Bennett
I stared down at the text Sebastian had sent me an hour ago, hating that I received it 36,000ft in the air.
Brandon asked me to go to the police station with him and Henley. Do you know why?
I had texted Henley immediately after that, but she hadn't texted me back yet. Why in the world was she going to the police station? Had something happened? Why did Brandon ask Sebastian for help and not me?
I tried to keep calm. It made more sense for Brandon to ask Sebastian for help since Sebastian was a lawyer. Henley would have told me if it were something serious, anyway.
Falling back into my seat, I sighed. But Henley's definition of serious was probably someone dying, and nothing less than that.
I shot up again, my heart rate increasing. Had someone robbed her again? Was that why Brandon was involved in this? Why hadn't I bought them a security system for their house? I should have thought of that long before this, then it wouldn't even be an issue—
"Would you like a drink, Sir?"
The stewardess caught me off guard and I nearly jumped. Recovering, I cleared my throat, and waved her away. "I'm okay, thank you, though."
"Let me know if you'd like anything."
I folded my arms across my chest as she continued down the aisle. At least her interruption kept my thoughts from spiraling. There was nothing I could do right now, anyway. Not until I landed.
For the rest of the flight, I tried to preoccupy myself by going through my notes from the multiple business meetings I'd been to over the week. In the coming month I'd have to fly back to California again for interviews. The California branch needed to hire so many new people it would be a waste of resources to fly them all out to New York for the interviews. The better option financially was to have me fly out with a few others for them.
I wanted to take Henley with me, but knew she hated flying as much as I did, and I didn't want to put her through that just for my selfish whims. I'd deal with it by myself. How had Lee traveled so much without so much as one complaint? I remembered him leaving for weeks at a time. He never said how stressful it was.
When I landed, I immediately called Sebastian, who didn't answer my call. I tried Henley just to receive her un-setup voicemail. Starting to get annoyed, no matter how I tried to convince myself not to, I got into my car, not even sure where to drive. To the office? If Henley went to the police station, didn't that mean she took the day off? And even if she didn't, it was already almost end of day. By the time I arrived there, she probably would have already left.
I tried calling Henley and Sebastian again, but neither answered. Clenching the steering wheel, I decided just to go to her house. I crept along the line of cars leaving the airport parking lot, feeling irritated at the slow pace. Why was it so busy right at this moment? Pick-up was so much faster. I hadn't wanted to leave my car at the airport all week, but Lee had got me thinking that maybe Henry wouldn't tell me no even if he didn't want to do what I asked, so I decided not to ask him anymore. And Henley was out of the question.
By the time I got onto the highway, over half an hour had passed. I didn't normally get so frustrated while driving, but I just wanted to get to Henley. I passed the person who decided to slow down in the margining lane and merged in front of them, deciding to go two lanes over into the far left lane. The flow of traffic was twenty miles over the speed limit. Normally that would have me switching back to the middle lane, but the mess at the airport already set be so far behind.
"Just this once," I said to myself. I'd speed just this once. Just because it was the flow of traffic, anyway.
I never felt the urge to speed before, nor such a compulsion to punch Sebastian for texting me what he did with no other context. You couldn't just do that to someone. Especially someone with anxiety. He'd better have a good reason for not texting me back.
Things went well for about an hour. I was making good time, but still on edge, with no texts lighting up my phone. But then something else lit up the inside of my car. Flashing blue and red lights. When I heard the siren, my heart jumped into my throat. It couldn't be for me...
I signaled and pulled over two lanes into the far right lane and a cold feeling swept through me as the state cop followed me. I couldn't believe it. I pulled completely over into the shoulder of the highway. For a second, I wasn't sure what to do. I'd never been pulled over before. But then I remembered to grab my registration from my glove box and pulled out my wallet to have my license ready.
I rolled down my window and waited, my heart racing in my chest. The cop took forever in coming over. I straightened out, trying to mask my nervousness as she stopped outside my car door. "Do you know why I pulled you over?" she asked.
"I was speeding," I answered immediately.
"So, you knew?"
"Yes," I said because there was no point in lying. She wouldn't have pulled me over if I wasn't doing an excess speed. "I have my license and registration."
Her eyebrows rose on her forehead and she took them from me. "I'll be right back."
Nodding, I watched in my side-view mirror as she went back to her car. I fidgeted with my fingers as I waited. A ticket wouldn't be a big deal. This was my first offense and I could afford to pay it. But still, I couldn't help but feel a bit bitter. I never sped. And the one time I did, I get pulled over? I'd been so proud of my clean driving record. Now I was falling right into the stereotype of BMW drivers driving like douchebags.
But maybe since it was my first offense, I'd just get let off with a warning. I'd been honest, after all.
Ten minutes later, I stared down at the first speeding ticket I'd received in my life. For some reason, I thought of Henley, and what she would think. She'd freak out. The ticket was for almost four hundred dollars and assigned four points to my license. I was sure my insurance premium would be going up soon, too.
I stayed in the shoulder even as the cop drove away, still a little bit in shock. I could feel irritation forming in the pit of my stomach again. The ridiculousness of getting a ticket with my first offense—but I tried to keep it down. I'd been doing something wrong and this was my fault. Still, I grit my teeth as I pulled back onto the highway, this time setting my cruise control. Why was everything annoying me so much right now?
When I pulled off onto the highway, I tried calling Henley, but the call went straight to disconnected. I glanced at my display screen, double-checking that the call really ended immediately. What was this? Was she ignoring my calls? I used the voice command to try calling Sebastian again and wasn't even surprised when he didn't answer.
Nearly two hours for either of them to answer my call and nothing. What was going on with them?
I drove to Henley's, my jaw hurting from how tightly it was clenched. There had to be a reason for this. They weren't ignoring me on purpose. But still... Still.
I pulled onto her street and could see her porch light was on. If she wasn't there, at least Brandon would be, and I could probably get answers from him. As I drove closer, the front door opened and my breath caught in my throat as Henley stepped out. Relief went through me, but it was chased by irritation. If she was home, why couldn't she text me back?
I slowed down, watching as she walked to a car I didn't recognize in the driveway. It must have been her new one.
A shadow flickered and drew my attention to it. When a shape emerged from the other side of Henley, coming up behind her, I tensed. Was that Brandon trying to scare her? It was hard to see because the person wore a hood, but Brandon constantly wore hoods.
But when the person reached out for Henley and she threw out her arm instantly and tried to run, my foot slammed on the breaks. That wasn't Brandon.
I didn't bother parking properly, leaving my car where it was in the road. I flung open my door, not bothering to shut it as I strode across the lawn toward Henley.
"Let me go!" Henley shouted, trying to break free as the man grabbed her.
"You shouldn't have gone to the police," a male responded menacingly, yanking her arm behind her back, nearly knocking her off her feet.
Heat rushed through my body, my pulse pounding in my ears, blocking out every other noise. I didn't care what was going on— no one touched Henley like that. All the irritation and anger I'd felt throughout the day returned tenfold, directed toward this stranger.
As I approached, Henley finally noticed me, her eyes going wide, but before she could say anything I grabbed the man's shoulder, wrenching him back as hard as I could.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I snapped, almost not recognizing my voice because of the ferocity it held.
It must have scared Henley, too, because she jerked in surprise, before getting pulled forward because the man didn't release his grip on her.
I let go of his shoulder, seizing the arm that still held onto Henley, digging my fingers into his skin, not pulling on him in case he dragged Henley again. "Let her go. You have three seconds."
"Bennett, wait—"
The man shoved Henley away from him with such force she fell to the pavement of the driveway and then he turned his attention on me. He threw out a fist I knew I couldn't dodge because of our position and the way I still gripped his other arm. I relaxed my jaw, preparing for the impact. It hurt, but not as much as I expected. Not as much as it would have been if this man knew how to throw a proper much.
"Bennett!" Henley cried, pushing herself off from the ground.
I figured it'd only be fair of me to show him how to.
Henley let out a startled yell as I punched the man straight in the face, knocking him back away from me. I threw out my arm to stop Henley from approaching us. The other man quickly recovered from my hit, coming at me again. More prepared his time, I blocked his next punch, opting for the defensive instead of the offense. As much as I wanted to beat him until he couldn't move for grabbing Henley like that, I wasn't feeling like the law was on my side at the moment. If I could just keep him busy until Henley could call for help, then—
"Get away from him!" Henley's voice suddenly cried out from beside me and then something swung into my line of vision, hitting the assailant right in the face. He let go of me, throwing his hands in front of his covered face as Henley brought whatever she had down on him again, making him groan in pain. "The cops are on their way!" she shouted, swinging again.
Whether it was the mention of the police, or Henley's strikes, the man took off running down the street, releasing me. For a moment I started after him, worried he'd get into my car and drive away with it because I left the keys in it, but Henley grabbed my arm. "No, Bennett!"
I stopped, mainly because the man ran in the opposite direction, and faced Henley, examining the weapon in her hand. "...Is that a windshield wiper?" I asked, my breathing uneven.
Henley's shoulders rose and fell with her own heavy breaths and she gave a quick nod, her hair falling in front of her face, still holding tightly onto the windshield wiper.
"Quick thinking," I commented, gently touching my still throbbing jaw.
"Oh, right!" Henley gasped, dropping the windshield wiper and grabbing the sleeve of my jacket. "Are you okay, Bennett?"
"I've been punched before," I told her, taking the hand that held onto my sleeve into mine and squeezing it. "He doesn't hit nearly as hard as Sebastian does."
"That's— what? Sebastian has punched you before?"
I felt like I could taste blood in my mouth. "A while ago. Let's go inside for now. Did you call the cops?"
"No... I only said that," she said, frowning. "Maybe I should, still. Even though they were absolutely useless earlier."
I had a lot of questions, but decided to focus on one thing at a time. First, making sure Henley was okay, and my lip wasn't cut. "Let me park my car properly. Be right back."
After pulling my car into her driveway, I guided Henley back into her house and made her sit down on the couch, kneeling in front of her so I could stay at eye level with her. Her lack of reaction when looking at my face in the bright light of the living room assured me at least my lip wasn't busted open.
Ducking her head, Henley adjusted the legs off her jeans and the holes above the knees shifted, revealing the skin on both knees scraped up from when she fell onto the pavement of the driveway. Stiffening, she tried to hide them, but I caught her hands, flipping them palm up. Bloody scratches covered her palms, too.
"Stay here." I stood up again, heading into the bathroom to search for the first aid kit.
Henley hadn't moved an inch from her position on the couch when I returned, taking my command literally. I watched her a for a moment before sighing. It was clear to me she was feeling guilty. But why was she feeling guilty?
I kneeled down in front of her again, opening the first aid kit and pulling out the disinfectant and some cotton balls. "We should clean your wounds."
"Okay," she said in small voice.
"What happened?" I asked her, trying to keep my voice light and un-accusing as I took her hand in mine. "Did you know that man?"
She began to shake her head and then stopped, biting her lip instead. "...In a way."
I dipped a cotton ball into the disinfectant. "What do you mean? Who is he?" Henley never really spoke of anyone. Was this an ex-boyfriend or something?
"Um." She hesitated, wincing a bit as I carefully dabbed the cotton ball against the cuts on her palm. "Promise me you won't get mad at—"
"I promise," I said before she could finish. Who could get mad at her after witnessing that?
"That man has been stalking me," she admitted quietly.
My hand froze. "What?"
"Before he never approached me but just recently he began to approach me."
My grip on her hand tightened. "How long has this been going on?"
"A... a few months," she whispered.
My eyes widened and I stared at her, even as she looked purposefully away. "Since then? And you never told me?"
"I didn't think it was that bad. At first it was just flowers. For weeks. I thought I could handle it—"
"This is what you call handling it?" I asked louder than I meant to, raising her hand up to her face.
She looked at me evenly, but I could feel her hand trembling in mine, her cheeks stained red. "You said you wouldn't get mad."
I dropped her hand and it fell into her lap. "How many times do I have to tell you?"
She clasped her hands in front of her, shrinking on herself. "Tell me what?"
"How many times do I have to tell you that you can rely on me?" I said, climbing to my feet and shaking my head. "How many times do I have to remind you that I'm here for you? Why do you always do this— keep everything to yourself? Why don't you tell me anything? You're the one who said we needed to be honest with each other and help each other out with our problems. You made me promise you that."
A muscle in her jaw twitched as she looked up at me and I noticed her eyes were wet. "I know."
I didn't want to be angry at her. Especially because I'd just told her I wouldn't be. But I couldn't stand this situation. "Someone was stalking you and you didn't tell me, Henley. Why? Do you not think I'm trustworthy enough?" I demanded, my voice rising. "Did you think I'd be useless in this situation? I know you said you are used to handling things by yourself. I know you like to be independent. But this isn't something to be so prideful about."
Her lips trembled for a moment and I regretted my words instantly. The next second, tears began slipping down her cheeks and a sob escaped her lips. "I'm sorry," she managed to get out between sobs.
I immediately crouched back down to her level, putting my arms around her. She was crying harder than I'd ever seen her cry before. Henley never cried. "I didn't mean to raise my voice," I said, rubbing her back soothingly.
"It wasn't pride," she said, pulling back so she could meet my gaze. "I didn't ask for this, Bennett."
My heart fell as the implications of what I said hit me. "That's not what I meant. I shouldn't have worded it like that."
"Well, you did."
"I'm sorry. The person in the wrong is the one stalking you and only him. But I don't understand why you wouldn't tell me," I said, putting my hand to her cheek and cupping it. "I love you. I worry about you. And now I feel like a terrible person and even worse boyfriend for letting you go through this alone for months."
Henley sniffled, trying to get her tears under control. "I'm the one who kept it from you. You don't have to feel bad."
"Was it that hard to tell me?
She closed her eyes and nodded, taking my hand away from her cheek and holding it. "I thought if someone got involved they would get hurt. And I was right. He went right after you for interfering."
"I'd get punched a thousand times if it meant keeping you safe."
She cracked a little smile. "I thought your hands were delicate."
I smiled a little, too, using my free hand to wipe the wetness from her cheeks. "I didn't say I'd be able to punch someone a thousand times. But I could take a thousand punches for you."
"Actually, you hit him pretty hard. I was impressed."
"Were you?"
With the tension broken now, I moved onto the couch, pulling her to my side. To my surprise, she shifted herself so that she sat on my lap, her arm around my neck, pressing herself into my chest. It was rare for her to be the cuddly one.
"I'm sorry," she said again into my neck.
"Were you ever going to tell me?" I asked, more gently than before.
I felt her nod her head. "I was going to when you got home. I didn't want to tell you while you were so far away and make you worry. I'll answer anything you want me to."
Didn't want to make me worry? I grimaced a bit. As if Sebastian's text hadn't done that? "Then why didn't you answer my texts? Sebastian said you were going to the police station and then never got back to me. If you were home, why didn't you at least text me back?"
"What texts?"
I pushed her away from me a little so I could see her face. "I texted you. Multiple times."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "What? I didn't get any texts from you."
I pressed my lips together. Weren't we being honest with each other right now? "Really?"
"Bennett, I didn't get any texts," she said, her voice earnest, confusing me. "You know I would have texted you back if I did."
I dug my phone out of my pocket and pulled up the messages, handing it over to her to prove to her that I texted her. Frowning, she took it from me, and looked at the messages. Realization flickered on her face and then she held up the phone screen so we could both see it. "You texted my old phone number. I texted you from my new one when I bought my new phone. See, this is my new number."
She scrolled back to my messages list and then pulled up the message she'd sent me earlier this morning. In between the morning message from her new number, and me sending a text to her old phone during my flight, I'd received multiple texts from different people, including Sebastian's, burying her text with the unsaved, new number.
I didn't say anything for a moment and Henley just frowned a little and hugged me again. "Sorry," I said, my voice strained. What a stupid mistake to make.
"You must have been worried. Don't be sorry. If I hadn't had to get a new phone, this wouldn't have happened."
"Does you getting a new phone have to do with this stalker?"
"Yes. I'll tell you everything."
The more I listened to Henley speak, the more upset I got. The fact that this was happening at my office, right under my nose, without me noticing. That Henley had been dealing with this alone for so long. That this stalker made her feel like she couldn't tell anyone, and that I had gotten mad when I found out— which is probably exactly what the stalker would have wanted. To put a wedge between her and those close to her.
"The cops say they can't do anything without evidence," Henley said, still clinging to me. "I decided to report it though because I needed to get things started, at least. Hopefully if enough reports are made they'll take me seriously."
My thighs were starting to go numb, but I wasn't going to move her. "We can check my dashcam, but I don't have high hopes it caught anything. I should have parked closer. Let's go shopping for house security tomorrow."
"Good idea," she agreed.
"I want you to stay at my house for the time being, too." When she didn't answer right away, I adjusted her so she had to be face-to-face with me again. "Henley."
She put her hand on my chest. "This guy... I don't think he knows where you live. I don't want him to find out. I think he might have found out this place because Sebastian had texted me pictures of it and I saved them so he must have gone through my phone after stealing it."
"Then it's more reason for you to stay at my house."
"What if he follows me there? I know you're private about your house. I don't want it to not be a safe place for you anymore."
"Your safety is more important than that."
She hesitated again. "What about Brandon? What if he goes after him? Or tries to break in here?"
"Brandon can stay in Lee's old room. It's fine now." She still didn't look happy with my offer. I frowned. "If not that, then I'm staying here for the time being. And we're installing the security cameras."
She perked up a little. "You'd stay here?"
"You're probably right about this guy trying to break in. You've experienced that once and that's enough times. If we're here, maybe we can prevent it. We need to make sure whatever security we decide on has a loud alarm."
"Okay," she agreed readily. "Maybe if we catch him sneaking around on the camera I can turn that in to the police, too."
If he's smart, he'll stay away, I thought to myself, but didn't say it out loud. Henley was rattled enough. If she worried so badly about me getting hurt that she didn't even want to tell me she was being stalked, I wasn't about to make her more anxious by saying anything leaning toward aggression.
"Where is Brandon, anyway?" I asked. "If he knew, he shouldn't have left you alone."
Henley's expression turned sheepish. "Oh. I made him go home with Sebastian because I was worried. Sebastian's phone died at the police station—that's probably why he hasn't gotten back to you. I wanted Brandon to make sure he got home safe so after they dropped me off, Brandon went with Sebastian. I'd basically just gotten home from the station when... you came."
"Did that man follow you from the police station?"
"I think so."
Just how fearless was this man? Following Henley from the police station? It made me feel uneasy. I'd heard him say something to Henley about going to the police. "Let's be careful from now on."
"Yeah."
"I don't think this lowlife has any interest in your brother or Sebastian, though. Next time Sebastian will be fine going home alone. Have Brandon stay with you if I'm not here."
Henley hummed her agreement, but once again looked guilty.
"Henley, you're not bothering anyone," I told her, putting my hands on her waist. "Okay? You're not being a hassle. If you need help, just ask."
"Yeah," she agreed, swallowing, eyes watering again. "I know. It's just... I don't know. I don't know."
Clenching my jaw, I pulled her back to my chest, wrapping my arms around her tightly. It bothered me how much this situation affected Henley. She was normally so confident and sharp-witted. To see her so meek and upset... it made me want to make more mistakes. Suddenly I didn't care about any kind of perfect record. I would do whatever it took to protect Henley and keep this bastard from ever coming near Henley again.
Author's Note:
Hey everyone! Sorry this took so long to get out. To be honest, there is a reason why updates are slow aside from my keyboard being broken again for the third time. I decided just to power through it and keep resticking the T key on when it falls off, but in case I missed some Ts somewhere in here, I'm sorry. Multiple keys are sticking including the space bar, so there might be some words stuck together. But the other reason isn't something I can even say. It's just a major bummer lol. The good news is all your positive comments about this series really makes me happy and want to continue writing it.
Anyway, on a brighter note, I might be able to announce something exciting for the HTL series soon. No, not a movie, not a book, not a T.V. series. So, what else could it be then...? ;) Hopefully, we find out soon.
Someone e-mailed me these (piccrews?) of Henley, Bennett, and Brandon, but didn't leave their username. Let me know if you're here! I'll tag you. They're so cute hehe.