Page 110 of Let Me Love You (Excess All Areas 5)

“Ben,” she said with a sob.

Icy cold rivers of panic rushed through him. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Alex stood, both palms on the table.

“Are you close by home?” Her voice was hoarse.

“I’m at Alex’s. Can be there in five. Are you safe?”

“I’m okay… I…I got to your house and I left my keys at home, and I…”

“Stay where you are. We’re on our way, Mum.” He motioned to everyone they had to go, and chairs scraped back from the table.

“He hit me, Ben. He came home from the pub and then he just…” His mum sobbed as Alex opened the front door. They were too drunk to drive, but by the time they’d waited for a cab, they could run home.

“Call the police,” he said.

“I can’t call the police, Ben. I don’t want…they can’t help. I don’t have my key to your house.”

There would be time to persuade, later. Right now, he just wanted her safe. “Okay. We’ll be there any minute.” He then turned to Chaya and Zoe, both dressed in heels for a nice evening together. “Catch us up, yeah?”

Chaya nodded. “Just remember, your mum needs you more than you need to deal with your dad.”

He and Alex took off at a sprint.

“Mum. Do not go back to your house.” He imagined the very worst. That his dad would still be awake and do more damage. Did she even have a coat? Was she in her nightie? Fucking hell. “Mum. Just wait, okay?”

“Okay.”

They ran past the turning for Nan’s, past the road Alex and Jase used to live on.

When they turned onto his street, he could see his mum, leaning against his front door, her head in her hands.

“What the fuck?” Alex muttered as they came to a stop in front of the house.

“Boys, it scared me.” His mum’s sob cracked his heart into pieces. There was blood in her hairline and her nose was swollen. The side of her face already showed signs of bruising.

“I bet, Mum.” Ben grappled with the violence bubbling in his own veins. He wanted to kill his father. The need to get some kind of revenge for his mum. But he reached for words of comfort. “You’re safe, now. Let’s get you inside. Alex will make you a cup of tea. We’ll get you comfortable.”

Alex had frozen. Once, it had been in fear when it came to his dad, but now, Ben could feel the ice-cold fury rolling off him. “He’s a dead man,” he finally muttered.

Once inside, he held his mum’s clammy hand and led her to the sofa. “Grab that blanket,” he said to Alex, who suddenly clicked into gear, handing it to him before heading to the kitchen to make tea.

In the light, he could see the gashes that also marred her cheek and nose. Her lip was split. She breathed in through her mouth as her swollen and bruised eyes remained closed.

Rage unlike anything he’d ever felt before tore through him. Like a tornado, fast and furious, it screamed within him. There had to be a reckoning. He wanted to go deal with his father. But Chaya’s words came back to him.

Your mum needs you more.

He tried to bank it, realising he’d done nothing but put a cork in a bottle ready to explode, and reached for her hand.

Ben perched on the edge of the sofa while Alex returned from the kitchen with tea for them all. He knelt in front of her and handed her one of the cups. Her hands shook as she took it.

“Mum,” Ben said quietly.

Tears pooled in her eyes. “Boys,” she said hoarsely.

Alex placed his hand gently on her forehead, brushing her hair back off her face. “We’re here. How are you doing?”

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