The billionaires best friend

Chapter twenty six

Pic of Ben.

Ben's PoV

Psychos, that's what I'm living with. One minute somebody is hugging the life out of me, the next somebody is either scowling, lightly punching or scolding me. I mean I'm fine, they need to stop. It's been four weeks since the bloody shooting/showdown and you'd swear I was hit somewhere vital. They are extra protective, something I didn't think was possible. Worse thing is, Dar has joined in in this little game of kiss or kill Ben. "Ben! Ben, where the fuck are you?" I hear Theo shout. See, I've only come up to a spare room for some peace and quiet. My shoulder is hurting badly today but I don't dare mention it to anyone or they'll have me carted off the the fucking hospital within seconds. I can manage a bit of pain but it takes its toll and I can't be around the others and listen to them lecturing me or I'll snap.

Oh for fuck sake now he's gotten the others in on it. I hear doors opening and closing again, better go out before they have a heart failure. "I'm here, calm down"  I call out. Rick is first to reach me "how fucking childish are you. Tell us where you are, we were worried. First you go and do something stupid like jumping in front of a bullet, now your playing childish games. Have some cop on and think of others. We could have lost you, you are our baby-" ok at the mention of the word baby I do it, after four weeks of this shit I finally snap.

"Shut up! I am an adult, I am sick of this crap. I love you all but fuck off. I'm telling you now don't even think about following me. I need time alone" I say as I point my finger at them. I storm off and make my way out of the house. Just as I reach the front door Dar comes in "hi lov-" I push past him rudely but I don't care at this moment. "Ben what's going on, where are you going?" He shouts after me and I hear the others join him. I get into the garage and take the keys to the black Audi. Ignoring them all, a very confused Dar included, I take off. As I reach the gate I hit the clicker and zoom out of them.

No destination in mind I just drive. The day is beautiful so I decide to go to the lake in the next town. It's quite and peaceful there. I am fuming so I think it's a good place to go. Once I reach there I just sit. I don't move from the car I need to breathe in silence first. Fuck me, I know they love me, I know they got a fright but they seriously need to back the fuck up. I'm nearly twenty and I'm alive so they need to stop with the shit.

Yesterday I walked into the kitchen and Lor was there, immediately he hugs me and says 'I'm so glad your ok bro'. Sounds nice right? Yeah right. Now add this to it, later that day Rob comes into the living room and chats to me, as we are chatting I rubbed my shoulder to relax the muscle and he starts saying 'you did a silly thing Ben. Jesus when I saw that bullet hit you and you went down my heart nearly came through my chest. You need to mind yourself lil dude ok'. Take that and think of putting up with six fucking men carrying on like that for four weeks, would you storm out too? Thought so!

I decide that sitting here won't do any good so I walk to the tiny shop that I know sells breadcrumbs for the ducks. After I buy some I wander around spreading the crumbs but it's far from peaceful, I have to laugh because the ducks are too clever, they spot the bag! All of a sudden I'm surrounded. They are quacking and pushing for the bag. As I walk they follow and it cheers me right up. I enjoy this for about five minutes until they slowly realise I'm all out of crumbs. There is a bench that I sit on and I realise I feel better. I don't feel guilty, they need to realise I'm serious, I always had Dar's support, fuck, he even kidnapped me to get me away from the suffocation but this time he's as bad.

"Ben?" I hear from beside me and my blood freezes, fuck me this shithead is all I need. "What the fuck do you want. Don't come any closer to me, I'm warning you" I demand. "Can I talk to you please. I promise I won't do anything, please just a few minutes. It's like fate wanted us to meet, how else would we both be here at the exact same time?" I look up at him. He looks different, calmer than I've ever seen him but I'm still on alert. "Fine, sit, talk but you only have five minutes Will" he looks relieved.

He sighs "thanks Ben. I know I don't deserve any of your time. I'm sorry for everything I did. See I've got the help I needed because of you and I've been clean for two months now. Don't look so shocked, I was a master at hiding it. I won't bore you with the details but I had a bad start in life. Yeah I know bla, bla, bla, poor me but I couldn't stop the destructive path I went down. You were simply caught in the crossfire. Jesus that sounded horrible, what I mean is, I was the asshole your brothers always knew I was, heck, I think you knew it too. I got hung up on the thrill of drugs and taking people's virginity, you weren't the first but you were the last. That day I was strung out and needed a fix but my dealer cut me off so I thought 'I know I'll get my thrills elsewhere', that being you. Anyway when you refused I lost it and well you know the rest. I'm sorry it happened but I am glad it happened because I met Tegan. She slapped me, hard, and then talked to me, really talked to me. She got me booked into rehab and I've been seeing the people I need that help. It's a long road and I know you and I will never be friends but I just wanted to give you an apology and an explanation" he shrugs as he looks at me.

He's lucky the fucking ducks cheered me up because I probably would have gone nuclear on him fifteen minutes ago and only half of it would've been him. "Ok, you've explained. Your right I'll never be your friend or have any dealings with you but I accept that you were in a bad place. You can scratch me off your list of people who hate you. I won't say your fully forgiven yet but you can leave knowing I'll get there. I hope you stick to your sobriety it suits you" I get up and simply leave him sitting there. I meant what I said but I wasn't about to act like nothing happened just because he has an excuse all of a sudden.

I make my way to the car and leave for home, time to sort out the other lot in my life and it's about fucking time I move home. My home not my brothers.