Chapter 14
Nash
Tonight had been a great night and just what we needed.
Lark had over ten thousand people watching the live stream, and within minutes, Volatile had reached max capacity, with a line outside.
Nora had been taking phone calls all night and said that the next six months were booked with special VIP events.
Lark had even managed to spin the tragedies.
The only thing dampening my mood was that I had Vicky to thank for it. She had been all too happy to gloat about her amazing idea as she hung off Lark.
Yawning, I opened my dorm room and froze.
The lights were on, and the door to the ensuite was closed.
Ren had left with Ivy, Chantry, and Myles, who had offered to drive them back so that I could take care of Lark until close.
It was most likely Ren, but I’d assumed she would stay with Myles and Blake tonight.
Not taking the chance that I had a surprise visitor, I closed the door and walked over to my dresser.
I slowly pulled open the drawer with the hidden compartment that held my gun and had just unlocked it when the bathroom door opened, and Ren walked out.
Her head was down while she rubbed her hair with a towel. She hadn’t seen me yet.
“Hello, Princess.”
Ren all but jumped out of her skin. She resembled a cartoon cat clinging to the ceiling. The towel flew at me as she screamed and darted back into the bathroom, slamming the door.
I couldn’t help but laugh and had tears rolling down my cheeks when she opened the door a crack and looked out at me.
“Nash, you asshole,” Ren growled, only making me laugh harder.
After relocking the gun safely away, I turned to look at my very pissed off wife. The fury in her eyes was arousing. I had been ready to crash out, but now…now I was awake and happily feasting on the sight of her wearing my T-shirt and boy shorts.
“Do you have any idea how sexy you are when you’re pissed?” I teased, crossing the room. But she stomped away before I could touch her.
“Don’t.” The one word was clipped and truly angry.
“What’s wrong?” I looked around my room. “Why are you in here anyway? Myles didn’t jump at his chance to cuddle?”
Ren rolled her eyes.
“I needed to speak to you, so I waited up,” she said, and grabbed her phone off the nightstand. “Did you send me a text tonight?”
“No…was I supposed to?”
“Shit.” Ren sat down on the edge of the bed. “I was hoping that you were just being a jerk or trying to be funny.”
“What’s going on?”
When Ren didn’t respond, I joined her on the bed.
She handed me her phone, and I read the creepy message while anger churned in my gut.
What kind of sick fucking game was this?
I watched Ren as she stood and started to pace.
Her arms were crossed over her chest, but she still managed to chew on one of her fingernails. She looked genuinely terrified.
“You thought I sent this,” I asked, and she shook her head.
“No, not really. But if it wasn’t you, then the alternative…”
She covered her eyes, and I jumped up to offer whatever comfort I could after putting her phone down on my desk. The guys needed to know about this ASAP.
“Why…why is there always something or someone out to screw with us?”
Gripping her wrists, I gently tugged her hands away from her face, and even though I wanted to tear the head off whoever this was, I smiled. Right now, she needed me to be calm. I’d never seen her this rattled and didn’t want to add to her fear.
“Hey, you’re probably on the right track. It’s definitely not me, but it’s probably some jerk here at school trying to freak you out. It’s going to be okay,” I said, pulling Ren forward until she wrapped her arms around my waist and nuzzled my chest.
“I said the same thing to Ivy tonight. I didn’t know if it was true then, and I don’t think you can say it now and mean it,” she whispered, and my heart crumbled.
“I keep telling myself that I’m done with being scared.
Then something else happens and I feel it creeping in all over again.
The dread it sits in the middle of my chest.”
“There is no reason to be scared. No one will get near you without going through me, and I won’t let anyone hurt you. The same goes for Myles, Liam, Theo, and Blake. We will make sure you’re safe.”
Ren stepped back and looked up at me.
“You don’t understand. I’m not scared for me.
I’m scared what someone is going to do to those I love to get to me.
I hate feeling like this, Nash. I don’t want all of you rescuing me like I’m some damsel in distress.
And I certainly don’t want any of you putting your lives in danger for me.
I just wish people would leave us alone. ”
Fuck, my mind raced with options for keeping Ren safe. But she also needed to regain some sense of control.
“I know that you still can’t do any impact training, but why don’t we go shooting? Liam and Myles are both great with knives. They can teach you some techniques. What do you think?”
Her lips twitched with a hint of a smile.
“You’d do that?”
“Why not, Princess? You’re my wife, the person I love most in this world. I will do fucking anything to keep you safe. Teaching you weapons skills seems like the least we can all do. And it doesn’t matter who sent the text. We will protect each other.”
Cupping her cheeks, I dropped my lips to hers and breathed in the fresh scent of her clean skin.
“As I said…it’s going to be okay.”
Her hands were still trembling as she let go of me. I was proud when she looked up, and the fear was gone, replaced by something harder—something born from sheer determination.
Ren’s fingers tangled in my shirt as she reached for me with an intensity that said she wasn’t taking any shit tonight. Fuck, I loved this side of her. I loved everything about her, but when she was angry…feisty…it was like catnip to a lion.
She kissed me, and every cell in my body answered to her desires.
“Take off your shirt,” she ordered.
I hesitated a second too long, and my beautiful wife got impatient.
“That’s not a request.”
“What if I just wanted to go to sleep,” I asked with a smirk.
Devious eyes met mine as Ren ran her hand down my chest. I never had a chance against her. How I hadn’t succumbed sooner was a mystery.
“Is that really what you want to do,” she asked seductively.
She gripped my belt, and I bit my lip to stifle a groan. I wasn’t just aroused…that description paled in comparison to how much I wanted her. Ren pulled the leather free, and the metal jingled as the ends fell loose.
“Is it?”
Ren’s voice was softer than a whisper and yet powerful enough to pull me under her spell. Her fingers slipped beneath the top of my jeans as she tugged on the button.
“Not in the fucking slightest,” I growled.
“Good, because I don’t want to sleep either.”
Her silvery eyes practically glowed as she spoke. She might not be a witch, but she had cast a spell on me like one. I peeled my shirt off over my head and threw it across the room.
“I don’t want to be scared anymore.”
She shoved my chest, and I stepped back.
“I don’t want to feel weak.”
She did it again, urging me backward across the room.
“I don’t want to feel broken.”
The backs of my thighs hit the mattress, and I smirked as she wrapped her hand around my throat. She had stolen my move, but her hand barely went halfway. I mirrored her position, and she gasped.
“Fear is controllable, Princess. If you don’t want to fear anything, you won’t.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Ren said.
I tightened my grip, pulling her in closer, my lips hovering over hers.
“I could kill you right now, cut off your air supply, and watch you suffocate. Do you fear me?”
“No,” she whispered, her pulse beating out of control under my fingers.
“Your heart is racing. You know what I say is true, but you don’t fear me. You never have. You stood up to me even when I hauled you over my lap and spanked your adorable ass.”
Nipping her bottom lip, I tasted the sweetness of her gloss.
“Tell me why.”
“Because I had nothing to lose then,” she said, and it was an arrow right through my heart.
“You’re never going to lose me. If this is a prank, I’ll handle it accordingly.
If this is a threat, I will break every bone they have, and that’s before the others get a hold of them.
” Releasing her neck, I slid my hand up into her still-damp hair.
“I’ll take you shooting, but don’t expect me to go easy on you. ”
“I don’t want you to.”
Ren pushed me, and I fell onto my back. She followed, her knees straddling my hips, turning all thoughts in my brain to static.
“Hands,” she said.
Damn, had she been taking lessons from Liam? I lifted my arms, and she caught my wrists, pressing them above my head into the pillow. The position put our faces together, and her hair surrounded us like a shimmering curtain. Mine. She studied me like she was trying to solve a puzzle.
Ren kissed the corner of my mouth, and I tried to capture her lips. But the little minx moved away, kissing my neck instead. She drove me insane. When I tried to lift my head to chase her, she smiled against my skin and pressed harder on my wrists.
“Don’t move,” she said.
I stayed, but it took all my control as she sat up and peeled off her top.
My clothes looked so fucking hot on her.
Every muscle in my body was taut as my eyes raked over her hard nipples.
They were begging to be sucked. Her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm as she watched me, daring me to move.
Princess was not shy or sweet right now. She was lethal, shining, and entirely in control. God help me, I needed her and wanted her even more. I licked my lips and pushed my hips up under her ass.
“You’re killing me, Princess.”
She traced over the tattoos on my chest, and even that soft touch shot through my body like she had gripped my cock in her fist.
Her eyes were locked on mine.