Chapter 17
SETH
I was going to wear Wren down, one way or another.
Now that I’ve had her, I can’t get enough.
Even before I met her, I could tell she was the kind of woman with walls.
Walls were good to a certain extent, but I wanted her .
. . all of her. I couldn’t have that if she kept pushing me out. I had yet to see her since last night.
A knock sounded on my study door, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Benny peeking his head inside.
“Do you want to give me a rundown on the meeting with Nikolai?”
I nodded. “Grab Joey and bring him in here so we can talk about it.”
He left and came back a few minutes later with Joey. They stood in front of my desk, and I called my father, putting it on speakerphone so they could hear.
“Good afternoon, son,” my father greeted.
“How do you like the penthouse?” I asked.
My father chuckled. “Your mother and I love it. Thank you for letting us stay here.”
“Anything for you,” I replied. “Feel free to order whatever you want, whenever you want. The staff there know who you are and will ensure you have everything.”
“Thank you, Seth. Your mother and I needed this time away.”
“Where will she be when the meeting takes place?”
He sighed and I could hear the unease in it. “She’s going shopping. I don’t want her to see what her family’s turned into. Diego’s taking her away around two o’clock.”
I looked at Benny and Joey and nodded. “All right. My guys and I will be there around then.”
“Sounds good,” he said, his voice guarded. “Be safe, son.”
“Always am.”
“I fear what’ll happen to this family if anything happens to you.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I promised him.
We hung up and I stood, turning my back on Benny and Joey so I could peer out the window at the mountainy desert.
“I want you two with me in the meeting tomorrow, along with Drake. I’m going to put Wren in a hotel room and have Stefan guard her.”
“Do you think anything will go down tomorrow?” Benny asked.
I shook my head. “Not with my father there. But as soon as we leave the hotel, all bets are off.”
“What if we went back to New York? Nikolai hasn’t been there in almost a year. He’ll be outnumbered,” Joey insisted. “Most of the families support and respect you, not him.”
“True,” I agreed, “but Nikolai will see me as a coward if I do that. Here, in Vegas, I’m limited. I need to take him out on my own.”
Benny scoffed. “Your brother’s not honorable. He won’t play fair.”
Smirking, I glanced at him over my shoulder. “And who said I would?”
“Glad to hear it,” he said, backing up toward the door.
He and Joey left and I focused back on the desert landscape outside my window. I don’t know how long I stayed staring at the horizon, but then a sound I hadn’t heard before caught my attention.
I walked out into the hallway and listened for it again.
Wren squealed and it echoed from her room, all the way downstairs.
I’ve never heard her sound genuinely happy like that.
Silently, I made my way upstairs and her bedroom door was open.
She was lying on her stomach on the bed, dressed in denim shorts and a pink tank top, with her phone out in front of her.
Coming from the phone was the soft sound of a baby crying.
Wren had yet to see me, but I couldn’t stop watching her. Her face was lit up with excitement. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
How are things going out there?”
I recognized Peyton’s voice and could see her on the screen. The crying I heard must’ve been her babies.
“Eh,” Wren said, shrugging a shoulder. “It’s fine—just a waiting game. I’ve been training with Ripp to get ready for my fight. I wish October were here now. I’m ready to be noticed by the UFC officially.”
Peyton laughed. “Don’t worry, you’ll be bombarded with so much fame you won’t know what to do with it.” The babies started crying, and I could hear Ethan trying to soothe them in the background. “Wren, I’m going to let you go. I think the babies are hungry.”
Since the call was almost over, I leaned against the doorframe and cleared my throat so Wren would know I was there. She glanced over her shoulder at me and stood, her smile still on Peyton.
“Get some rest. Tell my nephews I can’t wait to hold them.” There was a glow around her as she talked to Peyton; I liked it.
“I love you, Wren. Be safe out there, okay?”
Wren nodded. “I will. And I love you, too.”
The call ended and she tossed her phone on the bed, her grin still bright. “Peyton had her boys. They’re the most precious things I’ve ever seen.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I stared at her. After what happened between us last night and how she ran away from me, I thought I’d see hesitance on her face, but there was none.
“I don’t think I’ve heard you genuinely laugh since you’ve been here. It’s nice,” I told her.
Wren smiled. “My family just got bigger. How could I not be happy about that?”
“True,” I agreed. A few seconds of silence passed between us. I waited to see if she’d come up with something snarky to say like she always did, but she didn’t. “Are you still upset about what happened between us last night?” I asked, waiting to see if that riled her up.
She tensed for a split second, and I caught it, but she tried to play it off.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing happened.”
I could see the heat in her eyes when she looked at me. If that was how she wanted to deal with the situation, that was fine. But soon, she’d have to face the fact that there was something between us.
I hooked a thumb toward the hallway. “I was going to throw some steaks on the grill. Are you hungry?”
Her brows lifted. “You cook? I thought people like you had others do it for them.”
I smiled. “I do in New York, but here I fend for myself,” I said, moving out of the doorway. “Want to see how I do?”
Wren lifted her chin and walked past me into the hall. “Don’t mind if I do. If there’s one night I can let my worries go, it’s tonight. I have to celebrate, even if I’m not with Peyton.”
I watched her stroll toward the stairs and smiled. The woman had a way of keeping me on my toes and I loved it.
“I’ll open a glass of champagne.”