Page 71 of Volatile King (The Kings of Wayward Academy #6)

N ash

I always knew that the Colliers were fucked up. I knew that my father was a raging prick and that I would need to take control of the business, council, and family early. Not just for myself but to save everyone from his tyranny. I’d even accepted that my mother wasn’t who I thought she was.

But this…

The picture of the four of them was on the coffee table, while the rest were splayed out on the couch beside me. I’d flipped through them again and again, unable to look away from the trainwreck.

My mother had taken off without a word when I was younger, but came back to help raise my son with her new fucked up version of a happy family. My father had found a way to destroy me while plotting to make me a mindless puppet…a monster just like him. And my son…where was he?

With my father…my mother…Mya, who had some deluded relationship with my parents? Maybe they were all together again, now that I’d turned Mya down. God, what if they had hurt North because I didn’t run into Mya’s arms like they hoped?

I took a swig from the whiskey bottle and closed my eyes, but there was no escaping the toxic wasteland that was my brain.

My eyes snapped open at the sound of a car. Only Liam knew where I was because he had dropped me off at the cabin when I’d told him I needed space for the night. Glancing out the window confirmed my suspicion. Liam’s car was idling in the driveway.

“Fuck.”

Groaning, I closed my eyes again.

The door opened, and a second later the screen door slammed shut, making me cringe.

“You can fuck off. I’m not in the mood for any more of your bullshit today,” I yelled.

“I’m here…anyway.”

At the sound of her voice, I turned to see Ren standing in the doorway.

“Shit, sorry. I thought you were Liam,” I said as I watched him drive away. I took another drink, letting the dark liquid burn down my throat, and hoping that it would somehow cleanse my heart.

Ren walked over and grabbed the bottle from me.

“If you wanted a drink, you could have asked. Hey, where are you going?”

I tried to jump up when Ren walked into the kitchen, but the alcohol punched me in the face, and I fell back on the couch. Shit. I heard her dumping my salvation down the drain.

“Oh, come on. Fuck.”

Once she was done, officially killing any hope of getting blacked-out-drunk, Ren wandered back into the living room. She took off her jacket and tossed it on a chair before glaring at me.

“What? What do you want from me? In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have anything else to give.”

“You said…we’d talk,” Ren said, and I snorted.

“Do I look like I’m up for a heart-to-heart? My entire life is one giant fucking shit show. You know what I can’t figure out…was anything real? Did either of them love me at any point, or was I conceived just for them to torture?”

Ren walked over and picked up the picture on the table before sitting down in front of me. She didn’t say anything, just stared at the twisted and psychotic version of my family…or not family…I wasn’t sure what to call it.

A tiny smile formed as her finger touched the glass. “Looks like you.”

“Fuck…why did you have to say that?” I had been doing so well, holding back, but I finally let the tears fall. “For three years, he let me believe that I killed my child, and this entire time he’s been raising him.”

When I opened my eyes, Ren was right there. Her gaze reminded me of the cool, cloudy weather outside, but held more warmth than I’d ever known before her.

“I have to find him. I can’t fail North and let those monsters raise him. It can’t happen to my son.”

“I know. We will,” Ren said, with an authority that reminded me of her father.

Ren set the photograph aside and reached out, taking my hands. My body trembled as she inspected my bandage from the hospital. My heart seized when she looked up at me.

“It doesn’t hurt,” I said.

The hollow ache in my chest had long replaced the pain from my stab wound.

“Lawrence right…about one thing,” Ren said.

“Oh, this I have to hear,” I said, not believing he could say anything worthwhile.

“You…too good for her,” Ren said.

She so easily pulled me deeper into her stormy eyes, while letting her quiet strength soak into my pores like aromatherapy.

“What did she say to you?”

Ren sighed. Then, she stood up and walked away with her hands on her hips.

“I can’t fix it if you don’t talk to me.”

“Mya said you…called her…” Ren turned around to face me. “Your queen,” she said, and I cocked my eyebrow at her.

“That’s what you’re angry about?”

Ren glared at me. “Not just that…she…hard to describe.” She paced in a circle before shrugging. It was easy to tell she was frustrated. “You see me…as broken…like her?”

I chuckled and then began laughing hysterically. Tears of grief mixed with tears of laughter ran down my face until my stomach hurt.

“What? Why you laugh?”

Clearing my eyes, I shook my head in disbelief and slowly looked up at Ren.

“Really, Princess?” My voice cracked under the weight of my frustration.

“Jesus Christ…yes, I called her my queen. I probably said a dozen things that would gut you to hear. I’m not proud of any of it, but what the fuck do you want me to say?

It was before you. Before I knew what love was .

I thought she was it, but I was young and a fucking idiot. ”

The room spun when I stood up, but nothing compared to the storm clouds brewing in her eyes. Pissed. Wounded. She was every kind of heartbreak wrapped in one soul-crushing gaze.

I crossed the space between us and cupped her face before she could flinch away. My hands ached from the force it took to be gentle with her. All I wanted was to show her how she made me feel.

“I can’t erase what I said to her,” I said quietly. “I can’t rewrite the past. But fuck, Princess, I would if I could. Because none of it meant anything. I didn’t understand love until you.” I slid my thumbs across her cheeks, holding her as tenderly as she held my heart.

“And let me be clear…you were never broken. You’re relentless, and I can’t stop being envious of the way you survive everything. You wear your pain like armor, while mine wrecks me.”

Her hand came up to rest over mine.

“Mya…” she whispered.

“Fuck Mya.” My jaw tensed, and my voice dropped to a lethal growl.

“Look at me, Ren.” I tilted her face up and made sure her eyes locked on mine.

“She doesn’t get to live in your head. She doesn’t get to twist what we are.

Whatever she said…was manipulation, projection, and delusion.

She was never my queen. I called her that because I was trying to name something I didn’t understand.

But you…you’re the reason I breathe. And you better fucking remember this because once I’m fully sober, I’ll pretend I never said anything this sweet. ”

Her breath hitched, and she smiled.

“I don’t just love you, Ren. I belong to you.

All the parts of me…including the ones that I didn’t think were worth anything.

You reached in and made them yours. I never knew I could feel this bound to someone without falling apart.

” I leaned closer, our foreheads touching.

“You’re not some consolation prize. I didn’t think I was worth loving, but you saw the rot inside me and never flinched.

That’s not love, Princess…that’s something fucking deeper. ”

Ren rose up on her toes and placed a light kiss on my lips, then wrapped her arms around my neck and attacked my mouth with as much heat and insanity as I felt. Frantically, I pulled my hoodie off and tossed it aside before kissing her again and pushing her back toward the dining room.

Her ass hit the table, stopping our march. I yanked Ren’s shirt up and over her head.

“Fuck,” I growled, my voice rough. “No bra.”

She shivered, her nipples hardening from the chill of the cabin air.

I fisted her hair and pulled. My mouth watered when her body bowed, giving me easy access to her breasts. She clutched at my shoulders, gasping as I sucked on her nipple.

“You do that shit to me on purpose,” I muttered against her skin. “Come out here looking like sin…get me all fired up and then act like you don’t know what you’re doing to me.”

Her nails dug in deeper, but she didn’t deny it.

“You like it when I snap,” I said, dragging my tongue across the swell of her chest. “Admit it.”

“I do,” she whispered, breathless. “Like the only thing…keeping you sane…is me.”

“You are,” I rasped, leaning back and grabbing her by the hips. “And that should fucking terrify you.” I smirked and nipped at her bottom lip. “You have no idea how close to the edge of insanity I really am.”

Ren’s eyes flashed with lust when I popped the button on her jeans. Fuck yes. I shoved them down, dragging her panties along. She perched on the edge of the table and kicked her sneakers off so I could slip her clothes over her feet. I tossed them away and took a moment to stare at Princess.

The noise in my brain quieted at her touch, but it misfired and stopped working completely with her bare skin on display. Her toes just touched the ground, and her legs trembled.

I tenderly ran my hand down the front of her body. Her skin was so soft that it made me feel like I was made from shards of glass. But somehow, she was softening my rough edges.

“Look at you,” I whispered. “So, fucking sexy.” Her eyes remained on mine as I palmed her pussy and ran a finger over her clit. “So wet,” I growled.” You want this as much as I do.”

“Nash,” Ren said breathlessly, like she was in pain. I smiled. When she said my name, it sounded like surrender. She loved me but hated that she wanted me…I fucking loved that about us.

She wiggled when I caressed the inside of her thigh, teasing her.

“You want something, Princess?”

“Don’t test me,” she growled.

They were the hottest three words she’d ever said to me. I slid two fingers across her wet heat, and she pressed into my hand, her breath catching.

“Put your left foot on the table.”