He sighed and looked over at Jezebel.
I put my hand on his arm. “Please? We can leave right away in the morning, or we stay for dinner and drive home. I like being on your bike at night.” Bingo. Mentioning liking being on the back of his bike was the thing that did it.
“We won’t stay the night, but we can stay for dinner.”
I beamed up at him. “Yay!”
“Yay,” he grumbled. “I’m gonna grab a beer. You need anything?”
“I thought you weren’t going to drink since you had to drive?” Jezebel reminded him.
He rolled his eyes. “Guess I’ll be having water then.” He pressed a kiss to the side of my head and walked over to the pool table.
“Do you think maybe you could have been a little nicer to him?”
Jezebel rolled her eyes. “I’m testing him.”
“Jez, you don’t need to test him.”
She shook her head. “Yes, I do. You’ve been through hell, Wren, and I’m not going to stand by and let that happen to you again if I can help it.”
While I loved her for wanting to protect me, I didn’t think I needed protecting from Maniac. “He’s different, Jez.”
She leveled her stare on me. “And how do we know that?”
I took a deep breath. “Because he saved me. He was there when I needed someone. He was there when I did everything I could to push him away. He’s just been there, Jez.”
She slightly tipped her head. “I just saw her.”
I looked behind me. “Uh, what the hell are you talking about?” Here I thought we were having a heart to heart, and instead, she was watching some chick behind me.
“No, you putz. I’m talking about you. I saw the old Wren.”
I don’t know what she saw, but she had to be mistaken.
“When you talked about him, I saw you. I saw you happy. He makes you happy, Wren.”
How did she see that in the little bit that I had talked about him? “I think it’s time to cut you off.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m drinking water.”
Well, now I had no excuse for why she was talking crazy. “Look, Jez. I don’t know what you see, but it’s probably just a piece of hair in my eye or something.”
“Jesus,” she muttered. “You don’t even know it yet.”
“Know what?” I asked. She was all over the place. First, she was talking about seeing the old me, and now, she was telling me I didn’t know yet. “Woman, what on Earth are you talking about right now?”
She laughed and lifted her glass to me. “To the fact there is still a little bit of my old Wren inside you.”
I clinked my bottle against hers but still had no idea what she was talking about. “Um, cheers?”
Jezebel smiled. “You’re gonna be all right, Wren. And I have to say, I think I might actually like that Maniac of yours.”
“He’s not mine.”
A smug smile spread across her lips. “That’s what you think, hun, but from the way he is staring at you right now, I think he sees things a whole lot differently.”
I spun my chair a bit to get a better view of Maniac. He was leaning against the pool table. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his emerald green eyes were trained on me. I had never thought it was possible, but the man was smoldering.
“He hasn’t taken his eyes off you since he walked away.”
“You mean when you chased him off?”
Jez shrugged. “The man needed to be tested, and from what I can tell, he passed with flying colors.” She stood up and set her glass down.
“Where are you going?”
“There’s a ten-year-old’s ass I need to kick in pool right now.”
“Mom! Come play. I just beat Karmen,” Jake yelled.
Karmen held up her hands. “In my defense, I am pregnant.”
“Get the woman a scooter!” Cora called. “She’s pregnant.”
Everyone laughed while Karmen scowled.
“You’re all assholes.”
One of the guys came over and draped his arm over her shoulders. “Oh, come on, Captain. We’re just giving ya a little shit.”
Karmen rolled her eyes and handed her pool stick off to Jezebel. “Well, that’s enough shit for me today. I’m going to eat and then take a nap.”
“We just ate like half an hour ago,” Nikki pointed out. “How in the hell can you be hungry again?”
“I’m not hungry. This little monster is.” Karmen pointed to her stomach.
Jezebel grabbed the chalk and rubbed some on the end of the pool cue. “Now that brings back memories. I used to say the same thing with Jake. The only thing is, I still said it after I had him.”
Nickel put his arm across Karmen’s shoulders. “I’ll grab you some food, baby. Why don’t you go lay down?”
Karmen rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. “Hmm, I love you. I take back all of the things I said about you before.”
“What you talking about, woman?” he demanded.
She patted his chest. “Oh, nothing.” Now it was Karmen who was giving Nickel shit.
“We’ll talk about this while you take a nap.”
Karmen pulled out from under his arm and looked up at him. “How are we going to talk when I’m trying to sleep?”
“I talk while you sleep, and I’ll always be right.”
Karmen slugged him on the shoulder. “Whatever. Just make sure you put extra sour cream on my nachos.” She waddled down the hallway with a wave over her shoulder to everyone.
Maniac sat on the stool Jez had been in. “Those two are crazy together.”
I shrugged. “But they are good together.”
“True that, darlin’.”
“You really not going to drink?” I asked him.
“Your friend doesn’t seem very fond of me right now, so I’m trying to stay in her good graces as much as I can.” He looked over at Jez, who was staring him down. “You wanna clue me in on what exactly I did to make her look at me like I killed her cat?”
I sighed and swirled my half-empty bottle. “I think it’s because you’re a guy.”
“That’s bullshit. Brinks was telling me she gets along with all the guys. Even Wrecker. She managed to get on his good side.”
“Let me rephrase that. I think it has to do with the fact you are a man, and you um, well, maybe like me.”
He ran his fingertips across my cheek. “Ain’t no doubt about it. I like you.”
I cleared my throat and racked my brain for something to say. Tell him you like him too. “Thank you.” I cringed and wondered where the hell that had come from.
He chuckled. “You’re welcome.”
“I’m an idiot. You know that.”
He shook his head. “Furthest thing from an idiot.”
“Can you just let me insult myself?” I was an idiot. The guy I liked told me he liked me, and I told him thank you. Perhaps telling him how I felt would have been a better response. “And I like you, too.”
His hand cupped my cheek. “Thank you.” A huge grin spread across his lips, and he couldn’t hold it in.
Hell, even I had to laugh.
“There’s my Wren.”
I leaned into his hand and had to admit the fact I liked being his Wren.
*
Chapter 15
Maniac
“Can I ask you a question?”
I looked up from the TV. “Always.”
“Could we go out for dinner?”
“Go out?”
“Yeah. Like we both get dressed and eat at a restaurant instead of always getting takeout.”
It was a few days after we had been to Weston, and things had changed. For the most part, they were good changes.
I knew Wren liked me, no matter how much she tried to fight it.
Every night, we ended up in front of the TV—Wren on one end of the couch, me on the other—but by the time it was time for bed, Wren was draped across me, fast asleep. When I would lay her in bed, I was the one who wouldn�
�t let her go now. But each morning, she didn’t protest or ask me what I was doing there. She was used to me being there, and I had no plans of going anywhere.
“There’s only a couple of places to eat in town.” Durham was not a sprawling metropolis with many dining options. Besides, I was rather partial to Wren’s cooking.
“But we can sit down at a table and eat, right?”
I nodded. “There’s O'Rourke's Kitchen.”
“Can we go there?”
I looked at me phone. “Yeah, if you want to. They open in half an hour.”
Wren’s eyes bugged out. “I have to get ready, like now!” She darted into the bathroom, and I heard the water turn on.
I unmuted the TV and kicked my feet up on the coffee table. This was a change of plans, but I had to say I wasn’t against it.
Maybe this was just the thing I needed to get Wren fully out of her shell.
*
Wren
I liked him.
No, I liked him.
It was like I was thirteen-year-old girl with her first crush, and I had no idea what to do.
After we had hung out at the clubhouse, Maniac had driven us home, and the almost two hour drive gave me plenty time to think. And of course, all I thought about was the man I had my body wrapped around.
He was all I thought about.
Cora and I had been texting back and forth. She had been trying to convince me to go out with the man, but I had put her off by saying there wasn’t anywhere to go. She had called me on my bullshit and said if I didn’t ask the man out, then she was going to call him and ask for me. I may have felt like a thirteen-year-old, but I liked to think I was able to get my own dates.
My phone dinged, and I knew it was Cora wanting to know if I had chickened out or not.
Am I going to have to call him?
I rolled my eyes. Damn woman was so nosey. No. I asked.
And what did he say?
He said sure and then I ran into the bathroom like my ass was on fire.
Was it?
Cora was such a dick. I swear, she acted more like a guy than some men I had met. No. It wasn’t. Leave me alone.
Why? I’m the one who helped you score this date.
I checked the water temperature with my hand and cranked it a little hotter. I wiped my hand on the towel and tapped out my response. I’m the one who asked him. He has no idea I’ve been texting you.
He could know.
You tell him and I’ll never talk to you again.
I could just picture the smug look on her face. I knew that Cora wasn’t afraid of me. If there were to be a picture next to the word fearless in the dictionary, that picture would be of Cora. You’re off the hook this time.
How kind of you.
Now try to look pretty and don’t be a dick.
I’ll leave the being a dick to you. I tossed my phone on the counter and sighed.
Jesus, what in the hell was I thinking asking Maniac if he wanted to go out to eat? I was tempted to go out there and tell him I had temporary insanity and didn’t mean anything I had said in the last five minutes.
“Darlin’?”
My eyes darted to the door, and I sunk down on the lid of the toilet. “Ergh, yeah?” I squawked.
“We can go two towns over if you want. There’s a lot more places to eat there.”
There was a downside and an upside to doing that. The upside was I would be on the back of Maniac’s bike longer, but the downside was I would probably be surrounded by a ton more people than if we would just stay in Durham. “How about this time we just stay in town.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Totally. Next time, we can do somewhere else.” If there was even going to be a next time. Right now, I was just focusing on not hyperventilating.
“Sounds good.” I listened for the tread of his feet to move away from the door and then released the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding in.
This had been all my idea.
It was only dinner.
That’s all.
Then why did it feel like I was ready to strip naked and prance around the room in front of a hundred people? Not that I had ever done that before, but I figured the way I felt right now would be right up there if that's what I was about to do.
I quickly showered, trying to keep my mind off the man who was waiting for me, and stepped onto the bath mat. “Shit!”
“You okay?” It sounded like he was standing right outside the bathroom door.
I looked around and realized I had forgotten to grab clothes. “Uh, sort of.” If I wanted to walk out of the bathroom naked then I was fucking perfect.
“You wanna expand on that maybe?” he drawled.
“Are you standing right outside the bathroom door?” I was, of course, more curious about him than I was worried about not having any clothes.
“You yelled when I was walking by, and the cabin isn’t that big. All it takes is twenty steps and I’m on the other side of the cabin.”
He was right about that. “I forgot to bring my clothes in with me.” Because I ran away like a frightened doe, I added silently. “Do you think maybe you can grab some clothes for me.”
“Whatever I pick, you have to wear.”
I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t like I had an extensive amount of clothes with me. “Fine. Just hurry up. And uh...I need everything.”
“Everything?” he repeated.
I grabbed a towel and started drying off my body. “Yeah, everything.”
I heard him chuckle and then his boots moving away from the door.
He thought he was going to have fun going through my drawers, but in reality, my bras and panties were boring as hell. After I dried off, I wrapped the towel around my body and twisted my hair up on top of my head.
“Darlin’.” He was right outside the door again.
“Yeah?”
“You’re gonna have to open the door if you want these clothes.”
Duh, Wren. “Er, okay.” I made sure the towel was securely tied around me and took a deep breath. As soon as I opened the door, that same breath was taken away from me when I did a full body scan of Maniac.
The tattered and worn jeans he normally wore were replaced by another pair of jeans I had never seen. His feet were encased in the same boots, and a tight white shirt hugged his chest and shoulders. This was basically the same thing the man always wore, but he looked different. Or maybe it was because I was looking at him in a different light.
Maniac was the one who had saved me and then kept me safe. But now, he was the one I wanted to kiss and find out what his hands would feel like all over my body.
Whoa, Jesus.
Shit was changing, and I had no control over it.
My body wanted him, and my brain had finally gotten behind the same idea.
“You’re gonna have to take the clothes, unless you want me to put them on for you.”
I lightly shook my head, realizing I was just staring at him. “Uh, no. At least, not yet.” Oh Lord. Now my brain was more into it than my body.
He handed me the clothes and leaned in close. His lips brushed against my ear, and a shiver ran across my skin. “I’d much rather be the one to take them off later.”
“Yes.” Oh, my Lord! Someone put some damn duct tape on my mouth!
He chuckled low and pressed a kiss to my neck. “Jesus, Wren,” he whispered.
Jesus was right. I grabbed the clothes from him, stepped back in the bathroom, and slammed the door in his face.
I needed Jesus right then because I was five seconds away from saying fuck dinner and opening the door again to Maniac, but this time, with no towel on.
“That all you need from me?”
“For now.” I cringed and hoped he hadn’t heard me.
“I’ll get you later.”
A chill went up my spine at his words. Damn that man.
I looked down at the clothes he had grabbed and silently groaned. He would, of course, dig
to the bottom of my bras and panties and find the only somewhat sexy matching set I had packed. A black satin with lime green trimmed bra and a matching pair of black panties with a green, tiny bow on them. The clothes he had chosen weren’t much better.
The towel pooled at my feet, and I pulled on the panties and bra. It wasn’t that they were overly sexy, it was just they were much sexier than the plain cotton ones I normally wore.
The jeans he had picked were fine since they were just jeans after all, but it was the shirt I was not wanting to wear.
Before everything happened, I would have worn it without a thought, but now seeing that it was sleeveless, I knew there was no way to hide the scars on my wrist. My pink sweatshirt laid on the floor of the bathroom, and I yearned to pull it on. It was my security blanket.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want Maniac to see the scars, because he had seen them tons of times. Especially after I had gotten out of the hospital. He had been the one to help change the bandages and keep them clean. It was what the scars represented. They were a reminder of a time I wasn’t proud of.
I pulled the tank top over my head and grabbed the sweatshirt off the floor. I had agreed to wear whatever he gave me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t add to it.
Maniac was leaning against the small kitchen island with his head bowed and eyes on the screen of his phone when I walked out of the bathroom. “Take off the damn sweatshirt.”
I stopped in my tracks. His head was still bent. “How did you know? You didn’t even look at me.”
He shoved his phone in his pocket and finally looked up. “Because I know you, darlin’. I know that shirt terrifies the shit out of you.”
“Then why the heck did you pick it for me to wear?” I demanded.
He twisted around and grabbed a leather jacket. “Because you can wear this over it.”
“Your jacket is too big for me, Maniac.” Not that I wouldn’t wear it because I’m sure it smelled like him and having his scent wrapped around me sounded heavenly.
He shook it out and held it up. “It’s not mine. I had Karmen pick one up for you.”
My jaw dropped. “Mine?” The jacket was absolutely beautiful. I mean, it was just black leather, but it was mine.
“Yeah. I figured you need one if you were going to be on the back of my bike.”
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