Page 95 of Let Me
Benji glances at Tyler, and his hold on me lightens up, just a little. But he doesn’t let go completely.
“He left. Ms. Virani can’t find him. He’s recovering from a concussion, so it’s fucking stupid of him to go, but…” He shakes his head, his fingers tightening again on my arms. “That doesn’t matter. We were worried sick about you.”
I arch a brow. “I thought you could find anyone, anywhere.”
At this, Benji smiles coldly, his eyes brightening. “You’re in my arms, aren’t you?”
Tyler coughs. “Can you let her go?” It isn’t a polite question.
Benji doesn’t. “No. But I can take her somewhere safe.” He pulls me to him, wraps an arm around my shoulder, takes my drink and sets it on the table. “Sorry, Tyler. But your friend has to get out of here.”
Tyler doesn’t back down, and I dig in my heels.
“Benji, really, I’m fine here. I haven’t had time to talk to Tyler in—”
“No.” Benji’s answer is resolute. He glances at Tyler. “You can come, too, but you can’t stay here. We’re going back to Haven.”
I throw up my hands, and look to Tyler, apologetic. “I’m sorry,” I say, shaking my head. “Come with me?”
Tyler’s eyes flash. I see our waitress storming toward us, looking as if she wants to kill the three of us for this commotion.
“No, no. Go ahead, I’ll pay the bill and call you later. Only if you’re sure you’re okay with this meathead?”
Benji’s answering smile chills my blood, but I answer Tyler before he can.
“I’m okay,” I say quickly. “I’ll call you soon.”
Benji reaches in his wallet and tosses a hundred dollar bill on the table, and then he leads me out.
When we get in his SUV—Range Rover, because of course it is—I turn in my seat to glare at him as he pulls away from the restaurant, dodging in and out of Toronto’s Friday night traffic.
“What the fuck was that all about?”
At a stoplight, Benji reaches over and does my seatbelt up.
“It was about keeping you safe, little girl.”
I throw up my hands and roll my eyes as Benji straightens in his seat, eyes on the road.
“You think Rolland is going to come into a public place and blow my head off?”
His hazel eyes cut in my direction. “Don’t joke about that.” He guns the engine and we merge onto the highway, headed toward Haven.
“I haven’t seen Tyler, properly seen him, in a long time,” I say quietly, slumping down in my seat, arms crossed as I look at the darkening sky.
Benji sighs. “I know, Riley, I’m sorry. But Caden was…he was panicking. He’s spent too long without you, too long punishing you for something he knows now he never should have, and he’s beating himself up over it. If anything were to happen to you…” He puts his hand on mine, tugging my arm loose, and I let him, but I don’t look at him. “If anything were to happen to you,” he says again, “he’d hate himself more than he already does.”
I fall silent at that. Benji doesn’t move his hand from my own, and I don’t mind it. For a man who I always thought was covered in darkness, I realize, at the heart of it, he’s not so different from me. We’re all just trying to find our way through our worst sins in the best way we can, even if we can never get forgiveness for them.
Even if we can never forgive ourselves for them.
“How did you find me?” I finally ask him.
His lips curve into a smile. “That’s for me to know.”
I roll my eyes, but I don’t argue.
When we get back to Caden’s house—mansion—an older lady with pink hair greets us, and she pulls me into a big hug. I have no idea who she is, but I hug her back anyhow. That is, until Caden storms down the hall and demands to know where the fuck I’ve been.
