Ben - Enough
I’d had enough of this.
I wanted to rip the prick out of his chair and slug him in the jaw for the nonsense he was spewing to her. I really hoped Maggie wasn’t taking anything he was saying to heart, and I couldn’t help but imagine Penny having to deal with dicks like this again if she re-entered the dating scene.
I gripped my glass of water so hard it could crack the entire time they ate. Let me rephrase– the entire time Ethan ate. Because Maggie barely touched her food. She had a strained look on her face and I wondered if it was because of Ethan’s commentary or if she wasn’t feeling well.
When we left the restaurant, Ethan didn’t even offer to take her home. I would’ve stepped in to decline the offer, but still, not even offering was wild.
I trailed a few yards behind so they could say their goodbyes. I was just glad to be done with Ethan once and for all.
“Well, Margaret, I’d love to do this again sometime?” he asked with a hopeful expression. I didn’t miss the way she slightly stiffened and retreated a step back.
Absolutely not. He doesn't deserve to be in your presence, let alone get another date. Say no, Maggie.
I was tempted to stride forward and put an end to this myself.
“Don’t even think about it, Cap,” Coleson chirped in my ear.
I rubbed my forehead. He was right. I had no business interfering.
But the most frustrating part of all this?
I wanted it to be my business.
When she nodded and said, “Uh… sure,” she sounded anything but sure. “That’d… uh… be nice,” she added with a forced smile, and it felt like I took a sucker punch to the gut.
“Perfect. Goodnight,” he said, and he didn’t wait for her to react, he just slid right in and kissed her lips.
That had me immediately moving. “Time to go,” I grunted loudly, shooting daggers at him.
He took a startled step back from her. Good. At least he had the good sense to remove his arm from her before I killed him.
We drove home in silence. Both of us were tense for different reasons, I suspected. Tense was actually too light a word for what I was feeling. Red hot anger simmered under my skin, threatening to erupt because I couldn’t stop the mental replay of how the night ended. He took from her. He took that kiss when he didn’t fucking deserve it, when it looked like she didn’t even want it.
“You missed our turn,” Maggie said, straining to look back at the road through the shotgun window.
I couldn’t even acknowledge what she said, I just needed to make sure he didn’t twist her head up. “Don't let what that asshole said get in your head, alright?”
“Wh-what?” she stuttered out.
“You heard me.” My eyes briefly left the road so I could meet her gaze.
She worried her bottom lip before asking, “Where are we going?”
“We’re going to get food. You didn’t touch your dinner.” My jaw throbbed. I reached up to rub it, to release some tension, but I knew it was pointless. The only thing that would make me relax would be watching her eat something. “I hate when you don’t eat, Maggie.” Because I love feeding you, providing for you.
Now the questions bombarded my brain: Why was I denying my feelings for her? So she could be stuck going on dates with pricks like him? If only I could–
I cut off my own thoughts.
“Cheeseburgers sound good?” I asked as I drove toward a Shake Shack.
“I’m not hungry,” she replied so quietly I barely heard.
My knuckles bled white from gripping the steering wheel so hard. “You didn’t eat anything,” I pointed out again, forcing myself to speak calmly, when all I wanted was to roar at that dickhead.
“Yeah, well, didn’t you hear? I need to watch what I’m eating,” she huffed, looking out the window.
I knew that got to her. I just fucking knew it.
“No, you need to watch who you go out with.”
She snapped her neck to look over at me with furrowed eyebrows. “That was mean.”
“I can’t believe you agreed to go out with him again.” I rubbed my chest to ease the tight anger. “I hope you’re not serious about that.” My eyes briefly darted to hers before the stoplight turned green.
She sighed. “You can't tell everything about a person from the first date. Maybe he makes bad first impressions.”
There it was. Her tendency to always look for the light, for the good in a situation. Always giving people the benefit of the doubt– even when it wasn’t deserved.
“You can tell enough,” I said in a hard voice.
She just shrugged.
“What do you want?” I asked before we reached the drive-through window.
“I told you, I’m not hungry.”
I threw the Escalade in park. “No.”
Her eyes widened. She looked over her shoulder to see the line forming behind us. “Uh… Ben, we need to-”
“We’re not doing this.”
“We’re not doing what?” she asked, clearly flustered.
Someone honked behind us, making her flinch. I didn’t give a shit, they could wait.
“You’re not letting him do this to you. And he may not care about feeding you, but I do, and I’m not about to let him take that from me .”
She blinked at me.
“You’re perfect, Maggie.” My eyes raked over her body. “And so help me God,” I said in a low tone, “if you start altering yourself because of that dickhead, I will lose my shit.”
“Lose your shit?” Her face cracked in confusion. “On me?”
I gave her a look that said what-the-hell? She knew me better than that. “On him. So unless you want me to get arrested for beating him to a bloody mess, please, eat.”
After a beat she finally blew out a breath of resignation. “Fine, but only because I don’t want you to get arrested.”
“Good girl.”
I spotted the goosebumps running down her arms and the way she clenched her thighs at my voice, and God help me, it made me want to pull her over the council and into my lap to show her how a man should really kiss a woman.
Something was happening between us… It didn’t feel like there was an if anymore… it was more of a question of when .