Benson Siblings Series: A Dark Romance Boxset

by Sarah Bailey

  Her face went bright red and she scowled.

  “Keep your voice down.”

  I looked around but no one was paying attention to us.

  “Even if anyone was listening, we’re all aware of how much you two fuck, so just chill out.”

  She slapped a hand over my mouth as she looked around the room.

  “Shut up and stop being a dick.”

  I laughed, not caring when her scowl deepened. Winding her up was my favourite sport. Avery was far too easy to tease. I ignored the feeling in my chest I always got when thinking about her and Aiden together. It was like a sharp stabbing pain.

  “Are you giving my wife shit again?” Aiden asked as he sidled up next to her.

  She removed her hand from my mouth and looked up at him.

  “Always,” I replied, grinning.

  He shook his head and dropped a kiss on the top of hers.

  “If you don’t want him to be mean to you, then you need to stop hanging out with him.”

  Avery scowled and batted him away.

  “You can be quiet too,” she muttered.

  “It’s her own fault for walking right into things,” I said.

  “He’s right, you know. You do tend to do that,” Aiden replied.

  “Oh my god, what is this? Gang up on Avery day?”

  I gave her a smile.

  “Isn’t that every day?”

  “I’m going to get cake.”

  She walked away towards the table. Aiden was shaking his head at her retreat.

  “Thanks for that.”

  “You’re welcome. Who did you pawn Afie off onto?”

  He pointed over at where the twins were cooing over his daughter.

  “Oh great, next I’m going to find out my sisters are poking holes in condoms in an effort to get pregnant.”

  “They practically ripped Afie out of my arms after Avery gave her to me.”

  “Sounds like Jen and Fi. Just don’t leave Afie with them for too long, you wouldn’t want her going missing.”

  My sisters were royal pains in the arse. Their propensity to get into mischief was impressive but also incredibly annoying.

  “I never know if you’re joking or not.”

  “When it comes to my sisters, I never joke.”

  He eyed me for a moment before slipping away towards the twins with a concerned look on his face. I shook my head whilst my brother joined me, handing me a plate with a large slice of cake on it.

  “Um, can I ask why your wife decided to bake me a rainbow cake?”

  “Fuck knows,” Dante replied. “Liora is a law unto herself.”

  “Tell me about it, she told me if I was late to my own birthday party, she’d lock all the booze away.”

  He laughed as I dug into the cake. She hadn’t quite put it like that, but she might as well have. I was never late for anything so she needn’t have worried.

  “So, did you clear things up with Cassie yet?”

  I swallowed the piece of cake I was chewing and turned to him. He’d been asking me for weeks so I wasn’t entirely surprised by the question.

  “Yes, you don’t have to worry about it. We can be civil.”

  “Good, don’t fuck any more of our employees,” he told me, slapping me on the back before he walked off. There was no way in hell I was going to repeat that mistake.

  Left alone again, my thoughts started to wander as I sat down at the table with my plate of cake. It had only been just over a day since I’d seen her and yet all I could think about was Ellie in that dress. Ellie almost snorting tequila out of her nose because I’d made her laugh whilst she was taking a shot. Ellie smiling at me with amusement in those sky blue eyes which drowned me every time I looked into them.

  Fuck. I’m totally fucked.

  I was running into incredibly dangerous territory here. I didn’t need another fucking infatuation with a girl who was my friend. Especially not one who I kept picturing naked every five minutes. Naked. Limbs tangled together. My name on her lips as her body quaked and trembled below me.

  I shifted in my seat, uncomfortably aware of my body’s reaction to my incredibly inappropriate thoughts. This didn’t make any sense to me. I’d never fantasised about a girl in the way I did with Ellie. Never thought about all the ways I wanted to touch her, taste her, fuck her. Ellie deserved to have someone show her what real pleasure was like. I knew she hadn’t experienced that. I could tell from what she’d said about her life and it made me fucking sad. A girl like Ellie deserved everything. I wanted to be the one who gave that to her. To kiss away her pain and replace it with bliss. I wanted her consumed with it. Consumed by me to the point where she’d do anything I said.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, making me take a steadying breath before I pulled it out.

  ELLIE: That looks amazing! I’m so jealous.

  ME: It has rainbow layers. Liora made it.

  ELLIE: Are you having a nice time? I’m just on my break.

  ME: Yeah. Watching Aiden try to wrestle his baby back from my sisters is amusing.

  I wasn’t lying. He was still talking to Jen and Fi, his eyes darting to his daughter as if she was in immediate danger. I almost felt bad I’d warned him about the twins, but honestly, I didn’t trust those two.

  ELLIE: Poor guy.

  ME: Avery’s rescuing him as we speak.

  ELLIE: Were you serious about saving me a slice?

  ME: I don’t joke about cake. Cake is life.

  ELLIE: I finish at six…

  Did she want to see me? I wasn’t in any state to drive. Maybe I could get an Uber. Getting on the tube with cake would be annoying. Also, leaving my birthday party early would arouse suspicions. I wondered if I could get away with it.

  ME: I can be there if you want me to…

  ELLIE: You can’t skip out on your birthday party for me.

  “Am I going to have to surgically remove that phone from your hand?”

  I looked up, finding Avery and Gertie standing next to me with joint raised eyebrows.

  “Yeah, come join in the party and stop being a loser,” Gertie added.

  I wanted to reply to Ellie, but the look in both their eyes had me standing up and tucking my phone back in my pocket.

  “You two are fucking bossy,” I told them as I walked with them to where everyone else seemed to have congregated.

  “Birthday boys can’t be sulking in the corner like pussies.”

  “Who are you calling a pussy? I don’t remember being part of the vagina club.”

  Gertie raised an eyebrow at me.

  “You might as well be considering how much time you spend with women and yet you still can’t hold one down. Even I managed that.”

  “Wow, someone put her bitchy knickers on today.”

  She flicked my ear. I batted her hand away, rubbing the side of my head and scowling.

  “You two are like children,” Avery said, rolling her eyes.

  “Mum is trying to keep us in line, Gertie. Should we behave for her?”

  The look on Avery’s face said it all. She was not in the least bit amused by the two of us. Gertie stuck her tongue out.

  “Oh look, it’s the terrible trio bickering again,” Dante put in as we joined the rest of them.

  I grinned. It was true. We had a tendency to do this when the three of us were together. Gertie and I always wound each other up and Avery told us off for it. It wasn’t any surprise she’d become a parent first given how much she had to bring the two of us to order. It’s why I’d known she’d be perfect with Afie.

  I noted Aiden had their baby back, although the twins were still eying him like he was a meal they could eat. Honestly, did all the women in my life have a huge crush on him? Even after all this time, Gertie still said inappropriate as fuck shit to him which pissed Avery off no end. I wondered how Tillie put up with it considering her girlfriend was lusting after a bloke. I mean, Gertie was bi, but
I still didn’t think Tillie appreciated the whole ‘I’d totally bang your husband’ shit she pulled with Avery.

  Even though I knew Aiden now, he was still pretty fucking intimidating. I could understand what women saw in him. The ripped body and tattoos, all of that was like a recipe for making their panties melt. I just wished not every woman I knew wanted to mount him.

  Every woman except Ellie. She hadn’t seemed remotely interested in Aiden. I doubted Ellie looked at guys in that way after what she’d been through. I wanted her to look at me like that though. It was ridiculous to be wishing these things.

  Get your fucking head on straight, James. This needs to stop.

  I couldn’t though. Couldn’t stop thinking about Ellie. What was it about this girl? I’d only seen her a few times. She’d got under my skin. I wanted to know everything about her. Needed to. All her experiences no matter how harrowing they were. What made her tick.

  “Hey, earth to James, what’s with you today?” Avery’s voice brought me back to the present.

  “Um, sorry, what did you say?”

  “We asked if you wanted to open your presents now.”

  “Oh, sure… can do.”

  Avery gave me a funny look. Of course, it meant she knew I was hiding something from her. She always fucking knew. It was a miracle I’d managed to hide how I felt about her. It was easy remembering she was married so it hadn’t been the biggest issue before. It was only Dante’s wedding which had brought up all those unwanted feelings. Creating a void inside me I was hard pressed to fill.

  I knew I couldn’t keep Avery in the dark forever. At some point, she was going to corner me and make me spill. Maybe when I’d got a handle on these feelings I had for Ellie, I’d tell Avery. I was so fucking confused right now. Everything was a mess. I’d already fucked it up with Cassie. I couldn’t do that with Ellie. She deserved better. And if I was ever going to get the chance to be anything more with her, I really had to sort my shit out.

  Could Cassie have been right though? Did Ellie want us to be more than just friends? How would I even know if it was okay to make a move on her? After she’d freaked out on Thursday, I wasn’t sure if trying anything with her would result in it happening again.

  I wanted to smack my head against the wall. Taking all those thoughts, I shoved them back in the box they belonged in. It was time to actually be present at the birthday party Liora had organised for me.

  I just have to pay more attention to the way Ellie behaves around me. Perhaps then I’ll know if she likes me as more than just a friend.

  Chapter Ten

  Ellie

  Today’s shift was dragging. Every day seemed to when I was waiting for my next meet up with James. I had a few night shifts coming up so it was unlikely I’d see him until those were over unless he wanted to see me over the weekend. If I wasn’t worried about seeming too over eager, I would’ve asked him. That was just plain stupid. We were friends. Friends asked when each other was free without anyone reading into it.

  I read into every interaction we had like the infatuated fool I was. There was no doubt in my mind now, I was attracted to James in a deep, visceral way which stole my breath every time I was around him. Even just getting a text from him made my heart thump. To say I was a little disappointed he didn’t skip out on his own birthday party to see me was an understatement. I shouldn’t feel that way at all. He should spend time with his family and friends. I was new in his life so they should take precedence over me.

  A little part of me wished he felt the same way as me, but how could he? He told me to my face he loved his best friend in a romantic way. Like he wanted to be with her. I had to remind myself he’d also told me he would never break up her marriage. He had boundaries and morals which couldn’t be said for any of the other men who’d been in my life before.

  It struck me the reason I liked James was quite possibly because he was the first man who treated me with respect and common decency. Deep down, I knew that wasn’t it. I was trying to explain something that couldn’t be explained. Human attraction had always been something which confounded me. It defied logic. It just was. You were either attracted to someone or you weren’t.

  My eyes fell on the door to the lobby where a man was walking into the bar area. My breath got stuck in my throat. My world seemed to slow down to a grinding halt as I froze on the spot.

  What is he doing here? How… He can’t know I work here, can he?

  My feet shifted and I hit the back bar, holding it to steady myself as I watched him walk to one of the tables and take a seat. And when his eyes met mine, the deadly gleam in them told me everything I needed to know. He’d tracked me down for god knows what reason. I never thought I’d see him again after he sold me to the Daniels. There he was. The person who completely ruined my life.

  His sky blue eyes bored holes into mine. He looked so much older than when I’d last seen him. His dark hair was greying at the sides. What struck me the most is he looked healthier and less sallow. The man had been hooked on heroin for longer than I could remember. Had he gotten off the drugs finally? Why did it even matter?

  Why is my father here?

  This was not what I needed. Not when I was just getting my life back together. I hadn’t seen him in almost ten years. What did he want now? Nothing good could come out of this.

  He sat there staring at me as if this was the most normal thing in the world. He had absolutely no right to be here. Not after he’d sold his own daughter to pay for his drug habit. I couldn’t do this. Couldn’t be here right now with him.

  I backed away towards the door leading out to the stock room.

  “Ellie, are you okay?” Sasha who was on the bar with me that day asked.

  “Uh, no… I need a minute.”

  Panic set in. My skin prickled and I could hardly drag air into my lungs. My chest burnt and my limbs started to lock up.

  “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll cover for you. Go.”

  Her concerned expression spoke volumes. I must look terrified and freaked out right now. I bolted, shoving the door open and striding towards where I knew the cleaning supplies cupboard was. I opened the door and shut myself in it. Darkness encompassed me. I slid down onto the floor, putting my head between my knees as my body trembled all over. My heart raced out of control, pounding in my ears like a bass drum. A dull ache started in my temples and my skin was clammy.

  I tried to take deep breaths but my lungs were constricting and my chest ached. I put my hands over my head, trying to hold back the tide of memories threatening to overcome me. It was fruitless. My scars itched and my vision started to blur at the edges even in the dark. The world caved in and I was lost.

  ***

  “No,” she screamed. “You can’t do this.”

  “The little bitch is mine, I can do whatever the fuck I want,” he grunted as she beat her fists down on his back.

  He had me by the arm, his grip bruising. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I winced against the pain.

  “That’s our daughter, you bastard. She’s not a commodity you can sell to pay for your fucking drugs.”

  He turned on her and backhanded my mother around the face, sending her flying. The sickening thud as she crashed into the sofa made me flinch. I was used to the violence. He never cared if he hurt her or not.

  “Come on, Ellie, we’re leaving.”

  He started dragging me away towards the front door. My eyes were on Mum. She was hardly moving, but I could see the slight rise and fall of her chest.

  “Don’t take her, Richard,” she croaked. “Please, don’t give her to them.”

  He stopped halfway towards the door, the sudden movement causing me to stumble. He almost ripped my arm out of my socket pulling me back to keep me upright.

  “What is she fucking good for, Bea? Nothing. All she does is cost us money.”

  “She’s my daughter. They’ll ruin her.”

  “Good. It’s no less than she fu
cking deserves.”

  He dragged me out of the house and threw me into the passenger seat of his run down old Nissan Micra. I didn’t try to run. He’d only catch me and then he’d beat me. What was the point? Maybe I’d be treated better wherever he was taking me. I didn’t hold out much hope of that. My whole life had been marred with violence anyway.

  He got in the driver’s side and grunted at me to put my seatbelt on. I buckled it with shaky fingers. Before he set off, he looked at me.

  “You going to be a good girl, Ellie?”

  “Yes, Dad,” I whispered, my voice trembling on the words.

  “They’re giving me good money for you. Your mother and I will be set up for life.”

  I didn’t respond. Somehow I knew nothing I said would make a difference anyway. He was selling me to pay for his drug habit. I was under no illusions about that.

  I looked back at the house as we drove away, but Mum didn’t come out. I never even got to say goodbye to her.

  ***

  I gasped for air, my lungs burning from the lack of oxygen. That was the last time I saw her. My mother. I didn’t know if she was dead or alive. I hoped my father was dead. That the drugs finally killed him. It shouldn’t surprise me he’d survived this long. He was a parasite. Someone who fed off other people and used them for his own gain.

  I’m okay. Everything is fine. Just breathe, Ellie. Breathe.

  I had to remember I was my own woman now. I didn’t have to do anything my father said nor listen to him. He had no control over me. He lost the right to have anything to do with me. I was an adult. He was dead to me.

  My heart rate started to settle and my breathing evened out. My panic attacks didn’t last long these days, but they crippled me when they hit. Except for the one before this. The one I almost had with James. Questioning why it had been different probably wouldn’t lead me anywhere good or if it did, it would just remind me of what I couldn’t have.

  Why on earth was I thinking about him at a time like this?

  You like him, Ellie. He’s the person you think about night and day and can’t get out of your head.

  I groaned, trying to shut down that train of thought. Now was not the time to be getting my brain scrambled with James when I’d just seen my father. I had to get up and get out of this cupboard. I was still technically working.