Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
JAGGER
As soon as we hear the bathroom door shut, Pete flies for Elias, who just manages to duck out of the way of his right hook.
“What the fuck, Pete?” Elias asks, shoving him away instead of trying to hit him back.
“Can’t you see you upset her?” He jumps on Elias, tackling him to the ground as Sly rolls his eyes. Dex cracks his knuckles and steps closer, looking like he’s waiting to be tagged in, and I just stand back and watch the mess unfold in front of me.
“Me? I just asked her a question! Ow!” He growls when Pete lands a punch to his shoulder. “Fuck off!” He manages to push Pete off him, just in time for Dex to jump in, trying to roll Elias to his stomach. “Get off me!”
“You don’t get it yet, do you?” Sly asks, watching them wrestle around as if it’s totally normal.
“Get—Omph!” He takes a hit to the kidneys before reaching around to Dex, hooking his leg underneath and doing some crazy fighter moves that have them switching places, Dex lying on his side, with Elias holding his head to the ground. “Get what?”
Sly answers calmly, as if he wants to make sure Elias doesn’t miss a single word. “Dex isn’t her only boyfriend. She’s with all four of us.”
Elias immediately stops, and Dex takes advantage of his shock to shove him off and stand up, moving beside the other two as they all stare down at where Elias is seated on the ground. He stares up at them with a flood of emotions tearing through his face.
Finally, he licks his lips and swallows the lump in his throat as he asks, “All of you?” I can hear the pain in his voice, but I couldn’t care less. He was her best friend, not her boyfriend, and even that relationship ended years ago. He has no right to look hurt right now.
Sly nods, and Elias’s brows scrunch, like someone shoved a dagger in him.
I don’t want to feel bad for him, but I have a feeling he’s been pining for Wren since he was old enough to start liking girls.
I only had letters from her, and I was addicted.
Imagine knowing her in real life, and then only being able to watch her through a camera for years.
Finally, I think I understand him. He’s grown attached to her. He’s convinced himself that he’d get her out of there and she’d throw her arms around his neck and they’d run off into the sunset together, living happily ever after.
But that was before we fell into her orbit. That shining star had sucked all five of us in with her magnetic pull. There’s no Elias and Wren anymore. The four of us have grown very attached to her, and the sooner he realizes that, the better.
I hear a faint thump from Wren’s direction and immediately turn and jog to the bathroom she went into. The door isn’t locked, but I’m only able to open it a foot before it hits something. I peek my head in and see her lying on the floor, unconscious, her feet blocking the door from opening.
“What’s going on?” Dex asks when he sees me trying to get in. I whip around and start signing as fast as I can.
“Wren, on the floor. Unconscious.” I know Elias understands as he repeats it out loud, and I crouch down and reach around the door, lifting her feet out of the way so I can open the door fully.
“Wren!” Dex gasps.
“Fuck, what happened?” Elias asks as I kneel at her side, pushing her hair behind her ear so I can see her face.
Her eyes are closed, and her breathing is steady.
That’s good at least. I look over her quickly but see no sign of apparent injury, so I carefully pick her up and carry her into the bedroom.
Sly steps in to switch off the tap as I lay her down in the middle of the bed, climbing in beside her.
Pete jumps in on her other side, and we both move her hair back away from her face. Pete hisses the exact moment I see the red on the side of her temple. She must have hit it when she fell.
“We need ice!” I sign, and a panic-stricken Elias nods.
“I’ll get it!” he yells as he runs through the open doorway.
“It doesn’t look too bad, hopefully ice will stop it from swelling. She probably smacked her head on the floor when she fell,” Sly says, sitting beside me, by her legs.
Dex takes a spot on her other side as we all rest a hand on her somewhere, watching her.
“I don’t like him,” Dex says, cutting through the silence with his grumpy pout.
“Well, we may need him, so we’re gonna have to get used to him… for now,” Sly says, scowling as if he disagrees with his own words.
“What do we need him for? We can figure everything out on our own,” Dex says just as Elias comes back in with a clear bag filled with ice from the ice machine. He passes it to me, then steps back and crosses his arms, his eyes turning to Dex.
“Do you know where Robert’s warehouses are located?” he asks, knowing full well we don’t. When Dex just scowls at him, he turns to Pete. “Do you know how many men he has under him?” Pete flips him off, so he turns to Sly and asks, “Do you know every city he has infiltrated?”
“What’s your point?” Dex asks impatiently.
“My point is that you need me. Not only have I been studying Robert and Ivan’s business dealings for years, but I can hack into most systems to help us find where they are and get close to them. Not to mention you have the FBI on your trail. I can keep them off you.”
“I still think you’re the one who led them to us,” Pete grumbles, and Elias shoots him a narrow-eyed look.
“Look, you guys don’t like me, and I’m not exactly fond of this not-so-warm welcome you’ve given me. If it were my decision, I’d take Wren and leave you guys to fend for yourselves.”
I squeeze Wren’s hand and glare at him, daring him even to try. Dex literally growls as Sly flicks open his pocket knife and points it at Elias. “If you ever threaten to take her from me again, I’ll castrate you before you can even blink.”
Elias holds up his hands in surrender and takes a step back. “It wasn’t a threat. I’m just saying that for some reason, she seems to like you four. And like it or not, if you want to be free and not be on the run forever, then you need me.”
“Even if we kill Robert, we’ll still be wanted by your buddies at the bureau,” Pete says as Sly closes his knife and repockets it.
“I have a plan for that, too. If we can prove that you were framed, which you were, I think with the right attorney, we can get your names cleared.”
My eyebrows lift in surprise, though I don’t fully believe him. Is that even possible?
“Jagger?” Wren’s strained voice calls for me, and I quickly turn to look down at her precious face, cupping her cheek as I hold the ice to her temple. “What happened? I feel weird.”
“We were going to ask you that, angel,” Pete says, the light-heartedness returning to his tone as he speaks to her. “We found you on the floor in the bathroom.”
She looks confused for a second before her eyes widen a fraction. Then her eyes find Elias, before moving to everyone else in the room.
“I, um… I think I passed out.”
“How are you feeling now?” Sly asks.
“A little weak, but much better.”
“Are you sick?” Pete asks, placing a hand on her forehead.
I swat it away, shaking my head at him as I sign, “Anxiety attack.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know that first word.”
“Anxiety,” Wren whispers, looking embarrassed and uncomfortable.
Pete’s eyes raise to meet mine, and I can see him finally putting it together, remembering what topic drove her to freak out so bad that she passed out.
His concern instantly changes to mischievousness as he looks back at her.
“Well, angel cake, we have the rest of the day to do whatever we want! Shall we binge-watch some TV? Or maybe find a game to play on the tablet? We could order some room service? If you want, you could teach me some more sign language?” I know he must really be desperate to make her happy if he’s offering that.
She smiles at him and nods. “We can do any of those things. What does everyone else want to do?”
“I’m going to set up my computer and see if that safe house hacking idea has any merit,” Elias says. He eyes Wren warily and asks. “You sure you’re okay?” She nods, and he returns the gesture before marching out into the sitting area.
“I’ll go find us something to watch,” Pete says before kissing her on the cheek, making her blush, then jumping up and exiting the room.
“We’ll meet you out there,” Sly says as he and Dex move to the door, thankfully giving us a moment alone.
We were constantly together, so getting time alone with Wren is extremely difficult.
So I wrap my arms around her and hug her into my chest, wanting to cherish the moment, even if we only have a minute together.