Chapter 11 Wren #2
Pete jumps to his feet behind me. “Me too. Wren, did you say you had some money left?”
“Oh, yeah, here.” I take my bag off and pass it to him. “I’m not very good with it; you can probably make better use of it than I can.”
He takes it over to the bed and sets it down beside where Sly is sitting as Dex asks, “What do you mean you’re not good with it? Do you like to shop or something?”
“No,” I shake my head as the rest of us move to surround the bed. “I’ve never used money before.”
Pete frowns as he stares at me a moment before asking, “What, like ever?” I shake my head, and his frown increases.
He opens my bag and reaches in, pulling out my spare dress first, followed by my undergarments, making me blush. I forgot those were in there. He gives me a wink before setting them aside.
Next, he pulls out stacks of envelopes tied together with twine.
“Are those our letters?” Dex asks in disbelief, his wide eyes turning to me. My blush increases, and I nod. He wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me to his side. “I wish I could have brought mine, too.”
“I’ll write you more,” I say, tilting my head up to him with a smile.
“No need. Now I have the real thing, I don’t need them anymore.”
“Holy fucking shit balls!” Pete exclaims, his wide eyes lifting to meet mine.
“What?” Sly and I both ask, confused. He doesn’t answer, he just pulls out the remaining cash and places it on the bed.
Dex lets out a long whistle, and I look around at all their stunned faces.
“Wren,” Sly says carefully as he reaches for a stack and fingers through it quickly. “Where did you get this?”
“I took it from my brother’s office.”
“He just had this sitting around?” he asks, turning back to the cash.
I shake my head. “Not sitting around, exactly. It was in his safe. Why? Is it enough to last us a few days?” I look back at the stacks as I try to figure out how much I’ve used. But since the same-size bill can be anything from one dollar to a hundred, it’s hard to tell without counting.
Dex snorts as Pete grabs a single hundred-dollar bill. “I’ll leave you to count this, Sly. I’m gonna grab us some food.”
“You’re leaving?” I ask in alarm.
“I’ll be back,” he tells me with a quick smile as he turns to leave.
“But… what if someone recognizes you? And they send you back to prison?” Anxiety claws its way up my throat at the thought of him getting caught.
“Hey, it’ll be okay. Nobody's going to recognize me,” he says, coming to sit on the bed beside where I’m standing, grabbing my hands and holding them between his.
“You don’t know that!” My body starts to shake with dread. I wasn’t even this scared when I ran away from home. My breath comes out in shallow gasps as I struggle to breathe.
“Shit! Wren? Wren, look at me!” Pete tries to coax me to look his way, but my vision starts to blur. Whether from the newly forming tears or the sudden headache, I’m not sure.
Warm arms surround me, and I’m pulled onto someone’s lap.
“Breathe with him,” someone tells me, and I try to relax enough to feel the body wrapped around mine. A large chest rises and falls against my back, and I try to mirror the movement.
“Good girl, that’s it, keep going.” I recognize Sly’s voice, but it’s not coming from behind me.
I take a few more deep breaths, realizing my headache and chest pains are easing, along with the tears. I wipe my eyes and tilt my head back to see who’s wrapped around me.
“Thank you, Jagger,” I whisper when my eyes meet his. He nods, and I turn back to see the other three looking at me in concern.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.”
“I think you had a panic attack,” Sly says calmly.
“I’ve never had one before.”
“How are you feeling now?” Sly asks, his eyes scanning the side of my face.
“Okay.”
“Maybe we should order pizza tonight?” he asks, changing the subject as his gaze turns to Pete in question.
Jagger places the bag of previously forgotten ice against my cheek as he continues to hold me.
“Good idea,” Pete says, eyeing me with a hint of trepidation.
“There are some local pizza shop flyers in that folder,” Sly tells him as he passes him a cell phone and points to the desk. I watch as he thumbs through the flyer, then places an order.
“Excuse me!” Dex says, swinging out an arm dramatically and pushing Sly out of his way as he moves to kneel in front of me. When his eyes meet mine, an enormous smile covers his face. It’s so big it makes him look a little unhinged, but I continue to watch him, unsure what he’s doing.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the remains of several crushed dandelions. He frowns down at them before plastering that crazy smile back on his face and looking at me as he holds them out like an offering. “I picked these just for you, Wren.”
Unsure how to respond, my eyes dart over his head, and I see Pete quickly turn away, amusement lighting his face.
“Thank you, Dex. They’re so—” I cut myself off, unable to lie. “That was really thoughtful. When did you even have time to find these?” I ask curiously as I look at the crushed weeds.
“I grabbed them as we were running from the prison.” I look up at him in surprise. He was literally running for his life, and took a moment to stop and pick flowers for me? He really is just as sweet as his letters made him out to be.
“Thank you,” I tell him again, reaching a hand out to his and giving it a squeeze of thanks.
“Dex, why don’t you help me count this money?” Sly asks, gesturing to the bed behind Jagger and me.
Jagger helps turn me so we can watch Dex and Sly count the bills into piles. I see their lips moving as they count.
My mind wanders as I look around the room.
I’d love to shower, but I don’t have any clean clothes right now.
I look around at the guys and notice they are all wearing similar clothing.
T-shirts, sweatpants, and running shoes.
And they’re covered in specs of blood. My eyes move back to the money as I whisper to Jagger, “Do you think there will be enough money for some new clothes for all of us?”
He nods, his nose running up and down the side of my head, the action making me smile.
When Pete hangs up the phone, Jagger snaps his fingers and motions for it. When he reaches for it, I use that as my chance for a bathroom break.
I take a few minutes to run my fingers through my hair, wash my face, and hands. Feeling better, I step into the room and instantly feel the tension as four sets of eyes lift to me.
“What’s wrong?” I ask nervously.
“Nothing,” Pete says, beckoning me over. “Nothing’s wrong, angel cake. We were just wondering if you knew how much money you took from your brother?”
“No.” I shake my head as I move to stand between him and Dex. “I never counted it. Why?” I ask, glancing around at each of them, then at the piles of money on the bed. “Is it not enough?”
Pete snorts with laughter and shakes his head. Sly answers for them. “Wren, there’s almost two hundred thousand dollars here.”
He watches me for a response, but I’m not really sure what that means. But by their reaction, I’m starting to think it’s a lot more than I thought it was. “Is that a lot?”
Dex chuckles, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me into his side. “Yeah, baby, it is.”
“Wren, your brother is going to be really upset when he realizes you’ve taken this money,” Sly says, his tone worried. “He might be more motivated to get you back than we originally anticipated.”
“And we already thought he was pretty motivated,” Pete adds.
I hadn’t really thought about that before, that Robert might be upset that I took the money. I figured all his real money is in the bank, and this was just the cash he was using for the week or something. I really had no idea how his finances worked.
“What do we do with it, then?” I ask nervously.
“You keep it, spend it,” Dex says, giving me another slight squeeze.
Sly presses his lips together in concern but doesn’t say anything. “Sly?” I ask. “What do you think?”
He thinks for a moment before responding. “You were on the run from him, regardless. This doesn’t change anything. In fact, it helps a lot. Now we don’t have to put ourselves at risk trying to get money.”
“This is Wren’s money, we can’t spend it,” Dex says, like the idea alone offends him.
“Oh no!” I say, shaking my head quickly. “Please, consider it yours too. We can share it, spend it together—”
I stop myself, the words catching as I realize we haven’t actually talked about what comes next—what happens now that we’ve all escaped our prisons.
“I… do you… I mean…” I trail off, the question burning in my chest but refusing to come out.
“You can ask us anything, Wren,” Sly says as he takes a seat on the edge of the bed facing me.
I swallow nervously as I ask, “I was wondering what your plans are, now that you’re free?
Are you all going… home?” The last word comes out high-pitched as a pit forms in my stomach.
Not just because I no longer had a home of my own, but because the thought of them leaving to find theirs makes me queasy.
“I can’t speak for the rest of them, but I go where you go,” Pete says easily, taking a seat beside Sly.
“Same here. You’re stuck with me now, whether you want me or not,” Dex says with a grin. I’m not exactly sure what he means by that, but Sly speaks before I can figure it out.
“If you’ll allow me to stay, I’d like to as well,” Sly says. “I need to protect you.” My heart flutters in my chest at that declaration.
Jagger holds out the phone where he’s written his own response.
I am yours, tiny flame.
My cheeks heat, and I nod, as happiness fills my chest. Did they all mean that? Were they going to stay with me? I wasn’t sure in what capacity or for how long. Did they mean until the threat has passed or for… ever?
A knock at the door makes me jump, and Dex pulls me fully against his front, his arms wrapping around me as he turns his back to the door, instinctively shielding me from it.
Pete moves to the door and looks out the peephole. “It’s the food.” I listen as he opens the door and greets the delivery person. A few words are exchanged, then the door closes. Dex slowly releases me, guiding me to the desk where Pete is opening up large boxes containing pizza.
I’ve made pizza for Robert before; it always smelled delicious.
“Dig in, angel,” Pete says, gesturing to the pizza.
I frown, looking around the desk for my food. “Where’s mine?” I ask, worrying they didn’t order any food for me.
“Do you not like pepperoni?” Pete asks, eyeing the pizza. “I didn’t think you were a vegetarian, but we can pull off the pepperoni if you don’t like it.”
“I—” Cutting myself off, I frown, unsure what he means. “I can’t eat that,” I tell him.
“Why not? You don’t like pizza?” Dex asks.
“Are you lactose intolerant?” Sly questions.
I shake my head. “No, but I have to eat salad.”
Nobody says anything as they stare at me, confused. After a few awkward moments of silence, Sly grabs my hand and turns me toward him. He squats down in front of me, putting himself closer to my eye level. “What do you mean, you have to? Do you have an allergy?”
Frowning, I slowly shake my head as I explain. “Women have to eat healthy; we aren’t allowed pizza.” Shouldn’t he know this?
The change in him is immediate. His face reddens, and his brows pinch together as he growls his next question through gritted teeth. “Says who?”
The sound of his anger makes my stomach sink. I realize this might be one more chain Robert wrapped around me without me even knowing.
I take a deep breath to steady myself before I answer. “My brother.”