Page 42 of Disobedient Pawn

“So, what did you want to talk to me about,” Ren asked and settled back into the seat like she’d been in here a million times.

Was I upset that she wasn’t impressed with my car? She wasn’t asking to fiddle with the heat or music. Did I like that she was so chill? I wasn’t sure of anything, and she had me all over the damn place.

“Um…can we just talk about random stuff first? The coffee shop is just up there,” I said as I racked my brain for a legit reason for dragging her away from Ivy and Blake.

“Sure. I hear that the swim meet didn’t go so well. Any truth to what people are saying?” She glanced over at me.

“None. We don’t do that shit. The other teams were jealous that we were taking all the gold and wanted to tarnish our names. Bunch of fucks,” I growled. I wondered what Nash decided to do to Sabastian. He said he would take care of him.

“Did you hear that they found one of the guys dead?” I looked over a Ren, unsure if she somehow knew and was poking at me to see my reaction or if she was genuinely curious. It made me wonder a little more about who her family was. Which family lines did she belong to? Nash would already be digging. It was his thing, looking into every new person that walked through Wayward’s doors.

“I did hear that. I’m not going to say that I feel bad, though. That guy made a lot of enemies by being a piece of shit. He was bound to piss off the wrong person.”

Ren didn’t acknowledge that she agreed or disagreed, and I wiggled in my seat. I normally didn’t give a flying fuck if a girl cared about the things I did, but I found myself wondering what she’d think if she knew it was me that had hung Austin by his neck from the bridge. Would she be impressed or maybe scared? Would she run for the hills? Would we have to silence her? That last thought was a gut punch. All the kids at the school were from one crime family or another, but Ren seemed different. I couldn’t put my finger on what or why, but there was this innocence to her. She didn’t seem marred by the dark crap that the rest of us were.

“Do you like the car?” I finally asked, unable to take the silence anymore.

“You mean, am I impressed by your Ferrari 296GTS convertible with hybrid technology, extreme power, agile handling, magnificent steering, and scintillating speed? You mean the car with a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter, V-6 engine, and an amazing 819 horsepower, married to a battery-fed drive motor placed between the engine block and an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The car that can reach 60 mph in sub-three seconds, has a quarter mile sprint of under ten seconds, and is almost four hundred thousand to purchase. With the customizing specs and paint job you’ve chosen, it would certainly be at the higher end of the scale.” My mouth fell open as I stared at Ren, and she shrugged. “It’s alright,” she said, the corner of her mouth lifting in an adorable smile.

“Holy fuck, you can talk dirty like that to me anytime.” I pretended to shiver, which made Ren laugh. I loved the sound, and she had the best smile. That old saying about lighting up a room applied to her, and now I had a fantasy of her screaming car stats while she rode me. I needed to adjust myself when I got out of the car. Ren was so sexy she was killing me. “I take it you like cars?”

Ren shrugged. “I’m indifferent.”

“But you can recite the stats of my car off the top of your head?”

Ren turned in her seat and looked at me. Her eyes were not exactly playful but weren’t as guarded as normal. She cocked a brow as she drew her bottom lip into her mouth. “I’m a walking mystery,” she said, and my brain screeched to a halt.

“Watch out,” Ren squealed and pointed out the windshield.

“Fuck,” I growled out as I had to slam on the brakes so I didn’t ram into Blake. My heart hammered as the car came a hair’s breadth away from colliding with the Maserati. “Damn, that was close.” Blake stuck his arm out the driver’s side window and gave me the middle finger. “Please, for the love of god, don’t make that face at me while I’m driving.”

“What face?”

“That sexy as fuck look you’ve got going on.”

“You’re crazy,” she said, shaking her head like I was ridiculous.

Could she really not see how pretty she was? That seemed impossible. She was a knockout. The rumblings among the guys in the school regarding the bet were loud, but the comments about how hot she was, were a close second—just another reason for me to get her locked up before they could get ahold of her. The thought of someone like Axel touching her made me want to cut his dick off.

I followed Blake as he pulled into the coffee shop, the brown and green sign announcing the name. EEFFOC. Ren stared up at the glowing sign as we drove by.

“It spells coffee backward. Everything in this place is amazing. They have coffee puns and jokes written on the tables and framed coffee images on the walls. This place is the best, and when I stay at my house, I make sure to come here before heading back to the academy. Their coffee doesn’t compare.”

“So you live around here,” she asked, and I nodded as I pulled into the empty spot beside Blake. If he didn’t love his car so much, I could see him opening his door so I’d hit it.

“Most of the parents do. Where is your family living, or did they stay in Canada?” Ren’s facial expression turned as cold as the weather outside.

“I don’t know. I didn’t see the house before I was dropped off at the academy,” she said, getting out of the car before I could question how the hell that happened. Every time I learned something about her, I wanted to know more. Another first for me.

I got out of the car and locked it but couldn’t stop staring as Ren and Ivy walked just ahead of Blake and me.

“I’ll get it,” I said and reached around Ren to grab the door, holding it open for the girls to walk in, but Blake stopped as he reached me.

“Smart ruining my night, but don’t worry, I have other ideas to get her alone.” My teeth clenched tight as Blake winked and walked into the coffee shop. Before this bet was over, I might actually kill my best friend.

NOVEMBER 8 – MONDAY 8:30 PM

Ren