Chapter 5: Early Arrival

BEN

NOVEMBER 1, 2001, SENIOR YEAR

When I returned to my house, it was after midnight. All was quiet but there was a light on in my bedroom and the door was open. Great. Someone was up.

I walked to the room and looked over to find my mom sitting on my bed, holding my cell phone. She first looked at me with a withering gaze and asked in a deadly quiet voice, "Where were you?"

I had never, ever, once managed to lie to my mother's face. She always knew when I was hiding something. So I truthfully told her, "At Adrienne's."

Mom blinked a few times and nodded, expecting that answer.

"Were you doing something naughty?"

I didn't answer verbally, but I nodded.

"Did you have sex with her?"

I raised my eyebrows and took a deep breath, firmly answering, "No."

Mom's eyes narrowed as she went through her Mom-Lie-Detector-3000 routine. She waited me out until my guilt kicked in and I clarified, "Not quite."

She bit her lip and nodded. "Do you know why I'm holding your cell phone?"

I sighed and remembered how I had left the last conversation. If I were in Dawn's position I would have called and called and called. "Probably because it was ringing constantly."

"Quite right. It woke up the whole house," Mom sighed as she handed the cell phone back to me. I cradled it and automatically thumbed over to the missed calls list to see how many times Dawn had called me.

"I sent Brooke and the twins back to bed already," Mom sighed. "And then I answered Dawn's next call. She's quite distraught you know."

I sighed, feeling some of my old anger coming back to me. "Well, she deserves to be."

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT," Mom glared at me with wicked venom in her voice. She had gone from maternal to terrifying in a split-second, and frightened out of my wits I took two steps back and bumped into the dresser drawer behind me.

I blinked rapidly, not understanding. "She said she cheated on me! That's why I went to Adrienne's!"

"Dawn was RAPED, Ben," Mom said coldly.

"Excuse me?" I asked in shock, my jaw hitting the floor. No, it couldn't be.

"It's true. Her father's got the kid right now."

"Wait, WHAT?" I practically yelled.

"Calm down, Ben or you're going to bring your sisters running in here again."

"WHAT?" I yelled just as loud as before.

Mom held her hand up while she worked out how to explain to me. "I talked to her mother. Deanna said Dawn's ex-boyfriend Mark brought her home from a party. She was passed out and Mark said she'd been drinking. Later that night, Dawn woke up and started screaming your name so loud she woke up the neighbors. Jack and Deanna quizzed her about what happened and found that her memory was fuzzy and she had semen in her vagina."

My teeth started grinding at the thought of another man's spunk in Dawn's pussy. But as my eyes narrowed, Mom held up a hand to keep my quiet while she continued. "Dawn thought she'd had too much to drink and that's why she couldn't remember everything. Jack Evans demanded to know where Mark lived and the three of them drove to the boy's house. They suspected nothing more than a teenager taking advantage of a drunk girl. Mark was home alone and once Jack started threatening him to explain everything that had happened, the poor boy cracked and admitted he'd drugged Dawn with rohypnol and raped her while she was half-passed out. Apparently, he's been quite obsessed with Dawn ever since she broke up with him."

I staggered back again, and this time when my back hit the dresser drawer, I just collapsed flat on my ass. "No ... No..." I breathed in disbelief while sitting on the floor. Not Dawn. Not MY Dawn. Oh, hell...

The anger was back in me. I'd wring the little fucker's neck until it SNAPPED. And all of a sudden I was back on my feet and racing down the stairs.

"Ben!" Mom yelled after me.

I ignored her. I flew out the front door and didn't even bother to shut it behind me. Ten seconds later, I started the engine on my 11-year-old Corolla and shifted it into gear. With burning rubber, I peeled out and raced off down the residential street at 50mph.

I was approaching the freeway on-ramp when my cell phone lit up and shaking my head, I answered it. "What?"

"Where are you going, Ben?" Mom asked.

"To Dawn's. And to find this Mark sonovabitch," I barked coldly.

"You don't even know how to get there-" Her voice cut off as I hit the END-button.

Ten seconds later, my cell phone rang again. I ignored it and merged onto the mostly empty freeway, quickly accelerating up to 80. The phone rang again.

I was on the 5 zipping through the Orange Crush towards the 22/57 ramps when I finally started to calm down a bit. My mom had been repeatedly calling me and this time, I answered the phone.

"Ben, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to Dawn's."

"You have school tomorrow."

"I don't care."

Mom sighed. There were several seconds of silence and I took the time to check my mirrors for cops and to pass the walnut geriatric Cadillac doing 65 in the fast lane. What was he even doing awake at this hour?

I heard Mom inhale then and she asked, "How's the battery life on your phone?"

I checked it and then put the handset to my head again. "It's fine. I put it in the charger as soon as I got home from school today."

"Do you have your wallet?"

I patted my pocket and felt the familiar bulge. I didn't remember grabbing it, but I must have scooped it up subconsciously when I grabbed my car keys. "Yes."

"Okay. Don't let your tank get too empty. Gas stations can be few and far between. Stay on the 5 until you get to the 152 and head west to Gilroy. Be careful. That road is winding and there aren't any lights. Then take the 101 North. Call me in about 5 hours or so when you get to the 101 and I'll give you more specific directions and their address, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll call Dawn's parents to let them know you're coming."

"Okay."

"Drive safe, Ben."

"Bye, Mom."

Hungry, exhausted, and with my car doing its best to melt down from overheating, I pulled up outside the Evans' house just before 7am.

The front door opened before I got to the doorbell and Deanna Evans ushered me inside. "Hi, Ben."

I didn't bother with pleasantries. "Where is she?" I asked, my voice cracking.

"In her room." I looked up the stairs and felt a wave of nostalgia come back to me. It was the same house Dawn had grown up in when we were kids, and while everything looked a little smaller to me now, it was still familiar.

I started for the stairs while Dawn's mom touched my shoulder. "You must be hungry."

"Grabbed a snack at a gas station," I bit out and turned for the stairs.

"You should clean up. I'm sure some of Jack's clothes will fit you."

Feeling the weight of true love behind my eyes, I slowly turned towards Dawn's mother and stared straight at her, the intensity of my gaze giving her all the answer she needed.

Deanna Evans bit her lip and nodded, and I went up the stairs.

Dawn was still asleep when I pushed her door open. She looked so small and frail, curled up into a little ball. Her slumber was fitful as she twitched and shivered, her eyes squinting shut and her lips curled into a grimace of fear.

I sat beside her on the bed, reaching out to touch her. No matter what expression on her face, Dawn would be the angel of my life, forever beautiful. But then I saw the grime on my hand and realized I must stink. I hadn't showered and I'd sweated for the six-hour drive, and all of a sudden I was afraid to touch her for fear of marring her beauty. So I looked over to see where the bathroom was so that I could at least wash my hands and face.

But Dawn sensed my presence anyways. Or maybe she smelled my foul odor. Whatever the reason, she stirred awake while I was looking towards the bathroom and softly asked, "Ben?" Her voice was ethereal and sounded as if it was coming from the dream world.

I turned quickly to her and dirty hands or not, I cupped her face in my palms. "Dawn!" I gushed with worried eyes.

"Oh, Ben!" She reached for me and hugged herself to my torso. "How are you here?"

"I drove as soon as I found out," I husked.

Dawn's eyes looked at me in disbelief and then she looked over my shoulder. Both her parents were there and Deanna Evans explained, "His mother called us but we wanted to let you sleep. Better to wake up to him already here than stay awake for hours in anticipation of his arrival."

Dawn's mom then tsked us and stepped forward, grabbing my hands and rubbing them vigorously in a damp washcloth she'd brought along. "Of course, I'd hoped to get him cleaned up first."

"Sorry," I stammered.

Dawn's mom then smiled at her daughter. "Well, we'll leave you two then. Ben, please don't pester her with details right now. For her sake, okay? I'll answer all your questions when you want."

I nodded and the parents left. And then I swept Dawn's face into my arms as I kissed her with long-buried passion. I'd been dreaming of doing this for months, and from the ferocity with which Dawn kissed me back, she seemed to have been longing for this just as much as me.

"Oh, Dawn, I love you," I gasped and broke for air.

"I love YOU, Ben!" she whimpered and started crying as I bear-hugged her.

And as I lost myself into the sheer bliss of feeling my Dawn in my arms, all the tension and worry and angst of the past dozen hours started melting out of me. Suddenly I felt the exhaustion I hadn't let myself feel. I felt the aching muscles and growl in my stomach. I got a little dizzy from the sudden lack of adrenaline pumping through me. And I sighed in fear for the immediate future.

Just hours before, I had nutted my load down Adrienne's throat and Dawn had taken some other boy's cum into her pussy. As happy as this reunion felt, it was brought on by some very serious events; and if I was right, neither of us was entirely innocent.

Our story was far from over.

If it were up to me, I would have stripped and showed Dawn just how much I missed her. But even a horny teenage boy can be felled by an all-nighter trying to drive unfamiliar roads without crashing. I wouldn't have been able to get it up if Dawn, Adrienne, and Felicia Clarkson had all stripped together and begged me to fuck them.

Instead I settled for holding Dawn firmly, rocking her slowly until she'd finished crying. And then after a few more teary expressions of our love and desperate kisses, Dawn wrinkled her nose and said, "You stink."

I barked a short laugh and smiled wryly. "Sorry."

She managed a smile of her own and remarked, "I still can't believe you just ran to your car and drove up here with nothing but the clothes on your back."

"I had to. I was YOU," I said sincerely while holding Dawn's chin in my hand.

She blushed and then paled in rapid succession. Memory of WHY I had so urgently raced the five hundred miles to see her must have come to mind and Dawn's eyes tilted as she quailed in fresh fear. "Ben, there's so much I have to tell you," she whimpered.

I touched my finger to her lips to silence her, briefly thinking of Brandi as I did so. "Not now. We have time. And I've got a lot to tell you as well."

Then I picked up the front of my shirt, lifting it to my nose and sniffing it for the sweaty, grimy smell I knew would be there. "Let's get me cleaned up first."

Dawn giggled. "Can I help?"

Dawn was more afraid to be further than a couple of feet apart from me than she was feeling frisky. She sat on the toilet outside the shower, watching me through the plain, clear glass as I soaped away the travel grime. I showered quickly and then stepped out. Dawn's mom had set out a comfortable pair of Jack's sweat pants and a T-shirt for me.

After I dressed and Dawn had freshened up as well, we headed downstairs where breakfast was cooking. Deanna Evans looked up at us with a smile and gestured to the breakfast table. Jack and DJ were already seated.

I sat down beside Dawn's father and immediately turned to him, all business on my mind. "Where is he?"

"Who?" he asked.

"The fucker that did this?" I growled. Dawn's dad winced at my language but I didn't care. My eyes flared and I tightened my hand into a fist. Dawn quickly covered my hand with her own and squeezed gently.

Jack Evans sighed and then informed me, "You're not going after him, Ben. You're exhausted and it's a police matter now."

"Where is he?" I gritted my teeth.

"I don't know. I assume he's still in custody because the last thing I heard was that they were trying to locate his mom. She's out of town on business or something. Now Mark is denying everything. He claims that he never admitted anything to us and that if there are any drugs in her system, she must have been drugged at the party."

"Motherfuck-" I was cut off when Dawn squeezed my hand again and Jack Evans raised his hand, shooting a warning glare at DJ who just observed us silently.

"Please stay calm, Ben." He gestured to his middle daughter. "Dawn's had a rough night, okay? She was up until early in the morning having tests done at the hospital. The police were sent to Mark's house to look for evidence. It's all being taken care of. All you can do is be here for her, okay?"

Dawn whimpered and clutched my arm. I sighed and glanced over at her, instantly feeling both angry and sad as I looked at my girlfriend's sweet face. She needed me now, and nothing else mattered more. For now, at least, I'd have to trust the system to do it's thing. "Okay," I said while squeezing Dawn's hand back.

We ate our breakfast and then returned to Dawn's room. She'd only gotten two hours of sleep before I arrived and we were both dead tired. And for the first time since summer camp, I fell asleep with the love of my life nestled in my arms.

The clock read 3:05pm when my eyes fluttered open. I didn't need to move to see the digital readout; it was in my line of sight just past Dawn's right ear. My arms instinctively tightened as the tingling sensation of awareness spread throughout my body, and I realized that not only was my "morning" wood pressed into Dawn's panty-clad asscrack, but I was also cupping a very round, very firm breast.

Reflexively, my hand squeezed the boob and Dawn moaned lightly. My mind was a blank slate. I'd been so exhausted that I slept deeply and soundly through the middle of the day, a dreamless sleep that was entirely about recovery. I didn't know where I was or why. But I knew I was holding my Dawn in my arms and nothing else mattered.

I continued rubbing Dawn's breast until I heard the barely noticeable change in her breathing. I stopped rubbing just then, but Dawn began taking longer and deeper breaths and presently she began turning her head towards me. And as the afternoon light shone down brilliantly on her angelic face, my stunningly beautiful girlfriend lit up in a wide smile and exclaimed enthusiastically, "Ben!"

"Hi," I grinned.

She twisted and rolled right into my chest while moving her arms to wrap behind my head. She threw a leg over my hip and pulled me even tighter against her while she planted one of her trademark volcanic kisses on me. I felt like she was going to suck my toes back through my feet it was so intense.

"Ohmigod! I thought you were a dream!"

"I'm right here."

My dick was iron-hard, a fact that Dawn soon discovered when she began rubbing her crotch against it, dry-humping me by continually flexing her leg. I could scarcely breathe from our kiss, as she maintained a frantic liplock like she never wanted to let me go. And with a surge of adrenaline, I rolled us over until I'd pinned my Dawn to the mattress beneath me as I stared adoringly into her eyes.

It was just a small flinch, barely lasting a microsecond. But it was there. Dawn flinched and like a tidal wave, everything came back to me. Adrienne. The call. Hearing about her rape. And everything leading to me arriving in this bed this afternoon.

"Oh, Dawn," I whimpered and looked at her with all my old worry coming back to me.

"Make love to me, Ben," she gasped and tried to kiss me again.

"What?"

"Please. Fuck me, Ben. Fuck me and cum inside me," she husked with an urgency I couldn't believe. Already she was lifting her pajama top up her body.

I couldn't help but second-guess this. I mean, Dawn was gorgeous and I certainly wanted to, but so much had happened to us. "Are you sure?" I asked. "I mean, you were just raped."

"I don't even remember it and I don't want to," Dawn grabbed my head and looked at me clearly. Her crystal blue eyes bored straight into the back of my skull. "All I want to remember is feeling you inside me. YOU, Ben. My love. My true love. I need to feel you. NOW."

"But-"

"FUCK me, Ben!" Dawn pleaded. "Make my last sexual memory that of holding you in my arms while you practice giving me a baby."

I knew we were still way too young to think of having children. But at the same time, the thought of starting a family with my Dawn held great appeal. I knew without a doubt that if she and I got married tomorrow and started having kids, it would not be an unhappy life.

But we weren't there yet. Right now, all Dawn wanted was my love. And I intended to give it to her. I would drown her in my love and affection so that all traces of Mark or the party or whatever would be distant, fragmented memory. And so seizing my love's face in my hands I did my best to replicate her volcanic kiss.

I wanted to make this a sweet session of lovemaking. Yeah, I was extremely horny for my girlfriend but I felt an obligation to take things slow and give her all the pleasure I could. But that wasn't what Dawn wanted. When my hands inched their way up her sides too slowly for her taste, she reached down and ripped her pajama top over her head to bare her glorious tits to my gaze. When I went to gently nibble at her neck, she roughly tugged at my boxer shorts.

"Fuck taking your time, Ben!" she whimpered. "I need you NOW! Can't you feel how wet I am for you?"

I moved my hand to her panties to find the crotch soaked. Truly, she was just so revved up from finally having me in her bed that she didn't need to wait any longer. So getting up to my knees, I shucked my shorts and also tugged her panties off her legs. At last, we were fully naked with each other.

The rest came naturally. Dawn took my thick cock in hand while spreading her legs. And after guiding me into position, she slipped her hands to my biceps and simply held on while I rammed my hips forward, burying my dick into my girlfriend for the first time in WAY too long. At that moment, my head flipped straight back and I gasped in relief from an agony I didn't even realize I felt, as I was swallowed up by the heavenly warmth of the young woman I adored more than anyone in the world.

Dawn similarly gasped as I skewered her, and then all four limbs came up to clutch at my body and trap me against her chest. With my cock seven and five- eighths inches inside her, the rest of our bodies were pressed together skin-to- skin as she whimpered and moaned happily. "Oh, Ben ... oh, Ben..."

"Oh, Dawn," I started crying. I couldn't forget what had happened to her or why I was here. If it weren't for the rape, I would never have driven up on a random Thursday morning at 1am. But as wonderful as this felt, I would have given it back in a heartbeat if it would have meant Dawn had never been violated in the first place.

And I felt like it was my fault. She was my girlfriend. She was my love, saving herself for me. I hadn't been able to protect her. And I hadn't done enough to quench her teenage lust either to prevent her from getting into these kinds of situations. "Dawn ... I'm so sorry..."

"Shh ... Ben ... It's not your fault."

"I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault. Please, just love me now. Just love me." Dawn suited words to action by rolling her hips, stimulating exquisite feelings in both of us as her tight, slick pussy squeezed and caressed my throbbing cock. "Just love me."

"I love you," I sighed and pumped. "I love you."

"Nnnghhhh," Dawn moaned as she clutched me even tighter and bit her teeth down against my neck. Her fingertips dug into the grooves behind my shoulder blades as my body rose and fell above her.

I winced in mild pain as Dawn dug in a little deeper, her fingernails etching into my sweaty skin as our bodies flushed with arousal. But I didn't care. To feel that tingle of pain reminded me that this was real, that my Dawn really was beneath me. I covered her mouth with my own and moaned as she clenched her inner muscles around my invading rod. Her knees and calves scrabbled to grip my ass and tug me into her with every thrust. And thrust I did.

"Fuck me, Ben! Fuck me!"

This wasn't a gentle lovemaking of healing; this was fucking. Dawn wanted to feel her boyfriend taking her. She trusted me. She had no fear of me. She wasn't afraid of sex. And I did my best to literally fuck Mark out of her mind. By the time I was done all she would know was that Ben, the boyfriend who loved her so dearly, had thoroughly fucked her.

"Oh, fuck, Ben! I'm cumming! You're making me cum, Ben!" Dawn grunted and tossed her head side-to-side. I felt the tension in her hips as they started jerking out of rhythm against me. "Cum with me! Cum with me!"

"Ugh, ugh," I grunted and put my head down on the mattress beside Dawn's head, concentrating on ramming myself into her without restraint.

"Unnngh!" Dawn moaned and then turned her face to mine, latching onto my lips and kissing me fiercely while she tightened up and came. Her back tried to arch up as she pressed herself against me, and I felt her pussy muscles quivering as the climax spread throughout her body.

I was just a few seconds behind her. In the end, it was her internal muscle spasms that set me off, and Dawn's womb was flooded with wave after wave of hot semen. Only this time, she welcomed it with full awareness and delight.

"Oh, Ben..." Dawn whimpered, her crystal blue eyes glittering as she felt the hot wetness splashing against her innards.

"Unnngh," I grunted as my hips jerked and I spat out another wad.

"Oh, Ben," Dawn sighed, tracing her fingers along my cheek as she searched my eyes, soaking in all the love I felt for her. "Whatever the reason, I'm so happy that you're here."

After enjoying the post-coital glow in each other's arms for a while, Dawn and I eventually left the bed and cleaned up. There was a connected Jack-and-Jill bathroom between hers and Dayna's bedrooms and we slipped in to take a quick shower together. Lots of touching and caressing ensued, but we felt better just holding each other in the warm spray rather than doing anything kinky.

While we were dressing, I marveled at how completely normal Dawn looked given everything she'd just been through. Gently, I asked, "Aren't you traumatized a little bit?"

Dawn smiled at me while pulling a shirt over her head and removing my wonderful view of her bra-supported breasts. "To be honest, I barely remember anything. They said that's one of the drug's effects."

I winced at the thought of anyone using a date-rape drug on my Dawn.

"Really," she hugged herself and looked at me with sad eyes. "I was more traumatized by the thought of losing you, Ben. That's what made me scream and that's what brought my parents running. And since I haven't lost you, Ben, all I can feel is relieved happiness."

Dawn eyebrows furrowed and she stared at the floor. Then taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly and admitted, "Ben, when I woke up and found the sperm inside me, I assumed I'd gotten drunk and done something stupid. There was this guy at the party, Ben. And I was tempted. I'm sorry but I was sorely tempted. I missed you terribly and I hadn't gotten laid in so long..."

I paled and bit my lip. I knew the feeling.

"It's weird," Dawn continued while looking me in the eye warily. "I can't help but think that in the state I was in, with how confused I felt, I might have just tried to clean away the evidence and pretend nothing had ever happened. And then Mark would have gotten away scot free."

She then took a breath and stared longingly at me. "But all I could think of was you. All I could think was how I'd betrayed out and had to talk to you. And when you hung up on me it destroyed me. I screamed, my parents came, and the next thing I knew Mark was confessing to the rape. In a weird, roundabout way, you saved me."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. My brain was still trying to comprehend what she was telling me.

"But Ben, I'm so sorry." Dawn's lower lip quivered. "I never should have had so much to drink or gotten into that situation in the first place. I've ... I've done some things in the past month that I'm not proud of. Some things you might not have been happy with if you knew. Ben, I-"

"Shh..." I soothed and took my love into my arms, hugging her tightly.

"I need to confess these things, Ben," Dawn whimpered. "There's this guy I've been hanging out with. And we haven't done anything ... really. But ... but ... I'm..." She sighed. "I'm afraid you'll leave me when I tell you."

I bit my lip and thought about what Brandi had warned me. Eleven months is a long time, and I knew the temptations as well as anyone. "I have some things to confess myself, Dawn. Things that worry me about whether you'll still love me."

"Ben, nothing you could say would make me stop loving you," Dawn gripped me fiercely and held on for dear life. "You're here with me, now. You dropped everything and drove through the night to be with me. That's all I need to know. You can confess whatever, and I'll still love you. You're my Ben."

I smiled and patted her back. "And I heard the pain in your voice over what happened last night. I feel it in your arms as you're hugging me right now," I reassured her. "You regret everything you've done, and that's all I need to know. You can confess whatever. I may not be happy about it but I'll accept it. Okay? You're my Dawn."

She nodded and then held herself at arm's length from me. Then taking a deep breath, she nodded us over to the bed. Instead of sitting beside each other, though, I moved my back against the pillows and the headboard and pulled Dawn against my chest so she could rest her head on my shoulder and cuddle up to my side.

And then we both confessed our sins.

Dawn went first, explaining about her best friend's boyfriend's best friend, Ryan. I felt a knot in my stomach as she admitted that he was very handsome and how she found him quite attractive. She'd kept him at bay for a long time but he was always around being attentive, and she admitted she liked the attention, even letting him kiss her. She'd stayed steadfast in her loyalty to me but things had come to a head on Halloween night at the party. She'd gotten drunk and they'd started to get naked, but before he got her panties off she'd told him to stop and while her memory was fuzzy, she was certain that was as far as things went before Mark got a hold of her.

Dawn was distraught and while I wasn't exactly thrilled with her, I wasn't angry either. I certainly understood the temptation and how hard it must have been for Dawn without any dick. At least I was getting pussy from my sisters and really, when Dawn had told me she needed to confess, I'd been anticipating something more terrible.

I soothed her for a bit, and then I think I scared her when I admitted I'd done a little bit worse than she had.

The look on Dawn's face when I said that almost made me chicken out. But like always, my conscience wouldn't let me and I told her that at the same time she'd called me on Halloween night, I was about to call her to come clean.

Dawn bit her lip and let me explain about my ex-girlfriend Adrienne having severe trust issues dating back to her childhood, without me going into specifics. I explained how I'd worked hard to develop friendships with my exes and how Adrienne had been coming over every week to hang out with my family. And I told her about how Adrienne was coming off a string of failed relationships with boys she couldn't trust and how she'd thrown herself at me, giving me a blowjob and me finishing in her mouth. I couldn't read Dawn's expression at that point but I plowed ahead, wanting to quickly get to the point where I'd walked away and gone to call Dawn and confess all.

When I finished Dawn sighed and rubbed her temples in resignation while asking, "Is that everything?"

I blanched and shook my head. Then I explained how I'd gone off the deep end when Dawn called me to tell me she thought she'd cheated. In typical Ben- fashion, I'd marched back over to Adrienne's house to get my revenge fuck, Adrienne declaring her love for me. But then I hurriedly explained to Dawn that I once again couldn't go through with it and came home. That's when I found out what had happened and I ran to my car.