Ben (The Sherwood)

“Why is Hawk dropping them here?”

Matt rubbed his hand over his jaw. “Elijah was driving. Hawk ran into them on his way here with Bonny his wife. They were on their way here for your party.”

He did it. My older brother. My best friend. He tried to cause me to have a heart attack at twenty-eight. “He drove the jeep.”

Matt nodded. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Now Ben, calm down.”

I shook my head and headed towards the door. I needed a few minutes to unwire myself. I was wound tighter than barbed wire and feeling just as prickly. I headed toward my truck and put the gate down. I slipped onto the tail and loosened my tie, so I could breathe.

Then I glanced across the street at the restaurant that closed at midnight. The neon sign blinking as dusk settled over Sherwood.

It was a late-night diner not as good as Pat’s in town but sometimes the younger crowd went there for a meal and a soda after football games.

There he was watching me. Elder Ron and his men. Men about my age or younger, dressed like him in dark, starched pants and white crisp shirts. They looked anything but dangerous, but I knew differently.

I saw Hawk coming down the street in his expensive Escalade like the one that Samson had. Samson could afford it. I wondered how Hawk could on a sheriff’s salary.

I watched, the big white truck turn into Ike’s parking lot and then make its way down the first row of cars where my family was parked.

I could only see Disa’s hair. It was fixed on her head in a bun with curls framing her face. Her shoulders were bare. Other than that, I couldn’t see anything about her dress.

Hawk got out of the truck and I slid off the end of gate and shut it. I headed to the Escalade to point out Elder Ron and his group across the street watching Ike’s.

“Across the street,” I whispered to Hawk. Then I saw her, and I forgot if there was anything else I should tell him right now.

She was wearing a strapless number that was layer after layer of sheer material. Diaphanous and sparkling. The color was silver which looked lovely on her with her hair being so blonde and her eyes so light in color. It flowed from the strapless neckline around her curves, hugging them and swaying with her every movement.

She held out her hand to me. Not only was Disa wearing more make-up than I had seen here wear before and her hair was fixed but her nails were done too. I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed the top of it. She hid her smile from me like she was embarrassed.

“What are you up to?” She asked.

“You’ll see,” I declared.

I heard Hawk in the back of my mind while I focused on her. He asked the dispatcher to send over a car to sit in the parking lot until we left.

I nodded at Elijah to look across the street. We were used to sending signals to each other. It was how we communicated without speaking when we were hunting, as boys then as men. He glanced over his shoulder and nodded back at me.

He stepped to the left. His broad shoulders blocked them across the street from seeing her. He extended his arm to Jenny. Her dress was one that I thought she had worn before too. “You look lovely,” I told her.

“I can’t believe I fit in this,” she declared smiling at me. “It helps that it has some give in the hips.” She winked.

“Let’s go inside, shall we?” I wanted everyone in the pub and out of Ron’s prying eyes.

I extended an arm to Disa and to Danni and led the ladies inside.

When the door to Ike’s closed Matt teased Elijah that he almost died tonight because I was about to kill him when I found out that he drove the jeep.

“I think my jeep might have finally died tonight,” he declared. He glanced at Jenny with a melancholy look on his face.

I just shook my head at my brother’s depression over the demise of that vehicle. It should have been condemned long ago. He needed to let that thing finally die. It was beyond seeing better days.

“So, Ben,” Disa said. My hand rested at her lower back, holding her to me. The need to touch her was always there. “What is this?”

She was gazing around the room, at the covered tables with the soft lighting from the candles. The beautiful centerpieces that the ladies in my family had made.

Then the door slammed shut and we all turned to the door. Daisy was standing in the doorway looking pretty, amazing. Not even AJ’s murmured curse words could ruin this moment.