CHAPTER 2 BEN
My tires probably leave a permanent mark on her driveway as I screech to a stop sixty minutes after the phone call came through.
I had to make a choice.
I had to leave.
The trip from my place to Great Falls usually takes me ninety minutes. It took me sixty today.
I realized twenty minutes into the drive that my phone wasn’t in my pocket. I never picked it up after I threw it in frustration and it slid under the bed after Tatum’s call.
I was desperate to get here, to sort this shit out, and to get back to Kaylee.
Only it looks like that third part isn’t going to happen exactly the way I was planning.
I bang on her front door, my fist screaming in pain that is no match for the cracking of my chest right now.
“Give it to me,” I demand when she opens the door.
“Oh, sweetie,” Tatum croons. “You think I’m stupid enough to keep it here? Nice try.” She rolls her eyes as she moves into her house. I follow her in, slamming the door behind me.
Rage boils in my blood. “You ruined my life once already. You think I’m going to let you do it again?”
“You rose like a phoenix from the ashes the last time, my love. You’ll manage to do it again. Look at all the success you had simply because you were trying to show the world you were somebody other than the real you?”
I hate that she knows me like that. Or, I hate that she knew me like that. She doesn’t know who the hell I am anymore. She doesn’t know what I’m capable of anymore.
The phoenix that rose from the ashes she left behind is the man I’ve become now. I’m not the stupid little boy who fell for her all those years ago. Not anymore.
“This is the real me. You don’t know me anymore,” I hiss.
“Well then allow me the chance,” she says, casually walking into her house. It’s the exact same floorplan as my mother’s house next door, but this one is all Tatum. Animal print everywhere with black as the base color—like her heart.
She perches on the couch casually, and I stand with my arms folded across my chest and steam pouring out of my ears. “I will not give you that chance. What do you want?”
“I told you over the phone, Ben. I want you.”
“And you think I’m stupid enough to come back to you?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I’m the one holding the cards.
You decide what you want to do. You come back to me, and I don’t tell anybody else what I have.
” She offers an evil little smile. “You don’t come back to me, and your little friend Kitty suddenly has pretty damning evidence against you, and you can kiss that cute little teenager you’re parading around with goodbye because she’ll never believe you with solid evidence.
And, you know, I could probably find a way to rough her up a little so it looks like you were taking your aggression out on her, too.
She’ll stand up in the media defending you and look like a weak little kitten and it’ll definitely make you look guilty.
” She shrugs and grins. “It’s all just too perfect, don’t you think? ”
Deep breath.
I take a deep breath as I try to figure out what to do here.
Do not react. It’s what she wants.
I can tell myself that all I want, but it’s damn near impossible not to react.
“You can’t even do anything with a fucking towel,” I point out.
She cackles. “Oh, you don’t think so? Poor Kitty was just trying to defend herself when big, bad Ben was hurting her. She fought back and drew blood, and you wiped it up before you left.”
Fuck. Fuck. “Where is it and who else knows about it?” I demand.
She laughs again. “Like I’m going to answer either of those questions.”
“You’re fucking insane, Tatum.”
“No, Ben.” She stands and takes a step toward me. “I’m not insane. I’m in love, and I’m just doing what I have to in order to get you to see that we belong together.”
“Blackmailing me isn’t the way to get me to see that. I’m not going to punish myself to a life with you when I’m happy with Kaylee—who’s twenty-three, by the way. Hardly a teenager,” I sneer.
“That’s all well and good, sweetie. I’ll just make that phone call to Kitty then, and I’ll check in with a few of my regulars at the bar.
I’m sure somebody around here can give your little girlfriend a black eye or something.
I’m sure you’ve made an enemy or two out of the locals.
I guess you can be on your merry way…or it is on your way to be married?
” She tilts her head to the side like she isn’t sure as her brows crinkle together, and my God do I fucking hate her with a ferocious venom.
I don’t know how she found out today’s my wedding day, but she did.
And she managed to stop it.
I knew it was stupid to pick up the call, but now it’s the sort of call that will remain on repeat in my head for the rest of my life. Whatever I decide to do here will stay with me, too.
I can’t give Tatum what she wants. I can’t be with her—not when I hate her with a burning passion.
But Kaylee…
She’s with her brothers, so she’ll be safe—probably. There are no guarantees that she won’t drive off for some time alone, and that’s what Tatum’s hoping for.
I can’t let her be hurt, and that’s the thought at the forefront of my mind. That’s the thought guiding my decisions.
Protect the woman I love at all costs.
She deserves better. She doesn’t deserve to have people targeting her just because of who I am.
Protecting her is part of the reason why I was driven to marry her.
I love her more than I’ve ever loved anybody before in my entire life, and I want her to be happy.
I want us to be happy. But the longer we’re together, the more I just see us being pulled apart over and over and over. The more danger I see in her future.
I’m not sure our relationship is strong enough to sustain the battle scars. I’m not sure any relationship is—a large part of why I swore them off to begin with.
“I will not let you ruin my life again,” I say through a clenched jaw.
She maintains her cool. “I’m not sure you have much of a choice.”
Doom fills my chest. I think she might be right.