“You’re a loser, and the bitch better stay away from me,” Raegan hissed, but there was another voice in the background. “This is how a guy fucks a girl, you wimp,” she carried on, but this time, it came out as a moan.Ben hung up, only for the other to call right back. This time, he ignored it. After an hour of constant calls, he knew he had enough. He turned his cell phone off and shoved it into his jacket before walking out of the room. The entire time he walked around, all Benjamin could hear was Raegan repeatedly telling him how boring he was. Walking into the first bar he saw, he settled at the bar and ordered a beer. It was just after his third that he made the mistake of listening to the voicemails from Raegan.He drank a few more beers, and his anger got the best of him. Walking out of the bar, he headed for the bar where his sister and Milton were going to be. About halfway there, he came across a tattoo shop and went inside. "Hey there, I'm just wondering if you have any
Benjamin felt guilty for having sex with Dora and then running out when Milton and Alexis entered the bar. He just ran out with her like she was a secret. “Wow,” Dora giggled and he wrapped his arm around her, stopping her from falling as his eyes scanned her. He noticed that she had a short dress on, so he removed his jacket and put it on her.“What’s wrong?” he asked.She looked up at him and shook her head. “Nothing, just…” she sighed. “I want to have fun. I want to have a night with no regrets. With someone different. Be someone that can and will do anything they want.”“I could help you with that. I need to do that, too.”“Hey, boring bro!” Benjamin turned to see Royce running toward them. "Can I talk to the lady?" he asked and Ben frowned, but bobbed his head.“No, I wanna go,” Dora whined. “You're happy to go with him?" Royce asked and Dora nodded at him. "Yes, he's my knight in black leather armor," she giggled at the end, making Royce shake his head. “Make sure she gets ho
“What?” she asks shyly but her eyes twinkled with delight.“Marry me,” he repeated. “We can’t—” Ben grinned, picking up on the small tinge of hope in her voice. “We can,” he said firmly, pulling her along with him. They went to a small jewelry store that was open along the strip and he picked out two bands, paying double for them to engrave them both immediately. As soon as they were done, they headed to a small, nearby chapel. They gave the people their details and drivers' licenses. Ben had to squint his eyes, trying to make out her last name. After a few minutes, it came to him… it said Prez. Just like she had said. They asked where the happy couple wanted their official paperwork mailed. They talked and Ben agreed after she told him about how much her house meant to her. The certificate would be sent to her house. Benjamin watched as the recorder lady filled in the information on the papers.“What about your family?” Dora asked.“I will call them.” Since they had some time to
“It does happen when I drink a lot of Jack Daniels.”“And that is what you have been drinking,” he reminded her.She moved away and wrote something down on a pad of paper. “Just take this. I am going to get my belongings, you can keep my dress,” she laughed as she put on his tshirt.He watched her walk out and move to the door. He sat on the floor by the door and watched her go to her room. His eyes rolled closed as he thought about how she looked naked.“Sir…” He frowned and opened his eyes only to see a bell boy looking at him. “What?” "Your door is wide open, Sir," as the bellboy spoke, Benjamin’s mind was filled with the events from the night before. He glanced around the room for Dora, but she was not there. He leaped up and ran down to her room. "Dora!" He yelled as he burst through the open doorway, but there was just a maid there looking at him, with her mouth open. "The woman in this room, where is she?" he asked. "She just went downstairs to check out," the bell boy sai
It had been months and Benjamin hadn’t gotten any closer to finding Dora. He had even called Royce, who didn’t remember her, but said that she might have paid with a card.Benjamin walked into his office. “Sorry I took so long,” he said to the woman who was sitting at his desk. She turned on him and he swallowed. She looked like his Dora.‘She is too pale,’ his mind argued. ‘If she is pregnant… it can’t be.’“Hi,” she whispered as she stood up. He noted that her voice was similar but not the same. He picked up her paperwork, seeing she has filled out her medical history, but her husband's name has been left blank. He would have to make a note to ask him at their next appointment, but that information was not as important as hers at that stage.He ran through some of the information and questions. He noticed she didn't correct him when he said Mrs. Leonard, but she checked single. He figured she was newly married. Once they were done, he asked her to move to the examination room. The
Turning on the music, Pandora started to give her home a good spring clean. She knew she was a little early but she was already halfway done so there was no complaining. She just wanted it completed, so she could start getting her babies’ room ready for them.She took the load of clothes that Derrik left in her home down to the laundry room and threw them into the washing machine, to get washed. There was nothing wrong with them and since Derrik had been an asshole, she would just drop them off at the local homeless shelter.She headed back upstairs to get on with cleaning the spare room. Derrik used it as an exercise room. During the divorce, he got all the weight machines and other stuff he needed, even though he hardly used them after he had lost his initial interest in them. She tried to get him to sell those things years ago, but he refused to part with them because they were ‘his.’ The more she thought about their marriage, the more she knew it was much more horrible than she ha
Again, she was taken aback, but the words and his tone of voice didn’t match. She shook her head and got to her room. After removing her water-logged shoes and drying off, she got dressed. Pandora sat on her bed in her fuzzy pajama pants and a tank top, waiting. Finally, Benjamin tapped on the door and peeked inside. "Hey," he said with a smile as he walked in. "Lie back and I'll take a look at things.” Pandora did what he asked and he rubbed his hands together. He sat gently on the bed beside her. "Have you felt the babies moving around yet?" he asked and she shook her head at him. Benjamin gently slid her tank top up and placed his warm hands on her tummy. "Why are you still wearing your glasses?" she asked. He tilted his head up and she knew he was looking at her. "I've had a bad headache, all day," he answered. Pandora frowned at him, but he shook his head at her. "Sorry about all this, then.""It's not your fault, my brother-in-law is being a prick, and I am about to beat
While Pandora was not at work, she was trying to use all her internet stalking skills to try and find out who and where Nemo was. Still, after weeks, she was drawing up a blank. Just as she was about to switch off the laptop, Bean and Curd started moving around.“Hey, you two, I am not giving up. I just don’t have enough information to find him right now,” she said as she rubbed her belly, but they kept moving around. "If it comes down to it I'll make a stupid tiktok and ask the internet to find him. I swear to you I will find him." For some ungodly reason, she ended up on Craiglist, the holy grail of ads and ‘find my mystery person’ posts. She groaned at some of the posts. They made her cringe and they weren’t even about her. But there was one ad that caused her to grit her teeth together. [My Brother-in-Law and the runaway bride.I, along with my wife and her family took a short vacation to Vegas.]Pandora tilted her head a little. The situation sounded somewhat familiar! [We—ap
"Looks like you are going to have a baby," Emily said, showing her the test. "Or maybe two. Knowing you and Benjamin, it will be twins again," she laughed. "Hush," Pandora gritted out and glared at her. "Hey, you never know, it could be three this time," she smiled. Pandora snorted and slapped her arm. "No, thank you! Now, not a word about this to him. I want to surprise him!" Emily nodded. "Just glad I know someone that's having a baby who will be around this one's age," Emily rubbed her tummy as she spoke. "Maybe you'll have a boy and I'll have a girl and they'll get married," Pandora joked. Emily’s eyes lit up and Pandora knew her joke backfired when she got a big smile on her face. "That would be so awesome," she said. Pandora heard Benjamin yell her name and Emily winked at Pandora. "I better get back to work. Text me when you tell him!" "I will," Pandora replied and she opened the door and ducked out. "Give me three minutes, and then you'll be free to get out of here wi
"It was just some homeless man. I really don't know why they even followed up on it. But I was blamed, and then put in jail. JAIL! When I got out, I was a laughingstock. No one wanted to know me. No one, not even the people I had made great. They all left me to rot. My daddy left with all the money he had and started over in another country. I had nothing. I have nothing and it's all your fault." At that point, she stood and charged at Pandora again, but Pandora easily deflected her arms, grabbed her, and held her down as Raegan hissed and growled at Pandora. "Oh shit!" she heard Milton say and he moved quickly to her, restraining Raegan. "I told you to stay away from this place," he said. "This is all your fault. You and that bitch took my life. I was meant to be Mrs. Parks—it was my life!" she yelled and Milton sighed. "Handcuff her. We have to drop her off at the hospital again," he sighed to the female officer as Pandora watched her place handcuffs on Raegan. Pandora stood, a
Their imperfections, and the fact that they didn't want to be perfect, or have a perfect marriage made them able to cope when one of them made a mistake. Thankfully, Pandora was very kind, and since it was Benjamin that normally screwed up, that made him lucky. Benjamin glanced at Pandora who was hugging his mother, and he noticed she had a warm glow around her. He had always seen it, but it had become more evident to him since they renewed their wedding vows. Benjamin wanted—needed—to marry her again, not because they were both drunk the first time, but because he needed her to know that he meant it all and that he wanted her to be his wife. Pandora looked stunning in the wedding dress that Maisey had made her, but he thought she could have worn a trash bag and still shone like a star. She was so happy and cheerful that he made it his vow to make her that happy at least once a day. He hated to let her dance with anyone else at their reception, but it did give her a chance to hold
"Where are we going tomorrow?" Jack asked. "The zoo," Amy answered with a roll of her eyes. "We can't all be great at remembering stuff," he replied, making the rest of them roll their eyes at him. "It's on the family schedule on the fridge... Oh wait, that's right, you don't look at that because then you would need to do your homework," Beth was quick to point out. "You're just jealous that I can do it in five minutes flat and still pass," Jack boasted. "That's not always going to work, and you will no longer be doing the work moments before it's due to be turned in; do you understand me?" Pandora asked him. "But, is it more important to get it done right or promptly?" he asked, making Benjamin stifle the chuckle that was starting to bubble up, knowing he just stepped into it. "No, mister smarty pants, and you'd be wise to use those smarts to mind what you argue. Getting your work done promptly and done correctly are both important and if you keep doing it at the last minute,
"They must have been naughty, they're back to being just mine," he said with a chuckle, knowing full well that they had been fighting all day. He gave her one last kiss before walking away. "Okay, Amy, you're up first," he said, pointing in front of him as he sat down. He took them one at a time, listening to what they each had to say. As it turned out, this was just a fight about whose turn it was to pick something to watch on the television. So as a punishment, he removed their TV time for the rest of the day and the next. "I can't believe I am going to miss watching golf!" Jack tutted. "What am I going to do now?" "You could read, like Amy," Beth told him with a touch of attitude. "I am not reading one of her silly books!" he bit back. "They were Mom's books," Micheal reminded him. "And Dad said he read them, too." "Yeah, I guess, but what about tomorrow? No TV tomorrow and I planned to watch the tournament. I wish school started already." "Jack, we have plans for tomorrow–
Benjamin took his time looking at the screen. He looked over all the measurements and made sure the spine was straight. Next, he paid close attention to the beating heart and found that it, as well as the other organs, were seemingly perfect. He let out a soft breath when everything looked good, and looked up with a smile. "Mackenna," he said softly as she had her eyes tightly closed. "Come on, open your eyes and look up here at the monitor. She's fine– everything looks great," Benjamin whispered. Mackenna had four miscarriages in the past ten years, and where Benjamin couldn't prove that they were caused by the mistreatment that she received at the hands of Derrik, he stood firm in his belief that the drugs he had given her had some long-lasting effects. About eight years ago, Pandora and she ran into each other while out around town. They got talking and Mackenna accompanied Pandora to the tattoo store Benjamin frequented. The couple had planned on getting matching tattoos on the
“On the twelve counts of Identity Theft Fraud, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the four counts of Attempted Murder, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.”“On the three charges of Breaking and Entering, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the five counts of Mortgage Fraud, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” “On the six counts of Aggravated Assault, we, the jury, find the accused, Derrik Preston, guilty on all counts.” The reading went on, covering all the different charges. Meanwhile, Miriam was wailing. Pandora closed her eyes, feeling a sense of relief, as each charge came back guilty. "Mr. Preston, you have been found guilty by a jury of your peers; you will be remanded in custody and sentenced on Friday at ten a.m.—" "No! No, not my boy! You've made the wrong choice, you stupid people! I'll end you all for doing this to my baby
Benjamin and Pandora arrived just as the court was starting up. First up was Derrik, who sat there for almost three hours, trying to paint himself as the victim. It was hard sitting there listening to him spew out how Pandora was trying hard to ruin him, and she did all that herself to set him up. Miriam was the next to take the stand and she just glared at Pandora as she was sworn in. "I would first like to ask you about your son, who is he?" Derrik's lawyer asked. "Oh, my sweet Derrik is such a good boy. He was a star football player, but she..." Miriam hissed with a nod in Pandora’s direction, "made him give up his dream. She was always bossing him around, telling him what to do, and what to wear. He wasn't allowed friends, and she even tried to stop him from talking to me. But I wouldn't allow that to happen. I would walk through hell for my son." "So, Mrs. Preston, you are saying that Mrs. Parks was controlling your son?" "Oh yes, he wasn't allowed to work because she was af
During her testimony, Pandora learned that she was also known as Brownie. As she continued through the questions she was asked, Pandora had to bite her lip to stop the sobs from coming out. She told the court how she was paid to pretend to be Pandora. It was one thing to hear how she pretended to be her, but then she told the court how Derrik had sex with her several times inside Pandora’s home. She talked about being in Pandora’s bed, and it just about broke her. For the first time since all of it had started, Pandora was grateful that she had sold her home. "We have one more witness, Your Honor," the District Attorney said and with a nod, the Bailiff walked out. "We call Hannah Song to the stand." Pandora looked over to see a girl who looked like a teenager walking in with her head down. She was sworn in but her head remained down. "Can you tell the court your age?" the District Attorney asked. "Nineteen," she answered quietly, so the Bailiff adjusted the microphone in front of