He paled, and it was clear that Beck had a rep. A well-deserved rep.
Ben strolled closer, his eyes soft as they looked down at me. "How are you feeling, B?"
"What are you even doing here?" Riley interrupted him.
Ben snapped to attention, and here was the man who had enough killer instinct to make it as a guide at the camp. "Dylan asked me to step in for a few hours to help guard while he's off hunting Brooklyn’s asshole of a brother."
I didn't even bother to argue. I was tired, and it was nice to know that someone was here to help if Blake decided to invade the hospital.
Riley jumped to her feet, stretching her back. She'd been sitting in that shitty hospital chair for hours with me and hadn't shown any discomfort until now. "Okay, since you’re here to keep Brooke company, I'm gonna check on the guys and, hopefully, track down Dylan and Beck before they get themselves killed."
I grabbed her hand as she moved to step away. When she turned back, eyebrows raised, I smiled. "Thank you."
This afternoon actually meant a lot to me, especially her somewhat comforting words about Ruth. Her death had been sitting heavily on my chest since I woke, and to finally get some of the sadness out had actually helped.
Riley surprised me with a hug. "I can see what drew Dylan to you," she murmured as she pulled away. "You’re exactly what he needs."
Then she was gone and I was left with a melancholy ache in my chest.
"So," Ben exclaimed, dropping his large body into the too-small chair, "tell me everything about you."
I shook my head. "What, everything from birth?"
"Yep."
This took me aback, but I recovered quickly enough. "Let's see. Born to a middle-class family who managed to make it rich during a property boom. Then their company expanded into a bunch of other ventures, and we lived excessively rich people's lives until they were killed." I swallowed hard, my joking tone drying up fast. "Then I was left in the care of my brother, who is a monster."
Ben nodded, his hand shooting out to grab onto mine. It wasn't an intrusive hold, just a gentle squeeze, and he let me go again. "Dylan told me a little so I'd be prepared, and I'm kind of hoping your brother shows up here so his life can be over."
I snorted. "What, you planning on killing him?"
Ben shrugged, and there was a flash of darkness in his eyes I hadn't noticed until this moment. "It wouldn't bother me one bit, but I'd have to get in line behind Dylan. That dude would fuck me up if I stole his kill from him, and trust me, you never want to be on Dylan’s bad side."
Funny that Dylan had that rep with other people because in all the time I'd known him, I'd very rarely felt more than an ounce of fear in his presence. And never that true fear that starts low in your gut and unfurls like a bad stench, cramping your body up and filling your mind with the most horrific thoughts as your pulse pounded heavily in your body.
Nope. Dylan got my pulse racing for other reasons, but never in real terror.
"How long have you known Dylan?" I asked him.
Ben stretched back in his chair, lacing his hands behind his head as he thought about my question. "You know, on and off, I've known Dylan almost my entire life. My family was nowhere close to his upper echelons of the billionaire world, of course, but we still ran in similar circles. I ended up at the camp at the same time he was one year, and we teamed up to survive a couple of the bullshit obstacles they threw our way." His expression was hard, and I was starting to see who the real Ben was under his easy smile and charm.
"Dylan said the camp used to be pretty hardcore."
His expression indicated that might have been a bit of an understatement. "I think, truthfully, the older generation of Delta members were actually trying to kill their heirs. And some of them succeeded."
Christ.
"But you survived," I reminded him.
"Because of Dylan, I did," he replied without hesitation. "The man you know now was once a child who was forced to grow up or die, and he's one of the most skilled and scary badasses I've ever known."
"He fought off so many men when we were attacked," I said softly, scenes from that night