He nodded. “Yes, I thought—” he stopped talking.
She held up the paper bag. “It was your security guy. Food delivery.”
“Okay. Sorry, I guess I’m a little jumpy.”
She giggled as she walked towards him. “Welcome to my reality.”
She said it with a laugh, but it was
then that he truly realized the horror she had been living with for the last two years. He was jumping out of his skin and he’d only been dealing with it for a couple weeks. It was inhumane.
“What do you have in that bag? I smell something fried,” he said with excitement.
“Well, I was hoping to get you one of those burgers from that bar you love, but it would have taken at least an hour, so your security guy, Terrance, told me about another burger joint you like. I’ve got you a cheeseburger and onion rings,” she said, walking into the kitchen.
“Woman, you have no idea how happy you’ve made me,” he said with complete honesty.
“Sit, I’ll dish you up. I’ve got some supreme pizza, Chinese, fried chicken and the burger,” she announced, telling him his nose had been right on the money.
“I’m going to die if I eat all that.”
She smiled. “I’m going to help you eat this. I’m hungry, like seriously hungry. I skipped lunch yesterday and freaking out all last night and today made it impossible to eat anything if I’d wanted to. But now that I have you in front of me, shirtless and sexy as hell, I am starving.”
“Let’s eat!”
They dished up together and carried their plates into the living room. The last thing he wanted to do was sit on a hard chair. His ass was sore from the cold hard bench at the jail, and he needed the creature comforts of his couch.
After they stuffed themselves to the point of misery, they sat on the couch, holding each other without talking. It was time to address the giant elephant in the room.
“Meredith gave me her card to give to you,” he said.
“Oh, does she expect me to end up in jail soon?” she teased.
He cleared his throat. “For a divorce.”
“Oh.”
“Katherine, I don’t want to pressure you into doing anything, but don’t you think it’s time?”
She took a deep breath. “It is. I’ve just always been so afraid of making him mad.”
“I think that line has been crossed.”
“I know. I’ll take her card.”
He was quiet for a minute. “You’re thinking about leaving, aren’t you?” he asked, in a low voice.
“Ben, I don’t want to put you in danger and I don’t want you to end up in jail or prison. Tim is never going to stop. I kept thinking he’d move on or get tired of this game we’ve been playing. He hasn’t. If anything, I think it’s gotten worse. I can leave and really get lost. I’ve been thinking about leaving the country,” she whispered.
“Listen, I can’t stop you and I understand your reasoning, but don’t leave because you think it’s better for me. It isn’t. I want you to stay. I can handle myself. I lost my cool yesterday. I guarantee that won’t happen again. I fell for his stupid little game. I won’t do it again,” he assured her.
She sighed. “I think he’s escalating. I’ve been in groups before and this is a common pattern.”
“I know. I mean, I don’t know, but I do understand the escalation. I want to protect you, Katherine. Let me help you through this,” he said.
She didn’t answer him, which wasn’t a definite no or a yes. That meant he had a chance. He was a businessman and he knew how to close a deal.
Chapter Twenty-Eight