Broken Record

Chapter 29: Benton

Benton heard some sort of a shuffle, the bed beneath him dipping slightly as he rubbed the heels of his palms against his eyes. His sleep was usually short and light, but he felt like he'd slept like a baby, the morning sun peeking in through the window blinds in the bedroom. Usually when Benton woke up it was still dark outside. He propped himself up on his elbow, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Yeah, okay, I got it." Stevie grumbled into the phone, her blonde hair tangled and wild as she rested the back of her head against her pillow, rolling her eyes at whoever was on the other end of the phone. "Yes, I'll pick you up. Okay, yeah, yeah I know. I won't forget." Stevie glanced over at Benton and gave him a small smile, the realization settling deeply in his gut that he'd just had sex with a woman outside of the The Den for the first time in four years. And he'd actually stayed the night. He didn't know whether to feel relief or anxiety, but he didn't have the time to think through it any further when Stevie hung up the phone.

"Sorry, my older sister. She seems to think that everyone is an early bird." Stevie's voice was raspy with sleep, the sound already sending blood to Benton's dick and he wasn't even touching her. He cleared his throat, looking around for his own phone.

"The bridezilla who just got married?" Benton raised an eyebrow at her, remembering how fearful she'd been the first time they'd met of missing her sister's wedding, even while in the face of some serious legal charges.

"The one and only!"

"What time is it anyway?"

"8:30 something--"

"8:30! Fucking Christ." Benton leapt out of bed, hastily pulling on his clothes. Stevie sat up, laughter bubbling from her lips at seeing the impeccably poised Benton West totally disarmed.

"This is not funny, Stevie." Benton glowered at her as he fumbled with the buckle of his belt.

"It's a little funny." Stevie dropped her feet onto the ground, stretching lazily.

"You have a job to be at too, you know." Benton raised his eyebrows at her as he did up his cufflinks, his hair still all over the place.

"True," Stevie sauntered over to him, her body still fully naked, "but I already have two remixed hits with over a billion streams so I'm pretty sure my boss might give me a pass for being a little late into the office today, don't you think?" Stevie reached up to lace her arms around Benton's neck, but he grabbed her forearms, stopping her.

"What?"

"Let me see your wrists." Stevie rolled her eyes but let Benton carefully turn each hand over, examining the bruises and torn skin. It wasn't terrible but it certainly was more damage than he usually aimed for at The Den.

"Benton, I'm fine. I liked it. Stop worrying. Stress will kill you, you know." Stevie pulled out his grasp, crossing her arms over her bare chest.

"If stress was going to be my cause of death, I would've died a long time ago." Benton grabbed his coat, draping it elegantly over his shoulders and strong arms. He reached inside the breast pocket, cursing when he pulled out his phone.

"Jesus, Mary has called me at least eight times." Benton started typing away on his phone, already having missed several meetings this morning. 8:30 AM was practically noon by his work standards.

"Uh, Benton?" Stevie's voice shifted from confident to nervous and even though Benton already needed to leave this place hours ago, something about her tone had him staying put.

"What?"

"It's Mary."

"What about her?"

"She...well, she's the one who told me. About your ex fiancé...although she seemed to think it was still, you know, current. She was, um, pretty upset about it."