Dangerous Secrets (Dangerous Series: Book 1)

Chapter 18 - Waterfall love confession

"What happens now," Stella asked Tristan.

They were laying in the gazebo. Their naked bodies were entangled beneath a blanket. The air was cool and the night dark. The starlit sky and a single candle was the only things that shed a soft light over them. She was still flustered and soaring on clouds from having sex with him. It was her first time and since it was with Tristan, her soulmate, it was perfect.

"What do you mean?" Tristan answered and gave her a light kiss.

"You know what I mean. Our brothers hate each other, they literally want to kill each other. If they find out that we are dating they will definitely freak out and sabotage it. I mean, Ben beat you up for dating me, I don't want to know what he'll do if he finds out we're having sex."

Stella turned over on the side and started to lightly follow the outmarks of the bruises on Tristan's body. She wished she could kiss the pain away.

"I know, but I can't stay away from you. I love you too much."

"I love you too, and I don't want to stop seeing you either, but I'm a terrible liar and I'm afraid that Ben will check my phone. That's why I didn't answer your texts earlier tonight."

"Well... You take Winston for a walk every morning and evening. I'll meet you as often as possible. If we decide what time, we don't need to text in order to meet up. We'll just meet as often as possible."

"That might actually work," Stella said and kissed his chest. "Tomorrow I might need to sleep in, but normally I walk with Winston eight in the morning and eight in the evening."

Stella and Tristan held each other close half the night, but when they started yawning she sneaked back to the house. She wanted to fall asleep in his arms and wake up next to him, but she knew that was impossible. The thought of never being able to spend an entire night with Tristan was painful, but she didn't care that it was going to be difficult, she wanted to be with him no matter what.

There was a knock on Stella's bedroom door.

"Come in," Stella yawned and turned around. It was Ben standing in the doorway, just like he had her first day at Alvik. She remembered that his presence made her dizzy back then, in some ways, it still did. "Good morning."

"Hey," Ben answered and sat down on her bed. Stella could feel her pulse rising. Does he know I met up with Tristan? "How are you?"

"Confused. How are you?"

Ben moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. She looked at her arms to see if there were any signs of Tristan on her body. She was so tired when she came back to her room she had no power to wash her body. Besides, she didn't want to wash off Tristan's scent.

Ben's embrace had always felt like home for Stella, it still did. But one thing was different, she didn't feel the burning desire to kiss him. All she thought about was Tristan.

"Yeah, that's understandable. I'm really sorry you got dragged into all of this. It sucks it had to come to this. My blood boils every time I think of that asshole Tristan. He's lucky you were there, I don't think I'd be able to stop myself otherwise."

Stella felt a sting in her heart when he mentioned Tristan's name.

"I'm not sure he's the bad guy... He has always been sweet to me."

Ben's arms tightened and he cleared his throat. She regretted saying anything about Tristan. It was too soon, Ben was still too upset.

"What do you mean?" His voice was strained.

"I don't know. Nevermind."

"Have you talked to him since the fight?"

Fight, it wasn't a fight. It was an assault. Stella wanted to be mad at Ben, but she couldn't. The only reason he beat Tristan black and blue was because he wanted to protect her. In some ways she should be grateful.