The Line That Binds Series Box Set (54 page)

The heat woke me. It was stifling. I’d added extra blankets under my comforter a week ago, but they’d been offsetting the house’s chill perfectly. I wondered if Pennsylvania had heat waves in early November. That thought disappeared as soon as I cracked open my eyes and tried to move.

Ben.

Lying on my side, my head and hands were tucked into his chest. One of his thick arms was wrapped snugly around my body while one leg was wedged between mine, tangling us all the way down to our toes. I tilted my head back so I could see his face. The small cleft on his chin was covered in light, morning scruff. His lips were relaxed and his cheeks were smooth, hiding the dimples I adored. I watched his eyes shift beneath their lids, curious about his dreams. Hopefully they didn’t involve the ugly portion of last night.

I started to hyperventilate thinking about it all again. My heart sped up and I pressed my eyes shut tight, trying to control myself. What the hell
had
happened? How did I forget him? My body had craved him, the very feelings I was having this morning: the safety of his arms, the affection radiating from his touch. But I couldn’t think of him.

With everything involving the curse, and with the reappearance of my mom, I was losing it. Forgetting someone was not normal. My mind was buckling. The headaches. The voices. The stress. I needed to find a way to cope with it all before I broke down completely.

I lay there a few minutes, breathing deeply to calm my mind and body again. I had no idea what time it was because I couldn’t see the alarm clock past Ben’s head. It had to be mid-morning. The sunlight outside was brighter than dawn, yet still far from the blazing afternoon rays. After working the late shift, my dad was surely sleeping down the hall. For how much longer was my concern.

Deciding it was best to wake him, I kissed Ben’s chin and brushed my lips over his stubble, enjoying the scratchiness of the coarse hairs. Nothing. I shifted again and his body moved in response, pushing his leg farther between mine, rubbing the morning surprise contained in his boxers against my thigh. I gasped and yanked my hand up to my mouth in an effort to suppress a giggle. I’d heard about morning wood before, but I’d never had a guy sleep a full night in my bed so it was all new to me.

Ben’s arm tightened around me then his body stopped suddenly. He took an excessively deep breath, cracked his eyelids open, and smiled the sexiest smile I’d ever seen. “Mmm,” he hummed, letting out his breath.

“Morning,” I whispered, taking my hand away from my mouth and placing it to his chest. I smoothed my fingers over his relaxed muscles and he started doing the same down my bare back. Tingles promptly shot down my spine, making me arch even closer to him.

“Amazing,” he said. His voice was husky from sleep. I hadn’t heard it sound that way since his little nap the night of his birthday. It was unbelievably sexy.

“What’s amazing?” I asked, rubbing his skin with my fingertips.

He cleared his throat a little. “Not having to wait any amount of time to see you. From dreams to reality, just by opening my eyes.”

“You were dreaming of me, huh?” I shifted my legs to let him know what I was giggling about seconds before.

“Oh, yeah,” he teased, sliding his hand down to my backside. I giggled again and kissed the imaginary heart I’d traced onto his chest. He leaned his face down to mine and kissed me softly. “How are you feeling?”

He was referring to last night’s real-life nightmare. I wanted to forget about it and I hoped everyone else would, too; though, I had a feeling Ryan wouldn’t be one to let it go as easily. “Better,” I said vaguely.

His eyebrow quirked up questionably. “Your head?” he asked then planted a small peck on my forehead.

“Fine,” I admitted with a smile.

He leaned back some and stretched out with a yawn. His whole body tensed, flexing his muscles, making me gawk at the ripples along his abs. He chuckled when he noticed and wrapped himself around me again. “I want to stay in this bed all day.” Shifting his body, he climbed on top of me and kissed my collarbone. “But there’s a wedding tomorrow so we’ve got to clean the property.”

“Ugh,” I grunted. I didn’t want to leave my bed either. This queen-sized mattress was Heaven and everywhere else was Hell as far as I was concerned. His breath trickled over my chest and I shivered. “Can we skip?”

He laughed and ran a hand through his messy hair as he glanced over at the alarm clock. “I wish. It’s already seven thirty. Pop’s probably up and I’m sure your dad will be up soon enough.” He kissed me one last time then rolled out of bed.

Already feeling the chill of the room without him beside me, I tucked the blankets around my body and watched him put his pants on. “You can leave the rest here. I’ll have it cleaned with my dress so I can put them back upstairs.”

“Okay,” he agreed, setting his hat and the rest of the old clothes inside the closet. “Shit, I think I promised Gavin some bike time today too.” He shook his head. “But we need to get back to searching the office after everything else.”

I frowned at his words, not ready to dive back into the endless search.

He moved back to me and kissed me one last time. “I’ll see you outside in a few. I love you.” Without waiting for a reply, he disappeared into the closet.

Shortly after, I was showered, dressed, and out the door before Dad woke up. The recap of his encounter with Mom could definitely wait until later. I heard the tractor’s engine idling out back so I headed in that direction. Ben was talking to Simone when I turned the corner. I buried my hands deep inside the pockets of my hoodie and made my way over to them.

“It’s not a big deal,” Ben said to Simone with his back to me.

Simone noticed me approaching and cleared her throat, causing Ben to turn around. His face was almost annoyed until he realized it was me. Then his lips pulled into a small grin. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I replied. “Hey, Simone,” I added for her benefit. I was supposed to start working the office on Monday so I thought I’d get a head start with the niceties.

“Hi, LJ,” she replied. “Ben and I were just talking about the incident last night. I reminded him that fighting is not tolerated on the property and how it could potentially hurt the company if someone were to get injured.”

My stomach churned as all the details of last night resurfaced. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came. Then I glanced at Ben, remembering the way he’d looked at me while I was in Ryan’s arms. The hurt in his eyes crushed me. I thought I’d lost him forever.

Ben’s brows pinched and I nodded back toward Simone, snapping partially out of the hellacious reverie.

Simone folded her arms irritably. “The temps are cleaning inside. You guys finish up out here. Make sure you get all the trash and hay off the ground. Tomorrow’s wedding is early so this place needs to be spotless.” She started to stalk away, but quickly swung her petite body around. “And I better not find any leftover spiders in my desk this year, Benjamin.”

He threw his hands up with a smile and she finally left.

“Prankster,” I teased, welcoming the topic change.

“What can I say? I like to live dangerously by pranking the boss. Guess that means I’ll have to get you soon.” He winked then bent over and heaved a hay bale into the trailer attached to the back of the tractor. “This shouldn’t take us too long to tear down. Pop put the chicken wire away last night after the party.”

I picked up a pumpkin and stacked it next to another one at the front of the trailer. “I don’t even get a kiss?”

In the middle of lifting the next bale, he dropped it to the ground and closed the distance between us with a few long, determined strides. He tossed his work gloves then cupped my face in his hands. “You can have a kiss whenever you want, babe.” And he kissed me like nothing else mattered, capturing even more of my heart.

It took a while to round up all of the property decorations, but we finished around lunchtime. I ran quickly to the house, ready for another shower. Inside, Gavin’s gaming music blared down the hall. I had to shout through his door to tell him Ben wanted to meet for an early lesson. He didn’t need to be told twice. By the time I stepped into my room, his music was off.

“Hey,” Dad’s voice called from down the newly quiet hallway.

I turned. “Hey.”

“You have a minute?”

I looked down at the hay on my hoodie and wiped my brow with my sleeve. “I guess.”

He followed me into my room. “How are you feeling today?”

I took off my hoodie and chucked it in the hamper. “I’m still pissed that Mom crashed the party.” I laughed humorlessly. “Did you see her face? She acted like she was shocked I was mad.”

He nodded and scratched his chin. “I know. I’m sorry. She didn’t tell me she was coming.”

“Figured.”

“She thought I was trying to keep you guys from her because you hadn’t called back.” He walked through the room and stared out the window, leaning a hand on the tall frame.

I kicked my boots off and crossed my arms. I wouldn’t even discuss her delusions with him. It was pointless to trudge through a shallow pool of crap that he knew wasn’t true. “Is she staying?”

He glanced back at me and straightened up. “She found a place in town. She knows Janine gave this place to you and, supposedly, she’s not here to dispute that. All she wants is to apologize.”

I huffed as yesterday’s anger rushed back. My heart knocked around like a hammer that I would’ve gladly thrown at her last night. She had some nerve. “Do you believe her?” I needed his perspective. He knew her better than anyone.

He shook his head and rounded his shoulders. “She’s the most sober I’ve seen her a long time. But am I skeptical? Of course,” he admitted. I nodded at his honesty. “She won’t drop by without notice again, and she agreed to go through me first before anything is set up.”

“Good,” I said and took a deep breath. “Did Gavin see her?”

“No. He came outside to wait for Taylor’s dad after your mom was gone. But I told him everything as soon as Taylor left. He handled it okay.”

So he knew last night, but chose not to bring it up, probably because Ben was with me. “He’s out riding with Ben. And Ben’s coming over later to help me go through more of Janine’s stuff.”

He moved toward the bedroom door while I dug through my dresser for clean clothes. “Everything okay with Ben after last night then?”

My hands stopped moving.
He knew?
“Yeah, everything’s fine.”

“I heard he did a number on that other kid. Something you want to talk about?”

“Nope,” I replied as I mindlessly moved more yoga pants around in the dresser drawer. “It was just a misunderstanding.”

“Okay.” He paused, tapping his hand on the door jam. “I know it’s not easy to talk to me about relationships, but I could give a different perspective.”

I felt like screaming at him. After all the crap he’d been giving me about being with Ben, now he wanted to talk to me about my relationship? “I’m not sure
who
told you
what
, but there’s no need to worry. Ben and I are fine. Besides, I think you’ve already shared enough of your
perspective
about our relationship.”

He sighed. “Fair enough. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Perfectly fine.”

He pursed his lips and nodded. “I’m not working tonight so I’ll make dinner around five.”

I nodded without looking at him and he left, thankfully choosing not to press me further. All he was doing was piling more crap for me to shovel and I was running out of energy.

The shower felt amazing. My mind drifted as the water soothed me, dissolving yesterday’s worries, allowing me a few minutes to let it all go. When I finished, I worked on my weekend assignments. There was still time left before Ben came over so I dug through Aunt Janine’s trunk for close to the hundredth time. I removed the stone from the threadbare quilt and rubbed my fingers over the stone’s inscription.

Give of yourself, part of the line. Make one wish to set the bind.

I’d been over it again and again, wondering how broken Dahlia had been to curse the well and my family. She was the true definition of a woman scorned. The love she’d trusted implicitly lied to her and gave her up to marry another. Even if pressure from his father was the reason, it still tore her apart. Unfortunately for his next of kin, she couldn’t just slash a couple tires or slander him on social media. She made it last forever.

And I was the latest victim.

I dug my fingers into the stone, feeling my nails scratch my anger against the grainy surface. Ben and I had been searching for more all this time. That was the goal. But it was growing more disappointing with each day we came up empty. It was frustrating, and infuriating.

The doorbell rang downstairs. I folded the thin quilt around the stone and tucked it back into the bottom of the trunk. On the way downstairs, I passed the hallway bathroom. Steam lingered in the air and a towel was left in a heap on the floor, evidence Gavin was done biking. Music kicked on in his room to confirm. When I entered the kitchen, Ben was already there with Dad.

“Hey,” I said and they both turned. I couldn’t tell if they’d been talking or not.

“Hey,” Ben replied, taking off his hoodie as he walked toward me. His hair was still damp from a shower, the tips pointing in every direction. He wore a snug black T-shirt with loose jeans that hung low on his hips. I watched the movement of his muscles beneath the shirt as he approached. His level of handsome was heart stopping. With my dad unable to see his face, he cocked a sexy eyebrow at my blatant stare. I grinned wickedly and he chuckled as he slid his arms around me and gave me a chaste kiss on my cheek.

“So what are your plans again?” Dad said, interrupting our simple greeting.

I rolled my eyes as Ben pulled back from me.
It could be a lot worse, Dad,
I thought, contemplating what I actually wanted to do with Ben right now. Ben just smiled and shifted beside me to face Dad.

“We’re going to tear up Janine’s office for some secrets,” I stated as he flipped through a magazine at the breakfast bar. Ben choked a little. I slapped him on the back in jest and he glanced at me with narrowed eyes. He knew I was not happy about this. I’d much rather spend the time making out with him then feel the disappointment of another fruitless search.