Page 20 of Fighting for the Forbidden
Chapter Six
Lauren
As hard asit was to walk away from Ben, I knew it was what I needed to do. Danni had been talking about us getting away for a few days for weeks, and when the doctors confirmed that Ben would most probably make a full recovery and be fully awake within the next twelve hours, I knew it was time. It wasn’t healthy for me to be sitting beside his bed, waiting for him to wake up. It was safe while he was asleep. I could cry and tell him all the things I was too scared to when he was awake. I could pretend that all the bullshit hadn’t happened and that things were just like they once were between us as I held his hand and allowed his warmth to soothe me…see, unhealthy.
I told Danni I didn’t care where we went, just that I needed some time away, and she came through within minutes, telling me that she’d booked us a few days in Rome. Of course I’m excited. I’m not only about to get to spend some much needed girl time with my best friend, but I’m going to be able to explore a new place while I attempt to push home and Ben to the back of my mind.
With Danni back at uni to do her Masters degree, we haven’t spent much time together recently. There’s so much that’s happened in the last few weeks that she doesn’t know about. My time has pretty much been taken up by family, Ben and Joe. I feel guilty that I haven’t filled her in on all the huge revelations I’ve discovered. I’m also desperate to get her take on everything. She’s always been the slightly more straight-headed one out of the two of us.
“Wait, so you’re telling me that I shut myself in my flat for a few days to write an essay and missed all this? No wonder Joe demanded we go out the other night. Jesus, Lauren,” Danni says when I finish explaining about what Dad did to both Ben and Erica. “So, where are things at with you and Ben? Please tell me you jumped him the second he reappeared, because if you don’t mind me saying, that boy’s only got hotter. He looked like sex on a stick when Joe pointed him out the other night at the stri—shit.”
“It’s okay. I was mortified when Joe sent the picture, but I’ve realised since that Ben wasn’t really doing anything wrong. It’s not like we’re—”
“Joe sent a picture?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I told Joe to do anything he had to keep me away from Ben. I guess that was his way of helping. He’s done everything I’ve asked of him.”
“I think you’d be better off sitting down with Ben and hashing it all out. Everything’s changed now you know the truth.”
“Has it? He still left, Danni. He took the easy way out. What’s to say he won’t do it again?”
“And what if he won’t?”
Glancing over at my best friend as we head towards the airport, I narrow my eyes at how easily she’s willing to forgive Ben after everything he put me through. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. He thinks I’m with Joe.”
Snorting out the coffee she just sipped, she turns her glare on me. “I’m sorry. What? Why?”
“Because we’ve made it look that way.”
“Lauren, please don’t tell me you’ve done what I think you’ve done,” she warns, but the taxi pulls up in front of the airport and cuts off any further conversation. I’m grateful, because I can already tell that Danni’s going to give me a serious ear bashing over this. For some reason, she seems to be on Team Ben all of a sudden, and it’s pissing me off. Maybe this little trip wasn’t such a good idea.
It’s not until we’re settled on a couple of tall bar stools with a cocktail each that Danni turns her disappointed stare on me.
“Start talking, Lauren.” I look around at the happy people surrounding me and let out a sigh. “No point planning your escape. You’re not going anywhere.”
“Fine. I told Joe that under no circumstances was he to allow me to fall back into any kind of relationship with Ben. He witnessed the majority of the fallout after Ben left the first time, and he was only too happy to agree.
“I didn’t think any more of it until Dad’s funeral. Ben thought he was hiding in the shadows at the back, but I knew the moment he entered that room. I fought to keep my eyes from seeking him out, but when Joe arrived and pulled me into his arms, I managed to find him. He was staring daggers into Joe’s back, and I realised then that the best thing to do to keep him at arm’s length was to pretend I was taken.”
“And how did that work out for you?” Amusement fills her voice.
“Oh, it was great for all of about six hours, because then I fell into bed with him.”
“Lauren, what are you doing?”
“I don’t know. That’s the problem.”
“You’re still in love with him, aren’t you?”
I look at her over the rim of my glass. She can read me like a book so I don’t need to say the words aloud.
“Don’t you think you should give him a second chance now you know the truth?” Just remember how good it was. You can always let me know if you don’t want him, because I could sure use a little bit of that.”
I know Danni’s only messing, but still, the thought of her going after Ben has jealousy rising within me. “I’m trying not to think about the good stuff. I’m trying to focus on how much it hurt when he left and reminding myself that I don’t ever want to feel that again.”
