Page 24 of Fighting for the Forbidden
Chapter Seven
Ben
Danni’s partingwords repeat in my mind the whole way to Rome.
Tell him the truth.
I intended on asking her once we were in the air and she had nowhere to hide, but the moment I rested my head back, my exhaustion took over. The effort it took to find her wiped me out. It was only the relief that flooded me when I saw her at the gate that kept me going.
The second she turned and looked into my eyes, I knew I had her. She can tell me as much as she wants that there’s no longer anything between us, but it’s all lies. She needs to remember that although it’s been six years, I know her. I know her like no one else, and I damn well know when she’s lying.
“Ben. Ben.” Her soft voice and warm hand on my forearm bring me around. “We’re about to land.”
Blinking a few times, it takes me a couple of seconds to register where I am and what’s going on. The last time I woke up I was in a hospital bed, and this time I’m on an aeroplane.
Looking into her kind but tired eyes, something settles inside me. I was on edge from the moment I realised she’d left me in the hospital, but now, with her beside me, I feel right again.
“Thank you.” Her brows draw together in confusion. “Thank you for agreeing to this. Thank you for sitting by my bedside and being there when I woke. You’ve no idea how much that meant to me. I could have done without the ear bashing you gave me moments later, but I can’t deny I probably deserved it.”
“Of course you did. You hit Joe.”
“Uh…no I didn’t.”
“You did, right before you went down. He’s got a black eye to prove it.”
Twisting so I can look at her, I cry out as pain radiates from my ribs. Everyone around us turns to look and I hate the sympathy in their eyes when they take in the state of my face. I’ve yet to see it properly; I only got a hint of how bad I look in the reflection in the taxi’s window.
I suck in a couple of deep breaths before reaching out and taking her hand in mine. She tries to fight me, but I feel so much better when I have some kind of contact with her, so I persist until she gives up.
“Lauren, my memory of what happened is still a little hazy, but I know for a fact that I didn’t hit him. I damn well wanted to, but I’m his boss. I can’t.”
“But—”
“I swear to you, Lauren. I didn’t hit him.”
“So why would he tell me you did?”
“Because he doesn’t want us together.”
Lauren sits back, I can almost hear the cogs turning in her head where she’s thinking so hard.
“What did Danni mean earlier when she said that you needed to tell me the truth?” Discovering whatever it might be moments before we disembark a plane isn’t ideal, but the fact that she’s been lying to me is eating at me.
“Not now. Let’s get to the hotel, and then we can talk.”
I don’t want to, but I find myself agreeing because it’s the right thing to do. She obviously doesn’t want to talk about it, so I can’t imagine having the conversation in front of a few hundred people in a small, enclosed space is the best idea.
* * *
“At last,”Lauren sighs as she moves towards the luggage belt to grab her case.
“Let me.” Leaning forward, I wince in pain and totally miss her bag. Having predicted what was about to happen, Lauren is a few feet in front of me and easily reaches out and lifts it.
“I know you’re trying to be all chivalrous, but I’ve got it,” she says with a laugh. I watch as she pulls the little handle out and starts walking towards the exit.
Resting my head back in the taxi, I try to push aside the pain, but the throbbing is starting to get too much. My vision blurs a little, and it’s aching all down my face.
“Are you in pain?” Lauren asks, looking over and seeing the tension on my face.
