Chapter Thirteen
The fridge and pantry of the little barn apartment had been stocked with snacks and a variety of drinks, and one of her favorite travel treats of all time.
There were two bags of powdered donuts, and she was starving.
Ren and Mars would need to head to the main house soon for dinner, but she just needed a little treat before they went.
Mars had fucked her again after a nap, and now he was outside at his truck.
She pushed the curtain aside and smiled to herself as she watched him pacing in front of the apartment, on his phone.
He looked up at her and winked, then pointed at the phone. Hotel, he mouthed.
He must’ve been cancelling their rooms in the city.
The butterflies kicked up as she realized she would get two nights sleeping in the same room as him. Ren popped another powdered donut in her mouth and then returned to the bathroom to finish drying her curls with the diffuser she’d packed.
Stellan might be an asshole, but he’d apparently noticed Mars’s suitcase by the front door when he’d drugged and abducted him, and brought his luggage along.
The dynamic between the Ledger brothers was a strange one.
Ren looked at herself in the mirror. She would need to tell him soon.
Just the thought of it made her look away from her reflection and shake her head. Where did she even start? He would look at her differently. Would he like her still?
She honestly didn’t know.
She was a freak of nature, and she didn’t want to admit what was wrong with her until he was attached to her. It would give her a better shot at keeping him. Hopefully.
The thought of losing him now felt impossible. It would hurt. Badly.
Ren put some eyeliner on and then some tinted lip gloss, then crunched up her hair a few times and shook out her curls.
It was warm near Salt Lake City, and she was dressed in blue jean shorts and a teal halter top, with some Birkenstock sandals and an ankle bracelet.
She had a zip-up hoodie to bring to the big house in case it got chilly for the walk back later.
“Ren?” Mars asked as he came back inside.
“I’m in here,” she called, unplugging her diffuser.
She turned to find him leaning into the open doorway, his hands on the doorframe, and his bright blue eyes drinking her in.
“You look pretty,” he murmured.
He would probably make her blush for her whole life.
Ren drifted to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. He stood up straight and wrapped her in an embrace that felt so damn good.
“I have an admission,” he said. “I know.”
She froze, and opened her eyes, focused on the texture of the bathroom wall. “What do you mean?”
“I know what Stellan texted you, and I know what you said back.”
“We don’t have to discuss that now,” she said, feeling defensive. “It was a knee-jerk reaction response, and it’s all good,” she rambled, backing out of his hug and busying herself with tidying her toiletries on the bathroom counter.
“Hey, I think it’s okay to talk about it. I felt bad pretending I didn’t know.”
“Okay,” she said, forcing a bright smile. “It was way too fast, and I knew it, but it felt good to hear it, and when I found out it wasn’t you who sent the text, I was embarrassed. I still feel embarrassed. Can we move forward now?”
“I’m…” Mars frowned and shifted his weight. “Sure. I just don’t think you need to be embarrassed. I’m going to get Stellan back for doing that, but—”
“Mars,” she pleaded, her cheeks on fire.
He studied her face and then dipped his head in a nod. “Yeah, okay. We don’t have to talk about it. I’m sorry. He’s a lot.”
Subject change time. “I found powdered donuts.”
Mars’s dark eyebrows raised. “Interesting. Where are they?”
“Pantry but you should know I already finished a half of a bag.”
He chuckled and stepped into the bathroom, pulled her by the waist to him and leaned down, hesitated inches from her lips, then kissed her. When he pulled away, a smile was tugging at his lips. And that was that. He did a reset on them with just a simple moment of affection.
Magician.
Her defensiveness faded to nothing as he offered his hand, and she slipped her palm against his. “I knew I was right to want to bring you here.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Yeah. Dame likes you. Misty loves you.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because Dame was ready to Change and stop me if I hurt you. And Misty has messaged me thirty times in the last two hours asking questions about you.”
She giggled. “I really like her too. She’s a straight shooter. I appreciate that. What was she asking?”
“One of the messages asked if you like dresses? She was online shopping and found a buy one get one half off coupon code and she needed to know if you would want to match her, because she could get one day shipping.”
Ren belted out a laugh. “What did you tell her?”
“Probably. She asked your favorite color, and I told her I don’t know because I just met you.”
“Oh God,” she said, following him out the door that led into the barn. “We probably need to have a lot of discussions about who we really are.”
“I know enough,” he said. “But I would like to know everything in time. Favorite color. Hit me.”
“Orange. Like sunsets.”
“Nice. Mine is brown.”
“Brown?” she scoffed. “Is brown even a color?”
“Yes! It’s totally a color. I like chocolate brown. My whole house is painted in that shade.”
“You’ve made a cave then,” she joked.
“Shhh, judgmental. Okay, what is your favorite season?”
“The fall.”
“Huh. Why?”
“Football season starts,” she said, giving him a wicked smile.
“You like football?” he asked.
“I like the snacks, and I like having my mom and Uncle Ronnie and his wife, and a couple of friends over on football Sundays to eat chicken wings and drink flavored ciders. And I like getting loud and yelling at the television if my team is sucking.”
“Whose your team.”
“Pass.”
“I’m serious! I follow college football, so you won’t offend me.”
Ren said her team’s name and explained that her mom had ingrained that love for the team inside of her since birth. She still had baby pictures of Ren in onesies with the team logo.
He was grinning the whole time, and good grief she couldn’t get over how hot he was when he was all relaxed and happy like this. His walls were down. She could tell.
He held her hand the whole way to the big house and chattered for the entire ten minute slow walk about their favorites.
They were learning each other, and sure, they were doing this backwards.
Things were happening so fast for them, the small talk was coming after intimacy, but she didn’t care. It all felt so…so…right.
As they walked out of the tree line, she could smell the scent of steak cooking on the grill.
Her mouth watered as she picked up hints of garlic butter and a savory blend of seasonings.
Dame stood out in front of a big barbecue grill and waved his tongs when he saw them.
Misty came out of the front door with a tray of, what looked like from here, cheeses and fruits and crackers.
A charcuterie board. “Hi!” she said excitedly as Ren waved to her.
Mars kissed her knuckles before he released her hand so Ren could go grab the platter from Misty’s hands to help. She cracked up when she got a closer look. The board was in the shape of a dick, balls included. There were layers of carefully placed crackers and grapes on the ballsack.
She was giggling so hard, she was scared she would spill it as she walked it over to a pretty seating area near a fire pit.
It had a big outdoor table, and an umbrella opened over it for shade, and cushioned chairs.
She set it on the table and picked up the stack of plates and began placing them at each seat.
By the time she was setting the silverware on napkins, Misty had returned with a blue cooler of iced down drinks.
She was pretty strong for a human. Impressed, Ren asked if she could help with anything else.
“I’ve got a fruit salad, which the boys won’t even pretend to touch, and a Cesar salad, that they will make gagging faces at, and the baked potato toppings inside if you want to help me carry them out.”
“I’m on it,” Ren told her as she fell into step with Misty. “Your home is so beautiful.”
“Oh gosh, I stumbled into this place. Dame has lived here for a while. Stellan lived here at different points too. Mostly in the woods though. His tiger used to be a mess.” Misty frowned. “Actually, I’m pretty sure that he is still having trouble with his animal.”
“Yeah, that was a pretty charged moment earlier,” Ren said softly. “Where is he anyway? Does he know dinner is at six?” It was currently 6:05.
“He bounced. I haven’t seen him since earlier and he is back to not answering his phone. I checked the RV, but it doesn’t even look like he’s been inside.” Misty shrugged. “He might need some space. The amount of distance these boys need is absolutely ridiculous.”
“We can hear you,” Mars said from where he was standing with Dame, matching beers in their hands.
“Good. I’m judging all of you. Do better.”
Ren giggled. “You’re awesome.”
“Thank you,” she said with a mushy little grin. “I got us matching dresses.”
“Ha! Mars said you were thinking about it. What color did you settle on?”
“Oh, since he doesn’t know any basic facts about you yet?” Misty teased. “I got us both black ones. I figured we could dress them up a little and maybe go out in them tomorrow night.”
“What’s tomorrow night?”
“The official one year since the boys have seen each other. I found a bar in Salt Lake that does ax throwing and I reserved the whole room for us.”
“I have always wanted to do that!”
“Me too!”
Misty led her up the porch steps and inside of the tidy home. Good grief, it was so nice in here. There was a cinnamon candle burning in the kitchen that gave it such an inviting smell too. It was so homey. “I really love your place,” she uttered on a breath, looking around.
“I’ve never been so happy in a home,” Misty admitted. “Hey, do you want to see something?”
“Hell yeah,” Ren told her.