- Serena -

I stepped out of the hospital feeling really dejected.

Yeah, I escaped trouble, but Tasha and Felicia were still in that horrid man's hand. What was his name? Tybalt? Timon? Pumba? Tyronne?

"Serena, you feeling okay?" Roxy placed a hand on my shoulder and I shrugged.

"I'm worried."

"Don't be, we've gotten into enough trouble. We don't need another gang up our butts."

I nodded, but I didn't feel any better.

"Where did Ben go anyway? I thought he came along with you on the ambulance?" She wondered aloud and I really hoped she didn't.

Ben was making me suspect him. All his weird and suspicious behaviour, nothing added up.

Then we heard a loud engine roar and turned to see Ben wind the passenger window of his hot ride down and he looked at both of us, "Get in."

I stared daggers at him, was he serious? 

"Ben I told you to leave," I glared at him, the image of Felicia hiding behind me making my blood chill.

"I will when you both get in the damn car," he was pissed, clearly.

"Serena what's wrong with you? Just get in, we'll talk about it later. I don't wanna take a slow walk away from another gang," she mumbled and I sighed.

I clenched my fists at my sides and pulled the door open for Roxanne to squeeze her way behind before I sat shotgun.

We drove off in silence, Roxy clicking her tongue in the backseat.

If I wasn't annoyed with Ben at the moment, I would be with her. I hated it when she tried to fill silences in by making weird noises. But for now, I'll take her annoying sound-making to Ben's pissed mood.

"Um, guys? I know you both are angry but where are we going?" Roxanne stretched her head out to the front seat and I looked at Ben, waiting for his answer.

"I'll fetch Roxanne to the restaurant, Austin will take her home. I'll drive Serena home."

I was okay with the arrangement, I'm going to drill every bit of information out of him. Whatever I didn't know, I wanted to know.

"Sounds like a plan," Roxy approved and leaned back in her seat, "Try not to kill one another."

I scoffed, "Yeah I'll try."

Ben didn't respond, I could see his knuckles turn white from gripping the steering wheel too hard.

We dropped Miss Chatterbox off at the restaurant, Austin already closed it and was waiting for Roxy to arrive.

I waved at him as we zoomed off and the horrible silence seeped back into the car.

I drummed my fingers on my thigh, picking my first question carefully.

"You wanna talk about it?" I threw it out there first, I already knew the answer, but I took the soft approach.

He glanced sideways at me, his eyes holding all his secrets. He shook his head slightly, "Not that that is going to stop you from asking anyway."

I actually smiled, he was starting to get to me, "Good that you know. Wanna tell me the back story you had with that family at the hospital?"

He breathed out a depressing breath through his nose and a small smile crept across his face, "If you'll invite me into your apartment for a drink. I mean, it is quite a long story."

I raised an eyebrow, "Are you trying to make a deal?"

He shrugged, his playfulness reignited, "Yes I am, we'll have a chat."

I thought about it, inviting a gorgeous man into my home shouldn't even take half a second to decide. But this situation was different, not only have I never invited anyone over, except for Roxy, but Ben has lots of secrets. Too many secrets.

And I want him to spill them all.

"Fine, but you have to answer my questions honestly, deal?" I turned to look at him as he parked in the visitor lot.

He shut the engine and leaned close to me, his breath tickling down my neck, "Deal."

My whole body shivered involuntarily. Oh shit.

He knew the effect he had on me, he smirked and got out of the car.

We took the lift up to the main lobby and the security guard perked up the moment he saw both of us come in.

"Miss Snow! This was the young man who was looking for you that day!" He chirped as we strode past his post.

I nodded, "Yes thank you."

"Have a good night!"

"You too," Ben mumbled politely and we took the next set of elevators up.

It was awfully quiet in the lift, my heart hammering against my chest. I've never invited anyone over before.

"You don't seem to like the guard, is there a reason?" Ben snapped me out of my thoughts and I glanced at him.

"He's just, really chatty. And he tends to pry, a bit too much," I explained briefly.

"Seems like you don't open up easily either. Guess I'm not the only one with a difficult past," he mumbled, all the while keeping his eyes fixated on me.

All this time and I'm still not over his staring.

"I know you don't open up easily, but a difficult past? That sounds interesting, I'll look forward to your storytelling later," I leaned close to him and patted his flawless cheek.

His eyes widened and it took him a while to realise that I was serious, I wanted to know him.

I unlocked the door to my apartment and Ben entered, his eyes scanning the place.

I kept my home in prime condition, it was almost clinically clean, the way I like it.

He was still looking around, as if he's never seen a whiter place. I had to admit, I went all out in my interior design. 

White marbled floors and table tops, cream white leather sofa sets, white fridge, white television set, white coffee table, pearl white crockery etcetera. If it wasn't white, it was made of glass or metal.

"Want anything to drink?" I asked as I went into my open-planned kitchen.

"A tea will be nice," Ben mumbled as he continued looking everywhere.

"What are you? British? You want some tea and biscuits?" I mocked in an exaggerated British accent and he raised an eyebrow at me.

"How cute," he remarked sarcastically.

"I'm kidding, I like tea too," I shook my head and took one mug of hot water over to my cabinet and placed a tea bag in.

I heard Ben come up to me and turned to grab my half-finished bottle of wine from the chiller. After such a long day, a cup of tea won't soothe my nerves.

He took a sachet of sugar from my table top and poured it into his cup.

"So, what do you want to know?" He stirred his cup of tea and took a sip.

I never really knew what sexy meant, not until I saw Ben drinking from a mug.

God Serena, get a grip.

"Well first and foremost, who was that family earlier?" I looked away from his attractive face and poured my wine into a glass.

"They were my neighbours back when I lived in the next town, I knew them relatively well. I knew that guy wasn't a good guy," he shrugged.

He was lying, it was obvious. It was so rehearsed.

"Tell me the truth Ben, not the story you've been telling others. I'm not interested in white lies," I walked over to the sofa and settled in, taking a sip of the alcohol and the aromatic aftertaste that calmed me immediately.

He didn't follow me out, he actually stood in the kitchen for a few minutes before coming out to join me.

Guess he wasn't expecting to get his story exposed.

He placed his almost empty cup on the table and I did too. He looked up at me, eyes dark and mysterious.

"Everything I tell you, you have to keep it a secret Serena. You can't tell anyone, not even Roxanne you hear me?" 

I raised an eyebrow, "That's a tall order Ben, I don't keep anything from Roxy."

He nodded, "If she accidentally spills this secret like she almost did with yours when she was drunk, both your lives will be in danger."

He knows, he knows I have my own share of secrets.

"But if you're telling me, it means my life will be in danger."

A slight smirk appeared on his face, "That's because you're asking for it. Are you sure you're ready for this?"

I wasn't afraid, not one bit. My life was put in danger the moment the snow buried me alive. Nothing scared me anymore. Not even death.

"Give me your best shot," I straightened up and he chuckled.

"You're crazy."

I shrugged and he took a few seconds to compose himself.

"That man, Tyronne, is a gang leader. Most, if not all the illegal things that go on in that town are run by him. He used to be second in command, the leader's assistant. But he killed the leader and everything else is history. That's how he does things, do it or get killed."

I watched as he released this bit of info on me, he knew the Tyronne guy too well.

"You worked for him?"

His eyes widened slightly at my deduction, I think he didn't plan to tell me that.

"Used to, I don't anymore."

"So you knew his wife and child from him?"

He nodded, he looked like he didn't want to share anything more, but the more I looked into his eyes the more he was revealing to me.

"Only saw them once or twice, Tyronne doesn't talk about them much. I never knew that he abused his wife, I had no idea."

Probably explained why he looked so shocked when he saw both of them in my cafe earlier, and the horrible condition Tasha was in.

Something didn't add up, "You said do it or get killed, how did you stop working for him?"

As far as I knew, if you were in a gang then you were in it for life. There's no way out of it. But Ben did it, not only that but if Tyronne was such a bad guy then he would have him killed.

Ben's forehead scrunched up, as if he was recalling a bad memory, "Technically I didn't quit. I planned to. But my partner at that time insisted that I was going against him. My partner tried to kill me, but somehow I managed to survive the ordeal. He thought I died and I was out of that town. He can't know that I'm alive. Both of them can't find out."

That's why he wanted to leave the hospital so badly.

"Felicia seems to know you, she looked legit frightened of you."

He sighed, "We didn't meet under normal circumstances, which is probably why she's scared of me."

I leaned closer, "Well what were you doing?"

He eyed me, "You're really not scared of anything, are you? I'm a dangerous man Serena, if that gang knows I'm still alive they will kill me. If not I'll be thrown into jail."

"And I'm asking you, what did you do that was so bad that you'll get thrown into jail?"

"I beat a lot of people up, A LOT. I never killed anyone though, I didn't have it in me."

That, I believed. There is always this softness about Ben, no matter how strong he was you couldn't melt him totally.

"So you lied to me, the mayor didn't chase you and Austin out. You just couldn't be found alive by a notorious gang?"

He nodded, "I apologize for that. I didn't intend for you to find out that I used to be a gang member."

I eyed him, not really sure if he was telling me the truth this time around. But the way he gazed at me, with so much sincerity, I guess it was him who wanted to trust me.

"So that's it? Just don't get found?"

He shrugged, "Sounds simple but it isn't. I moved here so I could monitor his movements and find a way to get him arrested. But it's not that easy."

"How are you going to get him arrested? What does he do anyway?"

"Remember that warehouse? The one that caught on fire? With the illegal weapons?"

My eyes widened, "That was his?"

Ben nodded, "Was, I helped him quite a bit with that, though I didn't do much. But it was enough for me to know exactly how to garner the right attention, the few of them who were guarding the warehouse that night were arrested."

My eyebrows furrowed together as my brain worked double time, "You were the one that blew the factory up in flames?"

A weird expression crossed his face, it was so vulnerable. Or just weird.

He looked away from me and I nearly gasped from the loss of contact. How hard was I staring at him?

He gulped the last of his tea, "I uh, the whole place was a weapon, it wasn't difficult to ignite it."

He wasn't looking at me, this chat was closing off. 

"You must be really close to him since he let you help him, plus you should know the schedules of the place well enough to actually manage to sneak in and blow the place up," I tried mentioning lightly as I drank my wine.

He glanced up at me and oddly, I felt more at ease. Though his gaze was giving me the chills, "I was his assistant Serena, together with another guy. Both of us were literally his left and right-hand men. Then one night my partner decided that I was against the gang and wanted to kill me. 

Austin found me, he managed to find a new place here, I was lucky to have him. That other guy though, he was ready to kill me to prove that I was against them and him. He said I ruined the friendship we had. Like what the hell."

He was really angry, I could almost see and feel the aggravation in his eyes. 

Maybe I'm crazy, because that rage made him look fucking hot.

I reached out and touched his cheek, the angry fire in his eyes died off and was replaced by a curious gaze.

He smirked cheekily, "You're not afraid of me or my past? I'm literally a dead man, if I am found there's no way out for me."

I scoffed, "I've handled way more dangerous stuff than you Ben."

He leaned close to me, his sweet breath fanning my face, "I'm an unpredictable man Serena, a good girl like you shouldn't be anywhere near me."

I could almost taste the mockery in his voice, "Good girl? You have no idea who I am."

He chuckled, "I wouldn't mind another storytelling session with you. You'll tell this time."

I laughed and moved away from him, "Maybe some other time, I can't have such a dangerous man like you in my house this late at night."

He glared at me and I smiled at him defiantly as I went to open the main door for him to leave.

He sighed and nearly groaned, walking over to me, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

I nodded and waved him out, "Goodnight Ben."

He stood in front of me and tilted my head up to look at him, he brushed the side of my face with his finger, achingly slowly.

He leaned down, I could feel his breath on my ear, "Goodnight Serena."

Oh God help me.