Chapter 52.1-2

I was wrong. “I just wanted to say first that I didn’t tell Oakley I was coming here, or anyone. I just – I’m not sure, I just – I think – you were hurt.” The nerves he hadn’t shown physically were expelled verbally. I only blinked, surely by now everyone knew that I had been hurt, but there was something about the way Ben said the word, ‘hurt.’ “Not just hit though… right?” He asked with a hint of sadness. “Uncle Grant said that I shouldn’t share what I know with anyone, but I mean you act just like my mate Kayla… she doesn’t like to be touched,” his blue eyes started to darken. “She was born in a basement and bad men came and hurt her a lot…” his bottom lip shaking, and my own heart was caught in my throat. “She’s afraid of a lot of things… I think she may be scared that I would hurt her; even though I would never, ever do that. And even though she doesn’t like being touched, and she’s jumpy, she still spends time with me…” now his eyes are on me. “Oakley would never hurt you, but you’re hurting her.” “I haven’t been around her,” I replied confused. “You’re hurting her by staying away from her,” he said slowly, his voice squeaked a bit, his brows pushed together with a mop of blonde hair covering his forehead. I’m not sure what my face said; “You don’t even realize that you’re hurting her by staying away? Do you? I know you sent her a gift…” I didn’t want to hurt Oakley. Staying away from her was my way of keeping her safe. The silence dragged for a few minutes, and Ben went to my sofa, sitting, watching me, until he looked away. “I won’t tell Oakley you were hurt,” he murmurs, “Uncle Grant told me about Kayla and her siblings so I would know not to do certain things, to not make Kayla feel uncomfortable,” his blue eyes focused on the corner of my bed. Swallowing, I didn’t know how to respond to him. To his correct assumption that I was in fact hurt the way he was guessing. “You had Uncle Grant give her that gift… maybe you can have him tell Oakley the other stuff if you don’t want to tell her yourself… that could be easier.” I held my breath, inhaled shakily. “It wasn’t your fault you know,” he said looking up at me now, complete confidence in his words, “Whatever they did to you, it’s not your fault. It’s not your fault, it’s not Kayla’s fault either…” that last part I know wasn’t about me. His bottom lip shook, and his balance seemed unsure when he got to his feet. “Oakley would understand,” he said not giving me a moment to speak, not that I could find the words. Once he leaves my room I sink down to my bed shakily, he didn’t look at me any differently. He knows… he’s guessed… but Ben didn’t – he still wanted me to be around Oakley. I just didn’t – this was all confusing to me. Just one more thing because Chelsea, Grant and now Ben, they all had their own ideas, and no matter what they had, none of them wanted me to stay away from Oakley. I couldn’t move, when Grant finally knocked on the door, I quickly shoved the pieces I was working on, under my bed, before I opened and went to sit on my bed distracted. “How are you today?” His normal starter off question, my stomach an uneasy mess, “I was taken,” I blurted out, and Grant stopped for a moment before he just sat on the sofa Ben just sat on. “You were,” he agrees. “No… I mean I was taken… I didn’t go with them, my – Carla and Tony didn’t send me to them… they took me.” . . . Grant POV Knowing I had to soon go meet Kieran for our daily gathering, I sat with Chris just shedding my worries on him before I made my way to Chelsea’s for the sessions with Kieran. I wouldn’t exactly call them sessions, because it wasn’t very typical. I wasn’t going to push Kieran to open up to me, I knew better. He had to grow to trust me before he let me in. Instead sometimes over the past month, I had reading lessons. “You okay?” Chris – Kayla’s father – questioned. I snorted, what a fucking loaded ass question. “You know… I’m doing all this blindly, I mean I don’t regret being here for Oakley and Ben, helping the others, but – but this is utterly terrifying,” I rambled on. Julia was always willing to listen, and normally I would turn to her with my concerns and fears, but I don’t think in her state that was the wise things to do now.