“You’re a homebody.”
“I guess I am.I just think that if I’m comfortable at home, why would I want to be uncomfortable outside of it?”He shook his head.It caused his hair to brush against Taylor’s cheek, and Taylor stopped resisting the urge to keep a slight distance between them.He pressed his cheek against Ben’s head, smiling when he felt his mate relax a little more.Ben smelled of Taylor’s shampoo, and it feltright.
Taylor had managed to surprise Ben.He thought it was good because Ben leaned against him harder.Maybe not looking at Taylor while he was telling his story would make it easier for him.
“Anyway, Jimmy approached me.He was there with friends, too, but he said that he wasn’t having fun.I don’t know if it was a lie.At this point, I worry that anything he told me was a lie.”
That didn’t sound good.Whatever Jimmy had done, Taylor was already resisting the urge to go out there and hunt him down.
“We started talking,” Ben continued.“By the end of the evening, I’d given him my number.He was charming and handsome.He was saying all the right things.”He snorted.“He always did in the beginning.”
“What happened?”
“We’re not there yet in the story.”
“Take your time.”
“He called me the next day, and we started talking on the phone and texting.He was so nice.Meeting him felt like a miracle, and I didn’t want it to stop.We went on dates, and at one point, I thought he was it.He wasn’t my mate, obviously, but I thought that he was as close to that as I could get.There was no guarantee I’d meet my mate, but Jimmy loved me.”
All of that sounded great.Taylor was jealous becausehewas supposed to be the one with Ben, but they hadn’t known each other then.Besides, he knew the story didn’t have a happy ending.
“Things started to change,” Ben said.“He got more possessive.I never liked going out much, but I had friends, and we would often meet for coffee or visit museums and other stuff.Jimmy didn’t like that.He didn’t want me going out after dark or with people he didn’t approve of, and of course, he didn’t approve of any of my friends.He thought all of them had hidden reasons to spend time with me.He started getting mean.He told me that the only reason my friends spent time with me was that they wanted to get in my pants.It was ridiculous, and I didn’t believe him.I clung to our relationship for a while, but it was obvious that it wouldn’t be going anywhere, not with the way Jimmy was behaving.”
Taylor could see where this was going, and he didn’t like it.He wanted to stop it, but it had happened in the past.Ben had already gone through this.Jimmy wouldn’t know what hit him if Taylor ever found him.
“But you know how it is,” Ben said as he tilted his head up slightly.“Every time he did something horrible, he apologized and promised he’d never do it again.”
Taylor kissed Ben’s forehead.He wanted his mate to feel safe and protected.Ben was thinking of things he probably wished he’d never have to think about again, and it was because Taylor had asked him to.
Ben cuddled even closer, something Taylor hadn’t thought possible.It felt right, though.Ben belonged in his arms.
“I’d had enough,” Ben said, going back to his story.“I’d had enough of walking on eggshells and checking my behavior in case it made him explode.I’d had enough of staying away from my friends.”He shook his head.“Although I guess that Jimmy won in this case, too.”
“You’ll see your friends again,” Taylor promised.“In fact, we can call them as soon as you’re done telling me about Jimmy.”
Taylor had been curious about Ben’s family and why Ben hadn’t contacted them.Initially, he’d thought that Ben was lost in the woods, which was a possibility, but he still could’ve found a way to get to a phone to call them.No, it felt like he’d purposefully stayed away from them, and Taylor wanted to know why.
“Maybe we can do that,” Ben agreed.“Anyway, I decided I wanted to break up with him.I suspect he knew that.He invited me for dinner at his house, and I decided it would be easier to tell him there than in a public place.In hindsight, it was stupid, but he never physically hurt me.I wouldn’t have stayed if he had.I got there, and we had dinner.I waited until we were done to tell him, and that’s when things went sideways.”
It was taking everything Taylor had for him not to react.He could too easily imagine what happened that day.He didn’t even need Ben’s words.
“He didn’t hurt me,” Ben said.“But he grabbed me and dragged me to the basement.I tried to resist when I realized what he was doing, but he had a gun.In fact, he had many guns and other weapons that I’d never seen before, all of them stashed there.That’s where he locked me up.He chained me to the wall.He swore he wasn’t going to hurt me, and he didn’t.He brought me food, and there was a bathroom down there.He kept talking to me and making all these plans about what we’d do in the future.”
Ben fell silent.He was almost done, and Taylor wanted to know how he’d ended up in Green Hill.He didn’t ask, though.Ben would tell him when he felt ready to.
“And then one day, he didn’t come back.He always brought me food three times a day, but that day, he only brought me breakfast.He said he had something to do for work and left the house, and that was the last time I saw him.I was chained to the wall, so I couldn’t escape.I don’t know how long I was stuck in there, but I thought I was going to starve to death.I think I almost did.”
“But you didn’t.You were strong, and you escaped.”
“I did.”
And now, he was in Taylor’s arms.He was safe, and Taylor would make sure that Jimmy could never hurt him again.
* * * *
BEN HADN’T WANTED TOtalk about Jimmy, but he couldn’t deny that he felt better now that he had.Even though he knew that wasn’t the case, he felt like Taylor made everything easier.He wouldn’t have wanted to talk about Jimmy to anyone else.
He would have to.This was only the first step, but he needed to be honest with Gal, too.The alpha welcomed him into the pride, possibly putting his people in danger.He deserved to know what had happened and what was hiding in Ben’s past.Ben hoped never to see Jimmy again, and he didn’t think his ex-boyfriend could find him here, but there was always a chance that he was wrong, no matter how much he hated it.
