Your Guardian Angel

Chapter 22

"Lauren...Lauren!" Ben sighed in frustration. Lauren was standing at his front door just staring. She looked scary, almost like she was going to try and do something. "Lauren, if you don't leave I will call the police, do you understand? This little game has gone far enough!"

Ben could hear Cassie get up from the couch. "Cass, don't come in here! If there is one time you listen to me, please let this be it!" He could hear the couch creek with her sitting back down. He kept his eyes on Lauren to make sure she wouldn't try anything stupid.

"Look, I'm not sure if you're drunk or what, but this is completely inappropriate. You. Need. To. Leave!" He didn't back down from looking at her. Eventually, she slowly turned and walked away. He watched her go down the driveway and to her car. She started it up, but didn't leave for a few more minutes. Once she was down he street, he let out a breath. "Jesus Fucking Christ."

He closed the door and locked it. He went to the garage, the back door, the sliding door and made sure they were all locked. By the time he got back into the living room, Cassie had her phone set to call the police. "Who was that? What happened?"

Ben ran his hands through his hair, then sat down. "It was, um...it was Lauren."

Cassie furrowed her eyebrows. "Why?" She very curiously and suspiciously asked.

He shook his head. "I don't know. She didn't say anything, she just...fucking stared at me! I thought she was going to do something for a moment there." He let out a shaky breath.

Cassie was still suspicious, more than she would have liked to be, but asked, "Why don't you call the police, then? We have the doorbell camera."

"Yeah, but she didn't do anything, did she? She left when I asked. That just creeped me out is all. I was more worried for the two of you." He put his hand over her stomach. "If she comes back, I'll call them. I promise."

Ben couldn't sleep a wink that night. While Cassie went to bed, he stayed up sitting by the window, looking down at the driveway. He nodded off a few times, but would walk around, do some push ups or sit ups to keep him awake. When he could see the sun start to rise, he decided it was time to sleep.

He got into bed and held onto Cassie extra tight. It only seemed like minutes later when he was being woken up. "Hey, come on, sleepy head. We're going to be late." He could barely open his tired eyes, but when he did he saw it was early noon.

"Late for what?" He groggily asked.

Cassie sighed. "Lunch with Katie."

It was Ben's turn to sigh. "Right. Yeah, okay." He got himself up and into the shower. After he got out, he sleepily changed into a shirt and jeans. Cassie was waiting for him by the front door with his jacket. "Can you drive, love?"

Cassie drove them to the restaurant, which was in Downtown. After battling with parking, they made it to the place on time. The moment Katie saw Cassie, she squealed and practically screamed, "There's my pregnant bitch!" That earned some stares.

They squeezed each other in a tight hug as they jumped around. "Sit, sit and tell me everything! Oh, and hi, Ben."

For the next half hour, it was the Katie and Cassie show. Ben enjoyed watching them catch up and have their girl talk, but he was too exhausted this morning. He kept ordering coffee after coffee and eventually went to triple espresso after triple espresso. Unfortunately, it did catch up to him.

"Pardon me, ladies, I'm going to hit the men's room."

Both girls watched him go, then turned back to each other. "Is he okay?" Katie asked. "Usually he's, like, involved."