Chapter 22 Wren
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
WREN
“Good, you’re getting faster,” Pete says as he motions for me to repeat the action.
When we got home from our stakeout, Pete and I had too much energy to sit down, so he took me in the yard for some training.
He’s been teaching me how to move away from an attacker without getting hit.
Each time I try it, I get faster and faster, and it’s definitely a boost to my self-esteem when I finally manage to slip out of his grasp.
“Now I want to teach you something else,” he says, moving behind me and gripping my shoulders.
“One day you may find yourself somewhere in danger, but without a weapon.” He slowly turns us to face the whole yard.
“There are a lot of things you can use as a weapon or turn into one. Tell me what you see.”
“Uhh…” My eyes move around the yard, but I don’t see anything useful. “There’s nothing here.”
I feel him shake his head as he points in front of us. “The shed, that’s probably filled with potential weapons.” He turns us away from it and asks. “What else do you see?”
“Um… a patio chair?” I ask, unsure.
“You could use that, although it’s probably a bit too heavy, and if your attacker is bigger than you, they’ll probably be able to catch it before it hits them.”
“It wouldn’t be my first choice either, but I don’t see anything else.”
He points to the table and says, “The coffee mug.”
“How do you use a mug as a weapon?”
“Anything can be a weapon if used right. The mug is light enough that you could get a decent swing and hit them in the head. Maybe it has hot coffee in it. You could throw that in their face. Or, grab the handle and smash the mug on the edge of the table. That should give you some sharp pieces to work with.”
“You’re very… creative with hurting people,” I tell him.
His arms encircle me, and he nips at my ear, sending a bolt of lust to my clit. “Does that scare you, angel?”
“Not at all.”
“Hmm,” he hums in my ear, then releases me and steps back. I turn to face him, and he throws his arms wide. “Okay, what else do you see out here that you can use?”
I try to take his advice, remembering anything can be a weapon, as I scan the yard. I point to the flower bed by the back of the bedroom window. “Those wire frames for the vines, they probably have pointy ends in the ground.”
“Very good, what else?”
“There are a bunch of rocks around the garden that I can pick up and use to hit someone.”
“Excellent, anything else?”
I see an old rake leaning beside the shed and tilt my head. “Well, there’s that old rake, but I don’t think I could swing that fast enough to do any damage.”
“You’re probably right, but you could turn it lethal.
Snap it in half. I’d do that over my knee, but you probably want to lay it over something, like a large rock, hold down one side, and stomp on the other so it snaps.
It will probably give you a sharp edge. It’s also possible, if you have more time, try and sharpen the existing end into a sharp point. It just depends on your circumstances.”
“Did you do a lot of stuff like this in the past?” I ask him curiously.
He nods. “When I was on the streets, yeah. I was too young to buy a weapon, so I made my own. I made a shiv in prison, too. From my toothbrush.”
“Did you ever use it on anyone?”
“Nah, I would have if I needed to, but generally fighting with your fists was a safer bet.”
“I’m not sure I’d be any good at either.”
“You don’t need to be,” he says, moving closer to grab my hands and squeeze them. “You’ve got us now.” I give him a strained smile, and he pulls me in for a hug. “Seriously, Wren. We’re gonna look after you. I’m just teaching you this stuff to make you feel safer. And in case the worst happens.”
I hug him back and burrow my head in his chest. I’m not sure what his worst-case scenario is, but mine is them being killed. Anything else, we can get through. If they go to prison again, I’ll just have to break them out.
When I walk into the living room, I find Jagger, Pete, Dex, and Sly standing huddled together, whispering, but as soon as they see me, they stop talking.
“What’s going on?” I ask nervously.
Pete grins as Jagger moves to wrap an arm around my shoulder. “Nothing, just talking about what we’re going to do while Elias reviews all the data he collected earlier.”
Having some alone time with Elias in the SUV had given me some insight into what he does. He showed me how he hacked into Robert’s feeds. None of the cameras were equipped with audio, but we did get a lot of footage that showed how many men are there and where the cameras are.
Elias said he has an idea, but he needs to review the footage and hack into some more FBI files before he can figure out a full plan. He closed himself off in his bedroom so we won’t distract him.
“Where are we going?” I ask as Jagger pulls me down the hall into the large bedroom I haven’t slept in.
“Would you like to watch a movie with me?” he signs before grabbing the TV remote.
I eye the TV, and my mind flashes to images of porn. “What sort of movie?” I ask before biting my lip nervously, excitement humming through my veins.
“I’d love to know where your mind just went,” he signs, his heated eyes trailing up and down my body.
I kneel on the bed, keeping my eyes glued to his as I answer honestly. “Just wondering if you’re giving me another lesson? It’s been a while since I’ve had one.”
He glances at the open door as if considering something, then he quickly moves over and pushes it shut. My heart beats wildly with excitement as he slowly moves to stand in front of me, lifting his hands to sign, “Is there something you had in mind?”
There’s something about Jagger that makes me feel extremely relaxed and at ease.
I love all my guys, and I know they all plan to stay with me, but there is something about Jagger’s calm, silent presence that makes me fully believe with all my heart that nothing can come between us.
That no matter what happens, we’ll always have each other.
That gives me the confidence to reach forward and hook my fingers in his belt loops and pull him closer as I whisper, “I love you, Jagger.”
I’ve signed it to him before, but I’ve never spoken the words aloud, not to him, so when he reaches up and cups my face, his eyes boring into mine, I bite my lip nervously.
He mouths the words back to me silently before his lips touch mine.
He tilts my head to give himself a better angle as he kisses me slowly.
I try to speed it up, my fingers digging into the front of his T-shirt, but he doesn’t let me change his pace.
The slowness just adds to my desire as I moan against him, but he refuses to move faster.
After a few minutes, I feel desperate and needy, and I pull my mouth from his as I beg, “Please, Jagger. I want you.” He stares at me a moment before wrapping his arms around my back and lifting me off my knees, moving me to the center of the bed, and lying me carefully on my back.
He kneels between my legs and slowly pushes them apart as he slides his hands up, flipping my skirt up as he goes. He runs a thumb down my slit, over my panties, and I gasp. “Yes!”
He watches me as he pulls my panties aside and starts caressing my clit in slow, tantalizing circles.
“Dios mio!” I exclaim, my hands fisting in the sheets as my head tilts back, instantly feeling overwhelmed by the sensation.
He starts to move down the bed, and my hand shoots out, grabbing his arm as I exclaim, “Wait!” He tilts his head in question, and I lick my lips, feeling a little nervous. “Will you… Will you make love to me, Jagger?”
A flash of what looks like pain crosses his face before his usual serious expression is back in place. I feel a frown tug at my brow as I slowly let go of his arm. “Do you… not want to?”
He presses his lips together and watches me for a moment, as if considering what to say. “I do, tiny flame. Nothing would make me happier than to make love to you. But…” He looks off to the side as he debates how to continue, and the heat I had been feeling starts to grow cold.
He’s thinking of an excuse to say no. Why?
He looks back at me and signs the next part slowly, as if he’s weighing every word carefully. “I love you. But I don’t deserve to be your first.”
“How can you say that?” I ask, my heart aching that he feels that way. “Is this about your past? Jagger, you know I don’t care about that.”
“Just give me a little more time. Please?”
I’m not sure what he needs more time for, but I nod anyway. I’d give him anything he wants.
He runs a finger up my inner thigh before signing, “Why don’t I finish what I started?”
I swallow the lump in my throat as I feel the worry in my stomach. “Can we just cuddle instead?” I ask nervously. He nods as he readjusts my panties and skirt before lying down beside me and pulling me into his side. I can feel his unease, but I’m unsure if it’s from his reaction or mine.
I just can’t help but feel a sting of rejection. I’ve been trying to lose my virginity to these guys for what feels like forever, and if it weren’t for the debate they had about who should go first, I’d think they weren’t interested.
All four of them were locked up for almost a year; you think they’d be a little more eager, especially with the connection we shared. It’s not exactly great for my ego to have them constantly telling me to wait. I didn’t want to wait any longer.
Mostly, it’s because I love them, and I want to be closer to them, but there’s something else worrying me. It’s clear Robert had purposely made sure I stayed a virgin so he could sell me to Ivan. But what would the two of them do if I were no longer a virgin? They’d lose interest in me, right?
Ivan wouldn’t want me anymore, and he would finally back off and leave me alone. That just made me more desperate to do it now, before he got his hands on me again. I told him his men had raped me, but considering I ran, I’m not sure if he believes that anymore.
Was there a way he could check?
My fingers dig into Jagger’s shirt as I whisper my fear out loud. “Is there a way someone could check if a woman is a virgin?”
His hand that was rubbing up and down my side stills, then he pulls back so he can look down at me, his brows pinched in concern.
“Why are you asking that?”
Lowering my eyes, I stare at my hand against his chest as I shrug. “I was just thinking, maybe Ivan would lose interest in me if he knew I wasn’t a virgin anymore.”
Jagger squeezes me tight against him, the side of his head pressed to the top of mine as he slightly rocks me back and forth. We stay like that for a few minutes before he pulls his cell out of his pocket and starts typing one-handed so he doesn’t have to let go of me.
I believe he’s obsessed with you, virgin or not.
My stomach drops when I read those words.
Try not to worry, I’ll protect you. We all will. You have five men willing to do anything to keep you safe.
“But I don’t want any of you to get hurt, either.”
We’re working on it. First, we’ll take out Robert, then Ivan.
I nod against his chest as I add, “Then we move to Canada, where nobody will know us.”
He nods, hugging me tight against him.
We stay like that for a while, my mind drifting all over the place, but I keep trying to focus on the future, on a life free from people trying to capture us. I know they had talked about being hitmen, but I wasn’t sure if they really meant it.
“What would you want to do?” I ask him. He gives me a puzzled look, and I huff out a laugh. “Right, you’re not in my head. I was just wondering, when this is all over, what would you want to do? Do you want to be a hired hitman?”
He lifts his phone to type his response.
If it’s for people who deserve it, it might be a fulfilling job. And I’m good at it. There’s nothing else I’m any good at.
I tilt my head up to him as I move my hand down between us and trail my fingers over his cock. “Oh, I think there are plenty of things you’re good at.”
His eyes turn heated just as the door bangs open, and we both sit up, startled.