"Cara, what happened?"

Two pairs of eyes turned up to look at me, but only one made me stop in my tracks.

Henley.

As my mind fought for words, she averted her gaze and sprinted past me, heading toward the elevator. Cara picked herself off the ground, smoothing out her dress and grimacing. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Aren't you going to go after her?" she countered.

"I... I can't." Not while my mother was approximately twenty feet away. What was Henley even doing here?

"Ugh, you're hopeless. I'll go then," Cara said, slapping me on my back as she ran down the hallway.

"Cara!" I called after her, but as I took a step in her direction a loud bang from my mother's office caught my attention.

Two security guards were just opening the front doors and I slid between them, entering the office. A shattered lamp lay strewn about the floor and I crushed a shard of glass as I moved into the room. My mother stood at her desk, her entire body the same shade as the blood red paint on her fingernails. Lee stood before her, holding his shoulder close to his body, as if he'd hurt it.

"What has that girl done to you? How dare you speak to me like this!" she screamed, her hand reaching for the metal nameplate on her desk.

"Mother!" I yelled, quickly stepping in between her and Lee, my mind whirling at the situation before me. What was Lee doing here? What had he done to make our mother so angry?

She turned her attention to me, her eyes wide with fury. As mad as she had been with me lately, this didn't even come close. She was on a whole different level of livid. "Bennett, call Dr. Esposito! Is he aware Lee left the rehabilitation center?"

"You can't keep me locked up there," Lee said, his voice steady and calm. "And whatever you've threatened them with to keep me there won't work anymore. If you drag me back, I'll sign myself back out."

"Do not argue with me!"

"Mother—"

"This is your fault too, Bennett. It's your fault for bringing that awful tramp into our lives. I thought you realized you're the reason Lee tried to throw away his life. And now you've brought him back? You really want him dead, don't you? Are you trying to kill your own brother?"

A ringing started in my ears, high pitched and whiny. It was like the whole room froze and then faded out. I felt dizzy and I reached out my arms, trying to steady myself on something. Pain ripped through my chest and I gasped and then sucked in another breath of air and another and another until I realized I was hyperventilating.

"N-no," I struggled to get out, but the word felt wrong and didn't sound right.

Something warm enveloped one of my out stretched hands and then I was being pulled in some direction, a screaming following in my wake. My whole body felt like lead and my vision blurred, as if my eyes had gained a Gaussian function.

"Bennett, it's okay, breathe. We're leaving. It's okay."

Lee. I grasped his shoulders as he helped down onto one of the couches in the hall. I pressed my lips together and trying to slow my breathing. In...1, 2, 3, 4, 5...out. I repeated it until the world came back into focus and my lungs didn't feel like they were going to burst. The ache in my head remained, throbbing warningly.

"Are you okay?" Lee asked again.

"Yes."

"When did that start?"

"It's nothing."

"Bennett."

"A couple months ago," I muttered.

"Is it because of me?"

"No."

Lee let out a deep sigh, putting his head in his hands. "All this time I've been away and you've been here thinking it was your fault? How could you think that? How didn't I realize that? I'm truly sorry, Bennett. I've been a terrible older brother."

My hands curled, bunching up the fabric of my slacks. "You're the best brother I could have asked for."

"You're trying to suck up to me already? I should let you know, I already told her I'm back to take over the company."

I grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn toward me. His lips quirked up, but I glared at him. "What did you just say?"

"Easy, Ben."

"Lee, you can't—"

"Bennett, I said I'm fine. Things won't turn out like they did last time. I'm not going to go through that again, and neither are you. I won't sit back and let our mother ruin your life."

I let go of his shoulder, the small wince he made not going unnoticed. "Did she throw that lamp at you?"

"No, she hit me accidentally."

"Accidentally..."

Lee smiled at me. "She's trying her best too."

"How can you take her side?"

"Just as the stress has taken its toll on me and you, I'm sure it has affected her as well. I'm not taking her side. I think she has problems and needs to seek professional help. Just as I did."

"She's a psycho."

"Don't use that term lightly, Bennett."

Feeling like a child who had been scolded, I lowered my head. Very becoming of a twenty-five year old man. But who was I kidding. Twenty-five? It was a joke to think twenty-five meant you were an adult. Twenty-five just meant you had all these responsibilities and you had no one to rely on anymore. Even though Lee was only a few years older than me, I felt he had maturity only decades could churn out. I'd always felt like that.

"Also... I may have provoked her just now."

"Provoked?"

Lee shrugged his shoulders. "She hasn't been treating Henley very nicely, I just wanted her to apologize."

I stared at him.

"I also may or may not have said if she didn't let Henley marry you, I would marry her into the family anyway."

"Lee!"

"What? What? I had every right to do so since you just let her do whatever she wanted. Really, Bennett, no matter what threats our mother uses, how could you let her treat Henley that way?"

"You don't understand—"

"I do. I know how she used me to threaten you. That's also part of the reason I came back. I'll worry about myself. You worry about you."

"You're my brother. I had to choose you—"

"Did you think I'd kill myself if I had to come back?" he asked sharply. "Is that why you couldn't say no? You thought if you defied her she would drag me back and I'd kill myself because of you? It was my life, or your life?"

My throat went dry. "I had to protect you."

"To think she'd go that far. She's worse than I thought. I'm not sure how many times I'll have to tell you this Bennett, but you have to stop thinking like that. It wasn't your fault. You don't need to protect me. You can't throw away your freedom for me."

A second of silence passed between us. "I was scared," I admitted quietly.

Lee ruffled my hair. "I understand. Thank you. But from now on, I'll protect the both of us. You're my little brother, after all."

"What are you planning?"

"To remove her from her position. I think she could use an early retirement, no?"

"How do you plan on doing that?" It sounded like a crazy man's idea. Lee really thought he could pull that off? Our mother wouldn't retire, even if she was a hundred years old and had dementia.

"Let me worry about that for now. You have other things to worry about."

I raised an eyebrow curiously before following his gaze to the end of the hall, where a smiling Cara and frowning Henley were waiting. Cara gestured for me to go over and I swallowed hard, my limbs feeling stiff as I stood up. Lee patted my back. "You choose your life. I'll choose mine."

Could I really though? Did I really not have to worry about Lee anymore? Could I go against my mother? Sure, Lee was here now, but that didn't mean I was in the clear. But it did mean my mother's number one threat against me was gone. Now she held nothing over my head. What could she do now if I decided to choose my own life? My own girlfriend?

"Come here, come here," Cara said. "Follow me."

I couldn't meet Henley's gaze as I followed the pair of girls back to the elevator. Lee joined us and we went down a few floors and got off at what I knew wasn't the lobby. I felt a little uneasy when we stopped in front of one of the hotel suites and Cara used a keycard to open the door. "We probably shouldn't stand in the hallway talking, you know? Someone might come across us."

Henley looked unsure but nodded, stepping into the hotel room. Wasn't it weirder to talk in the hotel room though? Why couldn't we leave the hotel completely? Was I even ready to face this—

My thoughts were cut off as Cara grabbed me and pushed me into the hotel room with surprising force for a girl her size. Before I could speak she grinned wickedly, slamming the door closed. "Now don't come out until you two have made up!" she called.

"Hey!" I tried to pull the door open; only to find out it didn't budge. Our hotel doors didn't lock from the outside. Just how strong was this girl?

Resigning myself to my fate, I turned back to Henley, whose eyes pierced into mine. That look made me feel like I'd committed the worst crime on earth. Maybe I did. I didn't know what to say. A thousand excuses ran through my head, but Henley didn't deserve that. What I had done to her was inexcusable.

The room was so quiet I could hear myself breathing. Henley was the one who broke the silence first. "So you're dating Cara now?" she said, her voice unwavering.

"It's not what you think."

"No. It's not what you think."

Her response made me pause.

"I know you're just pretending to date her," Henley said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Want to know why? Because she told me. Isn't that funny? A girl who barely knows me cares enough about me to want to clear the misunderstanding I had about you two."

"I—"

"I'm not done," Henley said, cutting me off. "We're in here to deal with this. I know you're just going to say you don't have a choice and not explain anything to me, so you get to hear my side. Why can a girl that doesn't even know me easily explain to me what's happening? Why is something so easy so hard for you to do? I know I didn't give you a chance to explain things to me, but it's because I knew you wouldn't."

"It's not that simple."

"It is that simple, Bennett. When you broke up with, you could have explained why you had to, instead of leaving me heartbroken with no answers. You could have told me your mom threatened you. You could have told me you had to choose your brother over me. I would have understood. I have a brother, too. Family comes first. I get that. If you wanted me to stay away, I would have. If you wanted me to help you, I would have."

I stared down at my hands. Things would have gone better if I could have just told her my problems. But she didn't understand. It wasn't just for me that I hadn't explained things.

"I know I'm not the best at showing my emotions. And I don't even know how I feel myself half the time. But you can't mess with my already messed up emotions. You can't kiss me, then break up with me, then tell me you love me, then go back to ignoring me. It's not fair, Bennett. And it's not fair that everyone is telling me to understand you. Because I'm hurt too. Do you know that?"

"I—" I halted, trying to control my voice. It was shaking too much. "I know that."

She nodded, her hair falling into her face. As she pushed it away, I realized her lips were trembling. And it was just like her. Brave, brave Henley. A tough exterior with a soft heart. How could I hurt someone like her? What kind of man was I? No matter my reasons, how could anyone do this to someone like Henley?

"S-so now that you understand how I feel. I need to make something clear. I promised your brother I would help you. And I'll keep that promise because I want to help. I still care about you, Bennett. But I'm not going to keep hurting myself for you. I want you to make a decision, okay? Whatever you choose is fine with me. I'll accept it. But once you make a decision, you can't go back on it."

"Henley..."

"Your first choice," she said, taking a step closer to me. "End things completely. Don't contact me. Don't have Henry spy on me. I'll help your brother, but if you ever come across me, I want you to leave me alone. At least for a little while. I know we won't be completely free of each other, but I deserve at least that. Don't call me up drunk. Don't tell me you love me."

"And the other option?" I asked hoarsely.

"You promise me that if any problems come up, we'll work them out together. Your problems or my own. Promise you won't leave me in the dark anymore— even if your mom threatens you. I'll do the best I can to help you, Bennett. That's what you do when you're in a relationship. I don't have a lot of friends or people I care about. You happen to be one of those few people. What I'm most mad about isn't the fact that you broke up with me. It's the fact that you didn't trust me enough to explain things and then tried to act like everything we have been through never happened. I don't deserve that. I know I'm not the greatest person out there, but even I realize I'm worth more than that."

At this point, she lowered her gaze, her voice becoming just above a whisper. "So you need to make a choice. End things now. Or make a promise to work things out together from now on."

"...I'm sorry."

My words caused her head to jerk back up. Her blue eyes shot to my face and then to the side, her face becoming a calm mask. "Alright. I get it. Don't worry. I guess I missed the hint, huh. Sorry for wasting your time." She attempted to turn and move around me at the same time, only managing to get her feet tangled together as she fell forward, barely managing to catch herself on the door.

"Are you okay?" I asked, reaching out to help her regain her balance.

She smacked my hand away, looking up at me with tears brimming in her burning eyes. In that moment, I could see all the hurt I had inflicted onto her unwittingly. All the excuses I had made for my reasoning seemed so immature and impudent.

I took her arm, helping her stand up straight. She moved closer to the door, but I didn't release my grip. "Let me go," she demanded.

"No."

"Bennett, please."

"I haven't given you my answer."

"You did—"

"I'm sorry," I repeated. "I love you."

Her wrist went slack in my grip. I took a step closer to her, making sure she didn't try to look away. "That's my answer, Henley. I'm sorry and I love you. I'm sorry that I hurt you. I'm sorry that I thought it was better to keep you out of things than get you involved. I'm sorry you've had to deal with all that alone. I'm sorry I couldn't be braver. And I'm sorry that I love you."

I reached out and wiped her tears away. Then she surprised me by wiping the wetness off of my own cheeks. "Why are you sorry?"

"I can't promise I won't hurt you again. I can't promise my mother won't try anything else. Being with me will be hard and I'm sorry because of that. Because I'm selfish enough to still want to love you. "

"Why do you think I can't handle that? You broke up with me without telling me anything because you thought it would be easier for me to not be involved at all, right? Well I can make that decision for myself. And no matter what your mother does, she won't change my mind on how I feel about you, Bennett."

I shook my head, clenching my jaw. "I know you're strong, Henley. But it's not right for me to put you through that, no matter how much you say it's fine."

"Then let's end this."

My heart sunk at her words.

She swallowed. "I'm leaving."

As she went to walk past me again, I grabbed her wrist. "Wait."

"What?"

"I can't promise those things I said. But I don't want to lose you. I know that I need to work on myself. So, all I can promise is that I'll do my best to love you. To not hurt you again. I won't leave you in the dark about anything else, anymore. I promise that. I know I made a lot of mistakes. And I might make more. But I want you to be by my side. But I understand if you don't trust me anymore..."

"Well, it's too late for that. I'm here and you already made your choice, so I'm not leaving."

"How can you even want to be with someone like me?" I asked.

"Because someone like me loves someone like you."

Pink blossomed on Henley's cheeks and she decided to look everywhere but at me. Her words reverberate in my head. She loved me? She loved me? Henley loved me?

"Don't look at me like that, it's like the first time someone's told you that or something..." she started and then her face fell and I knew the conclusion she had come to. "Oh, Bennett—"

I didn't let the next words leave her mouth. I pressed my lips against hers, hard, using too much for and pushing her into the door. When I pulled back to apologize she moved forward, grabbing the back of my hair and pushing my face back to hers. It wasn't soft and sweet like the other times; this was more urgent. I didn't want to let go. I couldn't let go. The harder I kissed her, the more intense the feeling was. The feeling I could only describe as need.

I needed Henley. I was to fool to think otherwise.

Pulling away, I took a step back, breathing in deeply. She blinked up at me with heavy lidded eyes and I grabbed her hand, leading her back into the hotel room. She followed passively and squeaked in surprise when I pushed her down onto the bed, crawling onto all fours above her.

"Uh, Bennett. This book is PG-13."

"Only when the guy is fully naked does it become R. There's sheets on this bed. Millesimo bed sheets to be exact. Egyptian cotton—"

She pressed her lips back to mine, using my tie to pull me closer to her. I slowly lowered myself down, covering her body, checking to make sure I wasn't crushing her. She shifted below me, pulling up her knees so she could wrap them around the back of my thighs. Tilting her head to the side, she kissed me deeper, her tongue darting into my mouth and escaping before I could react.

I reached down and lifted the hem of her shirt, pulling away to ask the silent question. She nodded, curling up so I could easily pull her shirt over her head. When she tried to cover herself, I took her wrists, pinning them to her side. "Let me look."

"I..."

"Do you not want to do this?"

"Sometime tells me we both need to do this."

"I want to do this. I have been wanting to do this for a while."

She looked up at me, blushing and beautiful, her hair fanned out underneath her. "This is kind of embarrassing."

"This isn't the first time I've seen you shirtless," I reminded her, leaning down to plant a trail of kisses down her collarbone and travelling further south. Her body jolted as I kissed her just above her bra and I smiled. When I reached behind her to unhook it, she pouted up at me.

"You take off your shirt first."

"Gladly." Using one hand, I loosened my tie and unbuttoned my shirt, sneaking my arms through the sleeves and discarding it.

"You should keep your tie on."

"Hmm?"

Her face flamed and she shook her head. "Never mind!"

"Maybe next time," I told her, tossing it to the side. "Or we could use it for something else."

Her gaze followed mine to the headboard and she pursed her lips.