Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
Ben drives for two hours before pulling up to a hotel. He makes me wait in the car while he gets us a room. The child locks are on like he still thinks I’d try to escape. Which to be fair, I haven’t done the best job proving he can trust me.
He still hasn’t told me what his plan is. Part of me thinks that he doesn’t even have a plan and is just shooting off the cuff. I don’t really mind that plan. I’d go anywhere with him. Run for a lifetime with him if that’s what it takes for us to be together.
The ride has been quiet. He turned on music but didn’t say a word for the whole two hours. If my confession of wanting to be with him meant anything to him, he has a funny way of showing it.
Seems he is willing to go to great lengths to keep me safe, but not necessarily to keep me.
When he comes back from the hotel lobby, he walks to the trunk. I glance back as he takes out two backpacks and then opens my door for me. I eye the bags. One is purple with white flowers on it, much like one I have.
“One of those is mine?” I ask, staring at it.
“Cameron packed it with some of the stuff you left at his place.” Ben shrugs.
“You brought Cameron into this?”
“Let your brother help you for a change. He owes you. Plus, the shiny new record deal he is going to land in a few weeks will be more than enough to keep him safe from whatever backlash happens.”
“You got him a deal?” I don’t know how Cameron is going to feel about that, but the idea that Ben is willing to not only help me, but my brother, stirs emotions in me.
“No. He will get himself a deal. I’ll just make sure your father doesn’t mess it up.”
“Thank you,” I say softly, as tears fill my eyes. I can never repay Ben for any of this. Nothing I do will ever show him how much I appreciate all he has done for me.
“Come on. We have three flights of stairs to climb because their shitty elevator is down and I’m exhausted.” He holds out his hand, helping me from the car.
“Are you still in pain?” I ask, as he leads me to the stairs.
“I haven’t not been in pain since I was ten, Prue,” he says, carrying the backpacks up the stairs as I follow behind him.
“Is that when it all started with Martha?” He flinches at her name, pausing for a moment. “Your mother told me her name. She is your aunt.”
“Prue. I have a lot going on right now, can we not talk about that?” he says, marching up the stairs.
“So, I’m supposed to just let you in on all the details of my misery without getting a word about yours?”
“You’ve gotten plenty words out of me. More than anyone else in fact, so please, just let that go. I’m kind of busy saving you right now.”
“Will you tell me after?” I ask as we come to a stop outside a door. He jams a key into it, unlocking it.
“Tell you what exactly?” he asks, looking at me. “What do you want to know? The details? The timeline? What does that do for you? Paint a clearer picture that you aren’t the only one who’s broken? Have I not made that abundantly clear to you?” He swings open the door, stepping inside the room.
“No, you’ve made that very clear.” I fold my arms over my chest, glaring at him.
“So, what else could you possibly want to know?” He drops the backpacks on the floor, standing in the doorway, waiting for me to come in, but I don’t move.
“Do you love me?”
“Only completely.”
“Say it.”
“I love you, Prue. Happy? I said it. I love you and it’s driving me fucking crazy.
Jesus,” he groans, pulling at his hair. “I love you and I don’t know how to love anyone.
I’ve never felt like this before. It’s maddening and I keep fucking it up.
Jesus Christ, I’m so fucking bad at this. But I really fucking love you.”
“You love me.” I smile. “Benjamin Parker loves me.”
“Yes!”
I step into the hotel room, kicking the door shut behind me. Walking up to him, I press my lips against his.
He doesn’t hesitate, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me closer against his body. His tongue pushes its way between my lips, darting around my mouth like if he doesn’t map out every detail of it, he’ll die.
I don’t know what’s going to happen. There are more questions than answers right now, but I don’t care. Just for this tiny moment, I want to pretend everything is going to be okay and we can be together.
My fingers tug down the zipper of his hoodie, pushing it off his shoulders as he just lets it fall off his body. Wincing into my mouth as his arms wrap back around me. I tug at the bottom of his shirt, and he finally pulls himself away from me.
Sighing, he rubs his bottom lip with his thumb, staring at me for a moment. I wait, expecting him to make the next move. He just stares at me for a moment before marching over to the bed.
“It’s been a long day. We should sleep,” he finally speaks.
I’m stunned as I watch him kick off his shoes before plopping down on the bed. The lights aren’t on, but I can still see his outline from the lights peeking in through the window. He is far too sexy for his own good, even in the dark. It’s not fair how badly I want him.
“Sleep?” I ask, walking toward the bed. “You confess that you love me, force your tongue in my mouth, and then suggest sleep?”
“Yeah.” He nods. “I even got us a room with two beds. Wouldn’t want to sleep next to a girl who has a boyfriend.”
“I can call him and break up with him if that helps your guilt.”
He laughs. “Oh, it’s not guilt keeping me from sticking my cock in you.”
“Then what is?”
“Fear mostly,” he says softly. “Fear if I fuck you again, I’ll chicken out of my plan.”
“What is the plan?” I sit on the edge of the bed he is lying on.
“The less you know, the better.”
“I disagree.”
“I can’t shield you from all of it, but enough to make sure you don’t end up in your own cage. You are an unwilling participant in all of this.”
“Not all of it.” I smile, climbing up the bed. “I’m not unwilling in all of it.”
“I’m glad to know if I did fuck you, it wouldn’t be rape. Glad I’m not that much of an asshole.”
“I think you only pretend to be an asshole. I think deep down you’re a big softie. Inside of you lives a gentleman, just waiting to come out. To buy a girl flowers and take her to dinner and make her cum countless times.”
“Maybe the last part.” He shrugs, peering down as I kneel beside him.
“You wouldn’t buy me flowers?”
“Going to be hard to buy you much of anything after I buy you freedom.”
“You don’t have to buy me freedom.” I swing my legs over his chest, settling my hips against his lower stomach. He groans, “We could just never go back.” Rocking my hips against him has his hand dropping to my hip, rubbing small circles into the bone. “Run away together.”
“Running isn’t freedom.”
“I don’t need freedom, Ben. Not if the cage fits the both of us.”