Protection (Book #1)

Chapter Seventeen

~~ this chapter has Ben's POV as well, and so do the next few chapters. So don't be shocked when it switches. I will try to make it as clear as possible when it changes visions, but it starts in Dee's....
Chapter Seventeen

I heard the front door open, but I was holed up in the bedroom, sobbing, and I refused to care. When I heard Wesley's voice, I perked up slightly and listened more intently.
"Ben, you aren't going to like this," he said.
"What the fuck is it now?" Ben shouted.
"His last name is the same as her-"
The door to the bedroom opened so violently that it slammed into the opposite wall. I jumped and tensed away from it.
"Were you married to him?" he screamed.
I shook my head, crying harder.
"God-fucking-dammit. This just keeps getting more fucking interesting," he bellowed, turning on his heel.
I rolled over in the bed and wept for what felt like days. Every time I closed my eyes I could see Dion's thick, plasmatic blood drained from his body, and Ben's angry expression.
I needed at least one of them to survive. I'd spent twenty-six years with Dion, but still felt more strongly for Ben. Should I have went with Dion? Would I have saved Ben the torture of having to kill someone? Poor Ben didn't deserve any of this. I wished he would come hold me. He's probably so angry with me.
I didn't want Ben to be hurt, but it seemed as though I'd already made that mistake. He was obviously hurt, by my secrets and my lies. Every time I had told him I didn't know anyone who would be after me had made him feel betrayed. I understood that.
I couldn't stop thinking about Dion's face. He was so upset. Had he been like that since I'd left? I had never once thought about how me leaving had affected him, but if he had felt any of what I felt when I left, as crazy as he already was at that time, he certainly would have lost it. I wondered if the feelings had never waned for him. Maybe he'd never been able to escape the world with no oxygen that I'd stumbled into once I made the decision to leave.

BENJAMIN
Delilah hid in our room the entire time Baya investigated the house and the 'crime scene'. I didn't know what to do. I peeked in a few times, but she was still there, so I left her alone. I couldn't stand to see the pain in her eyes, so I tried not to look at her.
I was so conflicted. She had kept a secret from me. My beloved, stunning, perfect Dee had lied to me by omission. She should have told me. The conversation between them while she'd been mounted on top of this beast of a man terrified me. She had loved him. Maybe she still did.
I started to sleep on the couch again, because I knew I had done wrong. I shouldn't have spoken to her that way, but I had been so angry. I knew it wasn't right, but damn it, she had complained at me about trusting her but hadn't trusted me!
Every day I went into her room and let her feed from me, but I still couldn't look at her. She looked so heartbroken. I didn't know if she was upset over me or Dion. I was too proud to ask.
She was constantly stuck in her own head. She rarely left the bedroom. When she slept, I watched her. She kept having nightmares. She was sleeping fitfully, as though she was being torn apart from the inside. She would groan and weep. It was horrible to watch her go through her days that way. She slept more often, as well, even though I had thought it was impossible before.
One early morning I was sitting in the living room and I heard her grunting, so I went into her room to check on her. Her arms were stretched out above her head. She kept grunting, and pressing her chest into the air. She looked as if something was pushing her down and she was trying to fight it off. She was going to rip herself to shreds over this until there was nothing left. I didn't stay to watch very long. It hurt me deep within my soul.
I couldn't blame her for keeping it a secret. As crazy as that man seemed, I understood why she would want to separate herself from that past. But Goddammit, I was trying to protect her! She was safe with me. She should have known she could tell me anything and I wouldn't have judged her for her past. She had lied to me, and that was a problem, but I couldn't decide how much that affected how I felt for her. She had lied to me so many times to keep him a secret. Why?
To be cheated on by the man who changed her must have hurt her immensely, a pain I couldn't imagine, but she had hurt me, too. I couldn't wrap my head around it. I wanted to be angry, but I couldn't be. I was just worried about her and hurt that she hadn't told me about him.
Dion. What kind of name was that anyway? Probably Romanian, since she liked them so much. Bastard. How could he do that to such a wonderful girl? He had so much time to spend with her. He had everything. He chose some other girl over her. How could he have lied to her? How could a man go home to that woman for a period of years, see her pleading eyes beg for love, and choose someone else instead?
'You were always my favorite... you think he can protect you from everything? I want you, Delilah.'