Every bone in his body ached. Ben rolled over in bed and groaned. He rubbed his temples in an attempt to ease the pain that throbbed in his head, but it didn’t help. It felt like his body had taken a beating.
“You okay?” the soft voice beside him asked.
He opened his eyes and smiled. Anna was as beautiful as ever with her makeup-free face and disheveled hair. Ben slid his finger down the side of her face and eyed her closely. Worry was etched into the lines of her face and fear hid in the back of her eyes. He knew she cared about him, but watching her watch him at that very moment made him realize how much she really did. He thanked his lucky stars that he was able to live through the collision to see the stunning woman before him again.
“Is there something on my face?” Anna started rubbing her cheek, chin and then her forehead. “Or is there gook in my eyes?”
Ben chuckled.
“What? What were you staring at?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. You have nothing on your face and nothing in your eyes. I just find it hard to believe that someone as beautiful as you has chosen to be with me.”
“Hmmm. I may need to take you back to the hospital. You seem like you still have a concussion.”
Ben slid his arms around her waist and rolled her on top of him. She squealed with delight, but the quick motion had him seeing stars and his head began to throb harder. Not wanting her to see how it affected him, he plastered a beaming smile on his face. Only Anna didn’t miss a beat. She quickly moved off of him and searched his face.
“Stop fussing over me. I’m perfectly fine. Just a bit sore.”
“Ben Whitley… I won’t take that for an answer. If something is seriously wrong, then we need to get you back to the hospital!”
“I can promise you that won’t be necessary. I was told I would be in some pain today and that my head would feel like someone took my bat and hit me over and over again. I was prescribed some stuff to help with the pain.”
“Hmmm…” she repeated. “If you say so.”
Ben held up three fingers. “Scouts honor.”
Anna rolled her eyes and sauntered off to the bathroom. He waited until she was in the shower before crawling out of bed to stumble down the stairs in search of his pain meds. He found them on the counter right next to the left out Chinese food. The smell of it invaded his nostrils and his stomach began to twist and turn.
Ben threw the half-full cartons into the trash and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge. He pressed the cold bottle to his forehead before popping a couple pills in his mouth and chugging the entire thing.
He had plugged his phone into its charger in the kitchen before he went to bed the night before, and when he went to check his messages, he saw that he had a missed call from his coach.
“Damn,” he mumbled before hitting the call back button.
“Ben! How are you feeling today?” Travis Rosenberg was the head coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks and there wasn’t a single person who didn’t like the man. He not only had passion for the game, but for his team as well. He put their health and safety before anything,
“Hey, Bergie.” No one ever called him by his first or last name. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a freight train, but I won’t let it stop me from doing the job.”
He heard a soft chuckle on the other line. “Don’t worry about the job, Ben. Your health is all that matters.”
“I’m good to go.” Ben was definitely not good to go. The thought of catching a game sounded horrible, but he wasn’t about to be put on the DL. He knew he’d feel fine in a day or two.
“Well, to be safe, I plan to have you sit out today’s game. Come to the field but just take it easy today.”
“I don’t want to be placed on the DL. After today, I’ll make it work.”
Another chuckle. “That wasn’t my plan, Ben. I’ve been in an accident similar to what you were in, and I know how you’re feeling today. I’d like you to relax a bit and we’ll see how you feel by the end of the day.”
“Great, thanks.”
The silence on the line was almost deafening. Ben knew this conversation wasn’t over.
“So, Ben, are you ready to tell me what happened?”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Ben didn’t even know where to start. “Look, Bergie, it’s complicated. There’s a stalking situation happening—”
“Ben! Come on… A stalker? You know we have people who can take care of that.”
“Yes, I know, but I have no idea who these instances are aimed towards.” Ben regretted it after he said it.
“You mean to tell me that there has been more than one incident?” The tone of his coach’s voice told him that he was pissed.
“It’s things that are happening to the woman I’m currently dating. I assumed it was a stalker of mine, but I went to confront her and discovered that she had died a while ago. Honestly, I don’t even know if the accident had anything to do with it. The car is currently being looked at.”
“Ben, if it’s been tampered with, you need to alert me as soon as possible. We’ll get an investigator on it immediately.”
Ben shook his head. “No offense, Bergie, but I’d like to take the reins on this one.”
“Are you sure it’s nothing I should be concerned with?”
“I don’t think so. Let me see what happens. I’ll keep you updated.”
The long sigh indicated that he had conceded and Ben was temporarily in the clear. “Okay, Ben. I’ll let you handle this, but if things start to get out of hand, please let me know right away.”
“You got it. See you in a bit.”
The line went dead and Ben set the phone down. He wasn’t sure what to do next until his phone vibrated and a text flashed across the screen.
Hey, man! I’ve got a couple friends in town and was wondering if you could hook me up with four tickets to Friday’s game?
Tom Roland was a good friend of Ben’s who also happened to be an investigator for the local police department.
I’m happy to give you as many tickets as you want as long as you can do me a huge favor.
Of course, man. Anything.
Ben called Tom and went into detail about what had happened the last few weeks and asked if he would go to the dealership to check on the brake system of his car. Tom agreed and promised to get back to him later that day with his findings. Luckily he set his phone down before Anna came bounding down the stairs. It was a conversation he wasn’t prepared for her to hear. He didn’t want her to know he was opening an investigation on his car.
“Did you take some drugs to help you feel better?”
Ben nodded. “Yes, I feel much better.”
Anna smiled and leaned in for a kiss. “I didn’t realize the time. I’m running late.” She kissed him again and ran out the front door.
He stretched his aching muscles and rubbed the back of his neck. The last time he ever remembered being this sore was when he was just a punk kid who thought he was invincible. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case when he was intoxicated. He had fallen off a wall landing flat on his back, knocking him out cold. It was the last time Ben had ever gotten that drunk.
The old memory made him laugh. He was young, dumb and in much better shape than he was now. It was a simpler time when his bones didn’t ache and women weren’t as complicated. Well, women have always been complicated, but his younger self didn’t care.
Just when he was about to start his pity party of pain, his phone vibrated. It was a text from his coach telling him to stay home for the day to rest and try to get his personal issues sorted out. He wasn’t about to argue. Ben went straight upstairs and crawled back into bed where he slept the day away.
The repeated sound of his vibrating phone woke him from a dreamless sleep. Ben rolled over and saw that it was just after three in the afternoon. The vibrating stopped and started back up again. Afraid that it was Anna blowing up his phone, he clawed at the blanket to pull it closer to him and was relieved to see that it was just Tom. Ben pressed the call back button and was surprised to hear him answer before it even rang.
“Ben, buddy. We need to talk immediately.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you have some bad news for me?”
“That’s because we found some messed up shit. I would prefer to talk with you in person.”
Ben closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m actually home today. Why don’t you head this way?”
“Got it. On my way.”
Ben hit end and tossed his phone to the side, dread filling his gut. It was never a good thing when news couldn’t be said over the phone. He sighed heavily and dragged himself from the bed. Thankfully, he felt ten times better than he did that morning, but his body ached something fierce. Once he made it back into the kitchen, he took some more pain pills and brewed himself a cup of coffee.
It wasn’t long before Tom arrived. The solemn look on his face told Ben the news was even worse than he anticipated. He stared at him from behind his coffee mug. “Why the long face?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Tom shook his head. “You’ve always got jokes.”
Ben shrugged. “Coffee?”
Tom nodded and waited patiently for Ben to pour him a cup and take a seat across from him in the kitchen.
“Would you like the good news or the bad news first?
Ben wrinkled his eyebrows. “Is there good news?”
“The good news is that the person responsible for your brakes going out didn’t entirely know what they were doing because the brake fluid leaked out slow enough for you to make it halfway to your destination. If you had been flying down the freeway when it happened, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Ben swallowed hard. It made him sick to think that someone wanted him dead. Then his mother popped into his head. It took her a very long time to get over the death of his father. She wouldn’t survive the death of one of her children.
And then there was Anna. Beautiful Anna. He had gotten to the point where he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it. He needed more time with her. He needed to show her how loved she was and how important she was to him. It was amazing what went through one’s mind when they knocked on death’s door.
“Well, if that’s good news, I’m terrified to hear the bad news.”
Tom set his cup down. “Someone for sure caused this. They made pin sized holes in both the front and the back brake lines. Couldn’t tell you how long ago it happened. Like I said before, they didn’t know what they were doing. The holes were small enough to make the fluid drain slowly as opposed to rapidly. You can also tell the person had a hard time deciding how to go about doing it. We found marks on the tube where there was an attempt to slice a hole, but they didn’t break the surface. So it seems like they were torn between slicing the tube and poking holes.”
“You keep saying they. Was there more than one person responsible for this?”
Tom smiled. “Sorry. I say ‘they’ because I don’t know who to specify. I can’t say he or she because I have no idea which gender was responsible, and who knows, it could have been more than one person.”
“Gotcha.” Ben paused and thought of another question. “Do we know if this person was actually trying to kill me? Is it possible they were just trying to scare me?”
Tom was shaking his head. “Oh, no. They were definitely trying to kill you. The evidence in that was the airbag. Someone detached it from the system, making sure it wouldn’t deploy on impact. So, not only did they want you to get into an accident, they wanted to make sure there was no cushioning to soften the blow.” He leaned forward. “You weren’t supposed to survive that crash. You are one lucky son of a bitch.”
The realization of the situation hit Ben like a ton of bricks. The sick feeling he had before sat in the pit of his stomach and bile rose in his throat. Someone wanted him dead so badly, they were willing to do anything to make that happen.
“I hope you don’t mind but I called a buddy of mine who owns a small bodyguard service. He doesn’t come cheap though.”
Ben waved his hand in the air. “Money is no concern.”
“He should be here shortly. I suggest we have men positioned all around the property to prevent anyone else from getting in here.”
“See, that’s where I’m confused.” He scratched his head. “I have cameras and motion lights everywhere. Whoever this person is should have been noticed. A light would have come on. And since I don’t remember seeing any lights shining brightly into the house, I never thought to check the tapes.”
“Do you mind if I take those? I’d like to have a look to see what I can find.”
Ben nodded. “Of course. I’m happy to hand over my whole house if it would help you get to the bottom of this.”
Tom’s phone rang and he answered. “This is Tom… Mmm hmm. Yes… Okay. I’ll see you soon.” He hung up and set it aside. “That was Brady, the bodyguard I was referring to. He will be here in ten minutes with a few of his men. We’ll have someone with you at all times as well.”
“And for Anna.”
“Anna?” Tom questioned.
“Yes. Anna is my girlfriend. A part of me wondered if the tampering was for her, but after hearing what you had to say, I can’t imagine anyone to going to such length to end her life. But, me on the other hand, as a professional baseball player, I can see that. Who the hell knows why though.”
“Are you sure it wouldn’t be for her?” Tom’s face turned to stone.
“One hundred percent. She’s an innocent, Tom.”
He nodded. “Just to be safe, I would like to have a background check ran on her. Who’s to say she doesn’t have a psycho ex coming after you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. This isn’t her fault.”
“Ben, please. I know this isn’t her fault, but we have no leads. I’m grasping at straws here.”
Ben sighed. “Fine. Do what you have to do. I’ll go get those tapes for you.”
“Thank you.”
He sauntered away replaying the look on Tom’s face when he told him that Anna was his girlfriend. He tried to convince himself that it was impossible for someone to want her dead. Ben was the one who slept with more women than he could count. It had to be a jealous girlfriend or a disgruntled fan. It seemed impossible for someone to want Anna dead.
He realized that he had said the same sentence twice when he entered the security room. If Anna was in fact the target, Ben didn’t know what he would do. His heart sped up and he began to sweat at the idea of having to kill any person who thought to harm his Anna.