Chapter 16
Benson
The only thing that kept him going that weekend was Drew’s visit from Brown.
She was in town for a short break and staying in her dad’s guest room through Monday, which meant he erroneously assumed he would part ways with Eden on Saturday and spend the rest of his weekend with Drew, who bounded into his apartment to find her father nursing a hangover and staring at his empty chat box.
By Sunday morning, the hangover was gone, but his daughter still needed him.
“Daaaaad!” she called from the guest room while he made them coffee and heated some eggs and hashbrowns. “Do you have anything healthy? Like vegetables?”
“I’ve got bananas and oranges,” he bellowed back at her.
“But maybe like a head of broccoli?” She bounded out of the guest room still wearing her pajamas.
While Benson would never see anyone but his sweet little girl, he remained grateful that she wasn’t going out like that.
Because, good gracious, he could see everything. “I could really use some broccoli.”
“Who the hell are you?” he asked while flipping eggs. “No daughter of mine ever asked for broccoli. In fact, I have this distinct memory of you screaming at the dinner table because your mother wouldn’t let you go play video games until you ate one broccoli floret.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Drew ripped a banana off the bunch and dumped the entire peel into the garbage before taking a bite, much to her father’s composting chagrin. “I’ve always loved broccoli.”
“Okay, but for breakfast?”
“It goes great in omelets.”
“Whose daughter are you, again?”
They were about to sit down for breakfast when somebody knocked at the door.
A feat, considering this was a private abode that required a list of pre-approved people to get by.
I wonder if it’s Sydney. It also could have been Oliver or Desmond, since they both lived nearby and sometimes dropped things off on Sundays, of all days.
It was none of those people. It was someone who should have been left off the list.
“Hell, no.” Benson almost shut the door in Liam’s face. “Go away.”
Naturally, it was Drew who noticed Liam and bounded forward to say hello. “Uncle Liam!” she shrieked right in Benson’s ear, making him lose his grip on the door handle and create too much room for Liam to enter. “What are you doing here? Oh, my God!” Drew hopped on both feet. “Daddy! Are you two…?”
“Don’t get too excited, kid.” Liam loosened his grip on the insufferable bag strap hanging across his chest to open his arms to a big hug. “I’m just dropping by to talk to your dad about something. Did he tell you I was back in town?”
“Yes!”
“Drew!” Benson was about to peel his daughter off the man who once called him a “witless wonder who lets his two balls duel to decide which speaks first.” “Go put some clothes on. Look at you! Hanging out like that in front of company.”
His daughter rolled her eyes while Liam politely looked away. “He’s the last person to ever creep on me, Daddy.”
“Don’t even put that in my head! Put on a hoodie!”
Drew rushed back to the guest room to do just that, leaving Benson to contend with his unexpected guest on a Sunday morning. “Don’t think you’re staying.”
Liam raised both hands in mock defense. “No worries, big guy. I was on my way to a meeting nearby. Left early so I could go out of my way to say hi. Had no idea Drew was here.”
“I bet.”
“She’s grown quite a bit, huh?”
“Don’t be talking about my daughter’s—”
“The hell is wrong with you? I wasn’t talking about her chest.”
Liam was offended enough that Benson had to take a step back and mutter an apology.
“Sorry. She’s at that age where she’s not quite aware that everyone who raised her now recognizes she’s got an adult body.
I’ve had to deal with some… well, quite frankly, perverts in my office when they came over.
Found out that one of the couriers at the office was making up reasons to drop by when he realized Drew was here. She was seventeen, by the way.”
“Ew. Hope you fired that weirdo.”
“I did. Thanks for asking.” Benson returned to the kitchen, where he had forgotten to turn off the burner. “What do you want?”
Liam glanced in the direction of Drew’s room. When she didn’t come running out, he said with a lowered voice, “It’s about Eden. You saw her message, right?”
The absolute last thing Benson wanted to deal with now was women problems. The only thing worse is men problems. He looked at one right now. Why couldn’t he just will Liam away?
“Of course I did.”
“Well, you should probably know that she figured out what was going on between us.”
There went Benson’s appetite for breakfast.
“Not the whole story. She just figured out that you and I used to… you know.”
Benson was gonna have a stroke.
“With other chicks.”
“I swear to God, I’m gonna kill you.”
“Oh, keep your biceps in your shirt. I’m just saying she knows how we used to roll with other women. Figured it out all on her own. She’s smart, you know. Sees right through our collective bullshit. Dangerous, huh?”
“So, what are you saying? Is this really just like old times?”
“Not at all. That would require your cooperation.”
“Piss off.”
“Ben.” Liam stayed a decent distance away while Benson slammed dishes into the sink. “She hasn’t told us to take a hike. That’s all I’m saying.”
He can’t be serious. Was he suggesting that they both keep dating her?
Her? Eden? One of the most perfect women that Benson had ever met?
I didn’t mind another man dating her for a while.
But I didn’t know it was him… Yes, they were quite familiar with each other’s desires in the bedroom, if only because there was often a woman in between them benefitting from their kinks.
That didn’t mean, however, that Benson wanted to relive those times.
There was a reason they were in the past. A reason Liam had flown the coop and gone to California, as far away from Benson as possible.
He had meant it when he confessed it was his fault. I’m the reason it blew up. Benson was old and mature enough to admit it.
The thought of Eden being with this man, of all men… honestly, Benson would prefer if his girlfriend were getting torn apart by someone he hated.
Because he didn’t hate Liam. Part of the reason they blew up was because Benson was too uptight and unable to see the forest through the trees.
He had cared so much about the delicate balance of his relationships that he couldn’t take it anymore.
He had scared himself away. Only instead of being the one to extract himself from the reason, it was Liam who pretended everything was fine.
“So, what are you really saying?” Benson finally asked while drying off his hands.
“I’m saying we should talk to her. Together. Sometime this week.” He cleared his throat. “And let’s not go out with her, either of us, until then.”
“Says the man who probably saw her last night.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“I could punch your face in right now.”
“Because you weren’t invited?”
Don’t start with me. Liam had always had a smart mouth on him. It was one of the things Benson loved… until it was directed at him. Also, it had been a terrible influence on Drew when she was a sassy middle schooler learning how to push boundaries with adults and establish her real personality.
“Fine. We’ll arrange something with her this week. But it’s officially tax season, so I’m swamped most evenings until Friday.”
“Don’t worry. I’m also busy. She’s the only one who isn’t.”
“Tell her Friday.”
“You should tell her.”
“Why me?”
“I think she would appreciate it if it came from you, Ben.”
He thought back to those texts Eden had sent him in the aftermath. I embarrassed her. Scared her. Humiliated her. What was supposed to be a hot and beautiful night sharing something had turned into something ugly. And all because Benson couldn’t keep his cool in a sex club.
Perfect timing for Drew to come back out, dressed in leggings and a sweatshirt.
“You’re leaving already?” she asked Liam, who made for the door.
“Ah, yeah. Was just stopping by before a meeting. Good to see you, Drew.”
The disappointment on her face was palpable.
Sweet Jesus. Drew had been one of the most affected when Liam left, and Sydney never let Benson hear the end of it.
“Why is she crying so much? Nothing was going on between them, right? I swear to God, Ben. This is why you don’t introduce your young daughter to strange people the moment you get to know them.
Kids grow attached!” Said the woman who was remarried within a few months…
I could’ve been remarried by now. Anna. Chloe. Violet. Libby. He had loved them all in his own way.
Eden.
“I’ll tell her,” Benson said.
“Tell who?”
Both men looked at Drew. Liam was put on the spot, but it was Benson who had to explain things to his own daughter. “I’ve been seeing someone, peach. We’ve hit a bit of a rough patch, and your Uncle Liam has injected himself into the equation.”
“Jeez, Ben.”
“What? She’s old enough to know some things now.”
Drew was still confused, of course. “I knew you were dating around, Daddy, but didn’t realize it had been the same woman. Oooh, is she cute?”
“The cutest,” Liam interjected. “Your dad’s a lucky guy. You might say I’m jealous.”
“Do I get to meet her?”
“Not yet, peach. Maybe if we get through this patch.”
Drew was placated by that. “Are you staying in town?” she asked Liam.
“Yeah. I’ve moved back for the foreseeable future.”
“Can we please get dinner sometime? I wanna hear all about Cali!”
“She almost went to Stanford,” Benson proudly said. “That was her backup school.”
“Daddy! It so wasn’t.”
“You’re a bright kid.” Liam ruffled Drew’s fluffy hair, making her giggle while also ducking out of his way.
Even though she was almost as tall as him now, Drew still knew how to act like that gangly middle schooler who climbed her father’s friends like giant pine trees so she could get better looks at the tigers.
Fuck. It all hit Benson like a truck.
“Maybe.” Liam glanced at Benson, who was noncommittal about whether he thought that a terrible idea or didn’t care.
One thing he could trust Liam with was Drew.
One of the only men on this planet I’d be fine leaving her alone with all night.
And Benson knew every one of Liam’s dirty, filthy secrets.
But he had never been untoward with Drew. Never once gave either Benson or Sydney reasons to distrust him. He took his role as “uncle” as seriously as he would as a big brother and all that entailed.
“I'd better get going.” Liam turned toward the door. “Sunday brunch meetings will be the death of my free time.”
Drew followed him to the door to say goodbye and to force him to promise to take her out to dinner sometime soon. Benson remained in the kitchen, wanting to smack his head against the stove and pretend none of this was happening.
Yet I’m the only one to blame. Liam, Drew… Sydney… Eden…
They all suffered because of him and his stupid, arrogant ego.
The fact that Liam had walked back into his life… and that Eden was already there between them?
Well, it almost felt like fate. And Benson hated nothing more than the feeling that his life was not his to control.