CHAPTER 20
WREN
∞
She looks absolutely stunning. Her dark hair is beautiful when it’s down, and it cascades down her back. She’s pulled it away from her face with a clip, and it makes her features so much softer. I’m glad I sat in the back. It’s true, I didn’t want her to have to sit back here with a dress on, but I took the opportunity to watch her without her judgmental eyes drifting towards me.
She’s talking casually with Alex and it’s interesting to see her open herself to him in that way. He’s the one thing she despises most in this world, but her shields are down with him.
I’m fucking jealous.
I wish she felt comfortable enough to talk to me like that. I wish she didn’t hate me as much as she does. We’re just driving by the tower when I hear her clear her throat.
“So…um…is there anything I should be trying to do tonight specifically? I know we’re talking with Daniel…the owner, but do you want me to interact with the other vampires there to see if they know anything?”
“Can you handle that?” I murmur.
Fuck, you idiot.
“It’s my job to be able to handle it. I’m just trying to understand exactly what you’re expecting from me tonight.”
“Yes. See what you can dig up. Alex can handle the other dark worlders, and I’ll see if I can catch anything suspicious going on while you two interact with them.”
“Okay,”
she says quietly.
I catch Alex glancing back at me over his shoulder and I shake my head at him. He rolls his eyes and pulls his sight back onto the road. He pulls right up to the club and there’s a massive line wrapped around the building.
“I’ll let you guys out here and go and park the car.”
“Alright. We’ll wait for you in front. Don’t dawdle.”
“I never dawdle, your majesty.”
“Alex,” I sigh.
“Fine. I’ll be quick, Wren.”
Chess struggles a bit to pull herself up from the low seat, and I lean forward to lift the tab to get out at the same time she does. My fingers brush against hers and she quickly pulls back.
“Sorry,”
I mutter. “I got it.”
She steps back to give me room to get out and her eyes stay focused on my chest. “Are you alright?”
She’s acting weird. She startles slightly at me talking to her and looks up at me slightly panicked.
“I’m fine,”
she squeaks out. She moves to step back from me and stumbles on the curb behind her.
Suddenly, she’s in my arms. Her hands are settled against my chest, and I can feel her heart pounding against her rib cage. I loosen my hold on her, dropping my arms, but she doesn’t step away right away. She looks up at me slowly with wide eyes.
“Sorry...I didn’t mean anything by it. I just didn’t want you to fall.”
She steps back from me and drops her eyes to the ground. She has an absolute death grip on her small clutch purse, and I’m waiting for the inevitable backlash for touching her.
“Thank you,”
she says quietly, confusing me completely.
“It was nothing. Anyone would do the same.”
She shakes her head and gives me a small smile. “Thank you…Wren.”
My chest feels like it’s in a vice. Seeing her actually smile at me and her saying my name again, makes my heart pound frantically against my chest.
What is with this girl?
I can’t figure out why she has such an affect on me. I feel completely lost when I’m around her. I lose all sense of reason and rationale, and I can’t keep my fucking brain straight.
“Are you two good?”
We both jump at the sound of Alex’s voice behind us. I bend down to look at him still sitting in the car. “Everything is fine.”
I slam the door as he opens his mouth to say something snide I’m sure, and I’m pretty sure I can hear him laughing as he pulls away to go and park the car. I motion to Chess to move towards the entrance and my hand hovers mere inches away from her lower back. I want to touch her again. I clench my hand into a fist and grind my teeth. I can’t push it with her. Memories flash through my mind of the things that were done to her in the videos. This sassy, foul-mouthed badass in front of me, was abused beyond belief, and still she stands strong.
We stand in awkward silence as we wait for Alex. Thankfully, he doesn’t actually take that long, and I lead us over to the bouncer at the door. He glances up at me and widens his eyes, straightening his back.
“Sir.”
“Let us through,”
I say dryly, and he scrambles to move the rope across the entrance.
“Wow,”
Chess chuckles. “That was impressive.”
“If he didn’t know who I was, we would have a bigger problem on our hands.”
“It was sort of hot.”
She whispers it so quietly that I second guess myself on whether I heard her correctly. I glance back at her with a raised eyebrow, and I know I heard her right, when her face flushes red.
I spot Daniel in his VIP booth and turn to face them. I lean down towards them so they can hear me over the music. “Go do what you’re here to do. I’m going to go talk to Daniel.”
Her scent trickles into my nose and I instinctively shift my face towards hers, inhaling.
“Wren,”
Alex chirps.
I roll my eyes and pull back from her. She’s staring at me with furrowed brows and a confused look on her face. “Don’t do anything stupid,”
I chuckle before turning and making my way over to Daniel.
He spots me right away and motions me into his room. “Hello, King.”
“Daniel.”
“I’m assuming you’re here on business.”
“It’s definitely not a social call, Daniel.”
“What do you need to know?”
“The details on the vamp found outside your club.”
“There’s not much to tell. He was in the club one minute, and the next…he was found dead outside the club.”
“Do you think it was one of your patrons then?”
“I would hope not, but I can’t be sure. He was behaving himself fine in here so it's not like he started shit with someone and pissed them off.”
“Alright. Do you know who found him?”
“Yeah, he’s sitting over there on the couches.”
I glance over to where he’s pointing, and I’m surprised to see Chess already talking to him. “He’s being questioned now,” I snort.
“Oh? Is she one of yours?”
“Yes. She’s the new enforcer I brought in personally for this.”
“What’s going on, Valkyrie? This is like the third one this week just in this block of the city.”
“I don’t know. I can’t figure out the motive behind it, and I sure as fuck have no leads on who could be doing this.”
I glance around, looking for Alex, and see him trying to charm a Fae girl in the far corner. I roll my eyes and catch sight of Jullian and his hoard coming through the door. He motions for them to spread out, and I’m thankful he doesn’t notice Chess sitting on the couch a mere ten feet away from him. She doesn’t seem to notice him either.
“Any other information you can give me, Daniel?”
“Yeah.”