Page 7 of Benedict’s Rejuvenation (Dark Patriots #5)

I’d held up my sister and her fiancé’s lives long enough.

I’d watched as she gushed over the ring Beau gave her three months ago when he asked her to marry him.

Ben and I had been in on the plan, and we’d spent the night in a hotel in town so they would have the entire house to themselves.

Nothing crushes romance like your little sister staying with you and your man.

Ben and I had separate rooms at the hotel.

There was no way he’d ever do anything to make me feel uncomfortable.

We’d gone to dinner, hung out in my room, watched movies, and talked.

It was weird. Being around other men made me nervous, even Beau, who I knew would never do anything to me.

In Ben’s case, I didn’t feel like that at all.

I felt comforted, safe, and sometimes, almost happy with him.

The things I lived through didn’t seem so close and vivid when he was around.

However, when he was gone, it was the worst.

After my rescue and return to civilization, we had to tell a bunch of lies to the authorities and others about what happened to me.

I had zero problem telling those lies. They were for the right reasons.

I didn’t want anyone who saved me to spend the remainder of their lives in prison.

Hell, I didn’t want that for myself. The ones they killed deserved it.

Maybe it was our dad coming out in me finally.

For the right reasons, Dad and Keeley had always been harder and bigger proponents of vigilante justice than I was.

Just look at what Dad and his friend did to the guy who raped my sister when she was sixteen.

I held them up in my mind as my goal. I would be like them and more.

I hadn’t been able to return to Billings and my life there.

And if I tried, Keeley would’ve probably locked me in the house.

Both she and Beau insisted I stay with her.

While I thought Beau would demand she move to Virginia to live with him, he didn’t.

Instead, he rented out his house there and moved to Montana to be with her.

He did travel quite a bit for work, but she didn’t mind.

The look on their faces when he came home told the story.

They loved each other madly. I was happy for her, but a little envious, too.

I doubted I’d ever have what they had, not after what Vadzim had done.

One of the first things they did after getting me settled back in our family home, where Keeley lived, was to find a therapist. I was concerned about talking to someone about what happened to me. What if I slipped up and told them something I shouldn’t? I was most worried about my rescue.

When I raised the concern as a reason I shouldn’t see anyone, it was knocked down.

That was when I discovered the woman they wanted me to see was someone Beau and Ben’s company knew and trusted.

She provided counseling to all Dark Patriots who needed it.

She was able to keep secrets. Like most of them, she had spent time in the military.

Since she could have patients anywhere, our sessions were conducted remotely over video.

In a way, I found it easier to open up with that buffer between us.

When I first saw her, I was struck. I’d been told her name was Ms. Warner.

I pictured a middle-aged spinster with graying hair, glasses, and a lack of personality.

What I found was a beautiful woman in her early thirties, of mixed Caucasian and Asian heritage.

She introduced herself as Iolani, a Hawaiian name, then shared that her heritage, while she was from Hawaii, was half-Japanese on her mother’s side.

From there, we talked about my name and where I grew up. Before I knew it, our first hour was up, and we were scheduling the next one. Based on what I went through, she thought it would be best to have a session four times a week initially.

I reluctantly agreed. As time passed, I found that I enjoyed them, even when we delved into the painful topics.

After some time, we reduced them to three days.

This decrease allowed me time to recover from the sessions, which took time.

I was down to twice a week at this point, six months after my rescue.

Iolani was happy with my progress. She had told me that if we needed to increase them for a period in the future, we would.

If I needed to continue to speak to her weekly or monthly for the rest of my life, then so be it.

She stressed that it wasn’t to be seen as a failure if one remained in therapy for life.

It took strong individuals to admit they needed help and to seek it out.

After the initial meeting with Iolani, I asked Beau and Ben if they’d ever met or talked to her. They denied it but said they had heard great things about her. They were concerned and asked if I wanted them to find someone else for me. I assured them it wasn’t necessary.

I’d had a few joint sessions where we asked Keeley to join us.

I knew that I wasn’t the only one who underwent trauma when I was kidnapped.

My sister had joined us and seemed to like the experience.

I hoped she’d do some on her own with Iolani.

I suggested it. If Keeley had, she didn’t mention it, and when I asked Iolani, she told me she couldn’t tell me that, which made me think, maybe my sister was. Why else invoke confidentiality?

It was due to Iolani, Keeley, Beau, and Ben that I made my decision. It was time for my sister to get fully on with her life. I planned to broach the topic with them tonight over dinner. Ben was supposed to be in town and join us.

He was here whenever he wasn’t running missions with the Dark Patriots.

I didn’t know if he spent all his free time with us, but he seemed to be in Montana often.

I was afraid to ask or tell him it wasn’t necessary.

I didn’t want him to stop coming, which was selfish of me.

I hated to think that telling my sister what I had to say tonight would stop his visits, but I had to do it.

And it was for that reason that I hadn’t told Ben what I was doing.

We talked all the time when he was gone.

He couldn’t communicate with me if he were in the middle of something.

I never knew what he was doing or where he was, but it didn’t matter.

Ben found ways to stay in contact, though not always daily.

From what he and Beau said, I knew enough that he was involved in several missions that dismantled Vadzim’s trafficking business and those associated with it.

I had no idea if they had gotten everyone yet or not. Beau had gone on several with him.

I hated when they were gone. I worried that something might happen to them. My worry was worse if I knew it pertained to Vadzim’s business. I think that was a reason they didn’t tell me. If they told Keeley, she kept it to herself. I was over being babied.

I’d been working on more than my mental health these past six months.

I dove into increasing my physical fitness and strength and refreshing myself on our dad’s lessons.

I had Keeley, Reed, Dickie, and Arnie’s help with that, and surprisingly, Ben.

He knew a lot about it. I asked him how, and he told me one day he’d tell me about how he grew up.

From our many discussions, I knew he had a sister, Cassia, married to a biker named Blade.

Blade was part of a Dublin Falls, Tennessee club called the Archangel’s Warriors.

He had a niece, Trinity, who turns three next month.

His sister was pregnant with another daughter due in six months.

He shared about his time in the military, at least what he could disclose, his friendship with Heath, and more.

The only topic he wouldn’t talk about was his childhood.

As much as I wanted to know, I didn’t push. Everyone had a right to their secrets.

Tonight, I was making dinner. My sister offered to help, but I told her to leave it to me.

It was the least I could do. I lived in her home, so I didn’t pay rent.

She and Beau paid the utilities and bought groceries.

I tried to get them to let me help. I had some money saved, and I inherited money from Dad.

They kept refusing it. They both worked.

Her job as a search and rescue operator was grueling and dangerous.

My contributions were cooking, keeping the house clean, doing laundry, and working outside.

I loved being out in the open. I discovered that locked doors and walls could sometimes close in on me.

They tried to say I shouldn’t do all the work around the house, but I refused to let them.

It was a way of contributing if they wouldn’t take my money.

When they heard that, they stopped pushing me to stop doing it for them.

I hadn’t been able to face returning to work.

Even though it wouldn’t be at the medical clinic I worked for in Billings, I couldn’t face it.

However, it had been long enough. I needed to start living, and the change tonight would force it.

I was terrified, but I had to take the step.

I was stalled. When I told Iolani what I wanted to do, she cautioned me not to cut out all my support.

She told me to do what I had to, but keep my family and support system close.

Ben’s flight wasn’t supposed to land until early evening, not long before dinner.

Beau would bring Ben with him on his way home, so running to the airport was unnecessary.

They’d both been together in Virginia this week.

Keeley told me she threatened to kill someone if they got a late call or she had to work over tonight.

She had missed her man terribly, even though they talked every night on the phone.