Ben (The Sherwood Series Book 3)

by Lee Wardlow

  “She looks a lot like Disa,” Mom informed me. I couldn’t remember Merci. She was three years younger than Disa. I wouldn’t have been in the same school as her ever.

  “I don’t remember her.”

  “You wouldn’t but I’ve seen them together. If he is with her now…”

  “Married to her,” I corrected her.

  “I feel sorry for the girl,” Rachel replied.

  Me too. What could I do without risking Disa? “Did Dad get someone to cover for Disa?” I asked changing the subject on her.

  She laughed. “Yes, as a matter of fact he did.”

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I’m going in,” my mother replied.

  That was funny. I don’t think Rachel had waited tables at Ike’s since before Matt was born. This should be interesting. “I hope you don’t kill each other before the night is over.”

  She chuckled. “Me too, Benjamin. I kind of like having him home again.”

  “Keep that thought when you want to chuck a glass at him tonight,” I told her.

  “Funny,” she replied. Her tone was sarcastic which wasn’t unusual for Rachel. She is where we got it from.

  I was distracted watching Disa at her balcony putting a steel rod in the sliding glass door. She waved to me; I returned her wave. I had nearly hung up on Rachel. Then I focused on what my mother was saying to me. “Take care of her Benjamin.”

  “I will.”

  “I have to go Ben. I’m at the pub.”

  “Have a good night Mom. Remember save your tips and do something responsible with them,” I teased her. That’s what she always told us when we had to work at the pub. She burst out laughing.

  “Thanks Ben. I will.” I thought she would hang up now. I heard the door of her SUV shut. Then she hesitated. “Ben, I love you and I’m proud of the man you’ve become,” she told me.

  “Are you all right Mom?” I asked.

  She huffed at me. Had I been in close, proximity to her, I might have gotten whacked. She still had a way of losing her temper that was quick and when she did, her fist or the closest object tended to fly with her anger. Then she was fine. Her temper cooled as quickly as it flared.

  “I’m perfectly fine, Benjamin. Can’t a mother compliment her son?” She grumbled other things, I couldn’t understand and didn’t ask her to repeat.

  “Yeah, Mom she can but you usually don’t. Thanks for the compliment.” I rolled my eyes at her ramblings in the phone most I couldn’t hear because she was walking, and the phone was bouncing around near her mouth making the words unintelligible.

  “I’m inside now, Ben. Talk to you later.”

  “Bye Mom.”

  I laid the phone down beside me and waited for Disa to come outside. I was starting to get worried when she finally appeared with a suitcase in one hand and a canvas bag in the other. I assumed the canvas bag was her painting supplies. I hopped out of the truck and helped her with her things.

  The canvas bag was huge, and I was right. Inside was her painting supplies. I wanted to tease her and ask her if she was moving in with me for good, but I didn’t dare. I didn’t want her to think I didn’t want her because I did. I wanted her to stay with me and Asia for as long as she wanted.

  I lifted her canvas bag into the bed of the truck. Then I put her suitcase in with it. I turned, and she was standing behind me. Disa slipped into my arms. I could feel the slight tremble of her body and I knew that she was afraid.

  “It will be fine,” I promised her.

  “You don’t know him,” she replied.

  Mom had given me a similar dire warning. “I don’t but I’ll protect you.”

  “I hope you don’t have to,” she declared. “Let’s go,” she urged me. Disa walked out of my arms and glanced around as I had when we stopped here. I knew then that Disa would be looking over her shoulder now. Looking for Elder Ron. She was afraid for herself as much as I was.

  Chapter 14

  Disa was bathing Asia while I cooked dinner when my brothers AJ and Heath arrived. I wasn’t surprised that they walked through the door without knocking, startling me. I was surprised that they were here on a Sunday night at seven o’clock when they both had to get up at five a.m. for work the next morning.

  AJ peeked into the pot I had on the stove. I was making homemade chili. He started to dip his finger into the thick, meaty chili and I slapped his hand away. “Get a spoon.”

  He grumbled at me but reached into the drawer and pulled out a spoon. AJ dug out a heaping spoon of my chili and stuck it in his mouth. He moaned as the flavors tickled his tongue. “I love your chili. Can we stay?” He begged.

  “Of course, you can,” Disa said. She entered the kitchen carrying a freshly bathed Asia. My baby was snuggled in her arms.

  “I’ll take her,” Heath said when Disa started to pass by him with Asia. She backtracked a few steps and handed off my daughter to my brother then she came to me. Disa wrapped her arm around my waist and laid her cheek against my bicep. I kissed the top of her head and went back to stirring my chili.

  “So, tell me what happened this afternoon,” AJ said.

  “At the park?” I asked.

  He nodded. I wasn’t sure why he was so interested in what had happened in the park, but I told him all the details of running into Elder Ron. AJ glanced over his shoulder at Heath who didn’t appear to be listening, but I had the feeling Heath had missed nothing about what I had said.

  “Disa, do you think he’s been keeping an eye on you since you left the compound?” Heath asked without taking his eyes off my daughter.

  She nodded at Heath not that he was looking at her. He was focused on Asia. “I’m pretty sure that the few times I ran into him at various places in town, it wasn’t an accident. He never spoke to me until today when I was with Ben. I think curiosity got the better of him. The congregation wouldn’t be happy with Elder Ron for speaking to me.” She swallowed. “As I walked out of the compound, they turned their backs on me.” Her eyes met mine. “Literally, every member, including the small children. It’s a devastating feeling when people you have known your whole life let you know they know longer care if you are dead or alive.”

  I stopped stirring and glanced over my shoulder at Disa. Not that we were talking much until recently but what she had told me about this man hadn’t led me to believe she thought he was a stalker.

  “I didn’t want you to worry,” she said reading the question in my eyes.

  “Should I be worried?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she replied. “I had more reasons for not wanting to marry Elder Ron than his age. Ben, he’s sadistic. That’s why I need to check on Merci.”

  “You don’t,” Heath said. “It’s too dangerous.”

  AJ agreed with Heath. “Tell us about the compound, Disa. The habits of Elder Ron and the other members of the church and we’ll check on Merci.”

  I scratched my chin. If that wasn’t the creepiest suggestion my brother had ever made I didn’t know what was. “I don’t know that I like this plan.”

  “I don’t really care,” AJ informed me. “Do you want your woman checking on her sister?”

  I glanced at Disa then at AJ. “No, I don’t but I don’t want my brothers getting arrested for trespassing either. I’ll go with you,” I offered. “Keep you out of trouble.” I had a much cooler head than these two.

  Disa started loading bowls with my homemade chili. We watched her while we talked. I could tell she didn’t like that plan either.

  AJ shot that down quickly. “No, you’ll stay here and watch over Disa. Heath and I can handle it.”

  I gazed at Heath and I knew he could see my doubt. He walked across the room to me with just a hint of a limp. He handed Asia to me. His eyes were piercing when he gazed at me. This was the crazy that I saw that was frightening to me. “Ben, this kid of yours is all the reason you need to keep your ass at home.”

  “Rachel is going to have a cow when she finds out,” I said to my brot
her.

  “Rachel will never know,” he responded.

  “Since when do you boys call your mother by her first name?” Disa asked us.

  AJ put his arm around her shoulders. He was smirking. “Since we could talk,” he replied. Then to me, he said, “She’ll never know. We’ll tell Dad so somebody besides you knows when we go there.”

  “So, you’re actually letting me in on the plan.”

  Heath and AJ exchanged glances. “Nope,” AJ replied infuriating me. “Better you don’t know.” Then he walked to the table and sat down. Disa followed with bowls of food for him and Heath. She patted his shoulder before she walked away to get drinks for everyone.

  “I like her,” AJ informed me.

  I shook my head at him. “I’m glad I have your approval.”

  I felt like I was missing something. A really, big something about my brothers, AJ and Heath. I shook my head and carried my daughter to the living room where I placed her in the swing. I turned the dial to on so that her seat began to swing and play music.

  I watched her for a moment. She was content to gaze at the mobile twirling about over her head while the music entertained her too.

  Then, satisfied that she was okay, I headed back to the dining room. My brothers were interrogating Disa about the compound. I sat beside her and listened to the questions they were asking and again I wondered about what they were going to do. This was a side to them that I had never seen.

  Heath was ex-military, but AJ was an accountant. Hardly the militant type other than he appeared to be a bad ass. Maybe Heath’s crazy was rubbing off on AJ while they hung out in the woods.

  “Where is her home?” Heath asked. He didn’t write anything down but then again, he always could remember everything easily.

  She explained the layout of the compound. One road ran through the fenced in twenty-acre property. Barbed wire ran across the top of the ten-foot-high fence about three feet high. Elder Ron lived on an acre plot of land at the back of the compound where the other elders lived. The other members of the congregation owned anywhere from a quarter to half acre plot depending on their station with the congregation.

  “For instance, my father was a financial genius,” Disa explained. “He made the elders money, so he was given a larger plot of land and revered by the congregation. That’s why he was so angry at me when I refused to marry Elder Ron.”

  “Was you father an Elder?” AJ asked.

  “No, but he was on track to become one until I left the compound. I ruined that for him when I betrayed him.”

  AJ nodded but said nothing. I didn’t know how this helped him or Heath. I was concerned about what they were going to do. I didn’t want to see my brothers get into trouble. There was only so many things that Hawk, our sheriff could do to keep them out of jail. He had done his fair share of interfering over the years with these two.

  “I’m worried about this, you guys,” I voiced my opinion for the second time.

  AJ looked across the table at me. His expression was priceless. “Worried about what?” He asked. The innocent look he gave me reminded me of Rachel. He wasn’t any better at that than she was.

  I glanced at Disa. She didn’t believe him any more than I did. “The less you know the better,” Heath said.

  “What the hell, Heath. You sound like some crazed vigilante.”

  He shrugged. “Just trust me,” he replied. “You don’t seriously think that Jameson walked away unscathed after hurting Danni, do you?”

  I dropped my spoon beside my bowl and stared in disbelief at my brother. “What the fu…” I gazed at Disa and swallowed the rest of my swear word. “What are you two up to?” I asked. For the first time I was seeing a different side to my brothers.

  AJ responded for them. “Do you want us to check on Merci or not?” I could see that he was serious. His tone was harsh. I had to stop asking questions or he wasn’t going to help and that meant Disa would go to the compound. I needed to know more though. I needed to know why she was so afraid of him.

  I glanced at Disa. “Ben, you don’t want me to go there and I need to know my sister is okay. You don’t know him like I do.”

  “Then enlighten me,” I declared.

  She glanced at me then down at the bowl in front of her. “I left because I had to Ben.” Her eyes met mine. “I was afraid of Elder Ron.”

  I reached over and took her hand. “Why?”

  “Because…because I had heard stories about him. His sadistic needs. I had seen women come into the compound. Some had never left. I don’t know what happened to them. He’s very dark, Ben. I was always uncomfortable around him.”

  I nodded at her. Then I glanced at AJ. “Find out if Merci is all right,” I told my brothers, sighing because I didn’t know what I was sending my brothers into.

  “That’s the plan,” AJ replied.

  They finished their chili only asking an occasional question. Then AJ and Disa cleaned up together because Heath wanted to give Asia a bottle. He was growing more and more comfortable with my daughter. More attached.

  “Soon, you’ll be changing her diaper,” I informed him.

  He grunted at me, not in a good way. I couldn’t imagine this large man ever becoming a father. The hermit who liked being alone except for the visits my brothers paid him in the tiny three-bedroom cabin deep in the woods. I can’t say that I had ever been there myself. No need to. He always came to me.

  I leaned over on my knees. “Heath?”

  “What?” His focus was on Asia, so I’m surprised he even responded to me.

  “What did you do to Jameson?” I asked.

  My brother’s eyes slowly met mine. That crazed look I told you about, well it was more frightening than I had ever seen. He was an intense man with a look that could wither you with just his eyes. The scruff was getting thicker on his face, and even though it was auburn tinged with golden highlights like his hair he could still pull off bad ass.

  Right now, those eyes were focused on me and he was holding my child. I don’t know which made me more nervous. I rubbed my hand across my jaw.

  “We made him regret he ever fucked with Danni,” he finally replied, and I knew he wasn’t going to give me any details. I hadn’t heard anything bad had happened to Jameson.

  I nodded several times, trying to decide if I had a death wish and would ask more questions or shut my mouth. I had a death wish. “You do realize most of Adams, Brown and Clermont county have heard how ruthless he is and fear him and his people.”

  He shrugged. Then he put the bottle by his leg and lifted my daughter to his shoulder. He patted her back gently.

  “You have to do that harder,” I informed him.

  “This is just fine,” he replied.

  “Okay,” I said. Later, I hoped Asia wouldn’t throw up on me and or Disa.

  Then Heath’s gaze focused on me. “I particularly enjoyed making sure that he never forgot that you don’t mess with women, Benjamin especially not our women.”

  I didn’t even want to know. I rubbed my hand over my jaw and gazed at the hardwood floor, wondering again if I shouldn’t consider carpet before my baby girl started crawling and walking.

  Then my daughter belched surprising me and making Heath chuckle. “See, I told you it was hard enough.”

  “Yep, you did.”

  I stared at the walls while Heath stared at Asia. He was my brother, I loved him, but I didn’t know what AJ and Matt talked to him about. Put me in a room with Elijah and Seth or even Danni we had things in common. Not me and Heath.

  “It’s okay,” he told me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Ben, it’s okay that you’re uncomfortable around me. I know that you love me. You never want to come to the cabin. I know you don’t so that’s why I always come here.”

  Could he also read minds? I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat. I stared at him, unsure of what to say. Then I said what seemed most natural to me. “I do love you man.”

  “That
’s why AJ and I will find out about Merci for Disa.”

  I nodded.

  “Are you okay?” I asked unable to stop the question that always made him uneasy. He didn’t like talking about himself.

  He nodded. Then he looked at me. “I have nightmares, Ben. I live in the woods because I don’t like people. I have a technology job building servers and maintaining the network because it’s solitary. I’m good at it too. I’m happy doing what I’m doing.”

  Wasn’t he lonely? Didn’t he want a woman to keep him warm at night? I glanced at the kitchen where AJ scrubbed a pot and Disa laughed at something he said to her. The big flirt. I rolled my eyes at my older brother. If I were an insecure man I would be jealous. Didn’t Heath want this too?

  “I can’t imagine not having her in my life,” I told him. “I gave her up once.”

  “Dumbass.”

  I choked on the laughter that rolled through me. Then I looked at my brother. His eyes were vacant. He wasn’t giving away anything in relation to how he felt about women.

  “Don’t you want this too, Heath?”

  He snorted. “Have you seen my leg since it healed Ben?” His words were harsh and bitter. I hadn’t seen my brother’s leg. Heath was careful to hide it from everyone. I shook my head no.

  Heath gazed at Asia, refusing to look at me. “Some days are better than others. Some days the limp is more pronounced and that is what you can see.” His tone had softened. His pain was still there. “You know I used to run the four forty in four point two seconds. That was damn fast for a man my size.”

  I remembered.

  “I used to love to run, Ben.” His tone and his voice were still soft. “Only AJ could run faster than me and only Daisy Clemmons could run faster than both of us.”

  I laughed out right at that declaration. “Bite your tongue, Heath.”

  AJ and Disa came into the living room. She slipped onto the sofa beside me and laid her head against my shoulder. I reached for her hand. I loved holding Disa’s hand. Our fingers intertwined. It was the most intimate thing I could think of besides sex. I didn’t know what sex with her was like yet, but I was anticipating it more than you could know.