Chapter Ten #2
In this he would be completely honest with her. “Yes. If I had known how much it hurt you, I would have put aside my discomfort and talked to you. I’ve been alone for a long time. I don’t turn to other people when I’m down because I can’t trust them.”
“No, you can trust some of us. You haven’t figured out how to manage the trauma you’ve been through. Right now the only way you handle it is to put up walls, but that’s not a life, Ben.”
She wasn’t wrong, but he also wasn’t sure what else to do except take these days with her. “Did you sleep on the plane?”
“Not well.”
At least he could start proving to her that he could take care of her.
He leaned over and scooped her up. “Then we’re taking a nap and we’ll talk about a contract and tonight we’re going to play.
And you’re coming with me. I’m not going to be able to think straight if you’re not with me on this.
I’m sure as fuck not letting you run around Scotland with that massive ass. ”
She didn’t fight him at all, simply let him carry her. “He’s a childhood friend.”
“I don’t care,” he admitted as he managed to get the door open. “I don’t like the way he looks at you. You might see him as a childhood friend, but he doesn’t feel the same.”
She yawned and rubbed her head against his shoulder. “He does, but he’s got a whole lot of baggage. It’s all right. I shall keep him at arm’s length. Ben, I don’t want anyone else. I haven’t for a long time, which is why I’m asking you not to break my heart.”
The soft voice, the vulnerability…it threatened to break his heart, and he’d been so sure he no longer had one.
He’d been certain he’d cut it out and tossed it away.
She was supposed to be safe. She was beautiful and sexy and had this part of herself he could never accept, so it was okay to lust after her.
This woman in his arms had none of her twin’s darkness. She was all light, a light that could lead him somewhere.
She could break him utterly.
“I won’t.” He hoped it wasn’t a lie.
He hoped when whatever happened, she wouldn’t break his, too.
* * * *
“Okay, I now understand.” Sosa looked around the luxurious dressing room. She was wearing a T-shirt that was too big for her and sweats Kenzie was certain were tied a couple of times around her too-thin waist. “You are all the perverts. I expect this of the Bratz doll, but you seem so normal.”
She was going to have to deal with Sosa.
Was there any way Ben was right? Was Sosa a snake Huisman had sent in to bite them all? Or a victim who thought she might have found a way out?
She could be the woman who brought Sosa to justice. Or take on a big sister role. Either way the comments were going to stop.
She kind of wished Kala hadn’t destroyed all those spray bottles.
Kenzie walked into the dressing room and saw who she was talking to.
Both whos. Sophy Weston and Vivian McKay were seated at adjoining mirrors. Sophy was straightening her dark hair while Vivi finished polishing her makeup.
“I am happy with my pervertedness,” Sophy explained with a shrug. “Though it does make my dad go green, and he doesn’t do that often. You would think the amount of times the poor man’s had to clean me up that he wouldn’t care anymore, but no, the sight of me in a corset makes him ill.”
“I’m not a pervert.” Vivi put a hand to her chest like she was delicate and might faint. “I’m hurt.”
She was not. Vivi was kind of a badass. She’d been in England for the last couple of years going to grad school where she was following in her mother’s footsteps and studying psychology. She worked at McKay-Taggart and Knight part time and shared a flat with Kenzie’s cousin Sophy.
Who looked…healthy, and that felt like a miracle.
“Don’t listen to her, Sosa.” Kala walked in behind Kenzie. “She’s a happy pervert. You’ve got a terrible relationship with sex because of the whole ‘kidnapped as a child and forced to grow up in a brothel’ thing. It’s fine. You’ll find the right dick and it will be miraculous.”
Vivi’s jaw dropped. “Kala. Seriously?”
Kala looked to their cousin with a shrug like she didn’t see the problem.
“Or pussy. I’ve heard pussies can be magical, too.
Honestly, or a vibe. Lou used to cuddle with hers when the nights got lonely, but then she got together with TJ and now they’re happy.
But TJ does still cuddle a hot dog. He gets hungry at night. It’s weird.”
“Kala, new friends.” Kenz wasn’t sure they were friends at all.
But then she also wasn’t certain Ben Parker wasn’t playing her for all she was worth.
It hadn’t felt that way. The afternoon had been lovely.
He’d taken her straight to bed, but he hadn’t stripped her and spread her wide for himself.
He’d cuddled her and asked her about her family.
He’d listened to her stories until she’d fallen asleep, and he’d still been holding her when he’d woken her and told her it was time for dinner.
He’d sat beside her as they’d talked with Cooper and Kala and Lou and TJ. Oliver had kept his distance, sitting with Lucy and Sami and Tim.
It felt good to sit there with a Ben who paid attention to her, who was polite to her family and seemed to want to be there.
Of course, she’d told him exactly how to play her.
Sosa shrugged and found one of the comfy seats. “She is not wrong. She is very smart Bratz doll. I don’t know about other one.”
“I swear if you call me a Bratz doll one more time, I’m going to show you that I held back with your friend yesterday,” Kenzie snarled. “I know my mother is being nice to you and I want to be nice as well, but I can be mean.”
Kala snorted and sank down in front of one of the free mirrors.
“She can be. She’s one of those lovely souls who is sweet as pie until she’s done and then she will throw down, and she does not mind pulling out large portions of hair.
If you aren’t attached to it or you’ve been wanting to try something different, try her, man. ”
Sosa looked her up and down as though assessing. “Fine. But just because I do not say thing does not mean it isn’t true.”
“And just because I let you live doesn’t mean I like you,” Kenzie returned.
And then immediately felt guilty, but she wasn’t taking it back.
She turned to her cousin. She’d seen Vivi earlier.
Vivian had been waiting to greet them when they’d gotten to the building, but Sophy didn’t work here.
She only came in for club nights. “Soph, it’s so good to see you. I am not going to ask the question.”
The question Sophy had been asked since she was thirteen years old and diagnosed with cancer.
Her cousin gave her a brilliant smile. “I’m fine. All my checkups are good. Still in complete remission.”
Her port scar had faded, but the evidence would always be with her in that thin line on her chest. Kenzie hugged her tight and tried not to get emotional. Cancer ran in Uncle Simon’s family line, and though Sophy had come through it like a champ, it still almost wrecked them all.
Kenzie took a step back and smiled brightly. “I’m glad to hear it. How is your uncle doing?”
“The duke is quite well, thank you for asking,” she replied.
“Don’t I sound like a proper British aristocrat?
Uncle Clive’s been giving me lessons. We’re handling a bunch of renovations out at Norsely right now, so I’m in full-on Downton Abbey mode.
Except we don’t have all the servants and stuff because my uncle’s on the solitary side. ”
“Your uncle is named Duke?” Sosa asked since she seemed to be such a curious girl.
“My uncle is the Duke of Norsely,” Sophy replied. “My father is his heir right now, and I am here in England learning as much as I can about my family.”
“And breathing, since her mom and dad are helicopter parents,” Kala quipped.
Vivi’s head shook. “I forgot how bad she is at the whole civilized-conversation thing.”
“She’s not wrong,” Sophy admitted. “I’m afraid a long fight with cancer for their only child made them a bit overprotective, and the truth of the matter is they were both something of spies when they were younger, and also they run a company that literally finds missing people.
You can imagine I did not get to do a bunch of teenage rebellion things since the one time I snuck out to go to a party, my mom showed up and insisted on taking my temperature and making sure everyone around me had their flu shots.
I was not popular in high school. Or college, really.
So I needed some space. My dad showed up at my apartment in Dallas when I had a boyfriend over and I walked out to find them discussing my diet and exercise program.
That poor man who I kept around for his large dick was sitting there listening to a lecture about how to keep my blood count where it needs to be.
So here I am in England, and my uncle doesn’t ask about my doctors’ appointments. ”
It had been a hard time for her family, but she knew it had been devastating for Uncle Simon. They were fine now but he still worried, and letting Sophy out into the world had been difficult for him.
“You were sick?” Sosa looked her up and down as though it was hard to see the sick child in the healthy woman.
“I was, but I’m good now. I’ve been in remission for a long time and I take care of myself,” Sophy said and then wrinkled her nose a bit. “Mostly.”
“And I watch out for her, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I get to stay in this fabulous flat right here in Chelsea,” Vivi proclaimed.
“I’m not joking. Uncle Si bought this ridiculous penthouse.
I bring my broke-ass grad student friends up there and they think I’m some kind of billionaire.
I have to tell them no, that is my best friend.
Ooo, Kenz. Did I tell you we’ve been talking about getting a dog to go with the cats?
Soph and I are settling into our spinster era. It’s kind of fun.”
Sophy’s eyes rolled. “She went through a shitty breakup. It’s nothing.”