Brooke tried yanking her hand away but his determined grip wouldn’t falter.
“Clean it up, bitch!”
She barely had time to scream before the guy’s head slammed down onto the table. The loud crack silenced the crowd around them. Brooke jumped back in the chair and almost tipped over. Her eyes bulged from their sockets when she saw Ben twist the guy’s arm behind his back.
“Time to say goodnight, asshole.” Ben grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him off the table, his tattooed biceps testing his short sleeves.
Pain twisted the guy’s face. “Let me go! You’re breaking my arm!”
Ben leaned into his ear. “Walk!” He shot Brooke a wink before turning to usher the guy outside.
“Let him go, shit-head!”
Ben turned to see two black guys - one built like a Texas quarterback and the other like a grumpy pit-bull - standing in front of him, blocking his exit. “Oh shit,” he muttered, hiking the white guy’s arm up even higher.
Spiky hair screamed to the ceiling, a clear signal to his buddies to start closing in.
“Let him go or we’ll bust you up, homeboy,” the pit-bull said, balling his hands into fists and taking up a defensive stance.
Ben pushed spiky hair into them, knocking them back a little. “Get him outta here before he gets hurt!”
The white guy whirled on his heels, favoring his arm and glaring at Ben through malevolent eyes. “You’re dead, cocksucker.”
The three closed in.
Ben backpedaled with his hands up. “Now hang on a second guys, let’s be civil about this. How about you buy me and the lady a drink and we’ll forget the whole damn thing.” He brushed invisible dirt from his hands, but they kept coming. “No?”
Quarterback shoved Ben in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards and falling into Brooke’s lap. He flashed her a quick smile. “Hey! Good to see you again, Brooke.”
“Would you like some help?”
He shook his head. “Naw, I got this.”
“Look out!” Her head snapped back as pit-bull caught Ben’s jaw with a sucker punch.
Ben shook it off and sprang to his feet, fists cocked and loaded. He spit blood to the floor without taking his eyes off them. “Okay, who’s the brave one?”
They laughed and inched closer for more.
“You think you’re a bad ass?” Pit bull rolled his shoulders one time. “Time for a siesta, essay.”
Ben lowered his fists. “Hey, have you guys met my friend, Hicks, yet?”
Spiky hair and the quarterback didn’t even have time to turn around. Hicks smashed them together like rag dolls and they fell to the floor. Pit-bull paid little attention and launched another missile at Ben’s face. Ben dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding the crushing blow, and delivered a hard right to pit-bull’s nose.
Pit-bull crumpled to the floor like a wet noodle just before two bartenders and an oversized bouncer scrambled over to get in the middle.
“You all right, Ben?” the bouncer asked, collaring spiky hair.
Ben wiped the corner of his mouth and studied the blood smeared across his fingers. “I’m good.”
“Let’s go, fellas,” the shorter bartender said, helping pit-bull to his feet.
Ben watched them escort the three lowlifes out the front door and fist bumped Hicks, who returned to a table of three blonds wearing skin tight jeans and high heels. Ben turned back to Brooke and spread a bloody smile. “Oh snap, looks like somebody owes me now.”
Brooke pursed her lips together. “I don’t owe you anything.”
“The hell you don’t! I just saved your life.”
A burst of hot air shot through her lips. “Please! I was doing just fine before you showed up.”
He put his hands on his hips and stared at her through insistent eyes, the music drowning out the rising chatter around them.
She squirmed in the chair, unable to tear her gaze from his muscular arms. “Okay fine, thank you. There, are you happy?”
“I’d be happier if you bought me a drink,” he said, rubbing his chin and sitting down. “My mouth hurts real bad.”
“You can’t sit there!”
“Why not?”
“Who’s this and why is he bleeding in my seat?”
Brooke and Ben turned to Evy, who was staring down at Ben with a perplexed look stealing her expression.
Ben got up and extended his hand. “I’m Ben.”
“Evy,” she said, stopping short of taking his hand. “You’re bleeding.”
“Huh? Oh, sorry.” He took his hand back and stepped aside so she could sit down.
Evy turned to Brooke, thumbing at Ben with her brow raised.
“We met at a Halloween party last night,” Ben clarified.
“Yeah, and he was just leaving.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
Brooke rubbed a circle through the air. “I meant leaving this area right here.”
He shrugged. “Can I buy you ladies some drinks before I go?”
“Sure,” Evy said, twisting a long strand of hair around her finger.
“No!” Brooke countered, glaring at Ben. “You’re in our zone. VIP only.”
Ben looked around, bewildered. “But you look so thirsty.”
“I’m fine.”
A smile drew his lips back like theater curtains. “You sure are.”
Evy frowned, looking back and forth between them.
“So nice to see you again,” Brooke said sarcastically, gesturing for him to beat it.
Ben held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I can take a hint.”
Evy sat down and pulled another leather chair closer. “Don’t listen to her, Ben. Have a seat.”
He took off his trucker’s cap and ran a hand over the brown scruff carpeting his head, smiling at Brooke as he took a seat.
Brooke finished her drink off with one big gulp and signaled to the waitress with her empty glass.
“See?” Ben nodded at her glass. “I was right.”
Evy leaned over and whispered into Brooke’s ear, “You need to get laid. It’ll help you relax.” She leaned back, a playful look in her eyes. “So, Ben, are you dating anyone?”
He looked to Brooke. “Uh, not really.”
“No? Neither is my sister here.” She smiled coyly at Brooke. “She’s as single as they come.”
Brooke rolled her eyes and switched out her legs, searching for the waitress.
“Well, it’s official!”
They looked up to see Tasha standing there with a long face.
“I’m cursed!” She dropped into the last open chair at the table and buried her face in her hands. “He couldn’t get it up!”
“Oh my God,” Evy muttered.
“And my hand is so sore!” She pulled her face from her hands and examined them. “I think I have a blister.” She turned and met Ben’s bewildered gaze. “What’s he doing here?”
“Just leaving,” Brooke replied.
Tasha turned back to her hand. “I hope it’s not a rash.”
“And that’s my cue,” Evy said, getting up. “I should get going before whatever you have spreads.” She slung her purse over her shoulder and smiled at Ben. “It was nice meeting you, Ben.”
Ben smiled warmly back. “Nice meeting you, Evy.”
She turned back to Tasha. “Good luck with…the curse.”
“There has to be a way to reverse the curse!” Tasha stared at Brooke’s empty glass through distant eyes.
“I’m sure there is, sweetie.” Evy patted Tasha’s shoulder, nodding to Ben while he wasn’t looking and giving Brooke an OK sign before disappearing into the crowd.
Brooke leaned forward. “What’re you doing?”
“Calling Dave,” Tasha replied dully, flipping through screens at warp speed. “He’s got next.”
“Tasha, don’t!”
“Too late.” She pressed the phone to her ear and sweetened her tone as soon as Dave answered.
B
en pinched his eyes together.
Brooke sighed and relaxed into the chair, resigning to sit back and watch the disaster unfold before her. “Every penis she touches turns to Jell-O and now she thinks she cursed.”
“Brutal,” he replied, staring intently at her. “At least you know you’re not cursed.”
Her lips tightened. “Very funny, Ben. Or should I call you Roger?”
“Ben is fine.”
Tasha giggled at something Dave said like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard.
“So what’s your story anyway, Ben? You a porn star or something?”
A hangdog smile showed off his white teeth. “I do tats around the corner.”
“Tats? Shocking.” Her eyes wandered the myriad of tats coiling around his sculpted forearms.
“Hope to open my own studio someday.”
She feigned impressed eyes. “Really?”
“That’s the dream.”
“Some dream.”
“Yeah well, college wasn’t exactly in the cards for me. Gotta use the gifts God gave ya.”
Her eyes softened a little around the edges, his words echoing in her head. “I dropped out in the middle of my second semester.” She paused for reflection. “Technically, I didn’t drop out; I just quit going.”
“I gotcha.”
“And my parents pretty much remind me of it on a daily basis.”
“Ouch.”
“It’s not quite that bad, but I still have dreams I’m sitting in a class I’ve skipped for the past two weeks and there’s a huge test I forgot all about and it’s written in a foreign language.”
Ben grunted. “Sounds like your conscience playing tricks on you.”
“Guess that’s its way of telling me I’m more into street smarts than book smarts.”
“You and me both. Hey, have you read the last Twilight yet? It is breathtaking.”
Brooke frowned at him. “Smartass.”
“Well, see you two lovebirds later!” Tasha sprang from her chair.
“What?” Brooke cried. “Where are you going?”
“Dave’s.” She slipped the cell phone into a gray purse hanging in the crook of her arm. “Have a good night.”
“Wait! You’re my ride.”
She looked at Ben, biting on her pinky. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”
Brooke jumped to her red heels and whispered through gritted teeth. “You can’t leave me here alone with him!”
Tasha shook free. “You can thank me later.” She wiggled her fingers at Ben and strutted to the front door with her head held high.
Brooke watched her disappear and slinked back into the chair, unable to stomach the cheesy grin stuck to Ben’s face. “Terrific.”
Chapter Eight
The waitress cleared the empties and came back with a towel. Brooke and Ben lifted their drinks while she mopped up the wet rings littering the table like Olympic symbols, a tribute to their endurance.
“Thank you,” Brooke said warmly. She looked at Ben and stopped her lips from meeting her new raspberry cosmo. “What?”
He shrugged. “What?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s just weird, don’t you think?”
“What’s weird?” She raised the glass to her lips, avoiding his arms with her eyes at all costs.
He spread his palms. “I mean, of all places to run into you. And the very next night, too.”
“Lucky me,” she said out the corner of her mouth and then took a drink. “I still think you’re stalking me.”
“And how would I have known you’d be here?”
“I don’t know, maybe you followed me, or you inserted a microchip inside of me last night.”
Ben leaned back and laughed. “A microchip? Wow, that really hurts my feelings if that’s all you think of me.”
“I wasn’t talking about that.” Her eyes darted into his lap. A darkened image of him inside of her slipped through her mind.
“Sure you weren’t. Freudian slip perhaps?”
She looked up and swirled her drink in the glass, fighting back warm tingles. “Do guys really think that’s all we think about? Just pushing shopping carts down aisles of pancake mix and Pop-Tarts, thinking about big hairy dicks?”
Ben frowned, clearly appalled by the suggestion. “Pretty much. And besides, I couldn’t have followed you because Mandy wouldn’t tell me where you moved to.”
Her heart sputtered in her chest, the fire spreading down below. She wasn’t sure if it was the booze or his eyes. “You went back to Mandy’s?”
“This morning.” He rubbed his face, the memory making him cringe. “She thought I was there to win her back.”
“Oh, hell no.”
“It was an absolute train wreck.”
Brooke set the drink down without looking. “What were you thinking?”
“I don’t know.” He took a long pull from his beer.
“Oh my God, that poor girl! Why would you do that to her?”
“I had to find you!”
“So you go snooping around the scene of the crime? What are you? Ted Bundy?”
“If it’s any consolation, she tried to kill me with a lamp.”
Brooke chuckled, her head buzzing. “I hope it wasn’t my lamp. That was my grandma’s.”
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, his t-shirt stretching over his rounded shoulders. “All I’m saying is I can’t stop thinking about last night.”
Brooke held his forceful gaze until she realized her hand was on her heart. She dropped it into her lap and broke eye contact with him, looking to the patio door where some people were coming back inside from a smoke break. “Well, that’s real sweet, Romeo, but last night was a mistake. A big one.”
“How can you say that?”
“Have you not been paying attention?” She found her drink again without looking. “I lost one of my best friends, my home, my freedom and my dignity all in one shot because of you.”
“Me?”
“You knew I was her roommate! I told you I lived there when we were out on the patio. You knew this would get me into serious trouble.” Her anger pushed her desire back beneath the warm waters, turning the flames into smoke.
He stared at her without speaking. “You’re right, and I’m sorry.”
Despite her best intentions, her hard glare loosened just a little. “You should be. That was a shitty thing to do.”
“Now hang on a second, you wanted it just as bad as I did. Admit it.”
“I will not admit any such thing. I, obviously, had too much punch and wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Ben snorted. “You seemed fine to me. And if I remember correctly, Mandy was the one who had too much punch.” He pointed at Brooke. “You kissed me first.”
Her face folded like a chair. “That is not true! And I wasn’t the one with the huge boner!”
Ben hid behind his hands and laughed, shaking his head in embarrassment. After a few seconds, he pulled his face away and leaned closer. “That was my first time doing anything like that. I swear to God that is not my style.”
“Sure it’s not.”
“It’s not.”
“You some kind of public exhibitionist or something?”
“No.”
She glanced into his lap. “You’ve never taken that…thing out in a movie theater before?”
Ben stared flatly at her without responding.
“Never took it out on a roller coaster?”
His expression remained the same.
“Never drilled a hole in a bathroom stall and plugged it with your mutant baloney pony?”
He watched her twist beneath the weight of his eyes, clearly bemused. “Maybe we should get going.”
“Now, that’s the first good idea you’ve had all day!” She grabbed her purse and pushed out of the chair.
Ben got up and stepped in front of her, breathing her scent in with deep breaths, getting lost in h
er emerald colored eyes. “Sooo…my place then?”
Brooke laughed sharply and stomped her heels across the room to the front doors.
Chapter Nine
Avenged Sevenfold’s double bass drums nearly drowned out Brooke’s screams. Her wrists were starting to hurt but she didn’t care. The pleasure outweighed the pain. She shifted on her knees, her butt hanging in the air and her boobs feeling like they would fly off at any second as they rocked back and forth.
Ben gathered her hair into his fist and pulled, his hips slapping against her curvy cheeks with reckless abandon. Sweat glistened across his chest as he pumped even harder.
Brooke moaned louder and looked at him over her shoulder. “Oh yeah, don’t stop!”
The bed squeaked against the floor and Brooke collapsed onto her elbows to give her wrists a break. Ben pulled on the reigns, pulling her head back, and thrust even harder. The whole room was shaking now, registering a ten-point-zero on the Richter scale. Everything was a series of jerky flashes.
“Jesus Christ, Ben!”
“This is what happens,” he panted, “when you get me into trouble!”
The bed was actually sliding back and forth across the hardwood now.
“Oh, I got you into trouble?”
He slowed and let her hair fall to the side, gently gliding in and out of her from behind. He reached around and cupped her breasts. “Let’s not argue.”
Brooke let her head hang from her shoulders as she soaked him in, clenching her muscles around his shaft.
He stared down at her, watching her through untamed eyes. “You like that?”
“I love it.”
Ben needled her nipples while gently giving her every inch of his oversized pocket rocket before taking it all back again. In and out. In and out, her wetness greasing his path. His cock was so swollen even Brooke’s insides were trembling.
“Go faster again.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
Her eyes popped open. “Why not?”
“You’re so hot, I’m about to lose it.”
She twisted her head around and looked at him out the corner of her eye. “Go ahead, sweetie, I’ve already had two orgasms.”
He hesitated, uncertainty keeping a fast tempo at bay.
Brooke & Ben: Before Fate Interrupted Page 8
