Page 79 of Possessed By You
“BOTH OF YOU, OUT OF MY PUB! OUT!”
“Benjamin, stop!” What’s even more confusing is the way Connor’s hothead friends begin to hype each other up, actually excited that their friend is about to step into a showdown with a billionaire. All I can think of is the type of press this is going to get if we don’t get out of here.
It’s gotten so loud between the raging men and the owner shouting that when Benjamin points to Dimitri and then to me, informing him to remain by my side, I hardly realize until he’s at the door that he’s going out with the man.
“Jesus Christ,” Dimitri growls, looking at me.
“You need to stop him. The police…the press…” I say, and he nods, urging me out of the bar with him. The rowdy drunk idiots are slamming into us from behind.
“Benjamin, stop!” I shout upon finding them lost in some kind of ridiculous rage, toe to toe, landing punches on one another. The man is intoxicated and therefore not at his best. Benjamin is tearing into him with no mercy, so much so that when the man falls onto his back with no intent to get back up, the guys behind us rush around me to get to their friend.
I’ve seen Benjamin like this before. Again, it was at a bar, when a man laid his hand on me. In many ways, this is just like then. Except even when Dimitri grabs hold of Benjamin from behind, heaving him off the ground to spare the man, Benjamin fights him, too angry to stop.
His shirt has spots of blood on his abdomen, and I gasp, realizing the blood is coming from his stitches.
“You don’t know who his father is!” one of the friends shouts at Benjamin, who Dimitri is hauling over to me. “He’s going to sue the shit out you, mate!”
Dimitri spins on his heel, pointing at the man. “I know each and every one of your names. Your daddies too.His, in particular. I did a background check on every person in that room and had your information at the tips of my fingers from the get-go.” He pulls out his phone, dialing a number. I grab Benjamin, who is out of breath, just now coming down in intensity. Dimitri speaks, staring at all the men who look like frightened boys now.
“Hi, Judge Wilkinson? I am the security for Benjamin Scott, owner of Scott—” He chuckles. “Oh, you know? Well, good. Your eldest son, Connor, laid his hands on Mr. Scott’s wife in front of multiple witnesses, which can be proven also by video footage from multiple sections of the room. He then instigated Mr. Scott to join him outside to brawl. I’m sure we’re on the same page that your son accosted Mr. Scott’s wife, and in doing so, Mr. Scott reacted in justified retaliation. Your son will require basic medical attention.”
The bloody guy on the ground pales the shade of the sidewalk while his friends surge to their feet, pulling their friend up in the process, as if escaping will help now.
“No, of course, we’d prefer the least amount of publicity on this as well. However, I’m sure people in the bar have begun to spread this…I’m glad we understand each other. If you have any more questions, you can reach me at this number. Goodnight, Judge.”
The group is long gone by now, their night put to an abrupt end.
Without another word, Dimitri walks out into the street, holding his arm out to hail a cab. Equally peeved with the impulsive billionaire still regaining his breath, I step off the sidewalk, standing beside Dimitri.
Oh, I’ve chosen my side.
Dimitri holds open the back door for us before climbing into the front, informing the driver of our destination: the hotel.
“Do you have a first aid kit?” Dimitri asks the oblivious man.
“No, not on me.”
“Detour to a drug store then, please.”
This is probably the most I’ve ever heard Dimitri talk. Even when I ask about his life, he answers me in short syllables. Parked at the curb, we wait while Dimitri walks into a store with neon lights and reemerges with a paper bag.
“Hotel, please.”
The car ride is silent. Dead silent.
I haven’t even looked at Benjamin, mostly because I know he took some blows, and if I see the blood, I’ll lose it altogether. Just weeks ago, this man lay on a stretcher, blood coming from him in waterfalls, and instead of backing off, instead of taking the smart way out, he endangered himself and made complications for Dimitri.
I’ve seen Benjamin’s blood far more than I ever should have had to in my life. I’m sick by the sight, brought back to the helplessness of that emergency room.
“Dimitri, I shouldn’t have lost it like that,” Benjamin apologizes. “I’m sorry.”
“I am here for a reason, sir. To protect you from others…and yourself. That man could have been armed.”
“He grabbed Darcy. I wasn’t going to just—”
“Oh, please. You may have hit him because he touched me. But you pounding his face in? That was for you, Ben. That wasn’t in my honor.” I meet his eyes briefly with a flash of warning. When he averts his gaze and doesn’t fight it, we fall silent again, probably to the disappointment of the driver.
Benjamin takes the bag from Dimitri and hands it over to me when we reach the hotel.
