Page 53 of Demons & Damnation

Chapter 22

Shortly after Azazel’s abrupt departure from the café, Sam had felt nothing but treacherous for revealing Kyla’s secrets. How had she given all of that up so easily? Was it her need to share the burden or was it her desire for Kyla to be understood?

She could come across bold and brash, always on the offensive and cold hearted, but it all came from a place of fear. A fear of being loved and a fear of loving. The only love Kyla knew and felt comfortable with was that between her and Sam.

And Sam now felt that she had betrayed that. Sure, they’d gone to school with the Worthington brothers but they were older than them, they’d never been close, and they’d vanished for years. Spilling those things after a few hours in their company was something Sam never expected to do.

“I apologise for my brother,” Ben said. “He can be a little temperamental.”

“It’s ok,” Sam replied, wiping her nose. “No harm done.”

“That’s a truly horrific thing what happened to her. I can’t even comprehend it. Some humans are just...I can’t even think of the word.”

Sam nodded. “I know.” She looked down at her empty plate and saw the time ticking on to midday. “I want to get out of here. I need to walk or do something. Sorry.”

Ben jumped straight to his feet. “Of course, no problem.” He cleared his throat and then asked, “Would you perhaps like some company?”

Sam slid her phone in her pocket and looked up at him, taking in his handsome face and the genuine care rolling through his dark eyes. “Sure. Why not?” She scratched her head and then said, “Maybe the woods? We could have a wander around the woods?”

Ben grabbed his car keys and nodded. “That sounds perfect.”

As the pair headed out towards the Porsche, Sam couldn’t help but feel a tiny piece of hope settling inside her. She even wondered if her liking for older men might even be cured by this one man. But how would he feel about her and her past? About her liking for sugar daddies and wanting to be taken care of?

Ben opened the car door for her, waiting for her to settle into the seat before closing the door and heading around to his side. Sam liked that. She liked it a lot. Part of her attraction to older men was the fact that they were gentlemen and treated her like a lady, such as opening doors, pulling out chairs, walking roadside on the pavement. It was all the little things like that which added up to making Sam feel special and that’s all any woman wanted, right?

“So what’s your next plans?” Sam asked, as Ben reversed out onto the road. “Are you going travelling again or looking for work?”

Ben put the car into drive and headed out of town, quickly considering the best response. “I think we may travel for a couple more months then come back and settle down, I’m not sure. We’re still debating whether to keep or sell the house.”

“It’s a beautiful house,” Sam said, picturing the sprawling mansion in her mind. “It’s been in your family for so long, it would be dreadful to sell it. Maybe one of you can live in it and raise your family in it.”

Ben smiled. “To be fair, it would be big enough for both of us to do that. Twelve bedrooms, five bathrooms, a living room the size of an apartment, it could have two families in it. The biggest question would be whether me and Az...asshole would be able to not kill each other.”

Sam giggled. “You two are very opposites from what I’ve seen. Like chalk and cheese. You seem very grounded, sensible, capable of empathy for sure, but your brother?” Sam let out a long breath. “He’s antagonistic, lacks any emotion whatsoever, and seems like a bit of a wild card. I’m sure I don’t remember him being like that at school.”

Ben shifted in his seat as he smiled. “Well, who is still the same from their school days?”

“Fair point,” Sam said. “Kyla said you had been to Pompeii, is that right?”

He nodded. “Several times. It’s beautiful. You should definitely put it on your bucket list.”

“I think half of the world is on my bucket list,” she said, laughing. “St Lucia, Barbados, Mauritius, Maldives, Hawaii, Dominican—”

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