34----Robbing a pharmacy?

Ben cleaned my wrist and wrapped it in gauze.

He pulled me into the living room. I'm sitting on the couch. I grabbed the quilt from behind the sofa and wrapped it around myself. I was only wearing the shirt Ben had given me to sleep in. Ben grabbed one of the bags off the kitchen counter. He sat across from me and took something out of his bag. I saw a black sweater in his hand.

"I stopped at a thrift store in town and bought some clothes," he said. "I found something you should like."

He took the sweater out and turned it over so I could see the back. The number sixteen is embroidered in white on the back.

Sixteen is a strange number that Ben is obsessed with. He wants it at noon

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s room. Every hotel we stayed at in Hattar had sixteen. I raised an eyebrow. There was a smile on his face.

"You like it?"

"Sixteen?" I asked.

"Yeah, isn't this your number?" Favorite

Ben laughed at the confusion on my face.

"Is this my favorite number?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's the number on your jersey," he said.

The confusion was wiped away from my face and my heart dropped to my stomach.

The last time I wore the jersey was in training. It seems like a long time ago. I took it off and stuffed it into my backpack, then put on the sweater. Then I put on my headphones and walked home.

There was no way Ben would have known that was my jersey number. We didn't meet until after my surgery. I was wearing a hospital gown.

I clutched my hand to my chest and let out a shaky breath.

"You kidnapped me," I said. "Oliver told me he kidnapped the person who was his patient. He never told me it was you."

"If I hadn't done this, we would never have been together," he said.

I jumped off the couch. I walked away from him, my knees shaking. I was surprised Ben was still sitting on the couch. I thought he was going to try to hold me and calm me down.

"You're the reason I lost my eyes," I said. "You're the reason I lost my family."

"I'm your family, Diana," he said. "I love you."

I wanted to scream that I hated him. I bit my lip to keep from screaming the words I would regret. I can't let myself lose my temper. Ben would have his gun out in seconds.

"Why are you crying?" he asked.

I pulled a hand from under the blanket and wiped the tears from my cheek. Ben leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "This is all your fault."

"Diana, stop talking. Baby" his voice was calm and threatening. "come over."

He held out his hand and motioned for me to come over. My feet hit the cold floor. Ben shook his head.

"Dee, listen to me before I do something I'll regret," he said.

I knew what he meant and I didn't want a bullet in my skull. I forced my feet off the floor. I took only a few wobbly steps toward Ben, and he stood up. He took me in his arms and sat me on his lap. My fingers curled into the quilt wrapped around me. I jumped when one of his warm hands touched my bare skin. He chuckled and kissed me.

"I messed up," he said. His face was so close to mine that I could feel his warm breath on my face. "I knew I messed up. My life was messed up long before I killed Gabby."

Ben's hand slipped from my thigh. He wrapped the quilt tighter around me. My fists were still clenched in the blanket. As I listened to him ramble on about how he had been a victim in life.

“I was one of Bethany’s first guinea pigs,” he said. "Well, her first experiment was going well. She was increasingly afraid that the police would be able to find her through a missing persons case. She already claimed that I died in a car accident, so I was the perfect candidate. When Oliver started his She volunteered for me to join him during the experiment.”

"How many people have you kidnapped?" I asked.

He shrugged. His laid-back tone made my stomach twist.

"I'm not sure," he said. "I think you're Oliver's twelfth. I don't quite remember Bethenny's twelfth."

"Why did you take me?" I asked. "Why did you choose me specifically?"

"I am visiting several universities and colleges in and around the Maritimes. I may be there for a week or two," he said. "I was in the stands one time watching you girls practice. I noticed you always stayed up later than the others."

"So that's why you decided to bring me here?"

"Do you remember the night Oliver put the feeding tube in you?"

The change in topic made me frown.

"Not really," I said. Since Oliver had given me a sedative that night, I could only come to the door in bits and pieces. All I remember is Ben crawling into bed with my semi-conscious body.

"I always thought my life would be limited to Bethany, Oliver and their failed experiment," he said. "Then I saw you. When I saw you, everything changed. You were so beautiful and I felt love."

"You could have talked to me," I said. "That's what people usually do."

Ben smiled. He leaned down and rested his cheek on the top of my head. His skin was warm and the patches on his shirt were soaked.

"It's hard to believe you would want to be near me, especially after these experiments," he said. "I regret it so much. I was scared you were going to die, like all of Oliver's previous experiments. But you survived. That's how I knew you and I were meant to be together. That's how I knew something good was finally happening. Yes. Will come to this world to find me."

"Where's Alec?" I asked.

Ben's body stiffened. I haven't mentioned this girl's name since Caribbean. Ben had led me to believe that this was something Candace made up to stir up drama. This is one of the many stupid things I believe.

"I kidnapped Alexis," he said. "I didn't know anything about her at first. She was just a girl who stayed up late in the library. She was nice, but she couldn't handle it."

"So she committed suicide later?" I asked.

"Not really. I lied to her and gave her the wrong medicine. I deliberately made it look like suicide. I knew she wanted to die. She always told me she would rather die than live like this ." Ben handed me pills every morning and I took them without asking him. He may have poisoned both of us without my knowledge.

I removed my fingers from my fist and let them fall to the side. It hit Ben in the stomach and he screamed in pain. I sat up straight and slid off Ben's lap. He hugged his side with his arms.

“There’s a drugstore in town,” he said. His face was still twisted in pain. "They have something we need, loot it."

"We?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "I was going to leave you at home so you wouldn't get hurt, but I know now that you're going to hurt yourself even more here."

He lifted his chin and pointed at my bandaged wrist. I hugged them to my chest and nodded.

At least he got me back in town again.