“Are you hungry?” he asked.
I blinked. “What?”
“Would you like to get something to eat?” Ren drew back and a half-grin appeared on his face.
All I could do was stare at him.
His grin increased, but I didn’t notice any dimples. He reached down and took my hand. “Let’s eat.”
In such a state of shock, I let him lead me out of the park and across the street to Cafe Du Monde. I stood there when we got in line, painfully aware of his cool hand wrapped around mine. When I looked up at him, I found him staring at me, and I was pretty sure he hadn’t stopped doing that since he’d said my name.
“Is this some kind of joke?” I asked.
His brows furrowed. “I do not see how since I’m not sure why this would be funny.”
A plug was sealing off my throat as I whispered, “Okay. Is this some kind of plan then? You pretend everything is okay and then hand me over to the other Elite members?”
Ren shook his head and leaned over. His lips were close to my ear. “This is not a trap, Ivy. And the Elite will never get their hands on you.”
I started to respond, but that plug had completely cut off my ability to speak, so I nodded and then stared straight ahead, tears blurring my vision. Was this really happening? Ren was here and he forgave me? Everything was okay, and we were going to order some beignets?
Apparently that was what was going to happen. We ordered beignets for takeout and a bottle of water to share. There was a table open on the pavilion, which was another oddity that I had to chalk up to the mere presence of Ren.
I watched him open the container and pull one of the beignets apart. All of this was incredibly surreal, like I’d wake at any moment and be devastated to discover this was just a dream.
It took several minutes for me to be able to trust that I could speak without breaking down. Even after waiting and finding something sort of normal to talk about, my voice was hoarse. “Have you . . . checked in with David?”
He shook his head. “I will later. He’s not really my priority right now.”
I widened my eyes. “He’s so not going to like the sound of that.”
“I cannot say I care.” Another quick flash of a grin.
Oh, he was going to care when David laid into him. “What about Kyle? Henry? He—”
“They’re not really my concern either.” He paused as he held the pastry between his fingers. “Are you going to eat?”
Feeling out of it, I snatched up a beignet and took a bite. Of course, powdery sugar exploded everywhere, but I barely tasted the fluffy piece of heaven.
Ren took a bite of his beignet and his face twisted with disgust. He turned and pitched it into a nearby trashcan.
“Was there something wrong with your beignet?” I asked, brow raised.
He brushed the powdered sugar off his fingertips. “It didn’t taste right.”
I chewed mine and paid attention to it this time. “Mine’s fine.”
Ren shrugged. “Didn’t like it.”
“That . . . that is sacrilegious.”
One side of his mouth quirked up. “I can think of a lot more interesting and naughty things that would be considered sacrilegious besides throwing away a beignet.”
I warmed at his words but was hesitant. I finished eating my beignets, then took a gulp of water.
Ren took the bottle. “You done?”
I wiped my mouth with a napkin and nodded. Ren downed the rest of the water, and that too went into the trash. We rose and walked out to the sidewalk. Nerves were riding me hard. This seemed all too easy, too perfect. “Are you sure you’re okay with what I am and everything . . . everything else?”
His gaze found mine and he took my hand, drawing me close. “I told you, Ivy. I’ve thought about everything. I’ve made . . . peace with it.” He paused, holding my cheek with his other hand. “You don’t believe me?”
“I do.” I
wanted
to. “It’s just . . . I really thought you’d be disgusted with me.” I lowered my gaze to his chest. “I thought you’d be so repulsed.”
“I could never be repulsed by you.” His hand slid to the back of my neck and he squeezed. “I wish you would not think that.”
I felt like a broken record. “But you work for the Elite. It’s your duty—”
“I don’t care about my duty. Not when it comes to you.”
I started to speak, but he lowered his head, and every concern I had vanished as his lips neared mine. Ren was going to kiss me, and I hadn’t thought that would ever happen again. That we would be standing here like this. Our breaths mingled and our mouths hovered for a few precious, heart-pounding seconds, and then he was kissing me. He tasted of sugar and . . . winter mint, and as the kiss deepened, he pulled me even closer. So close that I knew we had to be drawing stares from those around us.
“Let’s go somewhere.” Ren’s lips brushed mine. “So we can be alone.”
My heart was beating all over the place, because I figured going somewhere to be alone meant he wanted to expand on the whole naughty thing he’d mentioned earlier. We had time. We weren’t due into work until that evening, but Ren really should be checking in with David.
“What do you say?” he asked, kissing me again and scattering my thoughts once more. “I just want to be alone with you right now.”
I wanted to be alone with him, too. As crazy as all of this was, it was what I needed—we needed. “Tink’s at my place.”
“What?”
“Well, of course, he’s always there,” I said, realizing how stupid that announcement was. “He actually wanted to come out and help look for you. I think he was being kind of genuine, which is a pretty big step,” I rambled on, suddenly feeling like Ren and I had just met. And maybe it was really like that, because now he knew what I was. There was nothing hidden between us. “He wanted to hide in my purse, but I figured the last thing I needed was getting caught with a brownie in my bag.”
Ren’s gaze sharpened. “Let’s not go to your apartment.”
“Your place then?” When he nodded, I ordered myself to remain cool and not break down in giddy hysterics. “Where’d you park?”
“Didn’t park,” he answered.
“No truck or motorcycle?”
Ren shook his head.
I stared up at him, brows furrowed. Why in the world would he take a cab or public transportation when he had his own vehicle? “Did you take a cab or something?”
“Didn’t feel like driving,” he replied, smiling at me. Still no dimples. “Had a lot on my mind.”
That was understandable, but also didn’t really answer why he hadn’t driven in a way that actually made sense. “Let’s head further down on Decatur,” I said. “It will be easier to catch a cab there.”
We did just that, catching a ride over to his place in the warehouse district. I did most of the talking while Ren did most of the . . . staring. His eyes were on me the entire time. That was not an exaggeration. I squirmed in the backseat of the cab, flustered and a little unnerved. His quietness was a little bizarre, but he had to have a ton of things going on in his head.
When we arrived at his place, he paid the cabbie and then we were riding up the elevator, and before I knew it, we were inside his flat.
I hadn’t even seen him unlock the door. That was how out of it I was, how caught up in my own head. This all felt like a dream.
Ren tossed his keys onto the coffee table, so obviously he had unlocked the door. “Want anything to drink?” he asked.
I shook my head as I unhooked the daggers at my waist, placing them on the coffee table next to my bag. Then I sat down on his couch. “I’m fine.”
“You’re nervous,” he pointed out, dropping into the seat beside me. “I don’t want you to be nervous.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Yeah.” He glanced up at my messy knot. “I get that things have been . . . tough recently.”
“Tough?” I laughed, sliding my hands along my knees. “I’m just . . . I don’t know. I keep thinking this is some kind of dream. That sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”
“It’s not stupid.” Ren twisted toward me, placing his hand over mine. “I left you without giving you a chance to fully explain. I dropped off the map. It was wrong, especially after what happened to your friend.”
“Yeah, that was kind of . . . dickish.”
Ren’s eyes shone like cut gems. “I overreacted. Trust me, I regret it.”
“You do?”
“More than you will ever know,” he said.
I took a deep breath that felt like it went nowhere. “How are we going to make this work?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “But I know we will.”
There was a lot to be said. A lot. I felt like my brain was cycling on repeat, but when he leaned in, pressing his forehead against mine, I closed my eyes and let myself just be here, in this moment, with the man I’d fallen deeply in love with.
I gripped Ren’s arms, and I don’t know how I ended up on my back, but he was over me, and the tips of his fingers were trailing down the side of my face and over the curve of my jaw. I was finding it hard to breathe.
Ren brought his mouth to mine. The kiss didn’t start off slow. He nipped at my lower lip, causing me to gasp. As my lips parted, he took full of advantage of that. He still tasted of mint, and as his tongue curled around mine. I reached up and dragged my hand through his messy, silky hair.
A thousand questions were whirling in my head. There was so much we needed to talk about, but I couldn’t think beyond the way he felt and tasted, of how his body felt on top of mine.
I jerked when his cool fingers coasted over the skin of my stomach and up my side, to the strap of my bra. His lips left mine, trailing down my neck. Eyes closed, I tipped my head back, giving him more access. His hand closed over the cup of my bra, causing my back to arch. My hips rose out of instinct, moving restlessly against him.
I paused, my eyes fluttering open. I didn’t
feel
him, which was odd, because for Ren there was normally no hiding how interested he was, and he was
always
interested. Was he really into this or—Oh gosh, I stopped that mess of thoughts from continuing, but I planted my hands against his chest. “Do you . . . do you want to slow down?”
“Stop?” He shifted then, sliding a strong leg between my thighs, hitting
that
spot with shocking accuracy. “That’s the last thing I want to do.”
“You don’t—”
His mouth silenced my questions, and he was kissing me again like before, leaving little room for thought.
Ren’s hands got involved again, and his touch had warmed, so when I jumped this time it was because his fingers had made their way under the cups of my bra. “Amazing,” he murmured, sliding his other hand down to my hip. He urged me to move, and it really didn’t take much. I rocked my hips, riding his thigh as I slipped my hands under his shirt.
His mouth lifted. “Do you want—?” A knock on his front door drew his attention. He turned his head, looking over the back of his couch. A moment passed and then his eyes found mine. “Ignore it.”
I was down for that.
Ren’s fingers shoved my bra aside. The knocks got louder. His thumb coasted over my nipple.
The banging at the door continued, this time followed by a voice. “Ren, if you’re in there, I need you to open this damn door right now.”
Vaguely recognizing the voice, I groaned under my breath as I pulled my hands out from underneath his shirt. “You should probably get that.”
Ren made a low, growly sound in the back of his throat as he lifted himself up off of me. It was a little scary and kind of hot, even though I wasn’t entirely sure he was
that
into what was going on.
He swung his legs off the couch and rose swiftly. I sat up and fixed my bra so I didn’t have a boob hanging out, then tugged my shirt down. Ren was by the door when I peered over the back of the couch. He opened it, and I saw immediately why I had recognized the voice.
Henry strode right on in, brushing past Ren. His gaze cut to where I was peeping over the cushion, and he sneered in a way that made me feel like he was a second from spitting on the ground. “Well, that fucking explains why you haven’t been answering your damn phone.”
Ren shoved the door shut then turned, facing Henry.
“Where in the fuck have you been?” Henry demanded. “Kyle said you were reliable and that we could count on you. So far the only thing we can count on is you spending your time getting fucked.”
My brows rose. “Hi, Henry.”
He twisted toward me, giving Ren his back. “Thought you haven’t heard from him, huh?”
I smiled tightly, deciding I didn’t feel like clarifying that I hadn’t heard from Ren until an hour or so ago. I was really beginning to not like this guy’s attitude.
“This is bullshit,” Henry snapped, his gaze drifting over my face like he could actually see what he’d just interrupted and he was disgusted about it. Now I was feeling pretty insulted. “Ren, you cannot be ser—”
Henry’s neck twisted abruptly to the right. I straightened, pushing off the back of the couch as I noticed Ren’s hands on either side of Henry’s head. Then Ren removed his hands, and Henry folded, smacking to the floor with a deafening thud.
Ren had snapped Henry’s neck.
Chapter Nineteen
The sound of bone snapping echoed in my head, bouncing off my skull. A moment or two passed and Ren looked up, exhaling heavily. “He is quite annoying.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Well, he
was
quite annoying,” Ren clarified as he glanced down. “Not so much anymore.”
I exploded off the couch like a detonated bomb. “What the hell?”
Confusion flickered over his handsome face before his features smoothed out. “Ivy—”
“You just broke his neck!” Holy crap.
Holy shit.
I shot around the couch, my stomach dropping to the floor when I saw Henry lying there, arms splayed out, eyes glazed over, his head twisted at an unnatural angle. “You just freaking killed him.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I did.”
Blinking, I tore my gaze from Henry and looked at Ren. “That’s all you have to say? Yeah, you did? Ren,” I all but shrieked, “you just killed him!” I pointed at Henry just in case he was confused about who I was talking about. “Holy shit, Ren. Why would you do something like that? I mean, yeah, he was annoying, but you can’t just kill someone because he has bad timing.” I bent over, grabbing my knees as my stomach churned. “Shit, Ren, we’re going to be in so much trouble. So much—”