Lessons in Love

Chapter 44: A Trip Downstairs

POV: Beta Ben Westlake

To say I was furious would have been an understatement. When Henry had talked about giving up information on Riley, I was ready to snap his neck. The growl that had come out of my mouth hadn’t startled me in the moment, but as I walked away from the school, I had to admit it had. We’d accepted the bond at lunch, I knew that was going to make me more possessive, but I hadn’t been prepared for the fullness of it. I hadn’t been prepared to willingly go to war and kill for her, but that’s exactly how it felt.

“Hey, wait up!” Rick called out to me as I marched across the training field toward my mother’s house. “Where are you going?” He asked as he fell in stride beside me.

“My mother’s.” I said through clenched teeth.

“Whoa, wait a second.” Rick moved quickly in front of me, forcing me to stop walking. “I think you should take some time to calm down. You’re upset, and that’s no way to go in there.”

I started to growl at him and realized he was right. I let out a sigh and gave my head a shake. “We need answers, and we need them before my father gets back and realizes we’re on to him.”

“And you think she has them?” Rick raised an eyebrow at me, letting me know he thought my logic was flawed.

“I think she knows a lot more than she’s told me.” I replied. “At the very least, she can confirm what Henry said.”

“I’m coming with you.” He said, stepping out of my way.

“I’m upset, but I wouldn’t do anything to my mother, Rick.” I growled at him.

“I know that.” He said, almost offended that I’d suggested otherwise. We walked in silence for a moment.

“Something is different.” He said finally.

“With what?”

“With you.” He said simply. “I knew you’d have a different focus, be stronger, when you accepted … the thing.” He said cryptically as he looked around. “I just wasn’t prepared for it to be this different.”

“I’m not that different.” I scoffed.

“Your aura this morning,” he said quietly. “I didn’t hurt. It didn’t stun me at all. It rolled over me, and I felt it all, but my body didn’t react to it.”

I slowed my pace and looked at him. “Really?”

“There was no fear to it, just anger, but the anger was different. Like you were … this is going to sound corny, but if felt righteous, vengeful without being spiteful. Does that make sense?” He asked.

“Not really.” I shrugged. “It didn’t feel any different to me. It still felt rageful.” I looked away, embarrassed by the admission, and started walking again.

“I get why I went after Henry, and I very much get why you did.” He said, falling into step again. “But that growl …”

“Yeah,” I cut him off. “I know, that was new.”

“What happened at lunch?”

“We … accepted each other.” I explain sheepishly.

“You claimed each other.” His eyes went round. “Sweet Goddess, Ben! Are you crazy? You won’t be able to hide this now.”

“It just kind of happened.” I snapped, coming to a stop at the base of my parents’ front porch. “I …” I clamped my mouth shut as one of the neighbors walked by. We gave a polite smile and nod to them as we waited for them to pass. “I was hers the moment she stood up to my father.” I hissed at him. “Besides, she started it.” I groaned. “She knows my worst secret, and she still wanted me. Wanted to be mine.” I growled the word unable to control it.

“Okay,” Rick looked up and down the street, worrying our conversation was getting a bit loud for such a public place. “One thing at a time.” He shook his head. “Let’s talk to your mother and see if she can give us anything else. We’ll deal with the mine problem later.”

“It’s not a problem.” I grumbled as I went up the front steps.

“It’s a bit of a problem.” He grumbled back.

I knocked twice. “No, it isn’t.”

“Oh, my Goddess, grow up!” He shoved my shoulder with a laugh.

I opened the front door. I stuck my tongue out at him as I entered. He laughed harder. “Mom, you home?” I called out. I didn’t hear anything, not even movement. My heart skipped a beat. “He didn’t take her with him, did he?” I looked at Rick.

“No, I watched the car pull away from the packhouse, toward the gates. The car was turning onto the road when I came back in. She wasn’t with him.” He confirmed.

“Mom!” I yelled a little louder. Still nothing. “I’m going to check upstairs.” I said, taking the stairs two at a time. “Mom, you home?” I called out again. I tapped on her bedroom door before opening it. The bed was neatly made, nothing in the room out of place. I opened all the doors upstairs and found no trace of her.

“Ben!” I heard Rick yell for me. I went running down the stairs into the kitchen and caught the scent of silver wafting up through the open basement door. I heard chain scraping against concrete. It was a sound I was well familiar with. My hands instantly got sweaty as I stared into the darkness on the other side of that door. I felt paralyzed for a moment, like I was 14 again. I was standing so still that I wasn’t sure if I was breathing. I felt a hand on my shoulder and jumped. Literally jumped; my feet left the ground.

“Easy,” Rick’s voice was quiet and steady. “I’ll go down. You go get the first aid supplies. Okay?”

I nodded dumbly. He moved into the darkened doorway and called out my mother’s name. I was shaking at the top of the stairs like a child. I couldn’t move.

“s**t,” I heard Rick curse. “Ben … s**t! I’m going to need your help.” I stood there, telling myself to go down the stairs, telling myself to breathe and move forward.

“Ben!” Riley’s voice was at the front door. The kitchen door flew open. Riley walked right up to me and took my hand. I let out a huge breath.

“Ben, can you hear me?” Rick called up the stairs.

“Yeah,” I found my voice. “Yeah, I’m coming.” I said.

“You don’t have to go down there. I’ll go.” Riley started to move forward.

“No,” I said firmly. “No, I can do it. Wait here.”

I went down the steps into the dim light of the basement. My hands were shaking as I took in my father’s make-shift dungeon. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs. A workbench ran the length of one wall with cabinets above it. Each cabinet filled with different chains, whips, and knives. In the back of my head, I heard quiet sobbing, and I touched my face to make sure it wasn’t me. My eyes drifted to the worn mattress in the corner. The chains clamped to the walls on either side of it, just high enough that it was impossible to lay down on the mattress. You could kneel or sit if you were tall enough. My mother wasn’t tall enough to sit and was kneeling awkwardly on the mattress crying.

My stomach wretched and covered my mouth with a shaking hand. I swallowed against the rising bile and stepped forward. Rick looked ill himself.

“What do you need?” Riley’s voice was behind me suddenly.

“Bolt cutters.” I replied before Rick could. I knelt down in front of my mother. “It’s going to be okay,” I whispered. “We’re going to get you out of here.”

My mother closed her eyes tightly and shook her head. I reached up and pulled the gag out of her mouth. “You can’t,” her voice was raspy.

“The hell we can’t.” Riley growled as she handed Rick the bolt cutters.

“Just hold still.” I said, trying to sound calm, but I felt numb, not calm.

“Ben, can you hold her hair up out of the way?” Rick said. He’d moved in behind her. That’s when I noticed the silver cuff around her neck.

“You can’t,” she sobbed. “He’ll know … he’ll know.”

I reached very slowly for her and moved her hair out of Rick’s way. “I’m not leaving you’re here like this.” I said gently. “It’s going to make an awful sounding noise when he cuts the lock, but it won’t hurt.”

“He’s going to hurt you … please don’t.” She begged.

“He can’t.” I said firmly for the first time since I’d come down here. “Not anymore. He can’t.”

Rick snapped the lock, and my mother screamed at the sound. She was hyperventilating, shaking, and crying. I took the cuff her neck and saw the burned skin below it. Rick moved to one of her wrists, then the other. I wrapped her arm around my neck and picked her up. I took her upstairs. Rick and Riley followed me. I set my mother down on the sofa in the living room. I pulled the coffee table closer to the couch and sat on it, gently rubbing my hands up and down her arms.

“Riley, I need you to go upstairs and pack as much of my mother’s things as you can.” I looked up at her.

“On it,” she was out of the room in a flash.

“Rick, I need …”

“First aid,” Rick said. He handed me a cold, wet tea towel for my mother’s neck before darting out of the room.

“He’s going … to … kill … us …” she sobbed, desperately trying to catch her breath.

“Don’t worry about that now.” I said, gently pressing the cloth around the back and sides of her neck. “Right now, you just need to breathe. Slow deep breaths for me. Can you do that?”

It took a few minutes, but she started to breathe a little more evenly. My mother looked around. Rick came back in carrying an armful of supplies. Riley already had one bag packed and at my mother’s feet. Mom made eye contact with me and completely fell apart. She rested her forehead on my shoulder and wept in a way I had never seen her cry before. Neither Rick nor Riley moved for a moment. They just stood there. I looked from one to the other and saw how much they cared about us, regardless of what it might cost them when my father got back.

“Claire,” Riley said softly as she rested a hand on my back. “We need to look you over and get you back to the packhouse. You can’t stay here.”

My mother nodded against my shoulder before taking a few deep breaths. She was still shaking, but she was sniffling instead of sobbing. She looked up at me and immediately noticed as Riley’s hand came up and gave my shoulder a squeeze. She looked up at us and managed a half smile. Riley and I both blushed.

“I should finish packing.” Riley mumbled and took off.