I roll my eyes, trying to play it off like having a guy scream in your face when you’re wasted and alone isn’t fucking terrifying on every level. Ben’s grip tightens around my hands as his throat works to swallow.
“What happened after that?” he asks, his jaw flexing at the corners.
“I got away from him and went downstairs to look for Crystal. But I was still really drunk. Someone told me she’d left with Nate, so I decided to text her. That’s when I realized I’d lost my phone.”
I feel my nose start to run and glance around for a tissue. Ben grabs the box, as if reading my mind, and slides it closer to me.
“How’d you get home?” Ben asks.
“I ended up crashing on a friend’s couch. When I finally caught up with Crystal the next day at her dorm, she blew up at me, accusing me of trying to hook up with her boyfriend. I tried to tell her that Nate was the one who came onto me, but she pulled out her phone and showed me screenshotsof gross text messages that had been sent from my phone to Nate’s the night before. I knew then that he must’ve stolen my phone. But she didn’t believe me. That’s the worst part in all of this. I was her friend, and she believed him over me.”
Ben sighs heavily as a storm of emotion rolls across his handsome face. I can tell he’s fighting to keep his cool for my sake, to be the steady rock I need. He pulls me down off the chair and cradles me in his arms.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Skyler.” His chest rumbles under my cheek. “If he comes in here again, I want you to come find me. I don’t care if you’re in the middle of a class or if he’s all the way across the room minding his own business. You come and get me. Understood?”
I nod. “Thank you for believing me, Daddy.”
“Of course, baby. I’ll always believe you.”
For some reason, his words prompt more tears to flow down my cheeks.
“Shh,” he whispers. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Daddy’s got you.”
“But...he asked about the picture of us on my blog. What if he recognizes you and tells Crystal that we’re together? What will we do then?”
His hand stills.
“Nate’s been looking at your blog?”
“That’s what he said before you walked into the studio.”
Ben’s body goes taut against mine, like he’s barely holding himself back from tearing off into the night to go hunt Nate down.
“We’ll deal with it,” Ben says. “But until that happens, I don’t want you to worry about it.” He rubs my back in silence until I’m no longer sobbing, then says, “Baby Bird, would you like to come to Chattanooga with me this weekend? I have to scope out a potential location for a new gym, and I’d love to have you there with me.”
“Really?” I say, gazing up at him. The thought of leaving our everyday lives behind and going somewhere we can actually be a couple, out in the open, makes my stomach flutter.
“Yes, really.” He cups my cheek in his big, warm hand. “I think you, of all people, could use a mini-vacation to help take your mind off things.”
Something warm blossoms in my chest when Ben smiles down at me.
“I’d love to go away with you, Daddy.”
He presses a feather-light kiss to the crown of my head. I know, in a minute, I’ll have to let go of him. In a minute, we’ll have to return to the real world, the one where he’s my boss and I’m a member of his staff. We’ll have to pretend like we don’t care for each other the way that we do. We’ll have to go back to being Skyler and Ben.
But that’s in a minute.
Right now...right now we get to be Daddy and Baby Bird.
And I’m going to cling to that for as long as I can.