by Vi Lily
She recovers from her shock quickly and adopts a snotty attitude. “I called Ms. Hanson, not you, Ben,” she says. I notice that she’s formal with me, informal with him.
Ben shrugs beside me, then slips his arm across my back, his big hand on my waist. “I’m not leaving her side.”
The principal’s lips draw down and she frowns. She’s not happy about his presence, that much is obvious. Then she shrugs.
“Ms. Hanson is no longer a student at Athole Academy,” she says, flooring me.
“Wait… what?” I sputter. It’s not like I have any love for the place and have only been at the school less than four months, but still… I really wanted it on my Harvard application.
The old bat — okay, she’s not really that old, maybe like forty — stares at me. “You were absent for a full week without excuse. That’s grounds for expulsion.”
Ben stiffens beside me at her announcement and I can practically feel him vibrate with rage. “She was stuck on the damn mountain when one of your teachers left her there after a field trip!” he yells. Man, his deep voice really carries. Even Mrs. Giuliano shrinks back a bit.
She swallows. “Be that as it may, school policy says that a student who is absent for more than four days without parental excuse is deemed suitable for expulsion.” She looks at me then.
“Gather your things, Ms. Hanson, and promptly leave school grounds, or else I’ll be forced to get security personnel involved.”
“This is bull!” Ben storms. I turn and put my hand on his chest.
“Sweetie,” I say, giving him the one term of endearment that makes him laugh when I use it, “it’s okay. I was going to leave this rat hole anyway, remember?” I ignore the gasp of outrage coming from the principal at my comment. She can kiss my big, white and ice cold butt.
Ben stares down at me and I give him wide eyes that I hope convey everything I’m thinking. Don’t blow this. Don’t get banned from the office. We need you to send out the original video. Just go with me here.
Thankfully, he gets it. I see the anger and tension visibly leave him as he seems to shrink a few inches in bulk as his muscles relax. He’s like a cat with its back fur up.
“Yeah, okay,” he agrees. He’s not happy about the way I’m being treated, but he knows there isn’t much we can do about that. But there is a lot we can do to rectify the past.
After I sign “exit papers,” and get my wallet back that had been “anonymously” turned into the office, I happily leave A-hole Academy behind. Unfortunately, that means I have to leave Ben behind too.
He walks me out to the parking lot after we leave the principal’s office and we head to his Jeep. Ben leans over to kiss me as he hands me his keys.
“I’ll get a ride for Gwen and me and we’ll see you back at the hotel, baby,” he tells me. I shake my head as I jingle his keys.
“How about I go back to your house and pack your stuff, and Gwen’s? We can just move into the hotel on a semi-permanent basis, at least until we’re ready to move to Stevens.”
Ben had been happy to agree to moving in with me, but we hadn’t discussed it with Gwen. She was still a bit too fragile to push her into making any life-changing commitments. Although, I figure getting away from her pervert father is super life-changing, in the best way possible.
But we do need to discuss the future with her.
“Yeah, okay,” he agrees, probably happy that he doesn’t have to pack himself. “I only want my clothes, though. Leave all the trophies and awards crap behind.”
I drive his Jeep slowly down to Bearing, then back up the hill to Oak Place. It takes me twice as long as it takes Ben to go the same distance, but I’m being super careful because I really don’t want to wreck Ben’s Jeep and the roads are still a little iffy after the storm. They’ve been plowed and sanded, but there are still icy patches.
I don’t want to leave the Jeep in the driveway, because Ben said the Oak Place residents would be pounding on the door if they thought someone was home, so pull into his garage using the remote.
As I walk into the house, I think that it’s still pretty creepy knowing this is where I was raped, especially now that I remember it, even if the memories are a bit… detached.
I’m just not going to go anywhere near the study.
I walk up the stairs to the bedrooms and get started. Ben told me that he had duffle bags in his closet, and Gwen had suitcases. I go to his room first, figuring he has less clothes to pack. I’m right; it only takes half an hour to pack his things.
Dragging his duffle bags to the door, I stop and look at his shelves with all the awards and trophies. I think that maybe he doesn’t want them now, but later, he might. I mean, they’re his whole sports history.
He might want to give them our kids, I grin to myself.
I go back into his closet and find a bag that has some lacrosse sticks packed in it, so I dump them out and proceed to fill the bag with the trophies. By the time I’m done loading a lifetime’s worth of youth sports accolades into the bag, the damn thing weighs about a hundred pounds and the bag is so full that I can’t zip it. I drag it down the stairs and over to the front door, where I can back the Jeep up later for easier loading and then head back up to Gwen’s room.
I’m more careful packing Gwen’s things, taking time to fold her clothes neatly so they don’t get wrinkled. As with any typical teenage girl, she has a lot of clothes and it takes forever to get them all into organized, neat piles.
Her suitcases are in the back of the closet, and I have to move several boxes of childhood crap to get to them. I laugh when I see that her suitcases are a matching set of Little Mermaid bags. Definitely not something a teen would use. Apparently, Gwen hasn’t done any traveling in a long time.
I’m happy to see that the bags are wheeled, which will make them easier to get down the stairs. Of course, I had planned on just dropping Ben’s duffle bags of clothes over the landing to the floor below. Dragging the bag of trophies down the stairs had nearly killed me when I stumbled twice. Just what I needed — Ben and his sister to come looking for me, only to find my brains splattered all over the tile.
It occurs to me that Gwen doesn’t know I’m packing for her since I had decided to do this at the last minute. I look around her rather girlish room, its pink and purple color scheme is more suited to a preteen and I wonder if there’s something special she wants or needs. We’re limited to what we can take to the hotel, but there’s no reason why we can’t drive to Stevens and drop off a load at the condo.
And me too. There’s no reason for me to stay in the area any longer, if I’m not going to Athole. Ben and Gwen obviously will need to, since it’s too far from Stevens to make the commute daily. But I can pay for them to have a hotel room for another month until school is out, and they can come up on weekends.
I grab my phone to call Gwen and see that Ben has texted me and called me a couple of times. I grimace when I realize I forgot to take the stupid thing off vibrate after school. I decide to call him back after I talk to Gwen, because I can talk to him while I’m packing.
“Hey,” I laugh when she answers with “Hi sis!” I smile; after she bawled all over me and begged my forgiveness for what she did, I’ve forgiven her and moved on and I made sure she knows that. After today, when the truth is sent out, I’m completely washing my hands of Athole Academy, the town of Bearing, Ken Penn, and my own family.
Maybe not my dad. If I ever see him again, I might talk to him, only because he’s the only one who wasn’t a complete jerk to me.
“Long story for later,” I tell Gwen, “but I’m at your house, packing you and your brother up. Anything special you want me to get?”
She’s giving me a list that I’m about to tell her to text to me, when the devil shows up to drag me back to hell.
Chapter 8
Ben
T HE MORNING dragged. Ben was antsy, anxious. He didn’t like Beth to be out of his sight, especially so far away. He knew he was being ri
diculous, but after spending a full week with her, he didn’t want to be away from her side.
Of course, the day went from bad to worse by the time second period was over, even though that was his elective as an office aide and he’d managed to release the new and improved video, scheduling it to send half an hour after school ended. He wanted to be long gone when it was viewed, because he sure as hell didn’t want to get stuck at school, answering a million freaking questions.
Despite that bit of vengeance for Beth, he was in a sour mood. His girl wasn’t answering her new phone and he was feeling prickly from not getting to hear her voice.
And he was worried about her too. He had no idea what kind of a driver she was, since he’d always driven due to the unpredictable weather. And there was always the possibility of his mom showing up at the house — slim though that possibility was — and he wasn’t sure how she would react to seeing a girl she’d never met packing up her kids.
Not that he cared how his mom felt, but he didn’t want Beth having to deal with any crap.
Ben wanted out of school. It was freaking him out, not being able to talk to Beth. With a plan in mind, he headed to the dining room, but was confronted by Raine the second he walked through the double doors. She demanded to know why he was “pretending to be in love with Beth,” why he would “lower himself like that,” and a bunch of other bull that made him want to pound the crap out of a girl for the first time in his life.
Instead of slamming his fist into her face, he not so gently pushed her aside. Of course, she had to gasp and shriek and all kinds of other dramatic crap, which made everyone look their way, probably expecting to see blood. He ignored her and headed to the jock table, where he asked Perez to give him a ride home, after promising to buy him lunch on the way.
It took forever at the drive-thru since it was lunchtime and there were only three fast-food options in Bearing. Ben was grinding his teeth by the time Perez pulled into Oak Place.
And then his heart nearly stopped when he saw a silver four-door sedan in the driveway with California plates.
His mind raced — did someone from Beth’s hometown show up? Was it an old boyfriend who just couldn’t let her go? Ben knew that he never wanted to let her go and he sure as hell would have driven clear across the country to get her back.
But then he realized how stupid that thought was. For one thing, Beth had said she didn’t have a boyfriend back in California. For another, there was no way anyone would know that she was at his house in the middle of a school day.
Unless she invited them over, not expecting you home so early.
Ben shook his head as he got out of Perez’s car and thanked him for the ride. He needed to quit being such a douche. He trusted Beth and he didn’t need to push his insecurities off on her.
Still, something told him to be quiet as he entered the house. The door was unlocked and he pushed it open, thankful for the high-quality hinges that opened silently. He stepped in and almost tripped over a duffle bag sitting next to the entrance. He chuckled; despite telling her to leave them behind, Beth had packed his trophies.
There was no sound, no voices, on the first floor, so Ben crept up the stairs. He felt a little guilty, like he was trying to catch Beth “in the act,” but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he needed to be quiet.
And then he heard something that made his heart pound.
“So, what? You’re going to shoot me?” The last bit was said on a shriek that had him hauling butt up the rest of the stairs.
He wasn’t sure where Beth was, but it didn’t take long to figure out when a male voice answered her.
“Not if you cooperate. You’re coming with me.”
“Go to hell!” Beth yelled.
Ben rounded the corner to Gwen’s room and froze at the sight that greeted him. His freaking father was holding a gun on Beth. The sight terrified him, seeing the woman he loved in danger.
Apparently, though, Beth didn’t realize the danger, because she looked seriously pissed. Ben had never seen her angry before. He’d seen happy Beth, heartbroken Beth, laughing Beth, and his favorite, completely satisfied Beth. But he’d never seen “pissed the hell off” Beth, thankfully.
And she was even more beautiful with all that fury rolling off her. She was like a phoenix, rising from the ashes of destruction to burn brighter than ever. And then he rolled his eyes at his stupid thoughts.
Even though she was facing the door, she didn’t see him. His dad was off to the side and while his back was mostly to the door, Ben knew he’d be able to see him out of his peripherals if he moved.
Despite having a gun pointed at her, Beth continued to shout, her arms flailing as she yelled, “You’re crazy if you think I’m going anywhere with you, you piece of crap!”
Ben grimaced at her words. He really didn’t want her pissing his dad off. From the side, Ben could see that he looked sort of amused, like Beth was a spoiled child having a tantrum, but that could change at any moment, especially when Beth continued to scream at him.
“You’re the lowest scum on the planet! You’ve been raping Gwen, your own daughter, since she was just a baby! Oh, and let’s not forget all the girls you’ve drugged and raped… me included!”
His dad took a step closer toward her and Ben tensed. He wasn’t sure what to do — charge in there and knock his dad over the head, which would risk the gun going off; draw attention to himself and get the gun pointed in his direction, knowing full well Beth would attack the man with the same “gun going off” problem; or run back downstairs and call the cops, then having to wait excruciatingly long until they got there, even if it was just minutes…
“Shut up, bitch,” his dad growled at her and took yet another step toward her. “It’s all your fault that I’m in the situation I am. I can’t show my face anywhere because of you!”
“What?” Beth screamed. “Are you kidding me? How can you be that delusional to think that it’s my fault? I was basically unconscious when you raped me. And do you honestly think I’m the one who released that video? Yeah,” she snorted, “I really wanted to ruin my own life. Think about that, dummy.”
If the situation hadn’t been so damned awful, Ben would have laughed. She was freaking awesome, standing up to the jerk like that. But it was going to get her killed; his dad had a wicked temper. He made the decision then.
“She’s right, Dad,” he said and put his hands up when his dad turned the gun on him. He gave Beth a look that said, “don’t do anything stupid,” when she immediately started looking around, probably for something to hit his dad with.
“Beth had nothing to do with any of this. It was me who released the video. Let her go.”
His dad rolled his eyes. “Don’t give me that. I know damned well it wasn’t you who put the damned thing out. It was your sister. Stupid little ungrateful bitch.” He waved the gun back toward Beth.
“But this beautiful little piece here is the cause of it all. If she hadn’t tempted me so much, I never would have fallen for her… never would have had to pound her on that desk.” He licked his lips as his eyes traveled down Beth’s body.
Ben’s back teeth creaked under the pressure he was putting on them. His dad was seriously insane. The guy truly believed none of it was his fault. Ben wanted nothing more than to put his fist through his father’s face then, breaking it so badly that even reconstructive surgery wouldn’t fix it. He wouldn’t be so handsome then.
It would be easy for him to take his dad in a fight. He had a good three inches on the man, and about fifty pounds. Plus, Ben was in great physical shape, but his dad had let himself go soft after he hit forty. He wasn’t fat, but he wasn’t toned either.
Ben knew without being vain that he could pick his dad up and throw him through the wall.
“Look, just get what you came for and leave,” Ben told him. “Beth and I are leaving too, getting out of town. Mom’s lost her job, so we have to be out in like two weeks.”
His dad smirked at
him. “What I came for was your sister.” He glanced back at Beth, then turned and grabbed her arm and hauled her to him. Ben tensed; his common sense willing his body not to leap forward and yank his girl away from the psycho.
“But I guess your girl will do.”
Ah hell no. “Look, Dad, don’t you think you’re in enough trouble? Do you really want to add kidnapping to your list of crimes?”
His dad narrowed his eyes at that and he seemed genuinely confused. “Crimes? I haven’t committed any crimes.”
Ben knew his face showed the disbelief that his moron father actually believed that he hadn’t done anything wrong. He probably thought it was his paternal right to molest his daughter — and give date rape drugs to young girls to make them more willing.
And he was starting to wonder how he never noticed that Ken Penn was certifiably nuts before now.
“Okayyy, psycho,” Beth muttered, and Ben glared at her, willing her to shut her smart mouth before said psycho did something… psychotic.
His dad gestured with the gun. “Move aside, Ben. I don’t have any beef with you.”
Damn. Ben backed into the hall and stepped aside to let his dad pass, dragging Beth with him. Ben tried to tell her with his eyes to just cooperate, because the last thing he wanted was for her to get shot. She was looking less pissed and more frightened. While he didn’t want her afraid, at least she’d be more likely to cooperate and not do something to trigger his dad’s temper.
He dragged Beth to the stairs and Ben thought about pushing his dad from behind, but he couldn’t guarantee that he’d be able to grab Beth in time to keep her from tumbling down too. As if sensing his thoughts, Beth jerked her arm that his dad had a tight grip on, but he just pulled her closer.
“Now, now, be nice,” he told her like he was scolding a naughty toddler as he pulled her down the stairs.
Ben followed behind, hoping he’d have a chance to take his dad out before he got Beth into that car. He figured his dad must have rented it, to keep from being recognized. His flashy custom Silverado pickup with its cherry red color and gold ghost flames was definitely recognizable, especially in Bearing.
