Rules of Bennett: The Complete Collection

by Ember Michaels

  "Hold on, baby. Mommy's gonna get you a bottle," I heard Aurora say as I quietly closed and locked the door behind me.

  The penthouse was nice, almost looking like a small condo. The living room area was filled with creams and browns, giving a cozy appearance that felt like it could be someone's home. I frowned. This wasn't Aurora's home. Her home was with me, not in a hotel all alone.

  "What are you doing here?"

  Her voice cut me out of my musings as she stood a few feet away from me, bouncing a cranky Liam in her arms. I put my hands in my pockets and took a couple of steps forward.

  "I just wanted to talk."

  "Didn't you say enough at the club?" she spat before storming back into the kitchen. I sighed and followed behind her.

  "Baby, I'm sorry. I fucked up tonight."

  "Yeah, you did. You need to leave." She took Liam's bottle off the bottle warmer and shook it a few times before giving it to him. "There you are, hungry boy."

  "I've been trying to call you for the last hour and a half," I said, ignoring her words. She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything, continuing to keep her attention on Liam. "I just thought I was doing the right thing for our family by trying to build a new empire that we can be proud of. That our children can be proud of."

  "I already told you to do what you needed to do, Bennett. I'm not stopping you from doing anything."

  "But I need my wife by my side. I can't do this without you," I said slowly. She glared at me and scoffed.

  "How can I be beside you when you're not even home?" she asked, her voice tight. I knew it was taking everything in her not to scream at me, not wanting to startle Liam. "You just want me to be the docile, quiet wife who'll take your neglect and bullshit until you want to fuck me. Right?"

  "No. I just need you to be patient with me." I blew out a breath. "I know all of this has been hard. I take full responsibility for what happened tonight. I was already upset about something else and hearing that you were going to the bathroom with another man...I just flew off the handle. I'm sorry."

  "Well, you should be," she muttered. "Anyway, I came here to get away from you and the stupid mafia family that you love so much. So, if you could give me some space and leave me alone, I'd appreciate that."

  "I feel like we need to talk, babe."

  Her eyes glossed over as she shook her head. "Right. Because fuck how I feel, right?"

  I sighed deeply. "That's not what I'm saying, Aurora. You have every right to be angry with me. I just feel as if we're moving further and further apart, and I don't want to lose you."

  A single tear rolled down her cheek, which broke my heart. "I just want to be alone right now, Bennett. I need to figure out what my next moves are and whether or not you'll be a part of them."

  I frowned, my heart skipping a beat or two. "What the hell do you mean whether or not I'll be a part of them?"

  "Exactly what I just said. If building your empire is more important than your wife and son, there's no reason for us to stick around." She quickly wiped her face on the arm of her sweater. "If your mafia family is so important to you that you can't figure out a way to manage your responsibilities to your men and to your own family, then maybe we should just get a divorce."

  Hearing her say the d-word out loud was like a punch to the gut. The guys warned me about this, saying that one day I'd come home to divorce papers sitting on my desk before she and Liam ran off. I couldn't fathom a life without them. Just seeing that they weren't home when I got there set me off. Only this time, I had no one to blame but myself. I needed to fix this shit—and fast.

  "They're not more important—"

  "That's what you told me in the bathroom tonight, that they were more important than us," she reminded me bitterly.

  "Baby, no one is more important than you and my son. That was poor communication on my part. Look, when Liam goes back to sleep, let's just sit down and have a calm conversation. Things were way too heated at the club, and it didn't do either of us any good."

  "The only thing I want you to do is leave, actually. I'm done talking tonight," she said and turned her back to me. I ground my teeth in frustration but decided not to fight with her about it. Considering that she was already drifting away from me, I didn't want to make it worse than it was by forcing her to talk when she didn't want to. I should've fucking listened to Saint when he told me to give her time. This just turned out to be a wasted trip where nothing was resolved.

  "Fine, I'll leave," I finally said. "I just wanted to try to fix things. I know I haven't been the best person to be around lately, and I apologize for that. I'm ready to talk whenever you are."

  When she didn't turn around or respond, I sighed and turned away from her, heading for the door. No sooner than my hand touched the doorknob, her voice cut through the tense, heartbreaking silence.

  "What happened to the man who flew clear across the country to tell me how he couldn't live without me?" she asked, her voice thick with tears. "Sometimes I don't even know who you are anymore."

  I slowly turned back around, though her back still faced me. "You were right. I had my priorities fucked up. But I know my greatest fear is losing my family and I'll do whatever I need to in order to prove to you that I'll put you guys first."

  She finally turned to look at me, fresh tears rolling down her cheek. "How do I know you're not just saying shit to get me to come back home? You called me selfish simply because I wanted to spend time with you, Bennett. Because I wanted to have an actual wedding so that I could stop feeling as if our marriage was a fucking business contract."

  "Our marriage was never about business. I married you because I wanted you forever. I know I have a fucked up way of showing that, but you're the best thing that's happened to me since I lost Stephanie. I can't lose you, too."

  "Well, you're doing a very good job at making that a possible reality," she muttered, wiping her eyes as she gently bounced Liam in her arms. He whined when he finished his bottle, Aurora softly murmuring to him as she put the bottle on the coffee table and shifted him in her arms to put him over her shoulder to burp him.

  "May I?" I asked. She stared at me as she rubbed his back. After a moment, she frowned.

  "You need to clean yourself up first."

  I looked down, seeing that I still had traces of blood on my hands and probably also my face. "Mind if I take a quick shower then?"

  "You can hold him when we come back home. Go take a shower at home."

  I fought the urge to growl. "Aurora, can you please just stop being difficult for one minute? I'm really trying to fix this."

  "You made me this way, Bennett," she snapped.

  I nodded slowly. "I did and I'm sorry. Just allow me to clean myself up so I can spend time with you both. I'll clear out my schedule for the next few days to be with you two. In fact, I'll even stay here with you. No mafia shit, no phones, no work. Just the three of us."

  She stared at me for a long moment. "Are you serious? You'll stay with us the whole time and not blow us off the minute one of your men calls?"

  "I promise, babe. In fact..." I pulled my phone out of my pocket. "I'll call Bruce right now and tell him to clear my schedule until we check out of here. I'll have one of them bring me clothes and it'll just be me, you, and Liam for the next few days."

  A small smile touched her lips as she gently patted Liam on the back. "I'd like that."

  "Okay. Give me a second." I found Bruce's contact and dialed him, getting him on the second ring.

  "What's up, Boss? Something wrong?" he asked.

  I looked at my wife, who watched me with hopeful eyes as she waited for my next words. "Nothing's wrong," I finally said. "I'm with Aurora right now."

  "She okay?"

  "Yeah, she's fine. Listen..." I blew out a breath. "I need you to reschedule anything on the books for..." I looked to Aurora. "When do you check out?"

  "In four days," she said, smirking at me as if she expected me to back out of what I said.

&n
bsp; "Reschedule everything I have for the next four days. I'm gonna stay at the penthouse with Aurora and Liam."

  "About damn time," Bruce said and chuckled.

  I rolled my eyes. "Can it, you asshole. I'll need you to handle shit until I get back. Don't call me for stupid shit. I told Aurora I wouldn't do anything work-related while I'm here with her, so make sure I can keep my word on that."

  "You got it. Need one of us to bring anything to you?"

  "Yeah. I'll need some clothes. I'll send Carrie a text to have her go back and put together a bag for me and one of you can bring it up in the morning. I'll keep you updated."

  "Will do, Boss. Enjoy your time off. God knows you fucking need it."

  "Thanks. I'll get back to you in the morning." I said and hung up, smiling to my wife. "I'm all yours now, gorgeous."

  AURORA

  When the shower in the bathroom came to life, I went into the bedroom and retrieved my phone from my clutch. The minute it was fully turned on, my notifications dinged like crazy as text after text notification flew on the screen. I giggled to myself as I opened my messages, pulling up Bennett's thread to see nearly twenty text messages.

  Bennett: Baby, I'm sorry. That shit was completely out of hand tonight. We'll talk when I get home.

  Bennett: Can you at least let me know you got home safely? I love you.

  Bennett: Come on, babe. You know I hate when you do this silent treatment shit.

  Bennett: WHERE ARE YOU?

  Bennett: YOU NEED TO CALL ME NOW.

  Bennett: PICK UP THE PHONE AURORA.

  Each text after were different variations of the previous messages, which only made me shake my head. Maybe next time he'd think twice before he said or did anything he'd later regret.

  My phone rang, Carrie's name popping up at the top of the screen as I scrolled through Bennett's texts. I was almost positive he called her, and I couldn't wait to hear what she had to say about the encounter.

  "Hey," I said upon answering.

  "Ugh, my brother is fucking impossible. He called me and yelled at me. Can you fucking believe him?" she fussed. I grinned as I sat on the edge of the bed, Liam babbling in my ear. "He calls me and is all 'where is my wife, you son of a bitch?'"

  I snorted. "Did he really say that?" I asked.

  "Well, he may as well have!" she exclaimed. "But he was grilling me and accusing me of lying when I said I didn't know where you were. Like it's not my fault you ran your wife off, dude."

  "Yeah, that was exactly why I didn't tell you," I said with a smirk, though it wasn't like she could see my expression.

  "Well, he made his bed and now he can lie in it alone tonight," she stated matter-of-factly.

  "About that...."

  "Oh no. Don't tell me you forgave him and came back home already?" she whined.

  "No, no, no. I'm still at the hotel." I took in a deep breath. "It's just..."

  "Just? Just what?"

  "He’s…here."

  "Seriously?" she shrieked, so loudly that I had to pull the phone away from my ear for a moment. "You wouldn't tell me where you were going but you told him?"

  "I didn't tell him. I'm sure he managed to get it out of Joseph, as he was the only one who knew."

  "I'm surprised you even let him in," she mumbled.

  I told her the story of what'd just happened moments before, my heart warming when I thought of what he'd said to me. With the start of this new family, Bennett and I didn't get to talk as much as we used to when our biggest problem was dealing with Wilson. But hearing how he was afraid of losing me melted away any annoyance I may have felt by him being here. Maybe it was a good thing that we had a couple of days away from anything relating to the mafia. It was hard for him to avoid work when we practically still lived in the house that he conducted most of his work from.

  When I finished the story, Carrie sighed. "Well, I'm glad he realized how much of an asshat he was, but I don't think you should let him off the hook so easily. How do you know that he's not just saying things you want to hear?"

  I sighed inwardly. I had my own doubts about that. Bennett had a slick tongue, able to make you believe anything he said. Even though my gut wanted me to believe that Bennett would dash out of here at the drop of a dime if his men called, my heart wanted to believe that he wanted to fix things between us. He wouldn't have come all the way here just to lie to my face if he honestly didn't want to apologize for tonight, so I'd hold on to the hope that he wanted to fix things for now.

  "He and I have a lot of things to talk about. It's not like we're going to be one happy family just because he showed up and said a few sweet things," I said. "I have a few stipulations that he'd need to agree to before I even consider going back home with him, as I'm not going to deal with another repeat of what happened tonight."

  "You go, mama. Make him work for it. God knows someone needs to slap him behind the head a few times," she grumbled. "Also, if you do slap him, slap him for me also. I'm going to also slap him when I see him for yelling at me tonight."

  I giggled. "I'll be sure to do that whether or not I need to actually slap him," I said, just as the shower turned off. Liam grabbed at the phone, whining when I wouldn't let him take it from me. "I gotta go. Liam is getting cranky and now that he's heard Bennett's voice, he won't go back to sleep."

  "Aww, Little Ducky misses his papa, that's why. But okay, chica. Call me tomorrow?"

  "Sure. I'll call—"

  "Oh! Wait!" she exclaimed. "So, since you guys are trying to work things out, are the appointments for tomorrow still a go or are you still gonna cancel?"

  I bit the inside of my cheek in thought. Despite everything Bennett said tonight, he didn't say anything about whether or not he was okay with going on with the wedding. It was one of many things we'd need to talk about before I checked out of the hotel and went back home—granted that Bennett didn't give me a reason to extend my stay here...without him.

  "I'm still gonna cancel them for tomorrow. If Bennett and I can come to some kind of agreement, then I'll just reschedule it a little later. Besides, I'm pretty sure I may be forced to push the date back considering that I have something big to ask of him tonight and I already know he won't have time for both," I said.

  "Have time for what?" he asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway. I looked over at him, my mouth suddenly going dry. He only had a towel wrapped around his waist as he dried his hair with another. Beads of water rolled down his hard chest and arms as he stood there staring at me, waiting for me to speak.

  "Um, I'll have to call you back. I'll let you know what's decided in the morning," I said and quickly hung up the phone before turning my attention to back to Bennett. "That was a pretty quick shower."

  "I was trying to finish before Liam went back to sleep." He looked to our son, his eyes softening. "Now can I have my son? There's not a drop of blood on me."

  "You're still wet. You're going to get him wet," I said. He playfully rolled his eyes and dried his chest off with the towel in his hand before tossing it on the dresser.

  "Better?"

  "It'll work for now," I said as I stood, walking over to him. Liam squealed in excitement as Bennett took him into his arms and kissed his chubby cheek.

  "Hey there, daddy's little ducky," he murmured, holding Liam close to him. It made my heart swell with love and happiness seeing how happy our son was to see Bennett. Bennett may have thought Liam was too young to realize he wasn't there, but I was sure it was obvious tonight how much he missed his father.

  I cleared my throat. "Well, since you're here, I no longer have to wait until he falls asleep to take a shower. I'm sure you can handle him for a little bit?"

  "Yeah, go ahead," he said, gently bouncing Liam as he kissed the top of his head, going back into the living room. I watched them for a moment longer before pulling out a nightgown. Glancing at him in the living room, I grinned as I ditched the panties, knowing I wouldn't need them soon anyway. And as I listened to Liam laugh as he play
ed with Bennett, my heart felt heavy wondering how long this moment was going to last. Carrie was right; Bennett could've been saying all the right things to keep me from leaving tonight, but what would happen when we went back home and returned to our life? He could even change his mind and be gone in the morning when I woke up for all I knew.

  Don't be irrational. Allow him to prove himself or fuck up on his own. Don't ruin things with your own assumptions, the rational voice in my head reminded me. With a sigh, I made my way to the bathroom to prepare myself for the conversation I knew we'd have to have tonight.

  Liam was fast asleep on Bennett's chest by the time I finally came out of the bathroom. Bennett was stretched out across the couch with his eyes closed, the towel he wore earlier now replaced by a white robe. I would've thought he was asleep had his hand not idly been rubbing Liam's back. He opened one eye when I came back into the living room, giving me a tired smirk.

  "I was starting to wonder if you drowned in there," he teased.

  I playfully rolled my eyes. "You could've come and got me if Liam was—"

  "He was fine, babe. He's the calmest baby I've ever met."

  "When have you met other babies?"

  He slowly sat up, cradling Liam to his chest with a chuckle. "I've been around a baby or two, gorgeous. But seriously, he was fine." He looked around the living room. "Should I lay him down somewhere?"

  "There's a rollaway crib in the bedroom. You can put him there," I murmured. I sat on the couch and waited for him to come back, my heart racing at the thought of the conversation we were going to have. Fatigue started to set as I ran a tired hand through my hair. My cheek was sore, reminding me of what'd happened tonight. Even though Bennett's words sounded good, he appeared to be too deep in "boss mode" to know how to be able to switch it on and off when it was time to be a family man. Depending on how he reacted to my stipulations would determine whether or not we'd even have a wedding...or remain a family.