Page 29 of Waging War
I wiggle my toes. Still there, thankfully.
The sound of someone moving jolts me upright.
Ben leans his hip against the drawer that we broke in our fit the other night.
“You fixed it?” I don’t understand why he would bother fixing a broken drawer in a place that means nothing to me, but the gesture warms my insides anyway.
Ben’s clothes are soaked, and shadows seemingly tug at his mouth and eyes, forming a scowl. I’m working through the pounding in my skull to figure out what’s caused his troubling mood, when it all comes flooding back.
The blankets fall to the floor when I move to stand. “You purposely hid the fact that he was alive from me.”
He cuts his stormy eyes my way and nods. “I did.”
“Why?” I can’t contain the hurt bleeding into the question.
Ben considers me for a long time. When he eventually speaks, I wish he’d said nothing instead. “I… don’t know.”
My fists ball up beside me, wanting to throttle him the way I did outside.
“You don’tknowwhy you hid the fact that Jackie didn’t actually murder my father?” A hint of his usual fire comes out to play as I mock him, glowing like embers in his gaze.
“Was leaving me here to wallow in pretend grief just a part of some sick plan between all of you?”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Ben has slowly crept his way around my walls for nearly two weeks, toying with me to the point of driving me mad, only to give me compassion when no one else has even bothered to care. And just when I start to give him an inkling of trust, he hides something like this from me.
“Of course that wasn’t the plan.”
“Well, please, tell me your plans, Mr. Enforcer.” I raise my hands before slapping them back down against my thighs. “I’m no more than a pawn to you all, anyway.”
We’re chest to chest now, and I’m starting to notice a pattern between the two of us. Neither backs down from a challenge, no matter how big or small that challenge may be.
“Jackie told no one where you were being kept, and I was given strict orders to keep Kenny’s death a secret from everyone, including you. Soforgive mefor not jumping at the opportunity to tell you what was going on when each chance I had, you were trying to kill me or escape.” His voice raises to the point that he’s nearly shouting.
“Do you have any idea how many nights I’ve spent here, replaying my father’s death in my mind? It should have been the first thing out of your mouth.”
Our gazes collide furiously, yet something I can’t avoid simmers just beneath the surface.
“Kinda hard to talk to someone who is constantly reminding me how much they despise me.”
“Oh, please. This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with your damned duty.”
He has the gall to push my chest so I stumble backward.
My jaw drops. “You bast—”
“You don’t like me being here?” That simmer in his deep blues becomes the start of a crackling fire. “Tell me to leave then, Hazel.”
I’m matching him step for step as he moves me back toward the farthest wall from the kitchen. We’re caught in some strange dance, except where Ben knows where to guide us, I’m frantically winging the routine.
“I’ll walk out that door, and you can go on living the rest of your life blaming me for everything that’s happened to you.” My heels hit the baseboard, and my back flattens against the wall. “I want you to.”
Do I blame him entirely? The more I get to know him, the more muddled these feelings for him become.
“Why were you really sent here, Ben? Give me the truth or get out.”
He crowds me like a predator, with one arm pinning me in beside my head while the other hangs loosely by his side. I could escape if I really wanted to, but now that the shock of my dad being alive is settling, I want some damn answers.
“Jackie told me to keep an eye on you after we visited Kenneth in the hospital.”
