Page 83 of The Betrothal

“You’re doing so well, Ben. Thank you. What can I do? How can I help?” I was so close I was almost in his lap.

“Just stay here with me. For now.” Ben spoke slowly, struggling.

I nodded furiously.

“We’re here, Benji. Let’s just breathe for now. That’s all we have to do. Okay?” Seb tucked himself closer to us until we were a three-person huddle.

“O-okay,” Ben stuttered.

“Thank God.” Alex sounded far away, no-one responding to him, the sounds of his pacing continued. “What now?”

Seb’s laugh was cruel. “Nothing now. The damage is done. Now we just support Ben until he’s ready to talk.” Seb then quietened, muttering only to Ben, reassuring him. “And you don’t have to do anything before you’re ready, okay, Benji.”

“Right, okay.” Alex stopped. I could feel him loitering. “We can do that.”

“Wrong ‘we’.” Seb’s snarl returned. “I love you, brother, but you need to fuck right off for a while, or I might do something you don’t appreciate.”

Alex huffed. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Ben’s brows furrowed at their bickering.

“Guys,” I warned. “Not. Helping.”

Seb’s focus on Ben intensified. “Alex, you needed to go to the manor today. You insisted on the windows being finished. Now is a really good time to go. Before it gets dark.”

I dared to turn away from Ben and immediately regretted it. Alex’s concern at his brother’s state morphed to anger – directed at me.

“Fine. If you think that will help,” he snapped. “We will go to the manor.” He nodded in my direction, and my jaw dropped.

I shook my head.

“Just you, Alex.” Seb was half distracted in his response. He carried on muttering quietly to Ben between his conversation with Alex.

“Two loads need taking up, and she’s no use here,” Alex pushed.

I cringed at his dismissal of my presence.

“Do two runs then, Alex.” Seb was getting irritated again, and I could feel the tension in Ben increasing. His hands still trembled; the shaking had increased in intensity.

“Guys, really, this isn’t helping,” I spoke calmly, though I felt anything but calm.

I nodded at Ben reassuringly, smiling a smile that definitely didn’t meet my eyes and that Ben would absolutely see straight through.

“Seb, Ben has already loaded the windows, it’s ready to go. I’ll go with Alex then come back,” I placated them.

Alex snorted behind me. “Great idea, Izzy.”

“Fuck you,” I mouthed at him.

His eyes hardened.

I turned away from the glowering behemoth that was Alex Cavendish and back to his brother.

“You breathe, honey. That’s all you have to do.” I teased my hands from Ben’s and brushed them gently over his cheeks, then stood, allowing Seb to take my place.

Ben’s face dropped at the loss of me. I didn’t realise he could look more desolate than he had, but I was wrong.

“I’ll be back soon, Ben. I promise.”