Page 14 of Ruthless Desires, Vol. Two (Ruthless Desires Series Extended Editions #2)

Oliver

Wren is so nervous she’s practically vibrating. As I try to figure out how I want to phrase this, I trace my fingers up and down her spine.

“Have you ever noticed how important it is to Elliot that you trust us?”

“I have,” she says.

“We don’t keep things from each other. Not… not important things. I get that’s a fairly normal thing in most relationships, but we take extra care to not keep secrets.”

“I promise I won’t do it again, Oliver,”

she whispers.

“Never again.”

“Hey, I know,”

I say gently.

“I just need you to understand where we’re coming from. Or, more specifically, where Elliot is coming from. His parents didn’t trust each other, and it led to a really toxic environment. Instead of working things out, they were constantly going behind each other’s backs, accusing each other of shit, yelling at each other, the works. Elliot swore he’d never be like that.

“When it came to us, Elliot worked hard to earn our trust. We were kids, so of course we all fucked up. But we eventually got to the point we’re at now. We trust each other with our lives, and with every little thing that comes our way. That took a lot of work.”

Wren sags against me.

“I really messed this up, didn’t I?”

“Not as badly as you think.”

I try to sound as reassuring as I can.

“You’re allowed to make mistakes. We all do. And the thing is, what you did is understandable. You were trying to protect Rhett.”

“He didn’t see it that way.”

“He’ll… he’ll come around.”

I’m not completely sure what’s going on with Rhett. Wren’s logic is solid for the most part. If anyone other than Ludo had left Wren at that house, they’d be dead by now, thanks to Rhett. I don’t get why he can’t see that—he already knows it.

What I said doesn’t seem to help Wren’s nerves at all.

“Are you sure Elliot isn’t mad at me? If trust is really important to him, and I lied, then—then how is he not mad?”

Her voice sounds panicked, like she’s afraid he’s hiding it—or that it’ll come later, when she’s least expecting it.

I let out a tired laugh.

“He has a lot of practice dealing with his partners fucking shit up.”

I point to myself.

“Exhibit A.”

“I’ve just never seen someone move on from getting hurt so fast.”

“Yeah. He had to do that growing up. Since his parents were constantly fighting or nitpicking at every little thing he did, he learned to brush things off quickly. Otherwise he never got a break from all the negative shit they threw at him.”

Her expression saddens.

“That’s awful.”

“He found ways to escape. And now he doesn’t talk to his family often, so it’s not as much of a problem. But he’s always the first to cool off after a fight.”

“What about you?”

she asks softly.

“I take a bit longer to process things.”

My gaze falls. It’s the last thing she wants to hear right now, but I don’t want to lie to her. That’s what got us into this mess in the first place.

“Can I ask you a question, princess?”

“Anything.”

“If you were worried about Rhett’s reaction, why didn’t you come to me? Or Ell? We know him a lot better, so we could’ve predicted his reaction better. Or, as Ell said, we could’ve stopped him from doing something stupid.”

She blinks rapidly, like my suggestion is a completely new thought to her.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Was it because you thought we wouldn’t be able to help?”

It’s a stupid question to ask. Of course that’s not what she thought. But my own insecurities have a tendency to shine through at the worst possible times.

“Not at all,”

she says.

“I guess that since it matters to all of you, it didn’t occur to me to only tell one of you. There wasn’t much conscious thought put into it. My mind’s been pretty full lately.”

I nod. Ell is right—we’ve thrown a lot at her. With the amount of stress she’s been under, I can’t even fault her for not thinking straight. Maybe I should be more hurt, but the feeling that’s dominating my thoughts right now is how pissed I am at Ludo.

How could he just leave her? How could he be so heartless?

“I want to talk to Rhett,”

Wren says quietly.

“I want to explain.”

“That’s not a good idea tonight, princess.”

“I don’t want him to hate me.”

“He doesn’t.”

She doesn’t respond. Her brows are furrowed, and her eyes are blank. She’s getting lost in worried thoughts, which is a feeling I’m all too familiar with. Once that ball gets rolling, the thoughts only get worse and worse, until there’s little you can do to stop them.

“Hey.”

I nudge her.

“I promise he doesn’t hate you. Now, we both need to get to bed. I’m gonna sleep with you tonight, okay?”

“You don’t have to. If you need more time—”

I cut her off with a kiss. Yes, she lied, but she’s obviously broken up about it. If I was in her position, sleeping alone would only make things worse.

“I don’t need more time to show you that I love you, and that I’ll always love you.”

Standing, I pull her with me.

“No matter what, Wren.”

Tears spring to her eyes, but she blinks them back.

“I love you, too.”

I text Rhett to update him on our sleeping arrangements. Odds are, he won’t come to bed tonight, but there’s always a chance.

“I promise I’m not hiding anything else,”

Wren says as I get under the covers with her.

“I believe you, princess.”

I pull her body into mine.

“Now go to sleep.”

***

In the morning, I get up after Elliot is already gone. Wren is still sleeping, so I leave her be, wanting her to get some more rest. I slept like shit, which is typical when one of the guys is away for the night. I only hope Wren slept better than I did.

As I make myself coffee, I notice movement on the balcony outside. Rhett is pacing, his head bowed. He looks like shit. I’m pretty sure he didn’t come back last night, so odds are, he didn’t sleep at all.

Abandoning the coffeemaker, I head outside. When I open the sliding door, Rhett pauses and looks up. Yep—I know that look in his eyes. He’s had no sleep and too much time alone with the things that haunt him.

I don’t even get a word out before he says, “Please don’t lecture me.”

I bite my tongue before I make a joke about that being Ell’s job. This isn’t the time for that.

“Are you going to fix things with Wren?”

He turns away.

“Rhett, come on. You can’t say what you said last night and just leave her like that. It’s cruel.”

“I need Sammy to be my priority,”

he says darkly.

“That doesn’t change the fact that Wren’s logic was solid. She was afraid of what you’d do. None of us like that she lied. She doesn’t like that she lied. But she’s still new to this. To us. And she did her best.”

“It doesn’t matter,”

he grits out.

“It does.”

He shakes his head.

“Don’t be an asshole, Rhett. You can’t expect her to be perfect. She did her best. You can’t tell me that doesn’t mean any-”

“It doesn’t matter because she’s right, goddammit,”

he yells, whipping around to face me.

“I’d ruin everything for her. For any of you.”

His admission takes me by surprise. Avenging Sammy’s murder has been his one and only life goal since we were teens. I know Rhett would never sacrifice one of us for our plan, but sacrificing the plan for one of us? When we’ve all worked so hard to get here? I don’t want him to have to do that.

“Sammy deserves better than that.”

Rhett’s voice is laced with a cocktail of shame, defeat, and disappointment. He turns around again, gripping the railing and lowering his head.

“She deserves better than what we’ve given her. It’s been ten years. She shouldn’t have to wait that long.”

When I step up next to him, he tilts his face away from me. I don’t force him to look at me. It’d only push him further away.

“Sammy will get her justice. And if you think she’s up there somewhere, looking down on us and wondering why we haven’t taken Ludo out yet, I guarantee she’s not.”

“What if she is?”

“Rhett, if she’s watching you, there’s no doubt in my mind that she doesn’t give a shit about Ludo. I’ll never forget the way she looked at you. You were everything to her. And if she could see you right now, she wouldn’t be disappointed in you. She’d be worried that her big brother was making himself miserable. She’d want you to focus on trying to be happy.”

“I can’t, O. I can’t move on while he’s still alive.”

Fucking hell. I can’t even fight him on that. I’ve thought the same thing too many times myself.

“I’m worried about you,”

I say softly.

“By this point, I’d say we’re all worried about each other.”

“That doesn’t make it any better.”

He shrugs. Typical—his default setting is deflecting. Over the years, he’s come so far in managing his anger and sharing his burdens. But my god, at times like these, I wish he was further along.

“You can’t avoid Wren forever.”

“I’m not planning on it. I just need a little more time.”

“How much?”

I don’t want her to be miserable all day.

“I… I don’t know. Elliot texted me and said Wren has more to explain, that he was thinking we could do an early dinner once he’s done with Aubrey. That’s, what, six hours from now? Seven?”

“She thinks you hate her, Rhett.”

He swears, so quietly I almost don’t hear him. Then he’s heading for the door, grumbling something about being an idiot.

“Rhett, wait, she’s sleeping.”

I follow him back into the penthouse, but I don’t make it far.

Wren is standing in the doorway to the bedroom, frozen. Her eyes widen as Rhett advances toward her.

“I lied.”

The words don’t come from Wren’s mouth—they come from Rhett’s.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. The things I said… I was lying to myself. Lying to you. And I don’t hate you, Wren. I’m not capable of it.”

She frowns when he stops a few feet in front of her.

“Lying to yourself?”

“You were right.”

It sounds like it pains Rhett to admit that—it probably does.

“My first thoughts were of how I could make Ludo regret leaving you there. I wanted to storm into that damn condo and kill him right then.”

Wren grips the doorframe to steady herself. Her voice is hesitant as she asks, “So why did you… you said…”

Averting her gaze, she presses her lips together like she’s trying to stop herself from crying.

“I didn’t want to believe that I’d skip over our plans,”

he says.

“It feels like a betrayal to Sammy, not giving her the justice she deserves. But you’re right. I would. If it came down to it, I’d do it without a second thought.”

“I don’t want you to do that,”

she whispers.

“Neither do I. Ludo deserves every ounce of pain we’re going to give him. But I shouldn’t’ve said it the way I did. Those words never should’ve left my mouth. I would ruin everything we’ve worked for. For you, for Ell, for O. And I’m sorry I couldn’t admit it to you.”

Wren looks like she wants to throw herself into Rhett’s arms, but she stays planted in the doorway. A tear slips down her cheek. All I want to do is wipe it away and hug her until she’s smiling again, but I can’t. This moment is for her and Rhett.

Slowly, like Wren will bolt if he moves too quickly, Rhett steps up to her.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

He brushes away her tear.

Her face scrunches up, and more tears fall onto her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, too. I didn’t want to lie to you.”

“I know. It’s okay.”

Again, he wipes at her tears.

“I understand.”

As Wren hiccups and does her best not to cry, Rhett shifts uncomfortably.

Do something, I want to tell him. Hold her, touch her, anything. I know it’ll be hard for him. Touch during or after arguments usually sends him to a dark place, but god, the look on Wren’s face is heartbreaking. She really, truly thought he hated her.

“Wren…”

He lays a hand on her shoulder.

“Fuck, c’mere.”

Her forehead hits Rhett’s chest as he circles his arms around her. When she grabs onto his shirt and leans into him, relief billows through me. They both need the mutual reassurance from each other.

“It’s okay,”

Rhett says quietly. He’s rubbing her back gently with his face buried in her hair.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

When they finally pull away, she looks up at him with shining eyes.

“I already told O and Ell, but I want to make sure you know, too. I’ll never lie to you again, Rhett, I promise.”

“I know,”

he murmurs. His lips feather against her forehead.

“Thank you.”

She’s still holding onto his T-shirt to keep him close. Gently, he takes her hands and removes them from his body, squeezing as he does.

“Do you have to sleep?” she asks.

“I should try,”

he says as he glances at me.

“We’re having dinner when Ell is done, yeah?”

“Yep,”

I reply.

“I’m planning on keeping up with the bug in the condo today, and we can go over everything of importance then. As well as whatever Wren has to say.”

“Okay.”

After a moment’s hesitation, he runs a hand over Wren’s hair.

“You gonna be okay?”

She nods.

He leans down and drops a kiss to Wren’s lips.

“I’ll see you both later. Goodnight.”

“Night,”

I say as he slips past Wren, holding her hand until the last possible moment.

Once the bedroom door is shut, Wren rubs at her eyes and sniffles. I’m worried she’s about to start crying again, but when she turns to me, she gives me her best attempt at a smile.

I want to ask if she’s really okay or if she needs a hug, but I know that look in her eyes. She’s still right there on the edge. Anything could push her back into tears again. And if she starts crying, Rhett will inevitably hear, and then he won’t be able to get any sleep.

So all I ask is, “You want coffee?”

“That sounds nice.”

As I pour it, I say, “I have to get some work done, so I can’t go with you if you want to head out. You could try to do something with Aubrey if you’d like, and that way Elliot will be with you, but otherwise you’re kinda stuck here.”

“I’m not sure I’m in the mood to be social. I’ll just read.”

Handing her a mug, I press my lips to her forehead.

“Okay. Just let me know if you need anything.”

“I will.”

With another smile, she retreats to the couch and grabs one of the books she brought with her.

I watch her for a second. She looks worn down, but like she’s trying to hide it. It makes my chest ache with worry. Last night, she just… went swimming all by herself. Fuck, she could’ve died. She can’t do it again—we can’t let her. It’s too dangerous.

Before Wren notices that I’m watching her, I turn away and grab my laptop. I don’t know how to fix this, not exactly. But I know where to start. First, we need to figure out why she snuck down by herself. And then somehow—quickly—we need to find a way to remind her that we’re here for her. Because my anxiety can’t take another scare like last night. Not ever, ever again.