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TATE
I led Wren down the street to my car, her hand clasped in mine. I couldn’t remember the last time I held someone’s hand willingly and enjoyed it. Pulling open her door for her, I stepped aside to let her in.
Wren’s eyes narrowed and she gave me a skeptical look before eyeing the car suspiciously. “What’s the deal?”
“I can’t be a gentleman?” I chuckled.
“You? No.”
“Get in the car, Wren.” I walked around to my side and climbed in, noticing she hadn’t made a move to get in yet. “Wren.”
With a huff, she fell into the seat beside me. “Jesus, could your car be any lower to the ground? I feel like my butt is going to get shredded on the road.”
“I’d never let anything happen to your ass.” I turned the ignition on and pulled away from the curb, knowing exactly where I was going to take her.
Wren scoffed, folded her arms over her chest and looked out the window, pointedly ignoring me.
“You can’t ignore me forever, Wren.”
“Pretty sure I can.”
“I live in your house.”
“Not if I have anything to do about it.” She sniffed, still not looking at me as I turned the car onto the street where Joe’s Pizza was located. I knew she wouldn’t refuse me if I gave her what she wanted most.
I chanced a glance at her and had to suppress a smile. She was ready. She sat a little taller, her back a little straighter, and her hands fisted her dress as she licked her lips in anticipation.
I pulled the car over to the side of the road, and Wren was out of the door before I even had a chance to unbuckle my seatbelt.
“Just because we’re here doesn’t mean I’m talking to you,” she said.
“Whatever you say.” I laughed. She failed to realize that even though she apparently wasn’t talking to me or wanted to be nowhere near me, she still stood on the sidewalk and waited for me to walk with her.
Progress.
“Wren, my darling.” An older man approached her the moment we walked inside.
“Hi, Joe.” She kissed both his cheeks.
He stepped backed and looked at her. “What brings you here so late?” he asked, before glancing over her shoulder at me. “Ah, you’re on a date.”
I smiled and reached my hand out to shake his, just as Wren gasped and shook her head. “No. No. No date. This is... Ummm. He’s a pain in my neck, Joe.”
“This is the tenant that Nico can’t talk about?” Joe raised an eyebrow at me in question. He clued on pretty quick, I’d give him that much.
“Tate Montgomery,” I said and shook his hand.
“What are you doing?” Wren spun around and stared at me with wide eyes. “You’re not meant to be seen.”
“Think Rachel kind of killed that idea, don’t you?”
“Hmm, well take a seat, kids. Wren, the usual?”
“You really know how to treat a girl, Joe.” She elbowed me in the ribs. Yeah, I got it. That comment was a jab at me. But that was why we were here. I had to set things right.
“Only my favorites.” He ushered us to a table and disappeared behind the counter to make Wren’s usual.
I sat and watched her in silence for a few moments, amused because she looked everywhere but at me. “Wren.”
She scratched at the paint on her nails. Maybe I could start there since she clearly didn’t want any apologies. “How’s the latest project going?”
“Fine.”
“And what about the slingshot one?” I smirked. She was so bizarre in the way she worked, but she really did create masterpieces. I was more than a little intrigued by her methods and the fact she used hundred-dollar bras and g-strings to slingshot paint onto a canvas.
She smiled. “Oh, that’s my favorite one.” She leaned over the table, and relief washed over me. Maybe she was warming up to me again.
“Really? Tell me about it?”
“Well, you know how people have voodoo dolls, or dart boards with their enemy’s face on it?”
I frowned but nodded, already knowing where this was going.
“Well, I stuck your face on the canvas and haven’t missed a shot. I’ve learned to channel my anger at you into my thongs.”
I bit my lip to stop laughing at that statement. I’d like to channel something else into her thongs.
I cringed at my own thought. That was tacky. But true nonetheless.
“You’re great for my aim.” She snorted. And I couldn’t contain it any longer, I burst into laughter.
“Glad I could help.”
Joe came over with two beers and placed them between us. “On the house.”
“Thanks.” Wren smiled up at him, and it hit me how little she smiled on a regular basis. She seemed to have a permanent scowl on her face whenever I was around.
I knew I’d been a dick with the NDAs and Rachel and whatever, but I was just following orders. I sighed and reached across the table as Wren wrapped her hand around her beer. Prying her hand from the icy cold glass, I warmed her fingers between my palms. She tensed but she didn’t pull away.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
She didn’t say anything, simply bit her lip and watched me. I took that as my opportunity to continue. “What you saw on my phone earlier, you weren’t meant to see.”
She scoffed. “You think?”
“No, I mean, it shouldn’t have been that way. When was the last time I called you?”
She thought about it for a moment and blowing out a huff of air, she sighed, “Never.”
“Exactly. I’ve never had a reason to call you. We live on the same property. Rachel borrowed my phone, and I knew straight away that she changed your contact when I saw your face drop.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Please.” It was true. I’d given her my phone one day. It was just after I’d come inside from witnessing Wren hanging from the rafters.
Rachel had caught me laughing and asked what was so funny. I couldn’t very well tell her that I’d watched Wren hanging from the ceiling in her underwear, so I shrugged and said nothing. I knew she didn’t like Wren and I couldn’t figure out why.
I didn’t think much of it when she asked for my phone. She typed out what I assumed was a text message and that was it.
“You tried to apologize as soon as I saw the contact information. You knew she changed it and just left it.” Wren pulled her hands from mine and sat back.
“No, I didn’t. I just assumed because it’s not the first time she’s done petty shit like this. Rachel, for as confident and outgoing as she appears, is really insecure and jealous.”
“And that’s meant to make me feel better?” Wren huffed out a breath.
“No. Of course not. It’s meant to make you realize that she’ll stoop to the lowest level just to make herself feel better. She tears down anyone that she feels is a threat, and you, Wren, are the biggest threat of all.”
Her lips parted as she gasped. “I am?”
I smiled. “Definitely.”
“But, how? I’m the least threatening person there is. You’ve seen my fluffy unicorn pajamas and cloud slippers. How can I be a threat?”
I laughed at the memory of walking into the pool house to pay rent, only to see Wren sitting on the counter in a pair of pajamas that looked like a rainbow had thrown up on, eating ice-cream for breakfast.
“For that very reason.”
“She wants my pajamas. Huh, funny. I thought she’d be more of a naked sleeper.”
I chuckled. “She doesn’t want your pajamas.”
“Good, cos those babies are so comfortable, I’m going to be buried in them.”
Joe returned then and placed a large pepperoni pizza on the table between us.
Wren raised an eyebrow and stared him down. She wasn’t impressed. “And the rest?”
He pinched her cheek and shook his head but came back a moment later with a second pizza.
“How much pizza do you think we can eat?” I asked. I had a two-slice limit, and that was very rarely because you didn’t get a body like mine by eating rubbish.
“Don’t know about you, but I danced up an appetite and will totally put this whole pizza away.”
“Bullshit. I bet you can’t.”
She lifted a slice to her lips and smiled. “You’re on.”
“Wait.” I raised my hand just as she wrapped her red painted lips around the end. “What are the stakes?”
Wren placed the slice back down and tilted her head to the side to think about it. “If I win, you have to clean the pool shed out.”
“And if I win, you have to show me a routine.” I smirked.
Wren’s eyes widened in fear, but she steeled her jaw and lifted her hand between us to shake mine. “Deal.”
I picked up a slice and took a bite, tasting nothing because my mind was preoccupied with the possibility of finally seeing a scantily-clad Wren wrapped around that pole in the basement.