stared at us for a long minute. I wasn’t sure what to make of his expression. It didn’t look like he was pissed off or anything, but I didn’t think he was exactly happy about what we’d just revealed either.

  “That’s why you don’t want to tell Jen,” he said quietly.

  I nodded, watching my brother turn his attention to my boyfriend.

  “Isn’t it completely unethical for you to be in a relationship with my sister when you’re treating her?”

  Jensen put his fork down and tugged his hand from my thigh. I almost whimpered at the loss of contact. He placed his elbows on the table and put his hands out.

  “It is, however, as of two days ago, Fi is no longer my client. I’m not going to sit here and defend what happened. We’re both aware of what we did and I accept responsibility for my part in it. I care about your sister. Both of them, in fact. I don’t like this situation, but it is what it is. I’m trying to do what’s best for everyone involved, but I realise, ultimately, people are going to get hurt.”

  James was quiet again. I pushed my food around my plate, feeling my appetite disappearing by the minute. Jensen put his hand over mine, stilling it before leaning over to me.

  “You need to eat,” he murmured.

  It’s like he knew exactly what was going on with me without asking. Letting go of my hand, he gave me a warning look before straightening in his seat again. I stuffed a fork full of risotto in my mouth and chewed. It really did taste amazing, but my stomach was twisting and turning, wondering what my brother would say.

  “You’re still treating Jen,” James said as a statement more than a question.

  “Yes. It would be disruptive to her treatment if she was to see another therapist right now.”

  James looked down at his plate.

  “Why are you two telling me this?”

  “Jensen wants me to go to his parent’s wedding anniversary party with him. Avery and Aiden will be there and I need them to keep it from Dante and Jen,” I said.

  James let out a long breath, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “You want me to talk to Avery. You realise you’re putting me in a shit situation.”

  I slipped out of my seat before Jensen could stop me, walked around to my brother and took a seat next to him.

  “You remember what I said in the car?” I whispered.

  “Fi…”

  I put a hand on his arm, silently begging him with my eyes.

  “James, please, you understand, don’t you? I’ll tell them when I’m ready, but Jen needs to get better first. She’s doing so well and I don’t want to be responsible for messing that up. She needs this more than I do.”

  He glanced between me and Jensen, pursuing his lips.

  “I think we need to talk about this alone, Fi.”

  I sighed, looking over at Jensen who nodded at me.

  “I’ll be in the kitchen,” he said before he got up and walked out.

  My heart ached, but I had to do this without him.

  “James…”

  “I’ll keep your secret and I’ll talk to Avery, Fi, but I’m not happy about it. You know this is wrong, right? He’s her therapist too. What the hell were you thinking?”

  I flinched. Having my younger brother tell me off about something cut me deeply. I knew what happened between Jensen and me was forbidden. That wasn’t why I wanted him though. Jensen drew me in like a moth to a flame. I revelled in his dominance and his caring nature. The way he soothed me when I was upset and how he always knew the right thing to say.

  “I didn’t want it to happen like this.”

  He shook my hand off his arm.

  “Then why did you let it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Don’t bullshit me.”

  I looked down at my hands, not wanting to meet his eyes any longer. I hated the disappointment in them. This is exactly why I dreaded telling anyone in my family.

  “For so long I’ve lived my life trying to protect Jen because I feel guilty for not being able to protect her from Dad. After it happened, I just felt numb. I wasn’t there for her in the way she was for me. She screamed and cried and told him to stop, but me? I just sat there in a state of shock. I couldn’t do anything afterwards. I blame myself for not stopping him.”

  I felt a hand on my arm
but I didn’t look up.

  “I know I shouldn’t have done anything with Jensen when I found out he was going to be my therapist and I swear to you I wasn’t going to either. But can you really blame me for doing something for myself for once in my life? Am I not allowed to be with the person who makes my heart race? Who makes me happier than I’ve ever been before. When I’m with Jensen, it’s like I can be the best version of myself because he’s there to catch me when I fall. He means everything to me. He’s helped me so much. I can’t be without him.”

  I didn’t realise I was crying until I felt James tuck a hand under my chin and wipe away a stray tear with his thumb. His eyes were soft and full of understanding.

  “I didn’t know you felt that way about what happened with Dad.”

  I wiped my face with my sleeve, feeling ridiculous for crying.

  “None of us ever really talked about it.”

  I was changing that though. Trying to be open about how my Dad made me feel that day.

  “You really feel that way about Jensen?”

  “Yeah… I told you in the car, I love him.”

  He dropped his hand and sighed.

  “Shit, Fi. I mean, I get it. You meet the right person and everything else just seems insignificant, but you know this will hurt Jen. And I dread to think what Dante will do.”

  I waved a hand.

  “I can handle Dante. He’ll be mad, but what’s he going to do? He can’t stop me from living. I think that’s what I’ve learnt from therapy. You have to make your own decisions and sometimes those will hurt those you love, but if in your heart you know it’s right, then you have to take that risk.”

  He leant forward, mischief in his eyes and I immediately stiffened, knowing James was likely to come out with something stupid the next moment.

  “You’re not worried Dante might try to kick the shit out of Jensen for taking advantage of you?”

  I shoved him, almost causing him to topple off the chair. James laughed, giving me one of his smiles.

  “Shut up. You know as well as I do he’d make Brent do his dirty work for him.”

  I shook my head and smiled back. That was the thing about James. He always knew how to make light of a situation, but he could be counted on to be serious when he needed to be.

  “I guess I’ve got to get my best friend on board with this now.”

  “You can tell Ellie too, but please no one else. And don’t tell them about him being my therapist either. Make up whatever you want, just it can’t get back to Ben and his parents.”

  “Don’t worry, Fi, I’ve got your back.”

  I ruffled his hair as I stood up, earning a scowl.

  “I’m going to get Jensen. Be nice, please.”

  He gave me a wounded look.

  “Me? Not be nice?”

  I pointed at him and shook my head.

  “I’m warning you.”

  I heard his peel of laughter as I walked away into the kitchen. Jensen was leaning up against the counter with his phone in his hand. He looked up when I came in, giving me a tentative smile.

  “Okay, little one?”

  I took his phone out of his hand and placed it on the counter as I reached him before wrapping my arms around him.

  “Yeah. He’s okay with it, I think.”

  “Good.”

  He kissed the top of my head and held me.

  “He’ll probably give you shit for all of this, but that’s just James being James.”

  I felt the rumble of his chest against my face.

  “I think I can handle your brother.”

  “Thank you for this. It means a lot to me.”

  He rubbed my back, stroking his hand up and down my bare skin as his fingers crept under my t-shirt.

  “I should be thanking you. You’re doing this so you can meet my family. It’ll be difficult, you know.”

  I nodded. I was under no illusions about the struggles we’d face what with the discord between him and his family.

  “We’ll be okay,” I whispered. “We have each other.”

  He squeezed me before letting go.

  “Come on, little one, we better not neglect our guest.”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “Our guest, hmm?”

  He gave me a wink before dragging me out of the kitchen, leaving me wondering just what he meant by that comment. Did Jensen want us to be a permanent fixture? Did he see this as my home just as much as his? He needn’t have worried about me not feeling like I was home when I was at his. Mostly because wherever Jensen was felt like home.

  I smiled at him as we both sat down again. Perhaps a conversation for the future when everything had settled down. There was no need to push our relationship into territory we weren’t ready to face yet. Not when I still had telling Jen to contend with. That was going to cause enough problems for us as it was.

  So I shoved aside those thoughts and concentrated on dinner between me, my boyfriend and my younger brother, feeling a little sense of relief that James understood. I didn’t think things would go over so smoothly when I told Dante the truth. That was a worry for another day.

  Little did I know that day would come sooner than I expected.

  Chapter Twenty One

  Jensen

  Now Fi was no longer my client, there didn’t seem much point in hiding what we were any longer. Except for her family, of course. She’d been so nervous about telling her younger brother, but he’d taken the news surprisingly well. Given what all the siblings had been through, I supposed many things in this world no longer shocked them.

  Taking her to dinner this evening was the first step towards us having a normal relationship without the forbidden aspect weighing us down. She stepped into the coffee shop across the road from her offices with a smile on her face. As soon as she saw me, it became radiant. I stood up from the table to catch her in time as she barrelled her way into my arms.

  “I missed you,” she breathed.

  It’d been four days. She had to work over the weekend due to some complications with shipments and needed to focus. My talented little one was nothing if not dedicated to her company.

  “You have me now.”

  She reached up, tugging me down so she could kiss me. Her enthusiastic hello was as infectious as it was cute. If it had been any other woman, I would’ve rolled my eyes at how lovesick the two of us were over each other. With Fi, it felt right. Like we were teenagers experiencing their first love and never wanting to let go.

  “Fiona…” a deep voice sounded from behind us.

  Fi pulled back and turned around. Her body stiffened and I realised why when I looked at the person who called out her name.

  “D…Dante?”

  He strode towards us, his face thunderous as he looked me over.

  “You left your phone on your desk.”

  He grabbed her hand and slapped her phone down on it. Giving both of us a cursory once over, he turned and walked away.

  “Dante!”

  Fi scrambled away from me and chased after her brother. I followed, grabbing my coat and leaving my half finished coffee on the table, completely forgotten.

  “Dante, please wait!”

  Fi had caught up to him and was holding his sleeve when I got outside. He turned to her, his eyes dark with repressed anger and disappointment.

  “What?” he barked.

  “I can explain.”

  “Explain what exactly, Fiona? About how you’re screwing your therapist. I don’t want to hear it. I knew you were up to something, I just didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to do this.”

  Tears welled in Fi’s eyes and the sight of it broke something inside me. He turned on me, blue eyes blazing. It didn’t surprise me he knew who I was. From what Fi had said, Dante seemed like the sort of person who’d be meticulous in his approach to choosing his sisters’ therapist.

  “And you, don’t think I’m not going to rep
ort you for this shit. Those are my fucking sisters and you’ve taken advantage of them.”

  She tugged on his sleeve. I tried not to feel affected by his accusation but the reality was, I had taken advantage of Fiona in the beginning. I’d used her need for me so I could have her, but things were different now. I loved her. She happened to be the only thing in this world keeping me from my descent back into my hellish existence of misery, insomnia and regrets.

  “It’s not like that. Please, let me explain. You can’t report him.”

  He shook her off as I took a step towards them, putting a hand on Fi’s shoulder.

  “I hope your little affair with her was worth losing everything for,” he snarled before striding across the road back towards Bensons.

  Fi tried to go after him but I held onto her.

  “Let me go!”

  “Little one, calm down.”

  She stared up at me, tears now streaming down her face as she struggled to get away.

  “How can I? He’s going to ruin you. I have to stop him.”

  I shook my head, pulling her to me and burying her face in my chest.

  “No, he’s not. Your brother is angry right now, but when he calms down, he’ll see reason.”

  “You don’t know him.”

  I knew men like him. Men who protected their family at all costs. I also knew they were calculated in their approach to everything. They’d never do anything without considering all the angles and consequences of each action they took. Men like Dante weren’t impulsive.

  “Shh, it’s okay. Come on, let me take you home.”

  She shook her head against my chest but clutched me tighter.

  “Trust me, there’s nothing you can say which will make this situation any better right now.”

  Was I angry about his reaction? Fuck yes, I was. It wouldn’t help Fi though. She needed me soft and calm. I stuffed my rage down in a pocket to be analysed later.

  “I don’t want anyone to see me like this,” she whispered.

  I stroked her hair and pulled out my phone, ordering an Uber so she wouldn’t have to get on the Tube. It pulled up five minutes later and by that time she’d stopped crying. She buried her face in my chest the whole way home, holding onto me like she would drown if she let go. Her phone was blowing up in her hand so I took it from her and read out the messages.