Chapter 22 Wren
Wren
THE SONGBIRD
Ishould be exhausted, but my mind won’t shut the hell up.
I’ve been thinking about the boys since the moment they walked out of the bar four hours ago.
This shift hasn’t been long, but with little to no help, I’m tired from all the running around I’ve been doing all night.
Retta doesn’t usually call out or ask for anyone's help, so I knew if she was asking, she must have really needed it.
Maybe I should call her?
Retta doesn’t have children to take care of her, so if she’s sick then I’m going to take on the responsibility of making sure she’s well taken care of. I know she’d do the same, if not more, for me.
Pulling out my phone, I scroll to Retta’s contact and giggle a little when I see Sexy Little Cuck Gremlin right below her.
For looking as scary as he does, Kage has quite the sense of humor.
He’s like a kid in a scary fuckers body.
A hot scary fucker. The way he used his split tongue on me last night, the two tips flicking against my clit as he pumped his fingers inside me—
Fuck. Focus Wren.
Pressing call, I wait for Retta to pick up. The line rings five times before her voicemail picks up. Huh. Retta’s never not answered my calls before. Maybe she’s sleeping?
Just then, my phone vibrates with an incoming text.
Retta: Sorry, honey, I lost my voice and can’t talk on the phone. What did you need?
Honey? She’s never called me that before. Weird.
Me: Just wanted to check in on you and see if you were hungry and missing our bar food. Do you want anything? I can stop by on my way home.
Retta: No thanks. Don’t come here. I don’t want you to get sick.
Rereading Retta's texts over and over in my head, I get a sick feeling in my stomach. I’m too tired to go over there tonight, but I’ll see if one of the boys wouldn’t mind going with me to check on her tomorrow. Shoving my phone in my back pocket, I finish the rest of my shift in a blur.
I’ve been here for almost ten hours now, so when it’s time to leave I’m practically sprinting out the door.
Half way through my shift, I thought I wasn’t going to make it and threw back two shots of whiskey behind the bar.
We’re technically not supposed to be drinking while on the clock, however, everyone takes shots here and there.
Even the owners do it with their favorite regulars, so I didn’t even hesitate.
But after staying up late last night at the club, getting obliterated—both sexually and alcoholically—the hangover from this afternoon, and everything with Rich, my body wanted to crash out. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and baby I was well past desperate.
The chill from the night air kisses my skin as I make my way to my car.
I lock the doors as soon as I’m inside, a habit I formed after watching a few tiktok videos, and start the car.
Taking in a deep breath, the scent of mandarin and sandalwood invades my nose.
What is that? Looking around my car, I try to find the source of the delicious scent and find a black suit jacket resting in the back, camouflaged by the dark interior of the seat.
This must be Lennox’s jacket.
I hold the jacket up to my nose and inhale, the delectable scent intoxicating me to the core, transporting me back to last night when I was laying in Lennox’s strong arms. I can feel my cheeks flush at the memory of everything that transpired after that.
It’s the only thing I’ve been able to think about all day.
There are so many thoughts swirling around my brain like a storm that I can barely make sense of them.
It’s crazy how safe the scent of his cologne lingering in the small space of my car makes me feel. Like a piece of him is here with me, watching and making sure I get home okay.
God I’m in deep, and I don’t even know how I got here in the first place.
And with Lennox of all people. Kage I would understand more, with the way that he’s always flirting and saying all the right things.
Then there’s Lennox…he’s such a fucking asshole, but he was so gentle with me last night.
The way he caressed my cheek, careful not to hurt me further.
The way he held me, like he didn’t want anyone to get too close.
The look in his eyes when I told him I wanted to keep him, it seemed like he wanted it too.
Ugh, I need help.
Sending up a prayer that she’s still awake at this late hour, I quickly scroll to her contact and give Olive a call.
What I need is a completely unbiased opinion on this whole situation and there's only one person I trust for the job. She can just sense when someone’s intentions are nefarious and has never steered me wrong in the past. She was there last night when everything went down, and even though she wasn’t around the guys for long, I just know she got a good read on them.
“Bitch, please tell me you're waking me up at three am to tell me those fine men from last night split you in half and you lived to tell the tale,” she yawns, her voice groggy from sleep.
I can’t help the snort that escapes my nose. I can always count on Olive to make me laugh when I’m in distress.
“I did not get split in half,” I pause, and for a moment I think she’s going to hang up on me until she finally says, “But?”
“But…we got really close.”
“Oh my god, Wren. You whore! Tell me everything right now or I’m getting out of bed and showing up at your apartment to force it out of you.”
A laugh bubbles up in my throat before I could stop it. “You would do something crazy like that.”
“You’re damn right I would. With snacks too. Now, start talking and don’t leave out a single vein or vein adjacent detail.”
I laugh again, and this time it actually feels good.
I give her the rundown of everything that happened last night with the boys.
Making out on the couch with Kage, being carried into the office by Lennox, and the best head of my life.
I told her all about what the boys did together and listened to her gasp and interrupt to ask the most inappropriate questions every five minutes, most of which I didn’t even bother answering.
“Okay, but seriously,” she finally says when I pause for a breath. “When are you going to let them Eiffel Tower you?”
“Olive.”
“What? They’re hot, and they wanna be the bread to your Wren sandwich, so go get some condom-ents and fuck!”
I choke on my own spit. “Oh my god, please stop.”
“Nope, you called me and woke my ass up. Now I’m building the fantasy in my mind and you’re not gonna rob me of the climax.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“And you’re dodging. C’mon, tell me more. Who’s the freakier one?”
I hesitate telling her for a second, because part of me wants to keep all of the naughty things to myself, but I eventually mutter, “Kage.”
She squeals. “The bald one with the tattoos on his head?”
“Yes. That one. He has…implants.”
The phone is silent and I check my service to see if I lost it.
“Olive?”
“Like…like boobs?” she whispers, and I burst out laughing, slapping the steering wheel as I try to breathe.
“No, not like boobs, you moron!”
“Then where, Wren?! WHERE ARE THE IMPLANTS?!”
“On his dick!”
Silence again. I can almost hear the gears grinding in her head.
“His dick?” she questions, confusion laced in her tone.
“Yes, like…under the skin. Bumps, texture, the whole damn build-a-penis package.”
“Oh thank god,” she breathes. “Because right now I was envisioning boobs as his sack.”
I’m dying. Absolutely deceased. I’m laughing so hard, I practically swerve off the road. “What the fuck, Liv?!”
“I can’t help it! I’ve never heard of dick implants! My brain was trying to fill in the blanks and apparently those blanks were titty testicles!”
“Please shut up before I crash!” I yell, laughing so hard tears are streaming down my face.
“No, I’m invested now, bitch. I wanna know all about the man's penis. So what, it’s like…ribbed?”
I exhale, trying to calm down. “Yeah. Ribbed along the shaft, and like…bumps on the top on his pubic area. Like a grinding pad.”
Olive gasps so loud, it rattles through my phone.
“Ribbed for your pleasure?! Oh my god, he’s like a walking sex toy. Or like one of those hot ass monsters in the books we read. You lucky bitch!”
I’m still giggling, wiping tears from my eyes. “Oh, he’s a monster alright. He saved his name in my phone as ‘Monster Cock’.”
She pauses for a moment before finally whispering, “I’m so damn proud of you right now.”
I smile. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“What makes you say that?” I can hear her shifting in bed, probably sitting up because she can hear the tone in my voice. Somehow Olive always magically knows when there’s something wrong with me. It’s like she has a sixth sense for it.
“Something else happened. Something I didn’t tell you…”
“What happened?” she asks, her voice sharp.
“My phone was going off this morning when I woke up. I had a shit ton of missed calls and text messages, all from Rich, asking if he could explain himself. I didn’t want to deal with him again, so I went for a run. Just trying to feel normal again, you know? But Rich…he showed up. Out of nowhere.”
“What?” I can hear her shifting around again and my anxiety coils in my chest.
“He grabbed my arm. Started going off about how I’ve been ignoring him, how we needed to talk. It wasn’t even the words that were coming out of his mouth that got to me. It was the look in his eyes. He was…unhinged.”
“Wren, what the fuck.”
“I froze, Olive. I didn’t know what to do or what to say. I just kept thinking ‘Again. It’s all happening again.’” My voice cracks on the last word, but Olive doesn’t say anything. Her silence says enough.
“But then, Kage showed up like some fucking superhero with spidey-senses. Like he knew something was wrong. He got in between us and he just snapped. Told Rich that if he ever laid hands on me again, that he’d carve the tendons from his hands…”