Chapter 23
KC
Inked God Ren Calling
I stared at the words on my phone, anger swelling in my stomach until it was a living being that gnawed at me. The longer I looked at the screen, the more the sensation writhed. When the ringing stopped, I paused, then gritted my teeth as it started again.
Betrayal was something I had experience with, especially from a boyfriend. While it wasn’t a new feeling, I had learned experience didn’t make the situation any easier.
Ren had broken our trust, and now Oli and I were swimming in the consequences, practically drowning as we learned how to deal with the emotions that came with such a massive bombshell.
Oli was my main priority. For the last few days, he’d been a ghost, staying in my room and hiding from everyone except me. Barber had given us the space we needed. I hadn’t asked him about Ren and wasn’t going to. Not yet. First, I needed to understand the thoughts in my head.
Pa had kept his distance. He’d already told me what he’d love to do to Ren, but I’d talked him out of it.
The last thing I needed—or wanted—was a dead Ren.
Despite all the research he’d supposedly done, he must not know Pa’s professional background.
Not the real one. No one would be able to tell by watching Pa, either.
Nobody could get close to Pa unless he allowed it.
I’d asked him last night if he’d known someone was hanging around.
Clearly, Ren had paid top dollar to sift through our lives.
“Yes, but there’s always someone hanging around,” Pa had said easily as he made dinner for me and Oli.
Barber was coming back later and Pa told me they would eat together so Oli and I could have privacy.
“I’m always being watched by the Society in some capacity.
It’s normal. I give them the boring version of my life and wait for them to leave. They usually do when they grow tired.”
It made sense. Being an assassin brought all sorts of dangerous people around. Pa had taught me to be aware of my surroundings, but obviously, I’d forgotten how to do it because I’d never noticed anyone. Fuck. How could I be so stupid?
“What are you thinking about?” Oli rubbed a towel over his wet hair and cocked his head.
He was standing at the entrance to my connected bathroom, another towel wrapped around his trim waist as steam curled out behind him.
His shoulders were flushed red from a boiling hot shower, something I’d learned recently that he enjoyed.
I preferred the water on the cooler side, so I wasn’t sure how or if we’d be able to shower together.
“I was thinking about Ren having us trailed and that I had no idea.” I dropped my phone beside me and lay farther back on my bed, sighing as I linked my fingers behind my head.
“We couldn’t have known.” Oli twisted the ring on his finger, lips pursed in thought. “He tricked all of us. Even Barber.”
“That isn’t saying much,” I teased with a laugh. “Barber’s too busy fucking with people directly in front of him to notice anything around him.”
He chuckled with a nod as he crossed the room to a drawer I’d given him for his clothes.
He’d been staying here, and while his mom had called him a few times and he’d talked to her, she didn’t seem to mind that he wasn’t home.
Oli said she was relieved he’d made friends, which told me that she didn’t know he had a boyfriend.
It wasn’t my business. At least he didn’t hide me like my ex had.
My gaze followed his lithe body as he threw on a pair of boxers, flashing me his pale ass in the process, and I smiled at how small and tight his cheeks were.
I loved him.
He was so different from Ren, but I liked that they lacked similarities. They’d both brought something unique to our relationship, and I’d thrived on their attention and care.
Until Ren ruined everything.
My smile dropped as I cursed him under my breath. The anger returned, a fire in the pit of my stomach. Was it all an act? Sounded like it.
My phone buzzed on the bed, and I picked it up again, staring at Ren’s name. No. I wasn’t going to do this with him. There would be no forgiveness. Not yet. Did I miss him? Hell yeah. He completed us, but he’d also fucking hurt us. Oli trusted him, I trusted him, and he’d betrayed us.
He didn’t deserve anything.
“Is that Ren?” Oli asked in a small voice, turning to look at me once he had his boxers on. “He’s been calling me nonstop.”
“Me too,” I admitted. I scrubbed my face with a palm.
“Should we hear what he has to say?” Oli came over to the bed, and I opened my arms, letting him slip into them. He lay against my chest, cheek pressed to my pec. He was warm from his shower and his weight was comforting.
“Why?” I stared up at the ceiling, ignoring my phone as it vibrated again. “For him to tell us more lies? That’s what he’s been doing the entire time.”
“I know.” His breath fluttered across my bare skin, tickling my nipples and making them pebble. Goose bumps rose over my chest. “I miss him already.”
“Me too.” It was hard to admit, but I wouldn’t let any deception linger between us. Ren had lied enough for all of us. “But we can’t forgive him. He was going to try to destroy Barber’s life by using us. He doesn’t deserve anything from us.”
The stupid thing was that I wanted him back. How ridiculous was I? He’d hurt us, yet I couldn’t stop thinking about him. About all three of us together.
“I know.” Sadness was heavy in Oli’s tone as he curled in on himself against my chest. He stroked a finger between my pecs, and the sensation sent a wave of calm through me. The tension in my shoulders eased and I leaned my cheek against his curls, breathing in the scent of my soap on him.
“It was better to learn about him now than later.”
Oli made a sound in the back of his throat. Was it amusement or pain? “It’s still too late. I’m in love with him, like I’m in love with you.”
I sucked in a breath because I loved him, too, which sucked donkey balls.
How the fuck did this happen so fast? I fell off a cliff and straight in love with Ren and Oli.
I didn’t believe in the at first sight shit, but the falling had happened faster than was healthy.
We fit so perfectly that our relationship had been a dream.
Now I was waking up in a nightmare when it came to Ren.
Oli? Not so much. But he was hurting, and I had to be strong for him.
As if Ren read our minds, Oli’s phone started buzzing where he’d left it on the nightstand. He grabbed the phone and scowled at it, dark eyebrows furrowed in thought. I took it from him gently, and he watched me as I denied the call, then went into Ren’s contact info, blocking him.
“What are you doing?” he whispered, bottom lip shaking.
“Removing the problem.” I blocked Ren on my phone, too, before I passed Oli’s back.
“If we’re both in love with him and he keeps calling, one of us will give in.
He doesn’t deserve that. If he wants our forgiveness, he needs to work for it.
He needs to come here and tell us why he deserves it.
” I shook my head and gently dragged Oli against my chest again.
“He hurt us both and he has to earn our trust.”
He cuddled closer, burying his face against my armpit. He breathed me in, then sighed. “Is it wrong that a part of me hopes he comes to beg on his knees?”
“No,” I whispered, holding him tighter. “Because I want the same thing.”
Did that make us fools? Probably.