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Another Tragedy

Author: Ali Parker
last update Last Updated: 2024-02-04 02:48:49

Ben

I nodded. “Yeah, eventually they did. The warehouse is ruined, though.” I’d heard it on the news late last night when I hadn’t been able to sleep.

“How’s Luke? And Jonas?”

“I haven’t seen Jonas yet. Luke is okay. The tube is out, but he’s weak.”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, playing hero will do that to you when it blows up in your face. Thanks for coming around today.”

I nodded. So far, things were looking up. I was starting to slowly feel better about the whole thing. If everyone was out of the hospital safe and sound, then I would be happy.

When we walked to Jonas’s room, I knew we weren’t in the clear yet. Jonas’s skin was terribly burned, and he didn’t seem to be conscious. His leg had been put in a cast, and machines whirred and beeped all around him, making the room seem like something from a sci-fi movie. I carefully walked to his bed.

“What happened?” I asked. He looked worse off than yesterday.

“He had a rough night,” Mila said, reading his chart. “He’s in a chemically induced co
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    MilaMy heart went out to Ben. Everything seemed to be going wrong for him, and the hits just kept on rolling. First, the guilt from the fire and everything Ben had been struggling with since the fire had taken place yesterday. Now, he’d lost his uncle. I could only imagine how much he had to be struggling.I knew it was hard, and I had been through enough pain myself to know what it was like to deal with loss. I hadn’t ever lost someone in the sense of the death of a loved one, but I had lost a lot of patients who had felt as personal to me as if they had been family. Ben was going to have a tough time ahead.I wished I could be there for him the way he needed me. Until now, I had been there, trying to comfort him in his time of need. I had offered to be a shoulder he could cry on, a pillar of strength when he felt like he was swaying in the wind. But with his uncle gone and his sudden trip to New York, I couldn’t be there for him. Not in the way I wanted to.A part of me hoped he ha

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Kiss And Tell

    MilaI pulled up my shoulders. “He kissed me. Or maybe I kissed him. I can’t remember who moved first but it was definitely not one-sided. And it was amazing. Oh my god, Skylar. Everything about him is fantastic.”Skylar’s eyes widened. “Fantastic, huh? You don’t just think it was the alcohol talking?”I giggled and shook my head. “I know what a good kiss should be like, and that was definitely top shelf.” I blushed again, thinking about it. I still didn’t know where I stood with Ben regarding that kiss, but every time I thought about it, I could feel his lips on mine. The warmth that radiated from him was still in my skin, and heat washed through my body. Every. Time.I had been drunk but not enough to forget it.“Okay, this is what I want to know,” Skylar said. “You kissed the guy of your dreams—the kiss you’ve been fantasizing about for the past ten years—and you haven’t told me. Are you crazy?”I shrugged my shoulders. “A lot happened since then. It was one emergency after the oth

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Back Home

    BenMy trip to New York was quick. There wasn’t much I could do other than making sure the business ran the way it was supposed to and offering my condolences to Penny. Uncle Dean had taken care of her in the event of his death, so other than making sure she was all right, there hadn’t been anything I could do. Uncle Dean’s lawyers were still working on his estate, and everything else had come to a standstill without the sole owner of the company.Going home had been the only other option.By Saturday, I was back in Portland, and I felt like I’d been hit by a train. I had to carry on with my life here until there was any news about the will, about what was going to happen to the company and everything else that Uncle Dean had left behind.I dialed Mila’s number and waited for her to take the call or get her voice mail. I wasn’t sure if she was at the hospital today or not.“Yeah?” she answered. She sounded like she’d been sleeping.“Did I wake you?” I asked.“Ben? Oh my god. How are y

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Wet

    Ben“I’ll have you know, I’m not that kind of woman,” she said with a giggle. I laughed, grabbed her hand, and we ran through the rain to my car. I was lucky I hadn’t drank more than I had. No damn way I’d drive if I were over the limit.By the time we reached the car, we were drenched.“This weather is crazy,” Mila said when lightning zigzagged across the sky and thunder followed on its heels.We made it back to Mila’s apartment. The rain had made it a little harder to drive, but it felt like we were enclosed in a bubble with the rain showering down all around us, and I loved it.“Let me walk you inside,” I said when I stopped in front of Mila’s building. “You could slip and fall in this.”“Then, I’ll have a handsome fireman to save me,” she said with a cute smile. She was cute and sexy and beautiful and fun all in one go, and I couldn’t believe it was possible for one woman to be so perfect without even trying.We jumped out into the rain and ran to the front door of the building. M

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Switch Turned Off

    MilaWhen Ben left, I was stunned. Emotions had been running high. My body had been on fire for him. I had wanted him to touch me in ways I had never wanted from anyone.His kiss had been even better than I had remembered it, and even though we hadn’t ever spoken about what had happened between us in the taxi, it had seemed like Ben wanted me as much as I wanted him.Then, he had stopped it all as if it had been a switch he could just turn on and off.It wasn’t that simple for me. I was still horny as hell, almost trembling with the need for a release, an ache in my gut for the connection with a man I hadn’t only crushed on for as long as I could remember but someone who had come to mean so very much to me.Instead of having the best sex ever, of losing my virginity to someone I deemed worthy of something that serious to me, I was alone in my apartment, frustrated, abandoned, and stranded with my own tumult of emotions.I paced my apartment, pressing my hand to my forehead. When I tou

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Do It Yourself

    MilaAfter paying attention to my breasts for a while, my pussy begged for attention enough to distract me, and I ran my hands down my body, over my stomach. I pulled up my knees and arched my back, curling into the bed before my thighs fell open. I played my fingers over my pussy lips, gasping. My touch was almost electric after I had teased myself for so long, and I gasped, wanting more. I tried to hold out and drag it out, but my clit throbbed, and I pushed my fingers into my slit. I was so wet, and I shivered when I touched my clit. I smeared the wetness all around my pussy, moving slowly and gently. With my eyes closed, I pictured Ben. I imagined it was his hands on my body, his fingers on my clit.I had never masturbated thinking about someone in particular. Even though I had crushed on Ben for ages, I hadn’t used him as fuel for my sexual fantasies. Not when I had thought he didn’t even think about me. It had seemed wrong somehow.But now, I knew he’d wanted me. His dick had be

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Timing

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Leaving Again

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Epilogue Part 2

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Epilogue Part 1

    BenSeven Months LaterWhen I unlocked the door to the house I had bought six months ago, I was stepping over the threshold as a father. It was the first time, and I was very aware of it. A lump rose in my throat, but I swallowed it down.“Ready?” I asked Mila. She nodded and climbed out of the car. She moved comfortably. It was amazing how women bounced back from giving birth in no more than a day or two. It would have been different if she had had a C-section or something, but Mila had given birth naturally.She opened the car door and lifted the carrier out of its brace.“I’m coming,” I said, running to her. I took the carrier from her so she didn’t have to strain herself and put my arm around her as I carried little Landon in the other hand.Mila had given birth to a beautiful baby boy twenty-four hours ago. It had been a beautiful surprise. I would have been just as proud if it was a girl, but I was so happy it was a boy. Landon Atwood had a great ring to it.We walked together t

  • Billion Dollar Man   Aching For Him

    MilaAgain, he didn’t touch my pussy even though he came so close. Instead, he moved up my hip bones and kissed my stomach, my ribs, moving past my breasts to my shoulders and working his way down one arm. When he reached my fingers, he sucked them into his mouth and played with his tongue around them. It was a strange feeling, ticklish and such a turn on.Ben let go of my hand and moved across my chest, avoiding my breasts, moving over my shoulder and down my other arm. When he reached my fingers, I was just about losing my mind with lust. I wanted him inside me so badly, and he’d been teasing me by not touching any of the areas I so desperately wanted him to touch.When Ben pressed his fingers against my pussy, I jumped. I had wanted it so badly, now that I had it, it was like a jolt of electricity shooting into my body. Ben pressed his thumb against my clit and pushed two fingers into me. He moved his thumb while curling his fingers over my G-spot, and it didn’t take long at all be

  • Billion Dollar Man   All Figured Out

    MilaLate on Friday night, my phone rang. I was already sleeping, and it took me a while to find my phone on my nightstand.“Are you awake?” Ben asked.I smiled. “I am, now.”“Can I come over? I have great news.”I looked at the alarm clock next to my lamp. The red numbers said it was well after midnight.“Of course,” I said.Half an hour later, a cab pulled up and dropped Ben off in front of my apartment building. I had been looking out for him. I buzzed him up before he rang my apartment, and I smiled when he stumbled up the step to the front door. He had been drinking.When I opened the front door to him, he stepped forward and folded me against his body.“I missed you,” he said.I laughed. “It’s been two days.”“Two days too many,” Ben said. He smelled like beer and cigarette smoke.“Where were you?” I asked.“I was at the bar, having drinks with Jerrod.”I raised my eyebrows. It was good news. Unexpected, and good. I led Ben into my apartment and closed the door.“Get back in bed

  • Billion Dollar Man   Lessons Learned

    BenI shook my head. “I won’t. I know I haven’t treated her right, but I thought I was doing the right thing. I’m sticking around, now. I’m not going anywhere. I’m madly in love with her. Mila is one of a kind.”Jerrod nodded. “She is. And I can see how you feel about her. I have no doubt that you care for her. It just pissed me off so much that I was the last to know.”“I get that,” I said. I really did feel bad for what we’d done. But there was only so many times I could say I was sorry. I knew that this time, Jerrod had accepted my apology.Jerrod nodded again. We both drank our beers, listening to the music and watching the crowds shuffle in. As the night dragged on, the bar filled up with patrons who were done with their work week and looking for a way to unwind.“It’s just all so unexpected,” Jerrod said after a while. “Your relationship with her when I still see her as a kid is one thing. But now she’s pregnant. Man.” He scrubbed his face with his hands. “I don’t know what to m

  • Billion Dollar Man   Have to Fix It

    BenOn Friday I walked into the bar where Mila and I had gone with Jerrod and Skylar. We hadn’t been careful enough that night, and Jerrod had seen us together. That was when the trouble had all started between me and Jerrod, and I was hoping this was where it would all end.I had texted him, telling him I was going to be at the bar tonight. I wanted to talk to him, but I was tired of running after him when he wasn’t interested. I had asked him to come to meet me. He hadn’t replied. I had told him what time I was going to be there, and now that I was here, time would tell if Jerrod was going to show up to talk to me.My wristwatch told me it was eight o’clock. I would give him half an hour before I left again.Until now, everything had been about Jerrod. He had been the one who had been wronged. Mila and I had kept our relationship secret from him when it was already a no-no that his best friend and younger sister were dating. It had been wrong not to tell him and even worse that he h

  • Billion Dollar Man   There For You

    Mila“I love you, too.”There was nothing else to say. Words couldn’t describe how we both felt at that moment.After I changed back into my clothes, we met Dr. Holt in her office again. She gave me a prescription for prenatal supplements and an eating plan with do’s and don’ts for the next seven months.“I’ll see you back here in about eight weeks,” Dr. Holt said. “Then we’ll find out what you’re having.”When Ben and I walked back to the car, I felt like I was walking on air. Everything felt different, now. I felt more ready to be a mother, to have this baby and to raise it, than I had before. Now that I had seen the baby, I knew that I wanted all of this.Did Ben feel the same?“You know, you still have time to back out of this,” I said to Ben. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me.“What makes you think I would want that?” he asked.I pulled up my shoulder. I couldn’t guarantee that this feeling of amazement was mutual. Ben took a step closer to me and kissed me long and

  • Billion Dollar Man   Seeing The Baby

    MilaOn Wednesday I had the day off again and had scheduled an ultrasound. Now that everyone knew about me being pregnant, it was time to meet the baby.Ben was with me. It made me less nervous, but only a little. It was crazy how tense I was about the appointment, even though everything was out in the open now. The idea that I was pregnant, that we were having a baby, was terrifying.It had all happened so fast. It had been mere weeks since Ben had come back to Portland for the first time and now we were starting a family together. There were nights when I was sleepless and in a fit of panic, wondering how the hell we were going to get through this. We had been a part of each other’s lives for years, but when it came down to knowing each other, we were practically strangers.When I was with Ben, like now, all my worries melted away. We were great together. He was so attentive now that I was pregnant, and since he had told me he was going to stay, our relationship was stronger than ev

  • Billion Dollar Man   Spreading The Word

    BenI let go of Jerrod’s shirt. He stumbled back, his expression surprised. Maybe he had expected me to throw the first punch. He had been ready to fight me. But I wasn’t here for that. I hadn’t come to beat up my best friend. I had only come to set the record straight.“She’s a great person, Jerrod. You know that. She doesn’t deserve this shit.”I turned around and left the office. Jerrod stayed behind, gaping. I had never been one to back down from a fight. There had been enough fights in high school that had shown Jerrod that. But this wasn’t high school, and Jerrod was like a brother to me. If I ended up with Mila, he would be a brother-in-law, in fact.So, I wasn’t going to go there.Instead, I headed back home like a good boy to seethe in private.After I had taken the time to calm down, I phoned Mila.“How are you doing?” I asked.“Better,” she said, and I was relieved. “I came off my shift just now. I’m going to crawl into bed for a few hours.“Have you told your parents yet?”

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