CHAPTER 10
WREN
∞
I regret the words the instant they leave my mouth. Something about this girl just turns me into a complete asshole. Her face pales and she stumbles back a few steps.
“You…you know about that?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
I really shouldn’t have. She already hates me, and my big mouth just made it so much worse.
“What else do you know?”
She hisses.
“I know what I need to know, Chess.”
“Stop fucking calling me that!”
She screams.
“Why does it bother you so much?”
“You understand nothing about me or what I’ve been through! You privileged asshole…you can’t even respect the one thing I’m asking of you. My name is FRANKIE!”
“Fine, Frankie.”
I hate it. I hate the way her name feels on my tongue. It’s not right…she’s not a Frankie in the slightest and her insistence is troublesome. I don’t want to call her Frankie.
“I should go.”
“Yes, you should.”
She rolls her eyes and turns away from me, stumbling over my tie that’s still on the floor. I move before I even realize it and wrap my arms around her, stopping her fall. Her entire body is shaking in my grip, and I quickly drop my arms away from her. I can see she’s breathing heavily, and she tugs at her shorts as she lets out a harsh breath. My eyes dart down to her legs. The shorts are longer than I would expect to see someone with her figure wearing, but clearly she’s hiding something.
“Take the money, Frankie.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“If…I’m still alive after this is over…I’ll consider it, but right now, I don’t need your handouts.”
“I told you it’s not a handout.”
“It feels like one. I haven’t done anything yet, and I rather know that my work speaks for itself.”
She walks away from me towards the door and glances back at me once she reaches it. “I’m sorry I barged in on you like that.”
“It’s fine.”
She shakes her head and actually laughs. The sound is exquisite and nothing like I expected it to be. “It’s not fine. Alex told me you were busy, and I ignored him. It won’t happen again.”
“Good night, Frankie,”
I say quietly.
“Good night, Wren.”
She gives me a genuine smile and slips out the door. My heart is hammering against my chest. The way she said my name…the way my names sounded coming from her lips, seemed almost…sensual. Her smile was more than I expected as well. It felt like my chest would cave in on itself just seeing that small glimmer of a kind girl.
She’s shown me nothing but animosity and hatred from the moment we met just a few hours earlier, but yet…somehow, she’s allowed herself to be…normal…sweet even.
The anxiety I was feeling earlier has dissipated, and I don’t feel the same hunger I did just moments ago. I inhale a deep breath, pulling in her lingering scent as it slowly shifts itself out of the room. Her essence is both frustrating and comforting. I want more of it, but I know what it does to me now. Because of her, I almost lost control. Because of her…I almost broke one of my own fucking laws. We do not take blood without consent. Anyone who does, is exiled.