Running From the Devil

Chapter 14

I woke up to find Ben awake and staring at me.  Soft morning light filtered in through the curtains highlighting every worry line that had etched itself in the texture of his skin since the big reveal two, no three days ago.  I looked into his chocolate and amber eyes, seeking a sign of the truth that he had hidden from me, as if there was some sign I should have seen.  The man I knew, the man I thought I knew, wasn't a man at all.  While he didn't exactly lie to me you'd think that the fact he wasn't quite human was something we should have discussed before taking even two steps down the road we had been on.   I pressed my fingers to my lips, unwillingly remembering the tender heat of the kisses he had intoxicated me with for the last month.   His eyes followed my fingers to my lips and he trembled. 

"Laney..."

I covered his lips with my fingers.  "Don't..."

He closed his eyes and leaned his lips into my hand, kissing my fingers softly as he ran a hand over my hip. 

"I need to get dressed.  You should go." 

I rolled away from him and his hypnotic hands and pushed back the comforter.  Too late I remembered I had stripped out of my clothes when I laid down yesterday afternoon and I was standing there nude as the day I was born.  I heard a sharp intake of breath and felt the comforter brush by my legs as it was ripped off the bed.  Those damn hands curled around my plump waist and Ben's very handsome, very prickly face pressed against my back.  It was awkward to be standing here naked with Ben wrapped around me like a python but he didn't appear to have any intentions of letting go any time soon.  At least I wasn't facing him so he couldn't see the furious blush on my face.  Letting Ben see me nude in the daytime wasn't on my list of anticipated activities.  When I had been dreaming of what we might be I pictured an intimate scene late at night with no lights on and certainly no moonlight shinning in the window to let him see just how much of a mess I really am. 

"Really Ben, it's time to start my day.  You should go." 

"Is that what you really want?"  I heard from behind me, causing a sharp jab of desire to shoot through me.  How he was talking and kissing my skin at the same time I didn't know but I had to end this before I lost all sense of resolve. 

"Yes.  Absolutely." 

He sighed but untangled himself from around me anyways and I shot into the bathroom like a bullet fired from a very nervous gun. 

"I'll come get you for breakfast in a little bit."  He called out while straightening up the bed. 

Anger, shame, and desire all fought in me as I slammed down the hairbrush I'd been running through my hair.

"Jeez Ben, I'm a big girl.  I remember how to get to the damn kitchen." 

I stood there gripping the edge of the countertop waiting for his retaliation at my outburst but after a minute all I heard was the soft click of the door opening and shutting as he retreated without another word.  I was not going to cry damn it.  This was all his fault anyways!  How dare he get involved with me when he had such a mammoth secret, and I was still married on top of it all!  My stomach soured at the thought of Daniel.  Okay so it really wasn't fair to put Ben and Daniel in the same sentence but I was so terrified of everything that was happening around me that I had to put some distance between us or I'd lose myself to my weak morals and just jump him out of some kind of desperation to feel better. 

Feeling better about my resolve I picked the brush back up and finished running it through my snarled hair.  He just didn't understand who I was anyways.  I was weak.  I always had been.  I ate too much, I spent too much money, I was clumsy, I was just plain ordinary and Ben was a rocketing comet flying through the sky.  There's no way something as brilliant as him should be shackled to someone as broken as me.  I dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a sapphire blue t-shirt before heading down the hall.