A Shepherd Afield Pt. 02

Rain walked around in front of Ben and saw the haunted look in his eye. "Are you ok Ben?"

"It's my fault they died." Ben's throat was tight, his words barely a whisper.

"Who?"

"The boys in the foster home."

"How did they die?"

"In the fire."

"Did you set the fire?" Rain asked gently.

"No."

"How is it your fault?"

"I was trying to be a hero," Ben's expression twisted.

"But you didn't set the fire."

"NO! I- I was trying to protect the girls from him. Protect Louisa."

Rain felt a chill that had nothing to do with the rain pouring down on them. She knew where this was going. She'd been on the other side. "The house father."

Ben nodded shakily. "Mr. Leparre," he forced out between his teeth.

"He abused the girls?"

Ben nodded again. His eyes never left the waters. "Louisa was... his favorite. I had to stop him."

"How old were you?" Rain asked, rigidly controlling the quaver in her voice.

"Fifteen."

"What did you do?"

Ben swallowed. It was so painful to talk about, like a knife in his guts. But she said only the first time. If he could get it out...

"I was in the girl's room at the top of the stairs on the second floor. I was standing guard, facing the door, waiting for him to try to slip in."

Rain felt her skin crawling and she wanted to scream at him to stop but she bit her lip.

"It was an old house. Floors creaked a lot. The Leparre's were doing some upgrades. Electrical. New baseboard heaters."

Ben jolted as the image of flames rushed through his mind.

"I- I heard him coming up the stairs. The creak. I braced myself against the door to keep it closed. The doors didn't lock."

Rain was shaking now but she remained quiet as she watched Ben.

"He tried to open the door but I was holding the knob tight and bracing the door. The girls... they were... whimpering in fear. He was a big man."

Rain's teeth chattered but she clamped her jaw tight. Ben glanced at her but she nodded and gave him a smile.

"He growled 'Let me in' but I shouted 'No!' and he knew then it was me. He'd hit me before. He got mad and started pounding on the door. I wouldn't let him in. I- I laughed."

Ben sucked in a deep breath as his eyes clenched shut. His chest hurt so much. He rubbed at it.

"He woke everyone up. Then there was a huge roaring boom. The roaring went on and on and the people in the outer hall were screaming."

"People?" Rain jolted.

"The boys he'd woken from the other bedroom. They were in the hall when the fire broke out on the main floor. They screamed. God." Ben put his face in his hands and shook.

Rain wanted to touch Ben. Comfort him. But his confession wasn't done.

"What happened, Ben?"

"They pushed against the door, screaming to get in. The roaring suddenly got louder. I could hear the flames racing up the stairs. The girls were screaming, clawing at me to let them in. I couldn't... I held the door, frozen in fear. The windows were nailed shut to prevent runaways. Nancy, the oldest, she broke the glass with an end table and got them outside onto the porch roof. They had to jump out over the flames into the snow on the front lawn to escape. The boys... they- they stopped screaming. Mr. Leparre stopped screaming. I couldn't hold the door anymore. The knob burned my hand. I climbed out the window and the porch roof collapsed as I ran across it. I found out later Nancy pulled me clear."

Ben heaved a deep breath.

"You saved the girls."

His head whipped to look at her in bewilderment. Didn't she hear? "I killed the four boys and Mr. Leparre!" he yelled.

"They died. That's truly tragic. But if the door had been opened the flames would have reached the rest of you. You know that, right?" Rain said calmly and Ben's eyes lost a little bit of their desperation.

"Didn't your actions actually give the girls time to escape? It's true, that time wasn't free. It cost the lives of the others. Honestly, the circumstances had evolved so far beyond your original intentions they no longer mattered. There were just two options available at the time, save some or none. Which one do you believe was the right choice?"

Ben's mouth worked as he stared into the compassionate eyes of the small woman next to him. She stepped forward and hugged him, his cheek resting against her stomach as his arms went around her. She ran her fingers through his hair as he shook, silent tears lost in the rain.

They remained like that until Ben's body calmed and his grip on her loosened. He pulled back to look up at her. She smiled down at him.

"Let's go someplace dry, ok?" she smiled.

Ben just nodded and stood. He took another look at the ocean and filled his lungs with the fresh air. His mind still shied away from the images of that night but the pain that accompanied them, the guilt and the self-loathing, didn't rip through him with the intensity it once had. His chest wasn't hurting any longer. He smiled gratefully at Rain and took her hand. They made their way back, neither saying anything.

The resort was up ahead and Rain went up the path first as Ben stopped to scrape the mud from his feet.

Rain stopped by the shower to rinse the sand from her sandals.

"FUHKN BETCH!"

Rain looked up and caught a slap on her cheek knocking her back onto her ass on the path. She looked up in surprise as a dark shape stepped out onto the path to tower over her.

"Gnnna cut yrr fFFUHKN CUNT up!" the shadowed figure grunted.

"Night?" Rain gasped as she finally saw his swollen face. He had sores or bites on his face and arms which were badly swollen. She shrieked when she saw the knife in his hand. He reached back to slash her but his arm stopped when Ben grabbed his wrist and squeezed.

"AAAAAAIIIIIIEEE!!!" Night screamed in agony as bones snapped in his wrist. The knife dropped to the ground.

Rain looked at Ben and saw his eyes had gone cold, his expression blank. He yanked Night back and grabbed his throat in his other hand lifting the man off his feet to slam him up against the stone wall of the shower. Night tried to break the grip but Ben just slammed him against the wall few more times until Night began to choke out.

"BEN! Let him go! BEN!" Rain grabbed his arm and his face turned to look at her. She saw his eyes begin to show some recognition. Then he saw the mark on her cheek. He looked back at Night and threw him across the path to land in a pile on the grass of the lawn. Rain grabbed Ben's arm to keep him from going after the man once more. She looked up into his eyes and saw he was blinking.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"No, let's get out of this rain. He's not worth the trouble." Rain said as she tugged on his arm.

Ben let himself be led away. They walked up the path and into the open lobby. They were dripping on the tile floor. One of the ladies working the front desk approached them with some towels.

"Thank you very much!" Ben said as he accepted the towel. The two ladies still behind the desk were grinning at him. Rain took one as well and they dried their hair.

From under the towel Ben heard the front desk clerks scream. He yanked the towel down and spun towards the pathway just as Night leapt up the three short steps with the knife in his left hand. Ben grabbed Rain and leapt backwards as Night swung the knife at her in a wide slashing arc which tore through the edge of the towel, barely missing her face.

With a high pitched squeak Night's shoes lost their grip on the wet ceramic tiles and his feet shot out from under him. His legs went up as his torso went down and his head struck the edge of the top step. With a dull, wet crack sound Night's body twitched and a tremor went through his muscles before he went still.

Rain was gasping as she was pinned up against Ben's chest in his arms with her towel wrapped around her head. She'd heard the screams and she was terrified but she couldn't see anything. She heard shouting and more screams, running feet, then Ben gently carried her for a few steps and set her down on her feet. She yanked the towel off when he finally released her and looked around frantically. Ben's expression was grim. She looked back and saw Night's still body on the tiles. A male staff member was checking for a pulse but the shocked look on his face told her the man on the floor was dead. She saw his left arm outstretched and the knife still tucked into two of his fingers. She looked down at the towel in her hands and saw its new jagged rip. Her eyes went wide and she looked back at Ben. He just looked away to watch the front desk clerks who were on the phone. Presumably with the police.

"Wha- what happened, Ben?" she whispered, afraid of his answer.

Ben's eyes returned to hers and she was pinned in place by their intensity. "He jumped at us swinging the damn knife. He slipped when he missed and hit his head on the steps. I never touched him."

He then sat down on one of the couches in the lobby and wrapped his towel over his shoulders to wait. He knew how the process worked. He'd wait for the police to show.

Dream and La'Shia were descending the stairs with the rest of his group when they caught sight of Night on the floor. Dream yelled and raced down the stairs to run across the lobby. He gave Ben an odd look then rushed towards the body. The male clerk tried to keep him away but Dream shoved him aside and dropped down beside Night.

La'Shia reached the couch where Ben sat and they watched in shock as Dream started going through Night's pockets. Killah arrived with his date and they also stopped and watched the frantic searching.

Dream tossed Night's wallet aside after rifling through it and started digging in his front pockets. When he found Night's room access card he cried out, jumped up and ran past them on his way to the stairs.

He passed his brother on the way up and La'Shia called out for Thomas to follow him. He glanced at Rochelle who nodded and he rushed after his younger brother. Rochelle spotted Night's body then she rushed down to join them.

Everyone was talking at once and Ben's face was turning red. "ENOUGH!" he yelled. The lobby went quiet and he had everyone's attention. "Rain, tell them what happened." All eyes turned to her.

Rain nodded nervously and squared her shoulders. "Night attacked me down by the beach shower when we got back from the beach. Ben was still on the beach when I rinsed my sandals. Night hit me," she showed the bruise on her cheek. "He had a knife," she pointed to the knife on the floor next to his body. "and was about to slash me when Ben stopped him." She looked at Ben who was looking at his hands while flexing his right one.

"Ben disarmed him and threw him down. We walked back to the lobby and were drying our heads when Night jumped up to slash me again. Ben pulled me away and Night slipped on the wet floor and hit his head." She held up her towel and everyone got a good look at the tear. "This was over my head when he slashed at me. If Ben hadn't been there..." She stopped when she realized she was leading him right back into his issue with being called a hero. He looked up at her and she mouthed 'thank you' to him and he smiled faintly with a nod.

"You can speak to the staff who witnessed the attack. I didn't touch him... here in the lobby." Ben glowered and nobody felt the urge to argue with him. He looked at Rochelle's relieved expression then noticed Trish wasn't there. He gave Rochelle a curious look and she came over to sit down on the couch next to him.

"Trish is upstairs with a nasty headache. It's more than a little possible that the dead man over there was the man who attacked her earlier today down by the beach shower and tried to drag her into the bushes."

Ben surged to his feet but the guilty party was already dead so he let Rochelle and Rain tug him back down to the couch. He looked at Rochelle. "How- how badly hurt is she?"

"She's got a nasty cut on her temple, probably from the ring her attacker wore, I'll take a picture of Night's ring momentarily, just for proof. There is a bad bruise there as well and we think she might have a concussion." Rochelle looked for injuries on Ben.

"What?" he asked.

"Where did he cut you?"

Ben blinked at her. "He didn't cut me."

Rochelle grinned at Ben. "Well that's a change for the better! Everyone who's attacked you before left their mark."

There was a commotion by the entrance so Rochelle stood up and moved away to take the picture of Night's ring.

The police cleared the lobby of the guests and interviewed the witnesses starting with the staff. By the time the police were done, satisfied that the death was merely an accident, the ambulance had taken Night's body away and it was too late for dinner so Ben and Rain made their way back up to the room.

Ben hadn't seen Rochelle, La'Shia or any of the others once they'd headed off to dinner. He wasn't even sure if Dream or his brother had returned at all.

He opened his door and Rain went in first. They found Trish asleep on the bed so they just went into the bathroom and got ready for bed. On went the finger brace.

Ben was exhausted from the day's events. His confession to Rain had been especially draining so he said his good nights, slipped under the covers and began to nod off immediately.

"Ben?"

"Hmmah?" he grunted as he surfaced.

"Could- could I sleep in your bed tonight?" Rain asked tentatively.

"Hmmmyup," he managed before he began to slip back into slumber. He was vaguely aware of Rain carefully slipping under the covers. She snuggled in against his side and Ben was out.

Chapter 12

"Hey sleepyhead! You ever gonna get up?"

Ben cracked his eyes open and stretched with a big grin on his face. He'd slept so deeply! He hadn't felt this well rested in... months! Trish and Rain were standing at the end of the bed and he could see they'd already been out running.

"How's your head?" he asked.

"Just a little achy this morning. Nothing a run on a beautiful beach couldn't fix. I heard the story of your run in with that thug last night. I can't believe he's dead!"

"Yeah," Ben grunted. "Stupid accident."

Rain nodded and smiled at him. He smiled back.

"We were just going to take a shower if, you know, you felt like joining us." Trish said with a coy grin.

Ben shook his head but threw back the sheets and climbed out of bed. With a little spring in her step Trish moved to take her damp runners out to the balcony and Rain took the opportunity to whisper in Ben's ear. He nodded and moved quickly into the bathroom. He dropped his boxers and stepped into the shower to get the water going. He quickly soaped up his body as Trish and Rain finally entered the bathroom struggling to get out of their tight running gear. Rain was giggling as she prevented Trish from pulling her top all the way over her head. Ben nodded to her so she let go. Trish scowled playfully at Rain as they tugged their running shorts off.

Trish looked over at Ben's wet muscles and smiled hungrily. He'd finished rinsing the shampoo from his hair as they finally stepped in.

"I'm done," Ben said.

"What?!?" Trish exclaimed.

Rain was hiding her grin. From their conversation during the run she knew Trish was aching for a little Ben time, much like she'd been when he'd massaged her ass the day before. "See you downstairs?" she asked with an innocent smile as she stepped under the spray.

"Sure, I'll get us a table," he said as he stepped out and toweled himself dry. He walked out of the bathroom and allowed himself to smile as he'd helped Rain get her revenge. He'd caught the look in her eyes yesterday and Trish's smug little grin. He knew exactly what she was up to when she'd whispered her request. Besides, he'd give Trish what she wanted, just later.

He slipped on his board shorts swimsuit, a black wicking t-shirt and his sandals. Then he went downstairs to fill his empty belly.

The front desk clerk caught his attention and handed him a sealed envelope with his name printed on it. He opened the letter on his way to the restaurant and saw it was from Susan. He found a chair and sat to give the note his full attention.

"Dearest Ben,

I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to say goodbye to you, Trish, and Rain this morning but our flight home was an early one and the taxi took us to the airport at the crack of dawn.

Ted is flying home with me and has finally agreed that our divorce is for the best. Not that he really has any choice but at least he isn't being a pouty nuisance.

I wanted you to know how much I treasure the moments we had together and how important you and Trish are to me. I know I'm no longer a young woman but it feels like I've been given a new lease on life. I will always be grateful to you for that! You are truly beautiful people and I love you both dearly.

Take care of yourself and each other.

Love, Susan."

Ben smiled to himself, thinking of the lovely woman and the odd way she had come into his life. He hoped she found happiness in her future. The letter went back into the envelope so he could show it to Trish later.

The restaurant wasn't very busy yet so he got his pick of tables. He found a nice one by the windows and ordered some fruit juice from the waitress before he made his way to the buffet. Once more he was careful about filling his plate as his hunger was trying to get him to overfill it.

He sat at the table and sipped his juice, enjoying the feel of the sunlight on his face.

"May we join you?"

Ben opened his eyes and looked towards the voice. It was La'Shia and several of her friends. "Sure, just leave these two seats for Trish and Rain please," he said pointing to the two seats across from him. He was looking at La'Shia as he said it so she would know Rain was his guest. She nodded having received the message. The women settled in and the waitress arrived to get their drink orders, teas and coffees.

Killah arrived with his lady and they said their good morning's to Ben and the group. They pulled a table up to the end of Ben's table. More of Dream's group arrived and they also greeted Ben and the group.

Ben looked over at La'Shia and saw she was smiling at his awareness of their inclusion of him in their group.

"I want to apologize for bringing our drama into your life. You came here for a relaxing vacation and we've interrupted that with danger, violence, and trouble," she said. Ben smiled and nodded his acceptance. She smiled in return.

Rochelle arrived with Thomas. She looked at the two open seats and noticed Trish and Rain were missing. Two of La'Shia's friends moved down two seats, pulling over an additional table so Rochelle and Thomas could sit closer to the center of the now very long table.

"Where's Dream?" Ben asked.

La'Shia gave him a sad smile and tilted her head. "He went back to L.A. last night. Or rather, he went to the airport to catch a flight back this morning."

Ben looked at her in surprise. "The wedding!"

"There isn't going to be one," she said. "His behavior this trip has been eye opening and we can't be a couple if he's keeping secrets from me. Whatever he was trying to find on Night's body and in his room last night he didn't find it. He won't talk to me about it. He won't trust me with the truth." She shrugged though her eyes remained sad. "Maybe one day our paths will cross again," she said with a forced smile.

Trish and Rain arrived and took in Ben's position at the center of the long table. They took the two open seats across from Ben and Trish gave him a pout.

Ben leaned forward to whisper to her. "You'll survive until tonight."

That earned him an impish smile. "Unless I can get you alone earlier," she replied.

Ben blushed as Trish wasn't even trying to be discreet and eyes turned in his direction. He found something interesting to look at on his plate as Trish enjoyed his reaction.