25. Ranen
Chapter 25
Ranen
I ’ll never get tired of telling North I love him or him saying it in return. The words take on new meaning when he utters them. So sweet, so reverent, like he’s… happy that he can say them. A secret smile crosses his lips every time he speaks the brief sentence, almost as if he can’t believe it and doesn’t want to miss the opportunity to say them all at the same time.
He steps up behind me as I flip his eggs, breathing me in before he kisses me softly on the neck. I smile, my cheeks heating under his attention.
We came back from the hotel room the morning after the murder and found it spotless. Wylder was really handy with a sponge and cleaning supplies, that’s for sure. It was cleaner now than when I tidied up a few days before. Everything smelled lemon fresh without being too overpowering. The blood I missed before we left was gone, as well as a pesky stain from spilled spaghetti that, no matter how hard I tried, would never come clean. I tried for months to get the stain up and Wylder did it in just a few short hours.
Maybe he should open a cleaning business. He’d make a killing.
I chuckle at my terrible joke.
“What’s so funny?” North asks, trailing his hands under my pajama shirt.
The spatula slips from my grip as I moan, leaning back into North as his fingertips brush against my belly, then lower to glide against the base of my cock. My ass moves back and forth over his straining erection of its own volition.
“Careful now,” he murmurs against my neck while reaching around me to grab the spatula. “Don’t want breakfast to burn.”
“Fuck breakfast,” I whisper, my hole clenching at his touch.
His breathy chuckle warms my chest. “None of that. You have to go see Olly today, remember?”
How he says Olly’s name has my ears perking up. I flip the burner off and move the pan from the stove. North slides the hard fried egg onto the plate with his bacon and toast and moves it to the kitchen island.
“You don’t like him, do you?” I ask in a teasing tone.
“Of course not. He takes up too much of your time.”
I give him a dry look as we walk to the small table by the window. “North, I spend one day a week with him.”
“One day too long,” he murmurs under his breath. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you didn’t show up today. I don’t want you out of my sight.”
I roll my eyes as we eat.
Besides spending one day a week together, Olly and I talk on the phone a few times as well. It’s something we’ve always done. North doesn’t seem to mind, but I also know he’s possessive of me, so his little tantrum comes with the territory.
“Yes he will. I’ll only be there for a few hours.” I place my hand over his. “And I’m safe now. Nothing for us to worry about.”
It feels good, being able to move as freely now as I did before. For the first time in what feels like forever, I didn’t feel any sense of doom when I woke up. I didn’t feel that familiar oppressive weight that was pressing on my chest, the weight of knowing someone was after me, but there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t realize how much it was burdening me until I no longer had to worry about it.
Before, when I woke up with North tangled around me, I always felt calm, at least for the first few moments after I opened my eyes. Then I’d wonder if the person who sent me all that creepy shit and those fucked up messages would choose that day to come for me.
This morning, I felt… just that quiet contentment I felt with North being by my side. An unbidden smile crossed my lips when that feeling didn’t surface. My memory of seeing Mr. Barlowe dead on the floor chased away any lingering doubts I may have had.
North’s eyes soften, and he brings my hand to his mouth. “I know, but I just—”
“I’ll be fine, baby. I promise.”
He searches my face for a few seconds, then nods. “Okay. I love you.”
Smiling, I drag my hand from his and pick up my fork. “I love you too.”
“Call me when you’re ready,” North says. He leans over and kisses me softly on the lips. “We have unfinished business.”
I chuckle as I give him one more kiss and climb out of his car.
I told him I could drive on my own, but North said he enjoyed driving me around.
Since I was going to be gone for a few hours, I wanted to give him something to think about while I was gone, so for the entire drive, I slowly caressed his huge cock, making him hard and leaving him throbbing. It was a messed-up game to play, but it would feel all the sweeter when I rode his dick and made him come later tonight.
I wave as he drives off. God, I love that man.
When the realization of the depths of my feelings hit me, I didn’t think he felt the same way. North is so out of my league it’s not even funny. But he chose me. I’ll never regret my feelings for him when he makes me feel the way I do. Butterflies dance in my belly whenever I look at him and a sense of calm washes over me when he touches me. When his lips meet mine, I feel like I’m floating.
“Earth to Ranen,” Olly says from behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts of my man.
I’ll never get tired of thinking about North.
I turn around and rush towards him, hugging him around the waist. “Hey. How are you?”
Olly pulls back, checking me over. He purses his lips when he spots the marks on my neck from North’s eager mouth. The marks litter my body everywhere—my neck, chest, thighs, my ass. North loves sucking on my skin. He says he loves that my skin bruises so easily for him.
My best friend’s fingers are soft on my neck when he traces one of North’s marks. “Are you sure he doesn’t hurt you?”
“Not at all. They happen when… you know.” I lower my head and feel my cheeks heat. Olly and I cam, but I’ve never talked to him about sex. He’s told me plenty, but I never joined in. He knew I never had anything to add to the discussion.
I can’t read the expression that crosses his face. He covers it quickly with a smile. “Good. I’m glad you’re happy.” We step inside and Olly shuts and locks the door. “How’s everything else going?”
He takes my jacket and hangs it on the hook. I whirl around, smiling at him as I grab his hands, dancing us around the kitchen. “I’m free, Olly! That dick who was after me,” I sing-song, twirling around on his upraised arm, “won’t be bothering me anymore. I don’t have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life.” Still smiling, I fall into his arms, squeezing him around the waist again. “Today is the first day of the rest of my life.”
Olly looks down at me, his eyes crinkling around the edges as he smiles. “I’m glad to hear it.” He kisses my forehead, but unlike all the other times, it feels off. I chalk it up to kisses feeling so personal since North came into my life, not anything to do with Olly.
Either way, I slide out of his arms and go to his pantry. “Popcorn?”
“In its usual spot,” he says, pointing to the top shelf.
I pop the popcorn and we have a seat on the couch.
Olly smiles over at me. “I’m glad you’re here,” he says.
“Me too. These days really mean a lot to me.”
He smiles and stuffs some popcorn into his mouth. After he swallows, he asks, “Did you find out who it was?”
“Huh?” I ask, dragging my eyes away from the television. The movie he put on is one we’ve been waiting on for a few months now.
“That was bothering you.”
“Oh, yeah. Mr. Barlowe.” I glance over at him, watching his eyes flare. “Yeah, I know, right? We knew he was a creep. He showed his true colors.”
OIly turns to me, his eyes wide. “What happened?”
No way can I tell Olly what actually happened. He’s my best friend, but I don’t think he’d be okay with knowing Mr. Barlowe is dead. Or that I watched North kill him, know his body was burned in an incinerator, and his clothes and belongings are buried somewhere on Atlas’s property.
Even if I was tempted to tell Olly everything, I wouldn’t. Not only would that put North in danger, but Atlas and Wylder too. I haven’t known the latter two for long but I like them. They’ve welcomed me into their family and trust me with their secret. I would never betray them. I love Olly, but I love North more.
Focusing back on our conversation, I say, “I saw him leaving a gift at my door and North had some words with him. Told him to fuck off or he’d call the police. He promised to stay away from me when North said he was going to move in and would know if he tried anything.”
“That’s scary, Ranen. I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”
I swallow roughly, thinking about the slap across my face and the cold blade on my cheek. It was scary, being at Mr. Barlowe’s mercy that way, and thinking North wouldn’t get to me fast enough to stop him from hurting me significantly. I’m sure when I come down from the high of watching North kill him, I’ll have nightmares about Mr. Barlowe and how crazed he looked. How his brown eyes had reflected his urge to harm me, to possess me.
My smile is shaky. “Me too. It was scary, but it’s over now.”
Olly grins at me and holds out the bowl of popcorn. I grab a handful and toss them into my mouth, the taste of extra butter bursting over my tongue.
This is the life—having a boyfriend who cares about me, takes care of me and loves me, and having a best friend who spoils me with movie theater popcorn that he knows I’m obsessed with.
We both get comfortable on the couch and pass the bowl back and forth. I bark a laugh when Olly hurries away to grab me a napkin. I make a show of wiping my buttery fingers on it, then throwing the waded paper at him when he grins smugly at me.
The movie is great, and we’re engrossed in it the entire time. At some point, Olly lays his head in my lap and I distractedly rub his hair. It reminds me of times I used to stay the night at his house and we’d stay awake late into the night, talking about nothing and everything.
When the movie is finished, Olly sits up, stretching his arms over his head. “Wanna go out and grab some dinner? I don’t have anything to eat here and I’m sick of takeout.”
“I should probably go,” I say, pulling my phone from my pocket to text North.
Olly grabs it from my hand, holding it high in the air. “Come on, Ranen. I hardly see you anymore.” I chuckle and reach for my phone. He stiff-arms me, making me laugh harder. “I don’t want our day to end just yet. Dinner, then I’ll release you.” His voice takes on a haughty quality, making me laugh harder.
I won’t win this battle. I enjoy spending time with Olly, so I give in pretty easily. “Okay, fine. Where to?”
I hold my hand out for my phone, but Olly shakes his head, pocketing it. “You’ll get this back when I finish my shower.” I give him a dry look, then pout, crossing my arms over my chest. He pokes my lower lip, making me giggle. “Don’t pout. I won’t be long. Want a drink before I go?”
“No.” I kick my feet up on the table, hoping North doesn’t call or text while Olly is holding my phone hostage.
Thinking of North has me remembering what Wylder said. “Oh, North has a brother who might be interested in you.” I stand from the couch, walking into Olly’s room so he can hear me better. “He’s cute. Gives me Paul Bunyon vibes, but in a hot way.”
Olly pokes his head out from his closet. “Yeah, I’m sure he’s not my type.”
“You like them big and muscular, just like I do. I think he might be exactly your type.”
With an exaggerated eye roll, Olly comes over and kisses my cheek. “I’m sure he isn’t.” He steps around me, going to his en suite bathroom to get his shower going.
He left the closet with no clothes, so I figure he hid my phone in there to stop me from texting North for a ride home.
Looking over my shoulder to make sure he’s not coming out, I tiptoe to the closet and pull it open. His door creaks, because the house is old, so I have to inch it open. Since I’m such a small guy, I only need a small gap to slide through.
Once inside, my eyes roam around as I try to locate where he may have hidden my phone. Most of his clothes are on hangers and his shoes are lined up perfectly against the wall. After checking inside his shoes, I look up at the boxes where he keeps his important papers. The lid of one of theboxes is slightly off center. I smile. Olly isn’t that bright. Then again, he probably didn’t expect me to come in here to search for my phone while he’s in the shower.
I grab at the edge of the box and pull it down carefully, not wanting to mess up how he has things arranged. I don’t want him to know until after dinner that I found where he hid my phone.
Opening the box, I expect to see my cell among a few important documents or folders or something inside. But what I see makes my blood run cold.
A teddy bear is nestled in the box. A wheat-brown Build-A-Bear with a blue sweater that has Olly’s name sewn on it.
With a shaky hand, I reach into the box and press the paw of the bear to hear its song. ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips’ blares around me. I gasp and drop the box, stumbling back into the room.
“You see why North’s brother wouldn’t be my type?” Olly asks in a sinister voice from his bedroom door.
I whirl around with wide eyes, but freeze in my tracks. Olly has a gun pointed at me, the chrome muzzle sending fear skirting down my spine. “Olly. What are you doing? What is this?”
He keeps the gun pointed at me as he steps closer. “I thought you’d see me, Ranen. Of all people, I thought you’d see that it was me all along. I was the person who was right for you.”
“Olly,” I murmur, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“I love you, Ranen. I’ve always loved you. I thought after all the letters and gifts I left for you, you’d come to me for protection. You’d want me to be your knight in shining armor and I’d make you love me too.”
I feel the blood drain from my face. Everything feels cold and unreal. “You… you did that? Everything?”
My eyes snag on his and I see it. They’re the eyes that I’d stared into as I was getting the shit beaten out of me. The eyes that swam in my nightmares and would give me anxiety attacks out of nowhere. The eyes of the man who put me in the hospital… made me fear going home because I thought he’d be behind every closed door.
To my surprise, he smiles. And it transforms his face from the face of my best friend, who I’ve known for years, to a sinister man I don’t recognize. “Oh, yeah. Everything. When you were in the hospital… I thought then that you’d see we belong together.”
“You beat me up,” I whisper.
He nods. “Only to get you to come to me. But that fucking North had to intervene. How did he know I was there?” He asks the question almost to himself. “Doesn’t matter. You’re done with him. You and me? We’re going to be together.” Olly motions with his gun. “We’ll go away. I have a place for us, a place I planned to take you to while you were healing from your injuries. It’s all set up. We won’t have to leave for weeks. I’ll get you to see that we’re perfect for each other. Me and you are meant to be. Not you and that—”
I take the chance to rush at him, pushing him out of the way so I can try to run. Olly goes down, but I go down with him. The gun flies out of his hand, skittering across the floor. I use that opportunity to push away from Olly, and try to run for the door.
His hand snaps out and grabs my ankle and he pulls hard. I lose my balance and fall to the floor, hitting my head roughly on the hardwood.
I’m disoriented from the hard knock I just took, and it costs me seconds.
Olly turns me over and straddles me. He backhands me across the face, making my head snap to the side. He does it again on the other cheek, and my head snaps in the other direction. “You already know you can’t win a fight against me, Ranen.”
I whimper, my hands going to my cheeks.
My head feels fuzzy, my vision blacking around the edges. “Please don’t hurt me,” I whisper.
Olly sighs, touching my jaw gently. I jump at the contact. “I would never hurt you, Ranen. Those hits? They were to get your attention. All of this was to get your attention. Once you’re mine, you’ll see I would do anything to make you happy.”
How do I get out of this? How do I call for help? How do I call for North? Olly has my phone and I told North I’d call him when I was ready.
I should have given him a specific time to pick me up. He won’t know for hours that I’m in trouble.
I have to fight. I can’t allow him to take me away from here. If I do, North won’t be able to find me and Olly might kill me. He almost succeeded when he broke into my apartment all those months ago.
How could I have been so stupid? With Mr. Barlowe being so creepy, I thought we had the right man. I thought North killed the right man. But now I see the man that I should have been worried about was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Olly had me fooled. I felt so safe, so protected around him. If I’m honest, I would have gone with him so he could take care of me if North hadn’t been around. He’s always been so good to me, never showing any signs that he would hurt me so badly—not just physically, but emotionally.
My heart is shattered. Olly was my best friend, the only person in my corner before I had North. He was there for me after my grandpa died, spending countless nights comforting me when I woke up in tears or couldn’t function through my grief.
I look up at him, my eyes wet with tears. “Why didn’t you just say you wanted us to be more than friends? You never said—”
He slaps me again, his face contorted in anger. “You wanted me to spell it out for you? I was around all the time, constantly listening to you bitch and cry about shit that didn’t matter. I was patient. I was right there . You should have known.”
With rough hands, he grips me by the throat and by my hair and pulls me to my feet. “Please, Olly. Don’t do this. We’re friends.”
“I don’t want to be just your friend, Ranen. But you’ll see.” He tosses me across his bed where I slam against the wall. I try to get to my feet to run away, but Olly grabs me by the back of my shirt and puts his gun to my temple. “No running. We’re going to go to my secret spot and we’ll be together. I’ll make you see; we’re perfect for each other.”
Silent tears leak down my face as I’m pushed to his garage.
My mind is racing, trying to figure out how to get out of this. But there’s nothing. I already know Olly is capable of hurting me… Am I willing to see if he’s capable of doing far worse than hitting me?
No, I can’t. I can’t leave North alone because I’m not being smart. There has to be a way out of this, but nothing is presenting itself. But I won’t leave North alone. I’m not done loving him yet.
Olly pushes me over to his work bench. “Grab that duct tape and put it around your ankles, then zip tie your wrists.”
My lip trembles when I look over at him. “Olly, please—”
“Fucking do it!” he shouts, shaking his gun at me.
My trembling hands grab the tape and do what he says. It’s hard to get the zip tie around my wrists, but I accomplish it.
Once I’m basically immobilized, Olly tucks his gun into his waistband and checks that the zip ties hold.
“You planned this?” I ask as he puts the tape down and picks up a length of rope.
“Of course I did, Ranen. You wouldn’t have come on your own. This was the only way.” He looks at me, like a familiar stranger. “But don’t worry, Pooh Bear. You’ll realize, just as I have.”
Bile rises when he calls me Pooh Bear. Where the fuck did he get that nickname? It makes me think of Mr. Barlowe.
Fuck, Mr. Barlowe. North killed an innocent man. He wasn’t the man who was after me.
Before I can beg more, Olly rips off a piece of tape and slaps it over my mouth, cutting off my words. Then he puts a bag over my head.
I lose it then, twisting and trying to hit him or knee him anywhere. I scream behind the duct tape, my breathing coming in short, hard bursts.
It’s hard for Olly to keep a hold of me, and we both tumble to the ground. With my feet taped together, it’s easy for me to lift them and slam them into any part of his body I can. When I hear his sharp release of breath, I know I hit his stomach.
While he’s incapacitated, I turn to my belly and try to wiggle away. It’s hard, and before long I’m breathing heavily, but I don’t give up. I’m not sure how I’ll get away, but I have to try.
I don’t get far before rough hands grab my ankles and pull me across the floor. I’m turned onto my back and Olly’s weight settles on my chest, trapping my zip-tied hands.
Something hard hits me on the temple and my vision slowly dims as the fight leaves me. Then I see nothing more.