Authors: Carlene Love Flores
“No,” Benny
grumbled, startling her and Mark.
“Money.
For cause.”
His head stayed
fixed on his forearms which were the oddest works of art Hazel had ever seen.
He had to be wearing at least fifty of those black rubber bracelets she’d
noticed earlier. They reminded her of Madonna’s in the eighties. Those took up
about two inches of skin and the rest of his long forearm looked to be marked
in black ink, like from an actual marker. She wondered if he’d gotten any flak
from locals for his unique way of being. The more she thought about it, he
couldn’t be from around here.
Just too different, too
special.
“Keep money.
Please,” he let out again.
“Okay, Bud. Thank
you. Your money stays in the Can for a Cure,” Mark said, patting Benny’s
shoulder. “Hey, is there anyone you want us to call for you?
One
of your friends for a ride?
Maybe there’s still someone nearby.”
Benny didn’t
respond. Hazel wasn’t surprised.
Her heart had
already gone out to the guy and now it was stuck. He was adorable, but sad.
Like a gigantic lost puppy.
Mark mouthed to
her now that Benny could obviously hear them. “He can stay in the office on the
futon…or I can take him to the house.”
Did Mark and
Julie really want an intoxicated stranger with
selfie
tattoos in the house when the kids woke up, harmless as Benny seemed? It
wouldn’t be the first time Mark had housed a customer too drunk to get home and
too down in the dumps to share anyone who could come
get
them.
Chewing the
inside of her cheek, she mouthed a thank you back at Mark but shook her head
no. “Not your house, not a good idea.” Benny was her responsibility. She owed
him after the part she’d inadvertently played in his humiliation tonight.
Yeah, you just keep telling yourself this is
about being responsible. You want to be alone with him. There’s nothing wrong
with that, right?
She shook off her thoughts, bound to do right by Benny.
Man, if she
never bought another
Lonerby
or Sin Pointe CD….
Jerks
.
Benny lifted his
head as if on cue.
“Home.
Too far.
You sing pretty.”
“Oh boy,” she
whispered across the animal print lump to Mark. “He needs to sleep it off.” She
doubted the office futon would fit him but her place was out of the question
too. She’d entertained that idea until she realized she hadn’t had another guy
there since the night the paramedics had come and taken Jay’s lifeless body
from her bedroom. A knot whipped around inside her, sending icy hurt to every
limb and organ she possessed.
“Where’s home,
Buddy?” asked Mark, trying one more time.
“
Fuffbuffle
.
Shuffshluffle
.
Uhh
.”
“Whoa, it’s
okay. Let’s get you up and to the back room. There’s a futon you can sleep it
off on.”
“You’re sure?”
she mouthed to her boss whose generosity never failed to amaze her.
He nodded
emphatically and then mouthed back. “With his ties to Sin Pointe and
Erby
Wells, we need to keep him somewhere safe and private.
But you’re
right,
my house probably isn’t the best
idea.”
Just then Julie
came up to them, her bags slung over her shoulder and the club’s accounting
books tucked in the crook of her elbow. “Ready to go, babe?” she asked Mark.
He looked to
Hazel, reluctant to leave but torn. Mark waved them over to the front of the
café, out of Benny’s ear shot.
Hazel piped up
first. “Everything is fine. I’ll stay here with him. You guys go home to the
kids. I’m sure the sitter is up waiting on the both of you. Go. I’ve got it.”
“Where will you
sleep?” asked Mark as Julie’s face grew concerned.
“I’ll figure
something out.”
He shook his
head like a knowing older brother would. “First thing tomorrow, when I get in,
I’m sending you home for a couple days off. You need some rest.”
Before
he
and Julie left, they helped Hazel shoulder-heft Benny
back to the office. They hadn’t meant to drop him onto the futon, but geez, his
long legs and arms were connected to a long torso as well, and heavier than
she’d expected. He wasn’t beefy by any means that she could tell, but there
sure was a lot of him. He was so unassuming that she couldn’t help but be
attracted to him, despite all the upset of the night.
“Thanks for
helping me guys.”
“You’re sure
you’re okay staying here alone with him? I can ask Manny to stay until
morning.”
No, that would
mean asking their security guy to try and make church the next day without a
wink of sleep. “He seems pretty harmless. I’ll be fine. I’ll call if I’m not.”
It probably seemed
ridiculous to them, but Hazel had to be the one to stay. Nothing bad was
happening to Benny on her watch. Not after what she’d already done to him.
Finally, they
turned to leave and then it was just Hazel and Mr. Eyes.
Hazel knelt down
to take his shoes off. His legs went on for days and they ended at two very
large feet she couldn’t help but notice. The wives tale about the size of a
man’s feet definitely played on her mind and piqued her already budding curiosity
about him.
That was a
completely inappropriate thought for a woman like her to be having. Didn’t she
have any shame? That’s what people would think, anyway. But Hazel had grown
curious and the past year had left her so lonely.
She refocused on
making him comfortable and went to his Vans. Very nice, custom-made looking
vans she’d never seen in any store, but no laces worked for her as she slid one
and then the other off his feet. A thought of how achy hers felt right now reminded
her she’d been on them for the better part of twenty-four hours. Her eyes
closed, and she remembered the feeling of coming home from a long shift,
collapsing on the couch and Jay’s strong fingers rubbing her arches until the
pain had gone away. She missed having that special connection.
With Jay.
But he was never coming back.
She was still
here, and her feet hurt more than ever.
Benny was here.
She opened her
eyes and softly led her finger down his black sock, from his ankle to the top
of his big toe, keeping to the bridge so as not to tickle him in case he was
sensitive. She knew she shouldn’t, but Hazel chanced a glance at his crotch,
wondering about the shoe size correlation. She felt like a complete pervert
with him laying here passed out but his tight pants indeed showed the outline
of a very promising bulge hugging his inner thigh. Even though Hazel would have
liked to have stayed in that far away little place, harmlessly picturing his
naked body and tracing it with her lonely fingers, she stopped.
He was passed
out and at her mercy. Enough of them had let him down tonight.
What she wasn’t
expecting when she raised her head up was to see him propped on an elbow and
his eyes half open. She grabbed for her forehead; he rubbed at his. Caught with
his foot in her hand and who knows what kind of look on her face, she knew a
smile wasn’t right. Not with those eyes looking at her lost and confused,
making her feel even worse. But then she saw something else as his gaze slid
down and then back up. Was he curious about her too? Her fingers instinctually
found their way to the spot behind her ear and she absentmindedly rubbed the
skin there.
“Um, we brought
you back here to our club’s office. I hope that’s okay. Promise I didn’t kidnap
you. If there’s someone you want me to call, I can.”
He just looked
at her. His green eyes flashed between emptiness and hurt.
“I’m so sorry
about tonight,” she said.
“Your
name?”
“My
name?
Oh, it’s Hazel. Hazel Temple.”
“Hazel. People
call me Benny,” he said with a slur.
She smiled. “I
know.”
Chapter Four
Benny’s thoughts
were a mess but he was sure he wanted her to lean closer. There was some reason
floating around in the back of his head why he should be upset with her, but
her hair had him feeling drunk. The pretty cinnamon color was easy on his
aching eyes. Okay, so the loose, winding
feeling making him
want
to fall on top of her and snuggle was probably the half dozen Jack
and Cokes he’d had tonight. But if she leaned in closer, her hair would touch
his face and his head pounded but that would soothe it.
Just because he’d
wanted her to lean in to him, didn’t mean she would. He knew that. But a second
later, she was closer. Yeah, he was pretty gone. And so was his depth
perception. When his mouth touched hers, he only felt the softness for a second
because she pulled back far and fast enough to wound his pride. And make him
feel like a
drunk
idiot. Good thing for him that in
this state, it didn’t hurt too badly. Not like earlier in the night when
Erby
…man, he didn’t even want to think her name.
What a joke,
what a mess.
“Benny?” she
asked. She had such a pretty voice. She was really pretty.
And
soft.
She’d just told him her name, but he’d lost it already. He could
feel some parts of his face frowning. It was something like Mabel or Heather.
He’d never liked
the name Benny, but it was what Jaxon had shortened Benjamin to the very first
time they met. The fact he could remember that right now meant he must not be
completely out of it.
Just extremely numb.
“Ben,” he heard
himself mumble.
“Ben?” she
asked. Mm, her breath smelled so good, like fruit and vanilla. His probably
smelled like disgusting things. Maybe he didn’t care. Not when her mouth opened
and she said his name again. “Ben, well I’m so sorry
beca
—”
But he leaned in
and pressed his lips to hers, on purpose this time. He thought she might have
liked it because he didn’t feel her pull away again. For that, he was grateful.
Not just numb. He wanted to make sure she knew he didn’t dislike her for what
had happened tonight. He’d set his own idiot trap and she really had nothing to
do with that. In fact, he did remember that she’d only tried to distract him
with her songs.
“Ben, you should
get some sleep,” she said softly to him.
That’s
right,
he was on a futon where he could easily pass out and
forget this night had ever happened. But he wanted to remember her name so
badly his brain ached. He’d felt each movement of her lips against his as she’d
said those thoughtful words to him. Okay, he’d probably imagined that. But he
did pull away because now he was getting the room-spinning, dizzy feeling and
all he needed was to puke or pass out on her. His lips fell away as his head
landed on a small pillow. “I’m sorry,” he heard himself say.
“Don’t be.”
“Kiss.”
“Oh, that’s
okay,” she said.
His eyes closed,
even though he’d rather be looking at her. Damning himself over
Erby
floated around in his drunken head but that desire
turned cold. He’d known it for a while now that this whole hang up over
Erby
just wasn’t in the cards. But this, this unknown woman
who warmed him had been a different kind of kiss. Her name should be Haven.
****
This guy was a
heartbreaking mess. It had to be the reason for the tugging sensation binding
her eyebrows together with a throbbing pain. She knew it because Hazel hadn’t
stopped thinking about the poor guy sprawled out over Mark’s office futon since
she’d waved at him then fumbled through the curtains earlier. She’d never seen
him in her life but knew all about his celebrity music friends as did most of
the country.
No ifs, ands or
buts. They were definitely trouble and if it hadn’t been for the defeated look
in Ben’s eyes, she’d have done everything in her power to have found him a ride
out of their little club, away from her arms that wanted to soothe him.
But she couldn’t
get rid of him.
She couldn’t
leave him right now, in spite of his worrisome circle of famous friends who
she’d read about over the years.
The guys of Sin
Pointe were like disaster magnets. It had been reported that two of them had
lost women under tragic, horrible circumstances with hints that their
lifestyles had been at fault.
And now this thing with
Erby
Wells.
The rocker girl had just given Ben the freezing
cold shoulder for no apparent reason, and left him broken-hearted. The only
thing Hazel could think up was that Miss Wells was no different than any other famous
musician she’d ever known.
Selfish.
Destructive.
To be avoided at all costs because there might not be anything you could do to
help someone like that.