Sin's Haven (9 page)

Man, Ben was a
lucky dude to have been in her bed.
Her office futon.
Whatever.

The birthday
night pain had subsided and the eagerness of talking to Haven, who had the
prettiest hair…He watched her fluff her fingers through the soft cinnamon
pieces near her ears until they got stuck in the tighter curls at the ends. It
looked like it bugged her but it cheered him up.

No doubt he’d
had his hands in it the other night. No doubt it had felt amazing. Had he
tasted it? Had he been soft with her and careful not to pull it? The erection
beginning in his pants, looser ones he’d picked out this time, said hell yeah
you moron. Dicks don’t just stand at attention for
no
reason. But his apparently had no problem with reacting to unknown women.

He was lost in
thoughts of red silky curls when his phone rang with Darth Vader’s “
Ooo
, purr” signature breathing.

There went his
hard on.

“Hey
Stefan.”

“What’s up, Home
Fry?”

“Dude, I’d say I
can’t wait for you to finally find a place out here but I might be lying. And
you called me.
So,
whassup
?”

“Love you too, sweetie.
And I’m working on it.”

“Um
Stefan, seriously?”

“Yeah, man, you
know I’m just messing with you. I need to let you know there’s a strong
possibility I won’t make it to the camping trip.”

“No
way.
If I have to go, you have to go. News flash, you’re in the band. No hall
passes.” Stefan had to be there. He notoriously showed up to these annual band
trips with more camping dates than he could handle. The odd girl out usually
needed someone to talk to and Ben liked the conversation because it kept his
mind off the moaning he could usually hear coming from everyone else’s tents.

But it got real
quiet, real fast.
Very unlike Sin Pointe’s raucous lead
singer who always had a comeback.

“Hey, is
everything okay?” Ben asked, holding his phone closer to his ear.

“Nah
man.
My uh, my mom’s not doing so well so I’m heading out to spend some time with
her.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,
man. I hope she’s going to be okay. Have you already left town? Need a ride to
the airport?”

Ben was sure
Stefan’s Nashville hotel could arrange a car but this was his friend.

“I’m good.
Gonna
drive up there myself. So hey, I called because I
wanted you to know I’m giving you my proxy vote for any band business that
comes up at the camping trip.”

Oh, Jaxon was
gonna
love this. Not.

He was half
joking when Ben told Stefan it was
gonna
cost him.

Luckily, Ben
heard Stefan laugh on the other end.

“Okay, shoot.
What’s your price?”

“I need your
advice.
About a woman.”

“You finally
hook up with
Erby
?”

“Not
exactly.”

Ben filled
Stefan in on his Haven dilemma.

“So, walk her
home when she finishes up. Treat her nice. And
don’t
fucking get drunk this time.”

Spoken how only
Stefan Calderon could put something.

“Yeah, thanks.
But what about the other night?
How do I bring up the fact I
didn’t cover up my stuff?”

“Benny, that was
very unwise my friend, but it’s done. Look, you’re a good guy. I know you’re
worried about that. But I guarantee you a grown woman like this Haven of yours
is probably on the pill or she wouldn’t have left you a note saying you fucked
her good. She enjoyed it, brother.
Which means she’s not hung
up on the fact you weren’t covered up.
”

“That’s not exactly
how she put it.”

“Okay, that’s my
version of it. But do you see what I’m saying? She didn’t sound too worried
about it so you shouldn’t be. And your worst case scenario isn’t that bad.
You’ve got Daddy Material written all over you, big man. Kids love you.”

Even though most
of what he’d said was all kinds of jacked up, Ben was glad Stefan had called.
He was right. Ben had to deal with whatever might come which was why he had to
be here in person to meet with Haven. Speaking of dealing with things, his
stare-down buddies were walking his way. They continued past his car to the
less used side entrance of Haven’s club by the dumpsters. Ben’s protective
instincts kicked in and he wanted to get out of his car and be there to meet
Haven at the door before these stellar fellas did.

“Hey Stefan, I’m
gonna
let you go. I’ll remember what you said.”

“Alright,
brother, be well and thanks for taking Jaxon’s wrath for me. I owe you one.”

Ben put his
phone to sleep and stepped out of then locked his car, looking at his watch.
These places usually closed up shop by two a.m. He didn’t know how much longer
Haven would take but she and Manny appeared to have more things to take care of
inside. Maybe back office stuff since he didn’t see either of them through the
windows.

One of the
trio
came up to him just then and asked for a light which
Ben didn’t have.

They made eye
contact and Ben’s adrenaline responded to the glare, giving his heart a start.
Crap, it wasn’t a friendly one. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered. Of
course this would happen when he was alone.

The other two
came up behind Number One who asked, “What did you just say?”

“Nothing man. No
worries. I don’t have a light.” Self-preservation told him to tell these guys
that he was waiting on friends inside who would be out any minute but he didn’t
want assholes One, Two and Three knowing anything about Haven’s whereabouts. Now
if Manny chose to step outside right about now, that would be awesome.

In a slur, the
one who’d asked for the light said, “You
ain’t
from
around here, are you?”

Here
we go.

Ben refrained
from calling him Captain Obvious like he wanted to. “Nope,” he said instead,
hoping they’d just walk away or return to their alley if he didn’t give them a
reason to stick around.

“Well, that
sucks for you.”

Ben thought he
heard a noise behind him and turned away to see what it was when he felt a
sucker kick to his back. It knocked him forward just as he was facing the hard
wall of the club. His face met up with the solid, black, bricks. His only view
being of wall right now, Ben tried to push away from it but his back muscles
stung like they’d been ripped.

Why was this
happening? Sometimes he hated being so big.

He sucked in and
forced himself to turn around and face the jerks but they were already walking
away. Ben tasted blood on his tongue as he dragged it over his bottom lip. One turned
and said, “My bad,” as his buddy offered him a light and he puffed out some
smoke, sneering. For one second, Ben considered going after them and returning
the favor to one of their backs but another noise caught his ear and another
shot of pain came alive in his side, reminding him why that probably
wasn’t a good idea
. A large man came into view.
Not another one,
he thought. Ben balled
up his fist, knowing he was outnumbered, prepared to do his best at defending himself.
God keep Haven inside. Please.

****

“Hey Manny, you
ready to head out?” Hazel asked, trying not to yawn. “
Mmm
,
my neck,” she said to herself as she tried stretching the kinked up, tight
knots out. Manny came up the hallway from the back and handed her the keys.

“Back door’s
locked, alarm is set. Let’s get home.”

“Sounds
good, buddy.”
And it did sound good. Three straight days of
double shifts, self-inflicted as they were, had her feeling stiff. But she
wouldn’t complain too much. She’d dodged a lot by staying busy. The physical
aches and pains were easier to deal with than the wayward emotional ones. “Oh,
did we lock the side door?” she asked Manny.

“I’ll go see.”

While Manny went
to check the lock, Hazel pulled the drapes closed to the front of the club and
then the sides, blacking out any view from the outside through the club’s large
windows.

“All set. We’re
good.”

“Another night
put to rest, my friend.”

Manny just
smiled and held the front door open then exited behind her.

She loved the
month of March at night.
The calm before the heat of summer
and the occasional revisiting of winter.
There was rarely a cloud in the
sky at midnight and whether it was just habit or intentional, Hazel always took
one glance up at the stars. Sometimes it was to question and often it was to
appreciate. Tonight, there were clouds. She twisted her mouth at that and
bundled up her apron in the crook of her arm as she and Manny made their way to
the parking lot. Manny had a small bag of trash to dump. So she gave him a
quick hug and waved him off as she went to her truck.

Not a few
seconds later, she heard him curse.

“Ah shit. Hey
man, are you okay?” he asked someone in his husky voice.

Who was Manny
talking to? Who wasn’t okay?

She ran over to
meet him at the trash bin.

What she found
when she caught up was Ben, leaning against the hood of a Mini Cooper, with a
busted, bleeding lip. His wool hat was barely holding on to his head but he
straightened up as soon as he saw her. It was obvious he was hurt when he
winced.

“Oh my God, what
happened?”

He refused to
look at her.

“Ben? Do you
need to go to the hospital?” she asked while Manny stood on guard. If whoever
had done this to Ben was still hanging around, they would know they’d have a
fight on their hands. Manny’s face showed a fraction of what Hazel knew he was
capable of. Ben on the other hand, had a bleeding lower lip that had swollen to
the size of an orange slice. The way he was grabbing his side, however, worried
her that he could have something internal going on.

“Mm, I just
needed to talk to you.” His voice sounded rough as he pushed himself off the
hood of the car. If it was his, she hoped he’d consider leaving it here.
Which surprised her because for the first time in a year, she had
absolutely no qualms about bringing a man to her apartment.

“Okay.” She
didn’t want to push him. The way he kept his head tilted down worried her.
That kind of gesture could mean too many things like he was
embarrassed or in denial.
Maybe it was a guy thing and admitting he’d
been beaten up in front of Manny was just not going to happen. Unwilling to let
him go on alone, she offered, “Ben, we could talk at my place, if that’s okay?”

He probably
didn’t mean to grunt but when he tried to push the rest of the way off his car,
he let one out.

“If you’re okay
with it, I’ll drive us in your car,” she said, not wanting him to worry about
leaving it and knowing her 4-Runner would be fine. Ben’s comfort was her main
concern.

Moments like
these were why she treasured Manny. No words needed. He went straight to
helping out. It was a good thing Ben was taller than Manny because it was easy
to offer his shoulder. The two guys had
Ben
seated
after only a few painful looking transitions.

“Hey man, did
you get a look at whoever did this? I want to keep my eye out,” Manny said to
Ben and then looked at her as if to say sharing the details, no matter how
humiliating, could help keep Hazel safe.

Ben
nodded,
his eyes serious and looking like he was fighting a
killer body ache. “Three
guys,
came out of that bar a
couple doors down. I had a feeling they were
gonna
be
assholes, excuse my language
Hav
—um, yeah they were
drunk.
Got me from behind.”

“So these
cowards sucker punched you. Any weapons?” asked Manny.

That was when
Ben’s head really dipped and he rubbed his forehead with straight, long, and
gentle looking fingers. She noticed a tiny tremble to them. Hazel didn’t think
his adrenaline should still be pumping now that he was out of harm’s way but
she’d been shaky for days after finding Jay.

“Sucker kicked.
But no, no weapons.”

Manny seemed to
sympathize and didn’t push him any further. “Hazel, you want me to follow you
back to your place?”

Ben looked up at
her and flinched at that.

Hazel felt safe
but it couldn’t hurt. “Yeah, I’d appreciate that, Manny. Thanks.”

She got
acquainted to Ben’s Mini-Cooper, pulling the driver’s seat way up, and waited
to cruise out until Manny was ready to go.

Knowing Ben
wanted to talk, that they needed to talk, but not having any idea of what to
say to him, she stayed quiet. It would be a quick ride. And all she could think
about right now was making him comfortable and taking care of his wounds.