Page 67 of The Wolf and the Monarch

“And you believe her?”

Benji nodded. “I do. With my whole heart.”

“Okay, good.”

“She was looking into things when I was on the phone with her and she found some…weird things with my dad. So, I don’t know. He’s doing something he shouldn’t and I don’t know why.”

Sawyer’s brow furrowed and his head tilted a bit. “What do you mean?”

“We think he took the money.”

“What? Seriously?” Benji nodded. “Why would he do that?”

“That’s what I don’t get. I’m pretty sure he has plenty of money,” he paused and sighed, “Unless that’s because he’s been doing this whole…swindling thing for a while.”

He frowned and shook his head before approaching Benji. “I’m sorry.”

“I-It’s fine. It’s not your fault.”

“I know that but it’s still shitty.” Sawyer reached out and placed a soft hand on Benji’s upper arm. “And it’s not fair to you. Or your sister.”

Benji frowned and nodded. “Yeah, I know.” Turning towards Sawyer, he found himself pulling himself into the man and their arms immediately wrapped around one another. It was such a simple gesture, but something that was incredibly needed. Benji’s cheek rested against Sawyer’s shoulder while Sawyer softly rubbed his back. Breaking down the barrier earlier had really opened them up to a new world of affection, which was something he was happy for. Benji liked affection. It was one of the reasons why his life was hard for him sometimes. He didn’t get to have something like that very often. And when he did, it couldn’t last.

But he was hoping it would be different with Sawyer. If that’s where they were headed. He had no idea and making assumptions was foolish. But a guy could hope, right?

After a few more moments, which felt like far longer because of how nice it was, Benji forced himself to pull away and cleared his throat. “Go sit down. I’ll be over in a few.” Sawyer just nodded and wandered back over to the living room while Benji took care of popping the pizza into the oven.

The two sat on the couch together, eating the frozen pizza and the potato chips, idly chatting about whatever it was that they wanted to. By the time the movie was coming close to the end, Sawyer stopped it and turned off the TV with a shake of his head. “I don’t know about you, but I’m saying that they lived happily ever after and the dog lives forever.”

Benji laughed and nodded his head. “Yeah, I agree. I really have to ask Jackson about his weird movie selection here.”

“You really do because it’s bizarre. And that’s coming from me, a guy who has barely seen anything.”

“But you know enough to know these are all tear-jerkers.”

“Exactly,” he laughed then sighed as he placed his elbow on the back on the couch and rested his cheek on his hand. “Are you uh…interested in sleeping in my bed tonight?”

Benji’s brow raised as he looked over to Sawyer before he quickly turned his gaze away and picked at the edge of the paper plate he was still holding. “Oh, uh…yeah, sure. That…yeah. That sounds good.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Sawyer smiled. “Okay, good. Because I was hoping you would,” he paused and shrugged. “I like sleeping next to you.”

Benji’s stupid cheeks flushed again. “I like it too. When you uh…did it. Back at the bunker. It really…helped.”

He nodded his head a bit and turned his gaze downwards. “I was really scared.”

“Why?”

He shrugged his shoulders and huffed. “I don’t know. I mean, I clearly didn’t really know you but…I just…didn’t want you to die? I wanted you to be okay. And it was the only thing I could think to do to keep you warm that didn’t involve me leaving you alone again.”

Benji huffed. “You’re smart to have thought of it too. I don’t know why Milo didn’t think you could do more than what you were doing.”

“I’m glad he didn’t.”

“Really?”