Chapter 16 Wren
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
WREN
“So you’re saying that I only drink if I have done it?” I ask for the third time, trying to clarify the rules. It didn’t seem that complicated, but I wanted to make sure, as I really wanted to drink my beer now, but they said I’m not allowed to.
Someone will say a “never have I ever” statement, and if I’ve done it, I take a drink. But considering how much these five have done compared to me, has me thinking I’m not going to get much to drink.
“That’s right,” Pete says with a nod from where he’s sitting on the floor, his beer resting on the coffee table between us all. The living room wasn’t huge, especially with six of us in it, but we made it work.
Elias is sitting in the only single chair in the room, which faces the side of the coffee table, while Dex and Sly sit on the couch. Jagger and Pete are on the floor across the table from them and me? I’m in one of my favorite seats… Dex’s lap.
He has his arms wrapped around me and is holding me firmly against his chest. I’d just have to tilt my head up toward him, and I could kiss his chin.
It’s covered in stubble now, and it makes me reach up, unable to resist running my nails through it.
He throws me a knowing look before looking back at Pete, pretending to ignore his reaction to me touching him.
But I’m sure I felt something twitch under my ass.
“Okay, I’ll start,” Pete says with his signature mischievous smile. “Never have I ever worked for the FBI.”
“Seriously?” Elias asks with a roll of his eyes before taking a drink.
I thought this game would be more about finding out things we didn’t know about each other, but maybe Pete had other plans?
“Your turn,” Pete says with a nod at me. “We’re going in a circle.”
“Oh! Okay… Hmmm. Does it have to be something I haven’t done?”
“No, it just means you have to drink, too.”
I nod in understanding. Saying something I’ve done might be my only way to get a drink, but I was more interested in getting to know them first. The question was, what did I want to know that I hadn’t already asked?
“Never have I ever… had a girlfriend. Before me!” I add the last part quickly, as I want to know about their past relationships.
Nobody drinks, and I sit a little taller, knowing I’m their first. Elias doesn’t drink either, and that makes me wonder about his relationships over the past seven years. No girlfriend, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been... busy.
“My turn,” Dex says, humming in thought. “Never have I ever…” I squirm a little in his lap, trying to get comfortable as he thinks of his question. “Pictured Wren riding my cock when I’m in the shower.”
“Dex!” I gasp, my free hand covering my cheek in embarrassment. Movement catches my attention, and I see everyone in the room take a drink, even Elias.
“Dios mio,” I whisper, my eyes wide.
Pete starts to glare at him, but thankfully, Sly breaks the tension by asking his question quickly. “Never have I ever stolen something.”
This time, everyone drinks, even me.
“What did you steal?” Elias asks me when he sees me take a long drink of my beer.
“When I ran, I took money from Robert’s safe.”
His eyes widen in recognition. “That’s right! I almost forgot. I watched you do that on the cameras. I was so proud of you. You should have seen how mad he was when he saw it was gone.” He chuckles, but that just makes me worried.
“He was really mad?”
“Yeah, fuming. It was brilliant.”
I don’t really feel good about that; it makes me feel a little sad. “Why do you look upset?” Pete asks.
“I don’t know.”
Jagger waves a hand to get my attention and signs. “You do. Tell us.”
I shrug, looking down at my beer as I play with the label. “He’s my only family. I didn’t want to upset him. Maybe he’s only trying to get me back because he’s upset I stole from him? Maybe it’s not about me at all.”
“Wren,” Sly says as he leans toward me, placing a hand on my knee, looking like he’s trying to brace me for his next words. “I thought you understood how serious the situation is. Don’t you remember what happened when his men caught you? What they tried to do to you? What Robert told them to do?”
Tears immediately fill my eyes at the memory, and I try to wipe them away quickly.
“What the fuck, Sly? You’re making her cry!” Elias says angrily, looking like he wants to come over and pluck me right out of Dex’s lap.
Sly narrows his eyes as he turns to Elias. “She needs to remember, to understand that her brother doesn’t love her, that he’s never going to welcome her home with open arms, that he was going to sell her.”
I flinch when he says sell. Maybe I did need this reminder. It was just so hard to keep it straight in my head. I’d been practically worshipping him as my big brother for the past two decades. But it was hard to just flip a switch in my head and my heart.
“I know he’s my enemy now,” I say, trying to let them know I understand.
“He was always your enemy,” Elias says softly, and I nod.
“Right. It was all fake,” I say with a frown. I think I’m still trying to convince myself, but if I close my eyes and think about the note saying he was selling me, and what he said on the phone, it definitely helps.
But what helps the most is how different I feel here, surrounded by people who actually love me. Who don’t make me curtsy or sit up straight, or tell me what I have to eat, wear, and do. They let me be me, even if I don’t know exactly who that is yet.
“Can we get back to the game now?” I ask, taking a quick sip of my beer to try and steady my frayed nerves. Everyone sits back, and the tension fades as everyone looks to Elias.
“Okay, my turn, I guess. Hmm…. Never have I ever stalked someone with plans to kill them.”
My four guys take drinks, not surprising me, but Elias gives me a look as if he just proved some point. I rest my head back against Dex, and Elias frowns, as if expecting more of a response from me.
Jagger starts signing, and I ask his question aloud, even though I’m pretty sure everyone is proficient enough at ASL to understand him now.
“Never have I ever watched Wren change without her knowledge.” My eyes widen as I speak his question, and four sets of narrowed eyes turn to Elias.
Dios mio, did he see me naked in the cameras?
But his brown eyes lock on mine as he leans back, his drink not moving from where he’s resting it on his thigh as he raises an eyebrow, before glancing around at the others. Nobody drinks, and I let out a small breath of relief.
I honestly wouldn’t be that upset if someone snuck a peek now, but I’m glad they hadn’t done it before.
“Alright, never have I ever wanted to watch Wren change,” Pete says, immediately taking a big swig of his beer. Jagger joins him, then I turn and watch Dex and Sly take a drink. Sly holds eye contact with me while he does, and that somehow sends a bolt of heat straight to my core.
They all want to watch me change? Why? I mean… I can guess why… The same reason I’d want to see them get undressed. My thoughts are interrupted when Elias finally lifts his own beer and takes a drink, his eyes on the ceiling and avoiding my gaze as I stare at him in surprise.
He wants to watch me change? Is that perverted or… sexy?
Sexy. Definitely sexy.
Wanting to quickly change the subject before I get any more worked up, I ask the first thing that comes to mind that will let me take a much-needed drink. “Never have I ever trusted the wrong person.” Thinking of my brother, I take a drink.
Everyone but Jagger takes one, surprising me a little. “I was referring to Robert, who were you all drinking for?” I ask, wanting to learn a little more about them.
“My dad,” Dex says. “I trusted he wouldn’t go too far, but he did, and it cost my mother her life.
” I hug him in support. I already knew this, but I also knew how much it bothered him that he hadn’t stepped up earlier to try to stop his father.
But he was only twelve at the time, and he probably would have just gotten himself killed if he had done anything sooner.
“Same. Although that trust didn’t last long, I knew from an early age what kind of man my dad was. Helping rapists and pedophiles get off on technicalities.” Sly shakes his head and takes a quick drink.
“My uncle,” Pete says without further explanation. I know that after his parents died, he was sent to live with him. And his uncle took advantage of him, turning him into a drug runner.
Elias is the last to explain. “Your brother,” he says, surprising me.
“When we were younger, I believed that he was looking out for you. Even my parents said that it was normal after what he’d been through, losing his parents and being left to raise you on his own.
” His face scrunches slightly in thought before he locks eyes with me. “I’m sorry I trusted him for so long.”
“I’m sorry I did, too. At least you saw it, I never did… until it was almost too late.”
He nods, and I watch him swallow heavily.
“Okay, my turn,” Dex announces loudly. “Let’s make this party a little less solemn, shall we?”
“Solemn?” Sly asks with a raised eyebrow. “I’m surprised you even know that word.”
“You think because I’m so handsome, I don’t know big words?” Dex asks, puffing out his chest with a teasing smirk on his lips.
“It’s not your looks that make me dumb down my words for you, Dex. It’s your intelligence.”
“Maybe I’m not as brainy as you, Sylvester, but at least I don’t have the emotional intelligence of a gorilla.”
“A gorilla?” I ask with a giggle.
“Yeah, they’re always grumpy, they never smile, you never know if they are about to hug you or rip you apart.”
Elias and Pete both snort. “Sounds about right,” Elias says.
“Just because I don’t wear every emotion on my face doesn’t mean I don't have them,” Sly says in defense.
“Maybe so,” Elias starts, “But it probably means you’re scared of them.”
Sly turns his narrowed gaze on Elias. “I am not afraid of my emotions.”