Claimed by my Unexpected Protector

Chapter Fifteen

Benny’s POV

‘I'm going to pick my kids up,’ those few words swirl around my head on repeat, making me numb as I drive on autopilot down the unlit road toward the distant lights of the next occupied area.

Eralia has kids? Like more than one? She definitely said kids, not just kid, How old is she? I assumed she was in her very early twenties, f***k, is she married?! If so why didn't he pick her the f***k up!

I swallow down the questions that swirl around my head, forcing myself to concentrate on getting her to where she needs to go.

‘Put the address in the satnav’ I tell her gruffly, nodding at the screen built into the dashboard.

Eralia hesitates again before slowly leaning forward, her trembling fingers reaching out toward the screen and typing in the start of the name of the elementary school, which turns out to be nearly four more miles away. Jesus, was she going to walk all that way? She’s already a good three to four miles from the bakery now.

The smooth voice of the AI assistant starts to tell me where to go, I follow the instructions for a few minutes before sneaking a peek over to the woman beside me, finding her pressed into the back of the seat, her arms wrapped around herself and her bag protectively.

The drive to the school is short, even with the rain, and ten minutes later, we pull up outside of a depressingly grey looking building. No one else is here yet, and as I glance at the time, I realise that it’s still over thirty minutes until the school day will end. My gaze runs over the school front, taking in the single pane windows, cracked walkway and grassy areas that look more than a little neglected.

‘Thank you for the ride’ Eralia mutters suddenly, avoiding my gaze as I snap my attention from the depressing structure in front of us and toward her.

‘Where are you going?’ I ask sharply, turning my entire body in my seat, as she reaches for the door, her slim fingers curling around the lever.

‘I’m going to wait for the kids’ she replies simply, her fingers tightening around the lever, starting to pull it toward her.

‘Wait’ I bark, reaching out my own hand toward her, my fingers stilling inches from her coat sleeve as she stills, glancing back at me. ‘It’s only two forty five, school won’t kick out for a while yet.’

Eralia shrugs, ‘I’ll be fine, I’ll just wait under that tree or something.’ She indicates out of the windscreen toward the saddest example of a tree that I’ve ever seen, there is no way that thing is giving her any protection from the storm.

‘You are not waiting under a damn tree’ I growl.

Eralia’s eyebrow raises as she finally looks at me, ‘I don’t remember asking your permission’ she retorts. ‘I have waited before in the rain Benny, it won’t hurt me to do it again. No thank you for the ride, but I need . . .’

‘You can’t wait under that tree; they attract lightning in storms’ I blurt out desperately.

The bakery assistant stills, her eyes widening a fraction, ‘no they don’t’ she murmurs but she doesn’t sound entirely sure.

‘They do, it’s true! Something to do with their sap or the water in the bark I think, it makes them better conductors than air.’

‘Well . . . I’ll wait on the side walk’ she replies, ‘I’ll find somewhere to wait, so now you can go . . .’

‘Just wait in the truck’ I mutter, ‘why stand in the rain when you don’t have too?’

Eralia bites down on her lower lip, obviously not wanting to accept my offer, but I can’t let her stand out in this, I can barely see out of the windshield with how heavy the rain is now.

‘I have nowhere to be Eralia, no plans, I was just going home to watch tv, please . . . just stay in the truck and wait’ I practically beg.

The bakery assistant takes a deep breath before she releases the door handle, ‘OK . . . thank you’ she whispers, her hand moving back to her bag and gripping it tightly again.

I release the breath that I didn’t know I was holding, my fingers loosening around the steering wheel as I nod.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, Eralia staring at the clock as it slowly counts upward. I want to ask her why she was walking along the road, who this guy is who was supposedly picking her up and why he didn’t . . . why Mackenize thought he also brought her into work when it was me.

‘Why were you walking home?’ I finally blurt out when I can no longer hold in my need for answers.

She glances up at me, startled, her cheeks flushing slightly as she drops he gaze again. ‘I uh . . . I missed the bus again . . .’

My lips press together, not believing her, ‘funny, Mackenzie said that your friend was supposed to pick you up . . . the one who gave you a lift this morning’ I add.

Eralia’s cheeks darken further, ‘Oh um . . . yeah, I was supposed to get a lift, but he had to work, so then I was going to get the bus, but I missed it so I just . . . started walking. . .’ her voice trails off as she fidgets with her bag strap in her lap.

‘What is his name?’ I ask a little harshly, making the bakery assistant jump.

‘Why?’ she mumbles, not looking my way.

‘Curious’ I reply with a feigned indifference, ‘just want to know the name of the man who left a young woman to walk home in the worst storm we’ve had here in a while.’

Her shoulders tense, ‘he didn’t leave me, I . . . I finished early and he was still at work . . .’

‘Mackenzie said that you were waiting at the library for him to finish work’ I shoot back, glaring at her angrily. Something isn’t adding up here and I don’t like it.

‘He had to work overtime!’ she shouts, finally turning her head and glaring at me. ‘It just happened, for f.ucks sake Benny, just let it go!’

‘Is he their father?’ I demand, my tone like steel now, ‘this d.ickwad that let you walk home in the pouring rain and almost get kidn*pped and god knows f.ucking what else? Is he these kids’ dad?’

‘What?! No!’ Eralia stares at me furiously before she shakes her head and turns back to the door. ‘I don’t need this right now, thanks for the ride but I’ll be fine on my own now.’

I reach behind me and flick the lock, securing all the doors as she pulls on the lever to open the door.

She spins back toward me, her face burning with fury, ‘unlock the door’ she orders me.

‘No’ I reply, folding my arms over my chest and leaning back into my chair.

‘Benny! I said unlock the door! Right now!’ Eralia growls.

‘And I said no’ I repeat, relaxing as much as I can as my own anger washes through me, trying to give off a calm and composed body language.

‘Open the door!’ she yells, turning back to the door and yanking on the lever over and over again.

‘Keep going cupcake, you’ll just end up breaking it off’ I murmur idly.

She releases the lever and turns back to me, and I can see the idea in her expression seconds before she lunges over me to reach the button to unlock the vehicle. I grab her wrists, pinning them together as she struggles against me.

‘Let me go! Let me go right now! You can’t do this!’ she yells.

‘I’m just protecting myself, cupcake,’ I reply easily, ‘you lunged at me, I don’t know what you were going to do so I’m now restraining you for my own safety.’

Her eyes glitter with cold fury, ‘you know exactly what I was doing’ she spits, ‘and it’s not self defence when you locked me in here with you! That’s a*******n!’

I laugh harshly, ‘a*******n? I haven’t moved the truck since we pulled up here, I can’t abduct you if I don’t leave. I locked the doors as a safety measure, lots of bad people out there cupcake, wouldn’t want someone to drag open the door and threaten us with a gun or something would we? I doubt any police officer or member of the public would think twice about me keeping us and my vehicle safe in this less than ideal neighbourhood.’

She gapes at me as I grin widely back at her.

‘You’re an asshole,’ she mutters, dragging her hands from my grip and throwing herself back into the seat bitterly.

‘Maybe, but at least you are still dry, now, it looks like the bell is about to go, so keep an eye out for your kids, they won’t know my truck, and we don’t need them following in your footsteps and trying to walk home alone’ I add, earning myself yet another glare.