Page 73 of Possessed By You

“You are looking out for him.” She smiles. “He’s lucky he has someone who wants to fight for him.”

***

Benjamin is defying doctor’s orders when I enter the apartment, comforted by how well lunch went with his sister. Standing up, bent over his computer, he turns to watch me walk in, speaking to someone low on the phone.

“I won’t be back for a few more days, at least.”

Not wanting to interrupt him, I approach him only to kiss him. It’s a chaste kiss, one that I don’t settle on for long. Sex for us is not an option, and in reality, I don’t feel the drive for it. My body is weak and slow in recovery. My mind is even worse.

I move to the kitchen, set down his food, and fish a water bottle from the fridge. I’m unscrewing the cap when Benjamin shuts his computer and says, “Tiffany, those tickets I purchased last year…they are still valid, right?” He nods as I regard him suspiciously. “Yes, the London tickets.”

I set down the bottle without taking my eyes off of him. What is he doing?

“Can you get us the next flight out? Yes, thank you, Tiffany. Have the tickets ready at the information desk, and inform Dimitri that we are leaving the country.”

He hangs up, smiling at how shell-shocked I am.

“London?”

He walks around the couches and expensive side tables, approaching me with more grace than he’s had for days. He clasps the back of my neck so I’ll tilt up to him. I do just that, sure he’s insane.

“I always promised I’d take you one day. I think it’d be good for us to…recover a bit. It’s perfect timing. Cindy’s given you time off. I had no intention of going back for a few more days. Why shouldn’t we go?”

I touch his wrist worriedly. He reassures me with a nod.

“Don’t concern yourself with that. I’m fine.”

I smile, disbelieving. “London?” I repeat, struck stupid.

Benjamin so clearly thrives off of my lack of exploration in the world, wanting to personally introduce me to its wonders. And frankly, I’m tired and in a constant state of uncertainty, my moods fluctuating at the drop of the hat, but his enthusiasm is a plea.

He wouldn’t be suggesting this—leaving work, enduring the flight with the wounds he has—if he didn’t need it. If he didn’t thinkweneed it.

We have the luxury of leaving, of taking some time to heal together and focus on something other than our losses, and for that, I will not deny us this chance.

“What do you say?”

I sweep my hands over his silky locks of hair affectionately. “Let’s pack.”

He lowers his head to kiss me. However, his ever-present phone interrupts us, blaring loudly on the counter. He picks it up and answers.

“Yes, Tiffany?”

The way he blanches, his blood draining under his skin to instantly make him pale and beaten down, when only seconds ago a smile was in place of this frown, scares me shitless.

Whatever Tiffany is telling him has shaken him.

Like an eruption within him, the blood reappears in a boiling rage, leaving him red-faced and shaking. His hand shoots up to his face, which he rubs in disbelief, turning away from me.

“Ben…?”

“Who released that information?”

He storms away, leaving me with only the option to follow. I find him switching on the television, flipping through channels to land on a station.

“I’ll handle it. Thank you for informing me.”

“What’s happened?” I ask when he hangs up. He doesn’t need to answer me. He stops on a channel, a news station.