The Protected One

S t r a i n s

"Then I'm sorry," he says.

"For wha-" my words are cut off when Ben decides to jump and take me with him.

A scream erupts from my mouth as we fall into the familiar waterfall.

By the time I rise to the top I see Ben already swimming to shore.

"Deja vu huh? He asks.

_______

I snuck a couple of glances at Ben through the corner of my eye as he drove.

"I thought you had questions. Why are you silent? He asks.

"I just can't believe I did that," I sigh.

"You didn't have to, yet you still did," he says.

"I know, but like I said, I want answers," I tell him.

"There were other ways. Why put yourself in front of that gun?"

"Cause I knew they wouldn't hurt me," I say.

He only looks at me.

I glance back at him and he returns his focus on the road.

I do something that I've caught myself doing a lot these days.

Staring at him and observing his changes.

It almost felt unreal.

While looking at him, I notice a growing blood stain on his shirt.

"You're shot," I tell him.

He remains calm as if it's nothing.

"Grazed. Not shot," he responds.

I stayed quiet.

I feel my phone buzz in my pocket to see an incoming call from Claude.

I immediately decline.

Benjamin quickly grabs my phone from my hands, shuts it down and throws it in the compartment.

"What the hell?" I ask.

"Do you want to get caught? He asks.

"Relax, they're not tracking me," I say.

He chuckles dryly.

"You're dumb if you think your brothers don't track you anymore," he states.

I roll my eyes and look out the window.

The area in which we're driving in is foreign to me.

I do know that it is definitely in the wealthy part of Florida as the landscape grows cleaner, nicer, and the houses are further apart from each other.

It's not long before he turns into a gated house that's followed by a long driveway.

He quickly turns the car off and rushes inside the house.

I grab my phone and quickly follow his footsteps into the house.

"You should really go to the hospital for that," I say.

He stops in his tracks and gives me a look.

"I don't do hospitals Frankie," he says.

He walks away into a different room and he stays in there for a while.

I hear a few things being opened followed by a bit of commotion.

When he finally comes out, he's shirtless and the area where he was grazed was wrapped.

He sits across from me on the couch.

He sighs before he speaks up.

"Alright Frankie. Let's talk," he says.

I take a seat on the couch.

"I can't say I like the situation we're in," he starts.

I can't help but have a confused look on my face.

"What do you mean? I ask.

He sighs.

"When you said you wanted to talk, I was glad that we would finally get the opportunity to. But not like this. I don't want to take you from your family," he says.

I shake my head.

"You're not taking me from my family, Ben. I chose to do this," I say.

"Frankie you literally ran away from them and now you're here with me. I can't even begin to image what's going Claude and the other ones head right now," he says.

I don't miss the way he refuses to say Leo's name.

"I know but I made this decision myself. I want answers," I say.

"Frankie I don't understand what answers you're craving. I've made it clear so many times that I came back for you. There's nothing more to it," he begins to get frustrated.

"The hell there isn't. What happened after my brothers let you go?" I ask.

He buries his head in his hands.

"Jesus," he sighs.

I roll my eyes and fold my arms over my chest.

"This was a mistake," I say lowly.

When he doesn't reply, I stand up.

"I want to go back to my hotel," I say.

He stands up as well.

"I want us to be able to figure things out by ourselves. I don't want things that happened with your brothers months ago or five years ago to impact what happens with us in the future. If you're so fixated on the past, I don't know if we can do that," he says searching my eyes for a response.

"I want to go now," I say lowly.

"I don't know why you're so persistent on finding something that's not there. I just hope you'll be able to admit the real reason you're here," he says.

____________

In order to avoid the awkwardness that I couldn't bare, Ben dropped me off at a local bar where I could catch an Uber to the hotel.

I finally turned my phone back on and all of my notifications came pouring in.

Over 56 missed calls in total, and 13 messages from Leo and Claude.

I skipped over all the messages except for the latest one from Leo which caught my attention.

Leo: This is my last time reaching out to you. I've managed to convince Claude to not tell your brothers, but if you aren't at the airport tomorrow for our flight back to Seattle, we will tell your brothers. Gosh Frankie I'm so disappointed in you. Can't say that I'm surprised in your choices, but at least I now know where your loyalties lie.

I feel my eyes start to sting thanks to the message.

I wish I could redo this day over again.

___________

I dragged my feet lazily on the ground as I circled the baggage claim looking for my familiar suitcase.

When I spot the blue suitcase I reach out to grab it.

Before I could, a pair of hands grab them off the baggage claim.

I turn around to Leo, and Claude a few steps behind him.

He begins to wheel our bags out, and Claude follows behind him.

I speed walk to catch up to Leo.

"Leo," I begin but I'm quickly cut off.

"Don't waste your breath. I know I'm not going to waste mine speaking to you," he says.

My heart drops at his words.

"Claude," I say stopping in my tracks to face him.

He keeps walking without sparing me a glance.

My stomach churns at the thought of the status of my relationship with the two.

I couldn't help but feel that this time was much more severe than the others.