Brooke & Ben: Before Fate Interrupted (10 page)

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.

Ben 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 her 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.

“It’s okay,”
Brooke whispered. “I’m on the pill.”

“You sure?”

She pushed against
him, taking him all in and wiggling her curvy cheeks against him. “I’m sure.”

He took a deep
breath and punched back in, throttling her hips with his strong hands as he
punished her from behind. The bed creaked in protest, its legs scraping loudly.
Skin slapped against skin, rising above the stereo in the living room.

Brooke’s head
rammed into the padded headboard. “Oh shit, not that fast!”

He reached
forward and pulled her arms back, using them like reigns as he brought it home.
Tendons bulged in his neck.

“Give it to me,
baby,” Brooke said into the pillow.

Ben scrunched
his face up and grunted her name, exploding inside of her like the fireworks
going off inside her head. Brooke’s muscles constricted around him as a wave of
something she had never felt before washed over her tingling body. She turned
her head to the side for more air. Her insides felt like gravity had lost its
hold, like she was plummeting down that first big hill on a wooden
rollercoaster. Goose bumps bristled across the surface of her skin, the air sweeter
than ever before.

Ben released her
arms and fell onto the bed next to her, spooning her from behind, struggling
for air. His warm breath rushed over her ear. “That was…incredible.”

Brooke stared at
the alarm clock next to the bed, wanting to disagree but unable to form any
type of defense. She was breathless and stunned. He wrapped an arm around her
and nuzzled his nose into her neck, breathing her in. She inhaled a quick
breath as he pressed his softening manhood deeper inside of her one last time,
his twitching release beginning to slow. She pushed against him, taking all
that she could before it was too late.

“God, you smell
good.”

She rubbed the
dragon coiling around his forearm, drawing in deep gulps of oxygen to appease
her racing heart. “How old are you again?”

Ben cleared his
throat. “In human years?”

“No, in vampire
years.”

“A hundred and
sixty-seven.”

“What’re you
like twenty-seven? Twenty-eight?”

“I’d have to dig
through some paperwork and get back to you on that one.”

She turned to
face him, their noses inches apart. “You’re seriously not going to tell me how
old you are? You’re as bad as my sister.”

He smiled at her
and lightly stroked her cheek. “Why does it matter?”

“It doesn’t, I’d
just like to…”

“How old are
you?”

A short laugh
shot past her lips. “Apparently, not old enough to know better.”

He didn’t
respond. Just sat there soaking her in, sharing a relaxed moment that made
Brooke uncomfortable.

“Your eyes are
stunning.”

“Don’t try to
change the subject.” She traced the dragon’s pink belly with an index finger,
unsure what to say next. “I’ll find your wallet.”

“Already hid
it.”

She snorted. “So
what’s with the dragon tattoo anyway?”

He turned his
arm, bringing the green creature’s scaly back into view, and spoke in a soft
voice. “In Japanese culture the dragon symbolizes supernatural powers, with
great strength and a hidden wisdom as a valued protector.” He took a thoughtful
breath and pinched his eyes together. “It is said, the only way to journey past
a dragon is to answer its riddles.”

Brooke met his
heavy eyes. “Seriously?”

He hedged, holding
onto her beautiful gaze a moment longer. “Yep.”

She turned back
to the alarm clock, the left side of her face resting on an extra comfy pillow.
“Well, here’s a riddle for ya: why is your place is so clean?”

His eyes darted
around the room. “I just vacuumed.”

She slipped out from
under his arm and sat up, giving the night stand the white glove treatment with
a bare index finger. She held her finger up for a closer inspection and then
turned to him. “Are you a neat freak?”

His eyes fondled
her plump breasts. “Just because there aren’t empty pizza boxes and beer cans
lying around doesn’t mean I’m a
neat
freak
.”

Her eyes
thinned. “Were you expecting company tonight?”

“
Company
? No.”

Brooke resisted
staring at his bulging chest, still feeling it against her lips. “I think you
were.” She slid off the bed.

“Hey, where’re
you going?”

She threw her
bra and shirt on in a hurry. “I should go.”

“Oh come on!” he
laughed, leaning against the padded headboard. “It’s always clean in here.”

She slipped into
her heels and grabbed her bag from a white armchair that matched nicely with the
dark colored bedroom furniture. “Can you take me home?”

“Now?”

“Yep.”

“It’s three thirty
in the morning.”

Her eyes
wandered into his closet. “Oh my God, how many pairs of shoes do you have?”

“I don’t know. A
few.”

“Wow, and I
thought I was bad.” Her gaze moved on to the silver blue walls. “Did you paint
this place yourself?”

“I did.”

“It’s… nice.”

“Thanks. The
landlord paid for the paint and I slapped it on.”

She bent for a
closer look at the white trim separating the walls from the dark wooden floors.
“Your lines are perfect.”

“I don’t know
about
perfect
.”

She turned back
to him, her mouth agape. “Do you watch HGTV?”

“What?” he said
with a nervous chuckle, pulling the bed sheet up around him like he was cold.
“No.”

She surveyed the
dresser with stainless steel pulls that matched the two nightstands framing the
bed. “Do you shop at IKEA?”

“What? No.”

Her jaw came
further unhinged as she took in the padded headboard and floor lamps. “I think
you do.”

“I don’t even
know what IKEA is.”

She glanced down
the hall at the red couch with straight lines in the living room where Volbeat
was now commandeering the airwaves with a driving force. “Your apartment is so
dang cute!”

“What’d you
expect?”

“A lot of dusty
oak and tarnished brass. Maybe some halogen lamps and posters of girls washing
Camaros.”

He laughed. “Why?
Because I have tattoos and a motorcycle?”

“Exactly.”

His smile faded.
“That is racial profiling!”

“You can admit
it, ya know. It doesn’t make you any less of a man if you shop at IKEA and
watch HGTV.”

He folded his
arms across his chest and looked away. “I don’t.”

“I’m actually
very impressed.”

He turned back
to her. “You are?”

She nodded,
admiring his colorful bedspread and drapes.

He watched her
eyes for a second or two longer before a defeated breath left his lungs. “Well,
I don’t mind catching a little
Design on
a Dime
every once in a great while.”

Brooke snapped
her fingers and pointed at him. “I knew it!”

His brow crumpled.
“You knew what?”

“You’re gay!”

“What!”

“Now it all
makes sense.”

Ben frowned.
“What all makes sense?”

A mischievous
grin played on her smeared lips. “I’m just messin with ya, buttercup,” she
said, softly smacking his foot. “Now get up and drive me home.”

***

 
Ben shook his head and grumbled under his
breath, white knuckling the steering wheel. The engine’s throaty roar filled
the truck’s cabin as darkened houses zipped by, one after another.

“Wow, can you
drive any faster?”

He pressed on
the gas pedal, making the black F-150 buck.

“I was being
sarcastic,” Brooke quickly replied, double-checking her seat belt.

Ben eased off
the pedal and lit up a smoke. He threw the lighter into the console where it
clattered around a plastic cup holder. “You’re really not going to give me your
number?”

“That’s right,
so stop asking me.”

Smoke floated
from his nose as he considered her. “Why?”

“Because I’m
tired of it.”

“No, I mean why
won’t you give me your number?”

“Because
this
will never happen again.”

The deserted road
unfolded before them in a humming silence, the dotted lines quickening once
again as he got back into the gas. Ben zipped around a lazy bread truck and
kept digging.

“What is your
problem?”

“Look, my
parents already think I’m a no good tramp, and you don’t even want to know what
they think of you.”

He glanced at
her, eyebrows drawing together, and turned back to the road. “Me? How do they
even know about me?”

“Because someone
had to be the scapegoat monster. They think you drugged my drink and took advantage
of me and now my father wants to break your face.” A wide smile spread into her
cheeks.

Streetlights
flickered across his wrinkled brow. “You told them what?”

“What’d I care?
I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, but I couldn’t lie to them. They always
know.”

Ben flicked an ash
out the window. “You’re a real piece of work, ya know that?”

“Hey, I’ve screwed
enough up already. I don’t need to add some inked up sexy werewolf looking guy
to my to-do list. You’re not
that
great.”

“Yeah well, your
sister seemed to think I was okay.”

“She didn’t know
who you really were. And for the record, my sister likes anything when she’s
been drinking. One time, she licked a railing at a Burger King.”

His face soured.
“Look, I know we got started out on the wrong foot…”

“Try wrong
penis!”

Ben pulled over to
the side of a lonely residential street and slammed on the brakes. Their heads
snapped forward with the abrupt stop in motion. He jammed it into park and
twisted in his seat to face her, smoke rising from the cigarette between his
fingers. “At least take my number.”

She folded her
arms and looked out her window. “No.”

“In case you
change your mind.”

“I won’t.”

“You might.”