Chapter 21 - Wren
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
WREN
Sly opens the hotel room door and steps inside before nodding and letting me enter.
“Honey, we’re home!” I call, my eyes seeking out Elias. He’s right where we left him on the couch, but when he hears me, he practically drops the laptop on the table and jumps up, rounding the couch as I slip off my boots and jacket.
“Thank God you’re back,” he says, quickly moving straight for me and pulling me in for a firm hug.
“What’s wrong? Has something happened?” I ask in worry as he clutches me tight.
But he quickly shakes his head and reassures me. “No, nothing’s wrong. I just missed you. You were gone too long.”
“It was only a couple of hours,” Pete says as he passes us and heads for the kitchen.
“That was a couple of hours too long,” Elias says quietly enough that only I hear him.
“I missed you, too,” I say, pulling back and angling my head up to him for a kiss.
He doesn’t disappoint, and as soon as his lips touch mine, butterflies start fluttering around my stomach.
I still can’t believe I get to kiss him like this.
And what we did last night. He was my first crush, my only crush before my penpals.
If teenage Wren could see me now, she’d be squealing in excitement.
“Wren, what do you want for dinner?” Sly calls, clearly doing his best to cockblock us.
On the way back here, I tried my best to convince him I didn’t need any more time to recover, but when he gave me a light tap to my ass, and I let out a small, “Ouch,” he said that was proof I needed another night to heal.
So apparently, sexy time was off the table for today.
I’m starting to wonder why I let him be the boss of me, but when my eyes meet his, I instantly remember. Who was I kidding? Sly, the dom, was super hot. Every time he gave me an order, it made me a little wet.
I step back from Elias but grab his hand and pull him along with me to the kitchen area, not willing to let him go yet. He seems to feel the same, as when we stop moving, he moves behind and wraps his arms around me, before kissing the side of my head and resting his chin against me.
“I could make us dinner,” I tell Sly. “What do you guys feel like? Duck à l’Orange, Lobster Thermidor, Coq au vin?”
“I don’t even know what those are,” Pete says with surprise. “But they sound fancy.”
“Fancy and delicious,” Dex adds.
“Wren, you don’t have to make something fancy. You don’t have to make anything. We can cook for you,” Elias tells me, giving me a swift squeeze.
“Uh… Who exactly would be cooking?” I ask nervously. “Actually, it doesn’t matter. Either way, the answer is no.”
“Why don’t you and I cook some pasta together?” Sly suggests. “I used to be able to make an okay spaghetti. I’m sure you can help make it better, and I think we have all the ingredients for it already.”
I smile at him and nod. “Okay, that sounds like fun.”
Elias releases me as Sly reaches for my hand and pulls me into the kitchen. Pete and Dex try to help but quickly get in the way. “Why don’t you guys go relax on the couches while we cook?” I ask as I try to wave them out of the kitchen.
“Aw, don’t kick us out!” Pete pouts.
I try not to smile, loving that they just want to stay close. “Fine,” I concede. “But you have to sit on the bar stools on the other side of the counter so you don’t get in the way.”
Sly explains the basic recipe, which consisted of tomato paste, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and onions. It doesn’t take us long to get the sauce cooking, and I taste it before deciding to add a few more ingredients to improve the flavor.
“Is that sugar?” Pete asks when I stir in a spoonful of it.
“Yep, it helps balance out the acidity of the tomatoes,” I add a few more ingredients until I’m happy with the taste.
I bring everyone their own little spoon to test it, and they unanimously agree it’s the best spaghetti sauce they’ve ever tasted.
I think they’re just being nice, but it still makes me feel proud.
I love that cooking has become something I look forward to now. Not having to do it alone makes a big difference. And the questions they all ask as they watch me work makes me think they want to learn how to cook for me, too.
We find some bread, and I whip up some garlic butter so we can make garlic bread. Once that's ready and the noodles are cooked, we move everything to the table and sit down to eat.
Elias spoons out the noodles onto everyone’s plate, and Sly adds the sauce, while we help ourselves to the garlic bread. I take a bite and smile, enjoying this moment of us all happily working together. I hope this is a glimpse of what our future could look like together.
“Eli, how’d you make out today?” Pete asks, all eyes turning to Elias.
“I have a lead.” My eyebrows raise in surprise. “So I didn’t find anything specifically on the Black Heat, but I found a girl here in Moscow, her name is Mary, and apparently, if there is anything to know about the criminal activity in Russia, she’s the one to ask.”
“Is she dangerous?” Sly asks.
“I don’t think so. I don’t think she’s a criminal… exactly.”
“What does that mean?” Pete asks with a frown.
“She’s more criminal adjacent.”
“Like us,” I ask, trying to understand what he means.
His eyes flick to mine, and he nods. “Yes, like us. I don’t think she’s a bad guy, but she would probably break any laws she needs to, to get things done.”
“How did you find her?” Sly asks in curiosity. Elias doesn’t answer straight away, which makes me nervous, and Sly too, since he prods him again. “Elias, how did you find her?”
“She’s pretty well known for her podcast on conspiracy theories.”
“Ah shit,” Pete says, letting out a deep breath of disappointment.
“I don’t understand,” I say, glancing at all the guys' disappointed or skeptical expressions.
Sly looks at me as he answers, “Conspiracy theorists tend to be a little…”
“Wacky,” Pete adds.
Sly nods. “Yes, they are a little out there and base their knowledge on theory, not fact.”
“Okay,” Elias says, pulling the attention back to him. “But she has done several podcasts recently on a new weapon that she believes is going to hit the streets before the end of the year that will have a huge negative impact on the community.”
“Black Heat,” I guess, reading between the lines.
“She hasn’t put a name to it,” Elias says in thought. “But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know. Maybe she has to toe the line carefully, not wanting to put a target on her back.”
“And how do we find this Mary?” Dex asks before shoveling another mouthful of spaghetti into his mouth.
“I already have,” Elias says, surprising me.
“I’ve got the address she airs her podcasts from. I think we head there first thing tomorrow. It’s about forty minutes from here by car.”
“We’ll all go,” Sly says, his eyes slightly narrowing on Elias as if daring him to argue.
“I agree,” he replies, nodding his head before moving back to his meal.
“Wren, this meal is so good. You outdid yourself again,” Pete tells me before taking another bite of his garlic bread.
“Well, Sly helped. It wasn’t just me.”
“Thanks, Sly,” Pete and Dex say in unison, making me smile.
“How do you say delicious in Russian?” Pete asks curiously.
“Vkusno,” I tell him before taking a bite of spaghetti.
“Mmm,” he hums in approval. “Wren vkusno.”
“That’s not—” I start to correct him, but Elias cuts me off.
“In that context, it would be Wren vkusnaya.”
My cheeks start to warm, so I turn my attention to my plate as Pete repeats the words. Jagger taps my foot with his from my side, and I glance up at him. He gives me a wink, which makes me smile and breaks the tension I was feeling.
It’s not that I didn’t love hearing them talk like that, but Sly was being a cockblock… No, that term didn’t apply this way round. He’s blocking me from them. What’s that called then?
“Wren?” Jagger signs.
He must see me thinking really hard, and since I know he’ll always give me an honest answer, I ask him. “Is it called pussy blocking? What Sly’s doing?”
Elias starts choking on his food, and Pete coughs into his glass of water as they look at me with wide eyes.
“Did she just say pussy blocking?” Dex asks, glancing at the others.
“Is that not what it’s called?” I ask, eyeing Jagger, who’s shaking his head.
“What what’s called?” Pete asks for clarity.
“The reverse form of cock blocking.” He just blinks at me, as if baffled, so I wave an arm at Sly in explanation. “You know… what he’s doing to me.”
I narrow my eyes at Sly, and he grins. That simple expression is enough to have me shifting in my chair, trying to relieve some of the pressure there.
Dex and Pete start laughing as Jagger leans down and kisses the top of my head in silent support.
Pete wipes a few tears of laughter from his eyes before he tells me, “He’s being a beaver dam.”
I frown. “A beaver?”
“Yeah, you know… Beaver, flower, pussy, kitty, vajaja, box, cunt, snatch, honey pot.” My eyebrows raise in surprise. I’ve never heard most of those before.
“Are there other words for your… stuff?” I ask curiously.
“Tons,” he says with a nod before starting to list them all off. “Dick, dong, weiner.”
“Cock, wood, willy, sausage,” Dex adds.
“Nuts, balls, family jewels,” Elias contributes, surprising me.
“Pecker, johnson, schlong, tool, ding-dong,” Pete says.
“Or sometimes it’s just called our junk or package,” Elias tells me.
It’s quiet for about five seconds as I take all those in before Dex adds, “Tallywhacker.”
I start laughing. “You just made that up!”
“I swear I didn’t.” He holds up his hands in defense.
I glance at Jagger, “Did he?” He shakes his head, and I look back at Dex in surprise. “Do people actually use all of those?”
“Some are much more common than others,” Sly explains.
“Do you guys have a preference what I say?” I ask, scanning their faces. They shake their heads, so I smile. “Tallywhacker it is.”
Pete runs a hand down his face, “Not that one, please.”
“Okay, how about pecker? Oh! Peter’s pecker!”
“Keep talking about my pecker, and he’s not going to be able to resist coming out to play.”
“Is that a dare?” I ask with a grin.
“Yes.”
“No,” Pete and Sly reply at the same time before narrowing their eyes at each other.
“Pete,” Elias says, gaining his attention. “Keep your pecker in your pants for one night, yeah? She’s fair game tomorrow.”
My body heats instantly at his words. That sounded like a bit of a challenge. One I was definitely up for. Too bad we had to leave first thing to find Mary. Hopefully, that’s over with quickly so we can come back here and they can share their packages with me.
Dex and Pete insist on cleaning up, so I find myself snuggled up on the couch between Elias and Sly, the latter massaging my legs as I lean against Elias’s firm chest.
“What movie are we watching tonight?” I ask as Elias surfs through the movies. Since there isn’t much English TV here, he somehow connected to the American streaming service, so we have plenty of choices to watch.
“Have you seen the Back to the Future movies yet?” he asks, and I shake my head. “Perfect, we’ll watch those. They are classic action movies.” I’d loved all the ones they’d had me watch so far, so I snuggle in a little closer as he presses play.