Business as Usual (Off The Subject) (32 page)

“No, you’re not.”

Her voice rises. “And neither are you!”

“I know.”

Ben has been hanging in the periphery, but Caroline’s outburst draws him back to the table. “Is everything okay here?” His wary gaze moves from me to Caroline.

“Relax. She’s fine.” She smirks, turning her attention to me. “He’s a lot like Reed.” Then she smiles at Ben. “Why don’t you sit? Lexi and I have reached the part where you’re about to pump me for all the information I have that might help us stop Reed.”

Ben slides in next to me and takes my hand in his.

Caroline’s mouth lifts into a soft smile.

Ben taps the table with his free hand. “We’re trying to figure out what Reed’s up to and where he actually went. Alexa says he told you he was going to Boston.”

She nods. “Yes, but he didn’t say why. I presumed it was family stuff since that’s where he and Lexi are from.”

“Do you have any clues that can help us figure out the passwords to his email accounts or a travel site where he might have bought his plane tickets?”

“I can do better than clues,” she says. “I have access to the site he uses to book his travel. He wanted me to check airfare for our honeymoon.” Her voice breaks.

I reach over and grab her hand with my free one. “Everything’s going to be okay, Caroline. We’re going to stop him.”

Tears fill her eyes as she shakes her head. “Don’t you see, Lexi? Stopping him isn’t going to fix everything. What’s to stop him from doing something like this again?”

Fear grips my heart. “But you said you wanted to come home.”

“I
do
, more than I’ve ever wanted anything. But we have a few other things to resolve before everything’s okay.”

“Let’s just concentrate on finding him,” Ben says. “Caroline, can you try calling him? I know he’s been a fucked-up mess since you left. I bet he would answer if you reached out to him.”

She gives him a wary glance. “How do you know he’s been a fucked-up mess?”

He smirks. “I worked with the dick—” he stops and clears his throat “—the
guy
. We all experienced the fallout of you leaving him.”

“Sorry,” she says.

He shrugs. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“So will you call him?” I ask.

Her face softens. “Lexi, I still love him more than anything. I want to help him as much as you do. Of course I will.”

Ben leans forward. “If he answers, be sure to tell him that Alexa has been in contact with the asshole who hurt her. Let Reed know that he can protect her better here than from somewhere else. It’s imperative for him to come home.”

I turn to him and narrow my gaze. “Why do you want him to think he needs to come home to protect me?”

Concern lowers his brow. “Alexa, this guy called you yesterday. I’m worried, and if
I’m
worried, your brother is going to flip out. This is what will drive him home.”

“But how do you know it won’t drive him to do the very thing we’re trying to prevent?”

“Call it a hunch. Your immediate safety takes precedence over your long-term safety. If what he’s up to was so easy to set into action, he would have done it already.”

My stomach is a bundle of nerves. “I hope you’re right.”

He leans over and kisses me gently. “Trust me.”

“Okay.” I stare into his eyes for several seconds before I remember Caroline is watching us.

She’s already holding her phone in her hand. “While you two cuties had your tête-à-tête, I looked up Reed’s travel account. You’re right. He flew into Boston the day he left, and then he landed in JFK yesterday. He’s staying in a hotel in Manhattan.”

Ben’s mouth presses together. “Maybe he’s there to try and dig up dirt on Todd’s family’s corporation.”

Caroline shakes her head. “I’m going to call him and put an end to this nonsense.” She gets up from the table and walks away.

I don’t realize I’m holding my breath while I watch her until my chest begins to burn. It looks like he’s answered and Caroline’s voice floats across the restaurant. She pushes through the doors and starts pacing on the sidewalk, shaking her pointed finger as though he can see her.

“That Caroline is something else,” Ben murmurs. “No wonder Reed was so upset when she left him. I bet she keeps him on his toes.”

I lean my head against his shoulder, praying that Caroline can talk some sense into my brother. I’m watching her when she suddenly stops pacing and turns her back to us, huddling with the phone. After several minutes, she wipes tears off her cheeks, lowers the phone, and comes back inside.

Her eyes are red from crying when she sits down, so I’m not sure what to expect.

“He’s coming home.”

I feel close to crying myself. “Thank God.”

“He wouldn’t tell me exactly what he was doing, but I think you guys were on the right track. It had something to do with their corporation. He’s coming back tonight. He booked a flight while we were on the phone, but it won’t get in until really late.”

“Does that mean you’re coming home?” I ask, wondering if I’ve gone too far.

She looks sad. “Not tonight. We’re going to hash things out tomorrow.” She gives me a grim smile. “Don’t worry, Lexi. I’ll probably be home tomorrow night. I can’t make it too easy for him, though, can I? I have to make sure he never keeps secrets like this from me again.”

She’s right. I nod my understanding.

She grins at Ben. “He was very surprised to hear about you and Lexi. He wants to see
you
tonight and expects you to be there when he gets home. I’m sure he’ll have unearthed a full debriefing of your entire life by the time his plane lands in Knoxville. Knowing him, he’ll dig up everything, down to the number of times you were tardy in the third grade.”

Ben’s back becomes rigid and his face turns pale.

My anger rushes to the surface. “I’m going to call him back and tell him to stop. He thinks he can investigate anyone I meet. It’s insulting.” I say, gritting my teeth at Reed’s audacity. “And he can’t just order Ben to be at our apartment when he gets home. He has to work tonight.”

“I can get off, Alexa.” His voice is quiet.

“The hell you can. You already skipped your class to come meet Caroline with me.”

He doesn’t answer, but he seems distracted.

“Reed loves you, Lex,” Caroline says softly. “You know why he is this way.”

“I know.” The very fact that he was willing to risk everything to protect me—again—is evidence enough of that, but he and I are going to have to reach a compromise. He can’t keep prying into my personal life whenever he wants.

She picks up her purse and grabs her coat. “I have to head to class. Let me know if you need anything else.”

Ben gets up and shakes her hand. Caroline shakes it back, looking amused.

“Thank you for helping Alexa.”

“Thank you for insisting that she tell me the truth. These Pendergrafts can be pretty hard-headed.”

He grins, but he looks nervous. “I’ve already figured that one out on my own.”

“Let me give you some inside advice.” She leans forward and lowers her voice. “Reed might bark a lot, but once you earn his loyalty and trust, you’ve earned it for life—unless you screw up, of course. He’ll be a hardass on you at first, but once he sees how important Lexi is to you, he’ll back off.”

Ben’s eyes are serious as he nods. “Thanks. Good to know.”

I give Caroline a hug and watch her walk out the door before I turn to Ben. “What time is your next class?”

“Let’s just skip our classes today.”

My eyes narrow in suspicion. “Why?”

He snakes an arm around my back. “Because I haven’t had nearly enough of you yet.”

“We can’t hide forever.”

“No, but we can for one day.”

“As much as I love the idea, I can’t. I have a test this afternoon, and then I have to go by the charity to talk to the director about the current status of the summer program.”

“I’m off this afternoon. I’ll come with you.”

He’s making me anxious. I never would have struck him as the clingy type. “Why are you being so insistent? You’re acting like this is your last chance to be with me or something.” Then I realize what’s happening. “This is about Reed, isn’t it? You’re worried he’s going to convince me to stop seeing you.”

He blinks then nods. “You know how persuasive he can be. What if he convinces you that I’m not good enough for you?” He lowers his voice. “You’re a Monroe for God’s sake. I’m no one.”

I lean closer to him. “Caroline is ‘no one,’ as you say, and yet Reed’s with her.”

“That’s different, Lex. He’s the guy.”

I put my hand on my hip. “Are you going to get chauvinistic on me now?”

“No! Look.” He shakes his head. “The bottom line is that Reed will never approve of me. Ever.”

“He’ll never approve of anyone.” I take a deep breath. “Ben, I know you. You’re sweet and protective and you make me happier than I’ve been in ages. Reed’s not going to make me change my mind about you.”

He nods but doesn’t look convinced. “Maybe I need the rest of the day to plead my case.”

I kiss him softly. “You seem so certain that there’s going to be a Judgment Day. Why can’t you just accept that I like you and want to be with you?”

“I can accept it,” he says with a sad smile. “I only hope it’s enough.”

Ben

I’m man enough to admit that I’m scared shitless.

One way or another I’m going to lose her. She’s begged me to not keep secrets from her and my arrest last fall is like an albatross around my neck. How will Alexa react when she finds out that I was charged with the very crime that was committed against her? Will she think the charges were dropped for similar reasons? Granted, I don’t have money, but victims are coerced into dropping charges for a host of other reasons, all unsavory.

Will she believe me?

I need to be the one to tell her, because if Reed really is creating a dossier on the Life and Times of Benjamin Masterson, my arrest is going to be on top, probably bedazzled. But if I tell her and she’s horrified, she’ll send me away, which will leave her unprotected—not an option. Because I’m certain that asshole is coming to Hillsdale to see her. There’s no way I’m going to leave her alone until Reed comes home. And telling her that her rapist is coming for her is absolutely out of the question. She’s upset enough over Reed and everything else. I’m not about to subject her to more trauma.

So my only option is to stay close to her all day and keep my mouth shut.

We head back to the university and I’m glad I drove her to Panera. She’s dependent on me for transportation now, which is a good excuse for sticking by her side. The biggest monkey wrench in all of this—besides getting her to let me stay—is getting off work. I need to call my uncle as soon as possible.

I keep my backpack in my car, thankfully, so I don’t have to leave her to go back home.

She doesn’t realize she’s without transportation until we’re walking across campus, discussing our schedules. “Oh, Ben! I’m so sorry!”

“I really don’t mind driving you to the children’s charity, Alexa. I’ll probably get to see my little brother.”

She stops and smiles, that dazzling smile that fills all the dark corners of my heart. The thought hits me again, just like it’s been doing all morning. I can’t lose her. I can’t lose the way she makes me feel.

“Ben?” she asks. The puzzled look on my face must be a dead giveaway because she smirks. “You didn’t hear a word I just said, did you?”

“Sorry. I was too busy admiring you.”

Shaking her head, she continues walking.

I grab her arm and pull her to a halt. “I hope you get used to repeating things because it’s probably going to happen a lot.” I give her a wicked grin. “Now what did you ask?”

“I wanted to know if you had any other siblings.”

“No. Just Kyle.”

“There’s quite an age difference between you two.”

“My parents’ last-ditch effort to save their marriage. The fact that my brother’s eleven and my mother’s been gone for a little over ten years should be some indication of how well that one worked out.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah.”

She slips her hand into mine and peace fills me just like that, along with a feeling that catches me by surprise: home.

It makes my imminent loss all the worse.

We both have an hour until our next class, so we go to the Higher Ground for coffee.

“How much coffee do you drink?” she asks as we sit at a table with our drinks. “You have to be caffeinated enough to power an electrical substation.”

She’s sitting across from me and the sunlight shines behind her, making her golden hair glow like a halo. “I need it to stay awake. Some nights I only get three hours of sleep.”

Her eyes widen in horror. “You can’t keep going like that, Ben. You’re going to get sick.”

“I borrowed money to buy my books and I’ve got living expenses, Alexa. I’m barely making do as it is.”

She closes her eyes and groans. “Now I feel like a bitch for telling you to be grateful for the semesters when you had your scholarship.”

I reach across the table and grab her hand. “No. You were right.”

We both have work to do. I study history since I have another test tomorrow, and she pulls out her statistics homework. When it’s time for our next class, I walk her to her classroom and stop outside the door. “I can’t believe I still don’t have your cell phone number,” I say as I drop her off.

We exchange numbers and I smile down at her. “Wait for me after class and we’ll have lunch together, okay?”

“Okay.”

I’m distracted through most of my engineering lecture because I spend a good part of my time on my laptop, searching the internet for information about Todd Millhouse, heir to Millhouse International, a big corporation with lots of fingers in lots of pies. Young master Todd has already earned himself a reputation as a party boy. I have to wonder why he’s spending his spare time chasing down Alexa. I can understand why his sick and twisted mind might justify what he did to her, but why is he trying to find her now? What does he care? From the photos plastered across the internet, he doesn’t face a shortage of available women.