Better With Ben

by Casey McMillin

  This new one came as a bonus with his job, and until he laid eyes on it, he didn't know what kind of vehicle it would be. They'd just sent him a text with directions to pick it up in the same parking spot where he'd left his truck and that the keys would be in the glove compartment. He smiled and cranked the stereo on his way home.

  The SUV was extremely nice—something he'd choose for himself. He couldn't comprehend that they just bought him a truck like it went along with the job, but there was a title in the glove compartment with his name on it.

  It was Monday around dinnertime when he pulled up at the apartment he shared with his sister, Molly. He knew she'd be there because he'd just talked to her a few minutes ago when he landed. He called to let her know he was back in town and would be home shortly.

  Molly was standing in the kitchen with a hand on her hip when he opened the door. He knew she was on edge when he'd talked to her earlier, but the girl standing in front of him was more upset than he imagined. She looked at him with narrowed eyes as he came in, sat his bag down, and took off his shoes.

  "Good to see you too," he said, giving her a look like she might explode any second.

  "Ben, what in the world are you driving out there?" She threw her hand to the side, pointing out the window toward the parking lot. She'd apparently taken note of the new ride.

  "It's a company truck," he said calmly. He gave her an easy grin, which infuriated her even more.

  "A company truck? Is this for your landscaping job? Are they the ones that made you leave town without warning the other night?"

  Ben put a hand out in a gesture that told Molly to calm down. "I told you I would have another part-time job besides landscaping," he said. He crossed to the kitchen, took a banana off of the counter, and began peeling it. He leaned back and regarded her casually. She was staring back at him with an expression that was equal parts confused and irritated, but he just shrugged as if he didn't see why she was so worked up.

  "You get a call at eleven o'clock at night and have to pick up and leave town for three days—then you come home in a brand new truck and expect that I won't ask questions about your part-time job?" She did air quotes around part-time job just to let him know how ridiculous it was. Then she stared at him, waiting for an explanation. He was silent for long enough that she pointed to the window again. "That's not a company truck, Ben. A company truck has a logo on the door, and probably some dirt on it. That thing out there is secret service."

  Ben didn't flinch at her words even though they hit somewhat close to home. He smiled patiently again. "It's not that kind of company truck," he said. "It's just one that my new employer paid for."

  "Who's your new employer, Ben?"

  "I can't really give you all the information you want on that, but I can tell you I'm in a similar line of work to the job I was doing in the Army."

  Molly could just imagine. She stared blankly at his chest, and he could tell she was making all sorts of speculations.

  Ben had been out with Molly and some of her friends the night he got called away. They were in downtown Nashville at the same bar where their friend Cam Bishop was discovered. Cam was a friend of Molly's boyfriend Nick—a fact that Molly still hadn't gotten used to since Cam was one of the most famous people in Nashville. Actually, he was one of the most famous people in the world, but Molly couldn't think of it like that, or she'd be too nervous around him to carry on a decent conversation.

  Anyway, a group of their friends, including Cam, had all been hanging out a few nights ago when Ben got the call to leave town. All he told Molly at the time was that he was on call at another job and had to head home.

  It wasn't until she got to their apartment the following day that she realized he wasn't even in Nashville. There was a note on the counter saying he had to leave town for his job, and would be back in a couple of days. It informed her that he wouldn't be able to have his phone with him. He left the email address of someone who could reach him in an emergency, but Molly obviously hadn't reached out to the person since worrying couldn’t really be classified as an emergency.

  "Are you working for the CIA or something?"

  Ben let out a laugh. "No, I'm definitely not working for the CIA."

  "Who then? Who calls you at eleven at night to fly out to some undisclosed location without your cell phone, Ben?"

  Ben breathed a sigh as he contemplated what to say to his sister. "The location was disclosed to me," he said. He thought for a second then added, "I'm working for an independent party. They'll call me when they need me, and when they do, I'll have to go—even if it's eleven o'clock at night." He paused. "I'm honestly not sure how often they'll be calling, there's no way to predict that for sure. But I work with guys who lead normal lives, so I can't imagine it'll be constant."

  "Normal lives? If you even have to say that—" she trailed off, but then her head snapped around when she thought of something. "And what the heck does independent party mean, anyway? Is this illegal? Are you a hit man for the mafia or something?" Molly's eye's had gotten progressively wider with her questions, and he could tell she thought she was right on with her mafia question.

  That caused him to laugh again. She just stared at him with the same annoyed expression she'd been wearing since he came in. He gave her a sweet smile. "I'm not going to get in trouble," he said. "I'm technically working for an independent party, but the job I do could definitely be classified as official business."

  That was all he said before crossing to the trashcan where he threw away the banana peel he was holding. Molly sighed, knowing by her brother's demeanor that she wasn't going to get the details she wanted. "Are you gonna get hurt?" she settled for asking.

  "Of course not," he said. "I'm the best." He smiled. "That's why they bought me the new whip." He pointed at the window like the most confident person in the world, but Molly suspected he was just trying to act tough so she wouldn't be scared. He sounded like the same big brother who promised her he could beat up Freddy Kruger when she'd come to him as a terrified ten-year-old. Molly knew him well enough to know that even if he would be constantly risking his life, he'd still lie and tell her everything was going to be okay.

  She stared at the kitchen floor, contemplating everything. "I don't want you to do it," she said. "Can't you just tell them no and work at the landscaping place instead?"

  Ben chuckled a little, but tried not to show how amused he was at the thought since she was so sincere. "That'd be like asking a doctor to do landscaping instead of surgery," he said.

  "Yeah, but a doctor isn't putting his life at risk in the operating room."

  "Sure he is," Ben said. "We all put our lives at risk every day. Think about it. He could get into a car accident on his way to work, or get hit by a bus. None of us are promised the next second."

  "You know what I mean, Ben. There's a difference between a doctor getting hit by a bus and you doing whatever it is this sketchy new job has you doing."

  "It's not sketchy," he said. "I know what I'm doing. I'm highly trained, Molly. I promise nothing's gonna happen to me."

  She gave him a pleading expression. "You can't promise that," she said.

  "Okay, so I can't promise it, but neither can the doctor or anyone else. We all die sometime."

  She rolled her eyes. "I just don’t want you to speed up the process," she said. "I’m scared."

  Ben crossed the kitchen and took his little sister into his arms. He could feel her shoulders slump. It broke his heart, but he really didn't know what to say to make her feel better. He'd already said enough. "I'm not in any more danger than anyone else in the world, Molly."

  "You're lying," she said.

  He hugged her for a few more seconds. He wasn’t going to deny it any more. She was right about him lying. The situations he'd be in were extremely dangerous, but he was good at what he did. "I was in even more danger when I was working for the Army," he said, honestly.

  She pulled back and used her shirtsleeve to wipe at a t
ear. He hated to see her like that, but had to think she'd get over it once it had time to sink in that he wasn't cut out for life as a full-time landscaper.

  "If you don't deny it, I'm gonna assume you kill people, or something." She added that or something as an afterthought because she really didn't want to believe it even if it were true.

  She looked at her brother, and he regarded her with a serious, but otherwise unreadable expression. They stared at each other for a few long seconds, her wanting him to voice his denial, him wanting her to change the subject so he didn't have to lie.

  "Dang it, Ben. I don't think I like this job." She gave him her best puppy dog eyes.

  His face showed a hint of regret, but stayed decidedly neutral. "I've had the job set up for a while," he said. He gave her a shrug and a smirk. "I planned on giving you a little more notice about it. I'm sorry you worried."

  She stared at him, trying to come to terms with the man standing in front of her. He was tall and thick in the chest—at least as big as her boyfriend, Nick. She marveled at how much he'd changed. Not to mention, he now had this new super-secret job that made him seem oddly like a stranger.

  "James Bond?" she asked.

  One corner of his mouth raised in a grin. "Not nearly that glamorous."

  "Spy gear?"

  He laughed. "Probably."

  She shook her head in disbelief then neither of them spoke for a while. He wasn't going to say any more and she knew it. Then suddenly she remembered something. She reached over and swatted his shoulder. "You left in such a hurry the other night that I didn't even get to talk to you about Taylor."

  His gaze instantly shifted to hers. "What about her?"

  "Oh come on, don't act like you didn't almost rip Cam's head off when you saw him sitting next to her on the couch."

  He started to deny it, but just shrugged and looked away. "I just don't like that guy," he said.

  She coughed a laugh. "Oh, you don't like Cam Bishop? I guess you meet ultra-famous singers all the time, and sometimes they just rub you the wrong way."

  "What do you want me to say? That it's cool that you had Cam Bishop over to Nick's house?"

  "You know it's cool, Ben. You just don't like him because you wanted to sit next to Taylor."

  He shook his head. "All right, if I tell you Cam Bishop is the best and it's amazing that you're friends with him, will you get off my back about it?"

  "I'll get off your back about it when you tell me you think Taylor's hot."

  He shrugged, looking a little annoyed. "That's easy. She's hot. That's obvious." He paused. "And maybe she reminds me of a girl I dated in Germany a little bit."

  Molly looked surprised. "You had a girlfriend in Germany?"

  "I wouldn't say she was my girlfriend, really. But I dated a girl in Germany, yes."

  "And this girl looked like Taylor?"

  "I guess, a little. It's not like that, though. I just don't like that guy."

  She laughed. "You're funny."

  "What?"

  "I hope you're a better liar than that when you're doing your spy job."

  "I'm not a spy."

  She nodded and pointed in his direction. "See, that's the truth. I can tell you're telling the truth about not being a spy, but you're lying about not being attracted to Taylor."

  "I'm not lying about that. I'm attracted to her. She's hot. I already told you that."

  "So you do like her," she said, raising her eyebrows suggestively. "I can totally set you up. You want me to?"

  He looked at her like she was crazy. "No," he said. "That's the last thing I need—a girlfriend to ask me all these same questions about my job and get mad and worried when I have to leave town." He paused shaking his head. "No thank you."

  Molly thought about that. She could see his point. That was the last she mentioned about playing matchmaker.

  Chapter 6

  By 8PM that evening, Taylor and Hannah had a little buzz going. For Taylor, it was the kind of buzz that made her silly rather than sad, a fact for which she was extremely grateful, given the circumstances.

  Kent had come home for a few minutes to change before leaving again, but Gina hadn't yet been home. She text Taylor earlier to check on her and let her know she was studying at a friend's house. Taylor told both of her concerned roommates she was fine which, thanks to Hannah and two-and-a-half White Russians, was the truth.

  A few times she'd felt her heart start to race, but she was able to talk herself down and go back to a somewhat normal mindset where she forgot about the panic enough to make the symptoms disappear. All in all, she felt like it was a pretty good night—one where she felt mostly in control.

  It was ten times better than the day before.

  "What are you thinking?" she heard Hannah say.

  "About how I'm getting good at talking my brain into believing my heart's working."

  "What?" Hannah asked, thinking Taylor was just being silly.

  Taylor laughed it off. She was feeling good at the moment, and didn't want to kill it by explaining it to Hannah.

  "Hey, you know how Molly's brother had to leave when we were all out the other night?" Hannah's question was so out of left field that Taylor had to think for a minute about what she was saying. Yeah, she remembered Ben having to leave right after they got to the bar. Hannah explained, "This picture reminded me of him." She pointed to a magazine that was lying on the coffee table. There was a guy on the cover with a ton of tattoos.

  "Does he have that many tattoos?" Taylor asked.

  "No, but he's got one gigantic one. It takes up his whole arm and chest. I think it's on the right side. It's a—"

  "I know, it's that tribal stuff. I saw it. He had his shirt rolled up the other night and I could see the bottom of it." She paused, remembering. "And yes, it's on the right side."

  Hannah looked at her like she was surprised she paid that much attention to it.

  "Why'd you ask me that?" Taylor asked.

  "Ask you what?"

  "You asked if I remembered him leaving the other night."

  "Oh, nothing. I was just gonna say that I talked to Molly the next day and she said he left her a note saying he had to go out of town for work."

  "What's he do? Isn't he in the Army?"

  "He got out of the Army," Hannah said. "He does landscaping."

  "He must be good if he gets called in on out of town landscaping jobs during the middle of the night."

  Hannah laughed. "I know, right? It cracked me up when she told me that." She sighed a content, definitely buzzed sigh. "And now that I think about it, it's the left side."

  Taylor gave Hannah a confused look. "Are you talking about the tattoo?"

  "Yeah."

  Taylor shook her head decisively. "You're wrong. It's definitely on the right."

  "I think I'd know," Hannah said teasingly. "I saw him with his shirt off and you only saw a little sneak peak down on his arm."

  "Well, that sneak peak was definitely on his right arm, so unless you're willing to put your money where your mouth is, you better just agree with me and know that it's on the right side."

  Hannah cracked up laughing. She had no idea what side it was on, but she enjoyed getting a rise out of Taylor.

  "What are you doing?" Taylor asked when she saw Hannah staring down at her phone stubbornly.

  "I'm texting Molly. We'll settle this right now."

  "Good," Taylor said. "I can't wait for her to tell you it's on the right."

  Hannah was quiet for a moment as she considered what to text and then typed it out.

  Hannah: "Hey Molls, we're having a big debate… Ben's tattoo. What arm?"

  Molly wrote back almost instantly.

  Molly: "Who's debating?"

  Hannah: "Me and Taylor."

  Molly showed the stream of texts to her brother who happened to be sitting next to her on the couch. He smiled as he read the words, and she could tell he liked the idea of the girls talking about his tattoo.

  Mol
ly: "Who says what?"

  Hannah: "Just tell me."

  Molly: "Where are you?"

  Hannah: "Taylor's. Which arm?"

  Molly: "We'll come by there so you can see for yourself. Ben came home in a brand new truck and I want to take a ride. You mind?"

  Hannah: "Of course not. Come on over."

  Molly: "We'll be there in a few."

  Molly showed the second series of texts to her brother who's gaze snapped up to meet hers with an annoyed expression when he read the part where she said they'd be dropping by Taylor's house. Molly smiled and shrugged.

  "It's right down the street, and I want a ride in the new whip anyway." She knew calling it his new whip would make him feel the need to show it off.

  "Why do they care about the tattoo?"

  "Because it's hot."

  Ben smiled. "Are we supposed to be leaving now?"

  Molly shrugged down at her phone as if she were just following its directions.

  "You're the one who instigated this whole thing," he said.

  "No, I'm not. They're the ones who had to know about your tattoo."

  "You could have just told them what side it was on."

  "And miss my ride?"

  "I would have taken you on a ride. All you had to do was ask."

  "Well, now we have somewhere to go," she said.

  ****

  Hannah held out her phone so Taylor could read the correspondence with Molly.

  "Wait," she said as she read. "Is this saying they're coming over here tonight to show us the tattoo?" She stared down at the phone for a few more seconds before looking up at Hannah, who nodded.

  "Tonight? Right now?"

  Hannah nodded again. She was wearing a big grin like Taylor should be glad at the news.

  "He can't come over here tonight!" she said.

  Hannah looked genuinely surprised. "Why?"

  "Because I'm… because I'm barely out of my pajamas and I have this." She held up the cast. It was white plaster. Her other options had been neon pink or camo, and she wasn't really in the mood for either of those.