Ben (The Sherwood)

I shut the door and checked that it was truly locked then I walked to the back of the truck. I stopped at Elder Ron’s side. “You’ll need to move now,” I informed him. He didn’t which irritated me. I contemplated what Hawk would do to me if I ran over him. Jail wouldn’t sit well with me when I had so much to lose. “Move,” I said with more force.

He drew himself away from my truck in a slow, lazy manner which only irritated me more. “She’s sullied,” he said to me.

He knew nothing.

“We can still save her,” he said.

I ignored him still which irritated Elder Ron. “God will forgive her if she returns to the compound and does penance.”

I inhaled. “She stays with me,” I informed him.

I got to my truck door, my fingers reached for the handle, when he replied, “We’ll see.”

My head shot up and I met the cold, dead eyes of Elder Ron Parson and a shiver ran down my spine. I wanted to move Disa into my trailer. He might know where to find her at the Applegate Apartments. He would not know where to find her at my trailer. Luckily, Disa hadn’t given out my last name making it harder for Elder Ron to track me down, unless Merci knew who I was.

Shit.

I climbed into the truck and heard her. Disa was sobbing into her hands. “Come here, baby,” I said pulling her into my arms. “It will be okay,” I told her.

She clutched at my shirt, twisting it in her hands. “He did something to my mother,” she declared. I thought so too. He wanted Merci. That was the only way he could get her.

“I’m sorry, Disa.”

Her pale blue eyes shot up to mine. The tears she had been crying glistened on her cheeks and clung to her lashes. “I have to see my sister.”

“Hell no, you don’t. You didn’t hear his threat right before I got into the truck.”

“Ben, I have to be sure that Merci is all right. She is young. Not much older than I was when he wanted me. She didn’t marry Elder Ron willingly. He got my mother out of the way so that she had to marry him. Without my parent’s protection, Merci would have had no choice.”

“Disa, if you go near that compound, you will never come out of it again,” I informed her. “That man is obsessed with you.”

She nodded. I wiped her face of the wetness clinging to her soft skin. “He is. He was,” she agreed.

“Then, you don’t go near the compound,” I told her gazing at her waiting for her to acknowledge what I had said.

She laid her head against my chest. “You don’t understand, Ben. Merci could be in danger. He is a frightening man.”

I had a hard time being concerned about her sister when I was worried about her safety. I might be from a small town in a county where little happened that was dangerous, but I knew trouble when I saw it and Elder Ron was it. The man was dangerous, I knew that even if Disa hadn’t told me that.

“I’m just concerned about you, Disa. I love you,” I told her and meant every single word that I was saying to her next. “I just got you back, baby. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

She lifted her head off my chest and gazed in my eyes. “I love you too, Ben. I always have.”

I cupped the back of her head, my fingers tangling in the curls that where thick and unruly most of the time. I held her head while our eyes were locked on each other. The sound of our breathing intensified as we stared at each other. Then she moved, and her lips crashed into mine.

I wanted to consume her, here on the front seat of my truck. My free hand gripped her hip and moved up to span her ribcage. Her tongue swept through my mouth and I captured it between my teeth sucking gently on it.

Disa moaned. “Take me home, Ben.”

“I don’t want to.” I wanted to keep her close. Protect her. Know where she was every single minute of every single day.

“No, I mean take me to the trailer. I’m going to call Simon and see if he can get someone to cover for me. I’ll explain about Elder Ron. Finding out about my parent’s death. Your dad will understand.”

“He will,” I agreed.

I pressed soft kisses to her lips then released her. She moved back to her own space. “Can I borrow your phone?” She asked. “Mine is almost dead.” After examining it, Disa laid her phone down on the seat beside her. I handed her my phone.

She dialed the pub and I listened to her talk to my