TRIBULATIONS

20.

Bennett had his head buried in his arms. The Man, Arial, hadn't tried to speak to him. But for that he was grateful. He wanted to be alone, he hadn't even noticed that Arthur had been gone for over an hour now.

He presumed that Arial was calling someone when he heard him making a conversation by himself. "..Yes? No, he's right here."

Arial scoffed. "You're Pierre's Assistant, if anything's wrong, and Pierre isn't answering, shouldn't it be reasonable to ring you up?"

Arial sighed. He stayed silent as if listening to the other person. "..Okay, so, there's a blond haired man sulking right in front of me."

Bennett raised his head, Arial stared at him, removing the phone from his ear and pressing it with his hands to block the noise. "Bennett Thunderstorm?"

Bennett nodded, resting his head on his tear stained arms.

Arial hummed. "Yes, it's him. "

Arial smiled in relief. "Alright, could you come get him? His friend left and hasn't returned since."

Arial rolled his eyes and groaned. "I know you have important things to do, but please, Pierre informed me about the deal he had with the two, help him keep it."

Blackmailing? Bennett thought drowsily.

He didn't remember much, only that his eyes closed and he drifted off to a calmer place. Eventually his eyes were forced to snap open. There was a new presence in front of him, he mumbled in his sleep. "..Arthur?"

The unknown person said, "..No. Wake up, I'm taking you back to the headquarters."

Bennett's view became slightly clearer. He saw the way the.. Woman glared at Arial, "You did this on purpose, right? To distract me from working."

Arial shrugged. "You're the one interpreting it in the wrong way, I simply wanted the kid to be safe."

The woman rolled her cold eyes. "..Sure."

Her sharp red eyes— Bennett slowly widened his eyes. His mind was no longer muffled with confusion and sleep. He recognized the "woman".

It was Edena. Bennett rubbed his eyes, Edena was impatient. She grumbled under her breath, approached him, and encircled her slim hand around his wrist. Her long fingers felt cold on his skin, but Bennett's wrist felt comfortably warm on her skin. She gently pulled the sleepy man, who whined very lowly.

Throwing a judgemental and hateful look at Arial who smirked, she sighed exasperated from these events, and she walked out of the club with Bennett.

The walk was silent. Edena stared at the passing cars and decided to get a taxi. She lifted her hand, waving it helplessly. Eventually, a car stopped. The door opened automatically as it sensed a presence. Edena dragged Bennett, and shoved him inside the car. The Man whined even louder but was forced to shut himself up, when she shushed him. Edena got inside, she pushed Bennett's legs aside, and sat elegantly on the warm seat.

The door closed after a few seconds, and the car started to drive. In Front of them, a tinted glass wall rolled up and shut itself. They had privacy to speak now, the glass would only roll down if they were about to leave.

Edena glanced at the clearly distraught man. She shivered, uncomfortable because of the silence and because of how close they were. Bennett let his head drop on Edena's shoulder, and she flinched. She whispered harshly, "..Don't touch me."

She bit her lower lip, the same fear returned. The fear of those filthy men touching her, the women joking about her state as she laid there, naked, and helpless after each experiment.