Crash (Billionaire New Adult Romance)(28)

"What if he says no?"

I sputtered. "He has to. He's a fucking lawyer. I don't understand this at all. Ben's not this stupid."

"People do stupid things when they're pissed off."

My rage boiled all the way along the highway. I kept cycling through a  list of fiery emotions: rage, disappointment, hurt, and betrayal. Did he  really think plastering naked pictures of me all over LinkedIn would  make him look good? He could lose his career over it. It was such a  monumentally stupid thing to do.

The car screeched to a halt in front of Ben's apartment and my chest  felt like a drum. Will got out of the car, looking like he was out for  blood. In his black leather jacket, he looked like a clichéd Italian  mobster. The glare of the yellow lampposts made him look older. Harsher.

He bounded up the steps and pounded on the door before I could make it up there.

"Ben!"

It was weird. He was definitely inside, but he wasn't answering the door.

"Your car is out front! Open the door!"

I completely lost my head and slammed my body into the door, screaming  as it flew open. It swung inside and I stumbled over the threshold. He  left the door open?

I walked inside and behind me followed a very tense looking Will. His eyes darted down the unlit hall.

"Ben?"

No answer.

Swallowing hard, I walked toward the only lit room in the apartment: the  kitchen. There was only the sound of the refrigerator quietly humming  and our whispers to each other.

I half-expected to see a dead body, so I was almost relieved when I saw  him quietly sitting at the kitchen table. The apartment looked bare  without all of my kitchen appliances sitting on the counters. It looked  unchanged from the moment I left him over nine months ago, as if  preserving it would somehow lengthen the memories he had of me.

My ex-fiancé looked up at me, an unfathomable expression stirring in his eyes.

"What are you doing in my house?"

"I think you know what the fuck we're doing here."

The blonde man's face twisted as Will stepped into the kitchen. They  were polar opposites juxtaposed against each other. Light vs. Dark.

"The fucking photos, Ben. I just want them taken down. Take them down and leave me alone, and I won't press charges."

"The fuck you won't!" Will burst out. "Remove them or I'll remove your fucking balls and boil them in motor oil, you pathetic-"

"Will!"

Ben smiled back at me, unperturbed by the insults. He had an infuriating  look of superiority on his face. "I've no idea what you're talking  about. You should be more worried about whether I'll press charges  against you."

"That's cute," Will spat.

"For what?"

"Breaking and entering. Trespassing. Take your pick."

My body went hollow. Oh, fuck. I didn't dare look at Will; I just kept staring at Ben. Please just do the right thing.

Will lunged forward but I grabbed the back of his jacket and wrenched back.

"No! That's just what he wants!" I turned back towards Ben. "The door  was open, Ben. There was no break-in. Why are you being so childish  about this?"

"Listen, fuckstick. Even if you took them down, I've got screen caps of  them. I thought that you might pull some kind of bullshit. I bet if the  cops traced the IP address for the last login on her profile, it would  lead back here."

Or maybe not.

Ben cocked his head, still wearing that smile that made me want to  vomit. He was a lawyer. He was too smart to admit to anything.

"To be honest, I was curious about meeting you," he said to Will. "After  all, you're the one replacing me. The more I looked into you, the more I  really didn't understand why Natalie would be into you."         

     



 

Will laughed harshly. "Is that all you've got?"

"You're just a foul-mouthed, spoiled, rich boy with a body count. Three people died in that car accident."

A ringing silence followed his words. He savored the pain on William's  face. For once, he didn't have a retort. The disgust in Ben's voice was  somewhat justified, and that made me hate him even more. Why would he  throw that in Will's face?

"You're unbelievable," I told Ben. I tugged Will's jacket. The look on  his face scared me. He looked ready to pounce. "Let's just go. Jessica  was right, this was a waste of time."

"What's the matter?" he goaded as we turned around to leave. "Scared to lose in front of your girlfriend?"

Will pulled against me to sneer at Ben. "I've already won. Natalie is  mine and you're just a little bitch who can't even get it up. Natalie  told me-"

"-Will!"

Holy fucking Christ this is going from bad to worse. I clapped my hands  to my face. I hadn't told any such thing to Will, but it was true and  Will had somehow guessed it.

The chair fell over as Ben stood upright, all 6'2" and 180 pounds  vibrating with rage. The leaner, smaller Will was itching for a fight.  His normally light, kind eyes narrowed at me, his face purpling. I could  see a small gleam of hurt behind the rage.

"You told him our personal shit?"

I opened my mouth angrily but William beat me to the punch. "She told me  nothing. I just guessed that you were a boring, lame asshole whose cock  didn't work. Guess I was right."

My mouth lifted into a small smile. "Don't look at me like that. What  right do you have to judge me? You're the one who put all my naked  pictures online and tried to destroy my career. Fuck you, Ben."

I took Will's hand and turned around, not before Ben's heavy footsteps  launched across the kitchen. I fell to the side as William pushed me  away and I screamed as I fell on the floor.

Ben's huge body collided with William's smaller one. The table and  chairs went flying as he knocked them aside. Will ducked as Ben's  ham-sized fist came swinging at him.

"No! Stop fighting!"

William sank his fist under Ben's ribs and the bigger man grunted. The  blonde man slammed Will into the wall, cracking the plaster and knocking  the wind out of his chest. He caught a vicious blow on the side of his  head and Will stumbled, momentarily stunned.

I sprinted forward and kicked the backs of Ben's knees and he fell  instantly. Will grabbed a fistful of his blonde hair and kneed him in  the face. There was a sickening crack and a gush of blood.

I screamed and knelt to Ben's side.

"HELP ME!" Ben screamed through a fountain of blood. "HELP!"

"Shut up!"

Ben used his shirt to stem the flow of blood from his nose and I dashed  across the kitchen to get paper towels. Fuck, this couldn't have gone  any worse.

Will was completely unsympathetic. "Calm down, you big baby."

"Will, that isn't helping."

Two male voices shouted into the apartment. "Police! What's going on in here?"

Will made threatening moves towards Ben, but he continued to scream.

"Help!"

The cops raised their guns as they entered the kitchen. I threw my hands in the air as they look at Will and I. Oh, Shit.

"He attacked me!" Ben moaned. "They broke into my house and he attacked me!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" The color drained from Will's face as the cops whipped out handcuffs.

He lured us here to do this. He knew this would happen. A wave of nausea made me double over.

"Want to press charges?"

His thick arm pointed at Will. "Just against him."

What? "Ben, what the hell are you doing?"

Ben's thick, bloodied face stretched into a grotesque smile. I collapsed  on one of the still standing chairs as Will's wrists were handcuffed  together. "Officers, you don't understand. This is a complete  misunderstanding. He's not the one who committed the crime!"

One of the cops looked tired with us already. "You can follow us to the station and file a report, but I have to arrest him."

"Tell them the truth!" I screamed at Ben, who was sitting still on the floor, clutching the handful of paper towels to his face.

He just smiled.

Sickened, I raced to the foyer where the cops were hauling him away. "Will! I'll get you out of there! Don't worry."

Looking sick, Will nodded at me and ducked inside the back seat of the  car. I descended the steps, watching his face behind the window. Slowly,  the blue and red lights blurred together and I wiped my eyes.         

     



 

"If you come inside, I'll call a cab for you. I have to call a tow truck for that asshole's car."

I spun around and saw Ben standing at the top of the staircase. "Why are  you doing this to me? Have you completely lost your fucking mind?"

Something flickered in his blue eyes, maybe there was a tiny bit of  regret buried somewhere inside there. Every part of me was radiating  heat. I don't think I'd ever been so angry in my life. I didn't  understand how someone could be so petty, to actually set up my  boyfriend to be arrested because he was jealous.

"You never used to talk to me like that, Nat. What happened to you?"

"Are you disappointed that I've finally learned to stand up to your bullshit?"