Chapter 14 #2
“So, you’d risk me dying to prove your point?” Ben faux gasps. “Woah, Nick Carthy. You’ve changed.”
“I assume you mean for the better?”
Ben raises both his eyebrows now. “You can assume what you want as long as you remember that it makes an ass out of u and me.”
We go back and forth like this until we’ve drained our milkshakes and devoured our waffles.
Noticing our cleared plates, Alicja brings the card machine to our table so we can pay.
I make sure to have my card at the ready; I don’t want to owe Ben two lunches after today.
I also make sure to leave a generous tip for Alicja.
As we’re readying ourselves to leave, Ben stops me. He extends his arm towards my face. His warm fingers caress my chin, and his thumb caringly smooths across my lower lip. “You have chocolate on your face,” he tells me. “I can’t let you go back to the office like that.”
I don’t resist him; I bask in the tenderness of his touch.
“There,” he says, satisfied with his work. “All gone.”
Slightly dizzy, I exhale. “Thank you.”
Back at the office, Ben and I head for the elevator.
We’re halfway through the training, and I still have no idea what I’m supposed to be learning.
The final two hours are supposed to centre around teamwork and promoting positive workplace cultures.
I’m sure I’ll be none the wiser about my learning after these topics are discussed.
“Are you excited for another three hours of this?” I sarcastically ask Ben as we enter the elevator.
“I’ve never been more excited for anything in my life,” Ben returns, mirroring my tone.
As the shiny silver elevator doors close behind us, I lie, “There’s no place I’d rather be.”
We start to ascend. Ben is at one side of the elevator.
I’m at the other. Quiet sits between us, but it isn’t awkward.
From working closely together on Bethany’s appeal, Ben and I have become accustomed to our shared silences.
It’s nice, nice to not feel pressured to break the silence; it’s welcome.
The elevator starts to chug. An awful, haunting screeching noise is emitted – like someone has rubbed steel against steel.
The lights in the elevator flicker on and off.
To steady ourselves, I glue both my arms to the handrail and Ben presses his arms against two sides of the elevator.
It’s frightening, and my heart is hammering because of it. The elevator stops completely.
“Shit. Are you alright?” Ben’s holding me by the arms, searching my skin for cuts or bruises, just like he did after James tried to hurt me.
“I’m fine.” I swiftly scan his body. He too has no visible cuts or bruises. “And you’re okay?” I ask, just to be sure.
“I’m fine.”
A voice comes through the speaker. “Sorry about that, folks. Unfortunately, there’s been a power outage on this side of the city.
Our cameras aren’t working, but we understand that there are two of you in there.
The ESB has confirmed that the issue should be resolved very soon.
So please, just sit tight for the next ten minutes, and we’ll be with you as soon as we can. Again, we apologise for this.”
Panicked and sweaty, I ask Ben, “What are we supposed to do for the next ten minutes?” I remove my tie and open my shirt’s top button. It’s easier to breathe now.
Ben does as I do. Chest hairs peek out from the gap in his shirt. Then he licks his lips and raises his head to the elevator ceiling in thought. “You want to know something funny? I always wondered what would happen if we were stuck in a confined space together.”
I furrow my brow. “Why would you wonder about that?”
Ben steps nearer to me, just like he did at his pickup, weeks earlier. Now, he’s centimetres away and towering over me. “What do you think would happen?”
I don’t know what to say. Words aren’t forming in my brain. I remain quiet, listening to the unsteady thump of my heart in my ears.
Ben moves his head millimetres away from mine. I can almost taste the aftershave on his skin.
“Well, Nick?” he whispers. “What do you think would happen?”
Ben gently puts his hand on my hip, tickling my back with his fingers and massaging the front of my hip bone with his thumb. A warm heat assembles beneath his touch. His other hand timidly reaches around to my buttocks. I slowly put my arms over Ben’s shoulders and arch myself into him.
Ben’s strong arms wrap around my thin body.
Our faces are inching towards one another, and my heart is pumping in my chest. It feels like that night all over again.
I can feel the warmth of his breath against my neck and the gentle bristle of his stubble against my face. Our lips are drawing closer.
Our lips collide.
His lips feel soft and warm against mine.
I can sense our heartbeats thudding together in perfect sync.
Slowly, I part my lips, allowing Ben to slip his tongue inside.
As he does so, his grip around me becomes tighter, pressing our two bodies closer together.
A little moan that I cannot suppress escapes from me.
Without warning, the elevator pings and starts to ascend once again. Quickly, Ben and I pull apart from each other, leaving a string of saliva between us. I wipe my face and so does Ben. When the doors open at the conference room floor, we still haven’t said a word to one another.
Melissa is waiting for us outside the elevator, a single tote bag over her shoulder. “Welcome back. I hope you two had a nice lunch.”
We sneak a glance at each other. With my heart still thumping, I smile at Ben, and he winks back at me.
That night, I can’t stop thinking about Ben as I drift off to sleep.
I hear his voice in my head: What do you think would happen?
I still feel his gaze upon me, feel how those alluring eyes imbued me with excitement, and sense his warm breath tingling against my neck.
The smell of him is clogged in my nose; the last thing I want to do is get rid of it.
When I eventually drift off to sleep, Ben is still on my mind.
He becomes the main character in a dream I regularly have, filling the spot that was once occupied by Tom.
The next morning, I have to wash the bedsheets I slept in.