Page 32 of Love At the Gates of Hell (The Seven Sinners Trilogy #1)

twenty

Benny

It was humid outside, the air sticky with the afternoon heat.

Benny was sitting by the pool, her legs wading through the cool water, her palms resting against the pavers.

She closed her eyes, letting her head tilt back and her body soak up the sunlight drenching the backyard.

She hadn’t realized how much she had missed home until she was here, sitting in these achingly familiar places, hearing the wind rustling through the maple trees that lined the edge of their property.

The morning had gone by in a flash.

Breakfast had turned into a full debrief, the Crawford brothers going through the events of the last few weeks.

The missing children, the attack at the quarry— even Benny’s training with Gideon.

The news about her power had started a heated discussion between Benny and her father and her use of blood magic had turned it into a full blown argument.

She had desperately needed the fresh air.

She was too old to have this argument with him again and again.

Especially now.

When her very life was a stake.

The door that led to the deck slid open and Benny turned to find Jamie crossing the patio toward her.

He was wearing a pair of green khakis and a gray T-shirt, his sneakers scuffed and his hair was still a mess, blond locks falling across his forehead.

He looked like every other guy she came across on campus and not at all like a high ranking member of a crime family.

“You’re gonna give the old man a heart attack you know,” he said as he sank down on the ground beside her, letting his long legs spread out into the grass.

“I just can’t do it anymore,” she said, kicking her feet through the water. “I don’t know how many more times we can fight about this.”

“Oh, give him a break, Ben,” he said. “He’s been worried sick these last few weeks.”

“I’m going to throw you in the pool.”

“No one is saying this hasn’t been hard for you,” he told her quickly. “Believe me. I can’t tell you the relief I feel seeing you here in front of me right now. He just doesn’t know how to fix this. He doesn’t have the power you do.”

She sighed, waving her hand above the water, creating a little whirlpool with her magic. “Power I am still not sure I can wield.”

“You said you were making progress,” he said, nudging her body with his foot.

“I am,” she said. “I think. I’ve gotten close.”

Little bits of power, but nothing as intense as that night on the docks.

But she knew why.

Gideon had become a distraction.

Anger had been her tool thus far, focusing in on her rage in order to mimic what she had done at the docks. But the more time she spent with Gideon, the less anger she felt. The more confused and stupid and smitten instead.

She put her face in her hands.

“I miss school,” she said. “I miss the library. I even miss grading papers.”

“You do not miss grading papers,” Jamie snorted.

She peeked at him through her fingers, “Let me be dramatic.”

“I’d never stop you,” he told her, pressing his hand to his chest.

Benny pulled her feet out of the pool and tucked her knees under her chin.

“I missed you, Locantore,” she said.

“I missed you, too,” Jamie said. His eyes wandered up and down her body. A clinical assessment if she ever saw one. “I think your wrists might always look like that. What was it? Iron?”

Her wounds and bruises had healed, her body no longer riddled with the signs of what happened to her.

Except for her wrists. The marks where the iron chains rubbed her skin raw never fully healed.

Wounds left behind by magic, especially marks left by iron— they had a way of sticking around. She looked down at the thin red scars.

“Yup,” she said, shaking her head. “Little mementos, I guess.”

“Shit,” he muttered. “I’m sorry, Benny.”

“It’s okay,” she told him. “It’s a good reminder that I’m still here.”

She just hoped she could keep that going. At least for a little while longer.

“You know I think I saw some pie in the fridge,” Jamie said.

“What kind of pie?”

Jamie got to his feet, his hand extended to help Benny to hers.

“Why don’t we find out?”

“If it’s key lime I can’t make any promises,” she said as she straightened.

“If it’s key lime I’ll make sure to give you your privacy.”

She shoved at his shoulder as she turned back toward the house, a laugh bursting from his chest as he staggered a step back.

Jamie had an easy way about him, always had.

When they were kids he knew exactly the thing to say to make her laugh.

When her mother died, he was the only person she wanted to be around.

“You going to stay for dinner?” she asked.

“Ben, I eat here more than you do,” he laughed.

Jamie pulled the sliding door back, leaning against the glass as she passed in front of him.

The chill of the air conditioning hit her skin and she shivered as her bare feet padded across the hardwood floor.

She wondered briefly if she had any hoodies upstairs in her old closet when she saw Gideon at the other end of the hallway, a picture frame in his hands.

“Oh, no,” she said. “I hope that’s not—”

He turned, the curve of his lips absolutely wicked.

“I didn’t know you were a ballerina,” he said.

Jamie spared her a glance.

“Is that the—”

“The bee costume,” she sighed.

Her friend grinned and clapped her on the shoulder. “Listen, the eyebrows eventually separated.”

“You’re a menace,” she said. “No pie for you.”

She was power walking down the hallway as her hand waved in front of her, the frame plucking itself from Gideon’s fingers and floating toward her.

She met the frame halfway down the hall, her eyes taking in the thirteen year old Benny dressed for her ballet recital.

A bumblebee themed costume complete with a stinger off the back of her tutu and a pair of antennae ears tucked into her hair.

The partial unibrow and rainbow rubber-band braces certainly completed the picture.

It had been her first recital on point and she remembered being insanely proud of herself. She had to respect that version of her. Even if she could have been a bit more generous with the tweezers.

“You weren’t kidding about those braces,” Gideon said, his stride slow and purposeful as he walked toward her, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his suit pants.

“It was a very long five years,” she groaned, clutching the frame to her chest.

“You were cute,” he told her.

He was absolutely on the verge of laughter but she appreciated his restraint.

“I’m gonna go check on the old men,” Jamie said with a nod toward Gideon. “Save me a slice, will ya?”

Benny nodded but her attention was monopolized by the man in front of her.

It hadn’t fully sunk in until now that Gideon was in her home.

Standing here in the hallway where her childhood was immortalized in picture frames— school portraits, prom photos, her first snowstorm in one of those snowsuits where she could hardly move her arms. Photos with her mother.

She hugged the frame more tightly against her chest.

It was a lot to see, a lot of her life to digest.

“How long did you dance?” he asked.

“I never stopped,” she said. “There’s a studio a few blocks from Betty’s that has a Wednesday night ballet class. But I guess it’s been a couple of weeks.”

His brow furrowed.

“You could still go,” he offered, his hand rubbing at the back of his neck. “One of us could take you there, pick you up, you know, if you wanted.”

“Really?”

“We could figure it out.”

She beamed. “You’re being awfully nice to me, Crawford.”

“I’m nice,” he said, affronted.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re not.”

But he was kind. In ways he thought no one would notice. The aspirin on her nightstand, the way the fridge was suddenly stocked with her favorite yogurt, the bar cart stocked with gin, vermouth, and olives.

He rolled his eyes but there was a hint of affection there.

She could feel it.

Benny took a step forward, closing the distance between them.

She loved the way he smelled. She loved waking up to that scent every morning, loved the moments she spent in the shower, lathering herself up in his shampoo, touching herself to the fantasies that played in her mind, thinking about him even when she knew she shouldn’t.

She was on the verge of no longer caring about what she should or shouldn’t do when it came to Gideon.

She pressed a kiss to his cheek, her lips lingering against his skin, his five o’clock shadow itching in a way that sent a shiver down her spine. His hand curved at her elbow as she leaned against him, his thumb pressing into her skin. Her eyes fluttered shut as her voice ghosted against his ear.

“Thank you for taking such good care of me, Gideon.”

It was when she was already walking past him down the hallway that she heard him say, “Always, Benny.”