Chapter 13 Wren
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WREN
“What are you doing?” Sly asks as he steps into the bedroom and sees me pulling on one of the new crop tops the guys had bought for me.
“I told you I’m not spending another day in that bed.” I point at it in frustration. It is probably the nicest one I’ve ever slept in, but being basically confined to it for the past nine days is making me start to hate it.
“We agreed on two weeks,” he tells me, blocking the exit with his arms folded across his chest.
“No,” I say, shaking my head, before jabbing my finger into his chest. “You said two weeks. I never agreed to that.”
“You’re still healing,” he argues.
“Sly, Jagger’s been walking around for two days, and he’s fine.”
“It’s different.”
I mirror his pose, arms across my chest as I raise my eyebrows at him in question. “How?”
“It just is.”
“Sly…”
“You know I need to look after you.”
“Is this about being a dom?” I ask, cocking my head at him in question.
“Partly. It’s not sexual, though, but I want to look after you. I need to. You need to trust me and know I’m looking out for your best interests.”
I let my arms drop to my side before stepping up to him and resting my hands on his forearm. “Sly, of course, I know this all comes from a place of love, but didn’t you tell me that sometimes I have to put my foot down, too?”
He purses his lips but doesn’t respond. “In this case, obeying your order is not something I want to do. As much as I love to make you happy, my back doesn’t hurt anymore.
It just itches sometimes. You confirmed yourself that all the wounds are either scabbed over or healed.
I’m not going to be doing cartwheels or anything, but if I lie in that bed for one more day, I’m going to go crazy. ”
His eyes bounce between mine before he asks, “You’ll be careful?”
“I promise.”
“No physical activities until all the scabbing is gone.”
“You’re no fun,” Pete says as his head pops up over Sly’s shoulder. Spotting me, he exclaims, “Hey! Does Wren get to come out and play now?”
“Yes,” I say.
“No,” Sly says at the same time, then we narrow our eyes on each other.
Deciding to take a different approach, since he is blocking the doorway, I take a few steps back, place the back of my hand on my forehead, and look up at Sly with wide, concerned eyes. “Oh my,” I whisper as I sit on the edge of the bed.
Immediately, his arms drop as he steps toward me. “What? What is it? What’s wrong?” he asks in alarm.
“Could you get me a cold cloth?” I ask, pointing to the bathroom.
“Of course.”
He starts toward the bathroom, and I look at Pete and grin. “Psych!” I yell, jumping up and practically sprinting from the bedroom. Pete steps to the side to let me pass as giggles escape me.
“You little brat!” Sly yells as I move into the rest of the suite, finding the others lounging around the living area. “I told you not to run!”
“I’m not running!” I say as I speed walk to the couches, finding my target. “Dex! Protect me! Sly’s trying to bore me out of my mind!”
Dex, being the gentleman he is, instantly stands and pulls me behind him as he assumes a fighting stance aimed at Sly. “Halt, foul villain!”
“Seriously?” Sly asks as he comes to a stop in front of him. I peek out from Dex’s side, and Sly narrows his eyes on me. “And you… you tricked me.”
“You wouldn’t let me leave the bedroom. I felt like a prisoner!” I exclaim, trying to be funny, but the entire room seems to grow tense.
Dex spins to face me as he asks, “You really felt that way?” He sounds terribly upset.
“No,” I say, quickly shaking my head as I turn him so I can see all the guys. “I was joking. But I wasn’t kidding about needing to get out of that room. I can’t take it anymore. And Jagger gets to walk around, so I should, too.”
“Can I look at your back?” Elias asks as he stands.
I nod and turn away. I fold my arms over my front as I can’t wear a bra yet, and he lifts my shirt, inspecting my wounds.
“They look good, same as this morning. Clearly, moving around hasn’t harmed them.
” He glances at Sly as he adds, “We have to take care of her mental health, too.”
“Fine,” he turns to me, wagging his finger as he instructs, “But no shenanigans until the scabs are gone, understand?”
“Yes, sir!” I say, saluting him.
He narrows his eyes, watching me for a second, before I see a spark of amusement there. Then he moves to take a seat on the couch beside Jagger.
“Well, now that you’ve escaped, what do you want to do?” Pete asks, leaning against the chair as Elias retakes his seat.
“Shouldn’t we be planning how to get that list from Ivan?”
“We’re already working on it,” Elias informs me. “I managed to hack into his landline, and I’m recording all calls. I wrote a program that will transcribe it and flag anything of interest.”
“How will that help?” I ask in confusion.
“Well, this is a two-part plan. We need to get that list, but we also need to take out Ivan, and I don’t think we can get to him in his home.”
“So we’re listening for talk of him leaving. If we have advance notice, we can set up an ambush,” Sly adds.
“So we just… wait?”
He nods. “I check the program throughout the day to see if there’s anything interesting. Jagger is listening to the calls himself, too, in case the Russian-to-English translation misses something important.”
“I can help,” I say, my ears perking up at the idea of translating.
“You could listen with me,” Jagger signs to me, and I nod excitedly.
“We need to figure out some better food today. I have not been enjoying most of the stuff we’ve ordered,” Pete says, placing a hand on his belly. “I’d love something familiar."
An idea suddenly occurs to me, and I smile with excitement. I’ve been dying for a chance to cook for them. “Why don’t I cook dinner for everyone?” I ask excitedly.
“You don’t need to do that. You’ve been stuck in bed for over a week, and held captive before that,” Dex reminds me.
“I know, but I want to. Let me do this for you?” I ask, clasping my hands together under my chin.
“Is she seriously begging to cook for us right now?” Pete asks, looking at me like I’ve grown a third head.
Sly almost grins. “If you let Elias know what ingredients you need, he will order the groceries for you.”
I beam at them, feeling excited to finally contribute something to our team. Moving into the kitchen, I start looking through the cupboards to see what we have on hand, trying to think of something they will like. I know they all like beef; they’ve eaten enough burgers to prove that.
They’d probably like my beef wellington, and I know steak is Jagger’s favorite meal. I could make potatoes au gratin because Pete loves cheese, and roasted carrots because that’s Sly’s favorite vegetable. And I’ll make chocolate lava cakes for dessert since Elias and Dex love chocolate.
It doesn’t take me long to write up a list of groceries and hand it off to Elias, then I sit down at Jagger’s side as he pulls the laptop into his lap.
‘How are you?’ he types into the open document.
“I’m fine, how are you feeling? Is your back itching, too?”
He nods before typing again. ‘How do you feel, in here?’ He stops typing to press a finger to the middle of my forehead.
I shrug. “Fine, I guess.” He gives me a look that makes me want to pour my heart out to him, and I frown. “How do you do that?” He tilts his head in question. “How do you make it so easy to talk to you?”
He leans down and presses his lips to mine in a gentle kiss before tapping on his written question again. I sigh, looking down at my hands as I shrug. “I don’t know. It’s strange. The time we spent at Ivan’s seems like another life, you know?” I glance up at him, and he nods.
“I was terrified, not knowing what had happened to any of you, if you were even alive. I thought I was the only one there until you were brought into the dining room. Where had you been for the week before that? Were you in the bedroom right down the hall from me that whole time?”
He signs his response this time. “I was kept outside in a shed. It was cold all the time. I didn’t even see Ivan until that day at breakfast.”
“You were shackled outside in the freezing cold that whole time?” I ask in shock. He nods, and I gently wrap my arms around him, being gentle with his back, but knowing he can take some pressure without any pain. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“Did you have any issues with your claustrophobia?” Elias asks from where he’s sitting nearby.
I turn to face him as I shake my head. “No. There was a closet in my room, but I managed to get by without any panic attacks.”
“That’s my girl,” Pete says as he drops to the couch beside me and wraps an arm around my shoulders.
“I’m proud of you, Wren,” Elias tells me as I feel my cheeks heat with slight embarrassment.
“All I did was not pass out when going into a closet. It’s not a big deal,” I tell them, brushing it off.
“It is a big deal, and you know it,” Elias corrects me. “There is no need to feel shame that enclosed spaces make you panic.”
“Overcoming that is a huge deal,” Sly adds.
“It’s embarrassing,” I mumble. “You guys aren’t afraid of anything.”
“I’m afraid of losing you,” Jagger signs.
“That doesn’t count cause I’m afraid of losing you guys, too,” I tell him with a smile to soften my retort.
“I’m afraid of heights,” Dex suddenly blurts out, surprising everyone.
“No way!” Pete says, sounding amused.
“Yep, I’ve always hated them. I can’t do anything that’s more than five feet off the ground.”
“But you’re over six feet tall,” Pete says in amusement.
“I don’t know what to tell ya, kid. I don’t make the rules.” Pete snorts, shaking his head as Dex asks, “What about you, Pete? What are you afraid of?”
His lips pinch together for a moment before he replies. “Nothing.”
“Liar, liar pants on fire!” I accuse, jabbing my finger into his side.
“How do you know I’m lying?” he asks me curiously.
“'Cause I know you. Can’t you tell when I’m lying?”