Page 217 of Where We Stay

How the fuck does he know?

“How do you know her name, Ben?” I ask.

Has he been fucking watching me?

“You think I’d come all this way without finding out who you are?” He huffs out a laugh. “Well, who you’re pretending to be, anyway.”

He makes me fucking sick.

I look around, taking note of my exits. He’s near the window, so my only real option is the bedroom door. But how the fuck am I supposed to get out fast enough?

Jerry knows something is wrong now. Dean won’t think I stood him up.

They’ll come for me.

I just have to keep Ben talking until they do.

“Leave Aspen out of this,” I tell him, trying to sound stronger than I feel. My voice cracks anyway.

Ben’s brows lift. “Protective, aren’t you?”

“She’s a child.”

“Dean’s child,” he corrects.

My stomach twists. “You’ve been watching me.”

Ben leans back in the chair like we’re discussing the fucking weather. “I needed to know what kind of life you built after me.”

“There is no after you, Ben. There’s just my life.”

His jaw ticks.

Good.

I hit something.

“And Dean?” he asks.

Every muscle in my body goes rigid. “What about him?”

Ben smiles, something wicked flashing in his eyes. “He looks very comfortable in my place.”

Rage cuts straight through the fear.

“You never had a place.”

“Oh, but I did, Blair. You were mine. You were supposed to stay mine.” Ben pushes himself out of the chair. “Then you had to go and lock me up on bullshit charges.”

His tone is harder now. Angrier.

My breath hitches and gets stuck in my throat, but I refuse to let him rewrite what happened.

“I didn’t charge you. The law did,” I remind him. “You assaulted me, Ben. Among other things.”

“Because you acted like a fucking whore, Blair.”

He starts slowly walking toward me. With each step he takes, I take one back, trying to line myself up with the door.