Page 24 of Pleasure & Prey: Vol. 2

Just as carefully, I reach out and take his hand, shaking it loosely before dropping it like a hot potato. “Saylor. Can I ask you something?” I ask, eyes wide as I gaze up at all six-foot-something of him.

“Yeah, of course. Saylor? You can ask me anything.” His eyes pin me in place, their earnest honesty and concern not nearly as nice to look at as Jed’s.

“Are you the one who dumped a body here for Jed to chop up into bits?”

The look of shock on Wren’s face is almost comical. So is the choked, coughing noise that Jed makes as he turns away from the both of us, hand going to cover his face. Wren glares at him, glancing at the shed before looking back at me. “Okay. I’ll bite. Clearly there’s something I don’t know, if you’re asking me shit like that. Where…did you find her exactly, Jed?”

“Well, I didn’t swipe her off the street,” the blond mutters. “You want to come in or something? Feels weird to make her stand in front of the butchering shed when she…” He glances down at my still-drying vomit on the ground, and I wince in embarrassment. “Well, it stinks anyway and I’m tired. Saylor needs something to drink.” He turns his eyes on me once more, a small, hopeful smile curling his lips.

But I can’t return it this time. I can’t get the smell of dead, rotting flesh out of my nose. I can’t get the feel of the chainsaw on the pads of my fingers out of my mind enough to do anything but stare.

“Great. Awesome. Got any food?” Wren walks between us, throwing an arm over Jed’s shoulders and towing him along without a look back at me. I see him lean over and hiss something sharp in Jed’s ear. Something that makes the killer wince, but his tone is too quiet for me to do more than speculate about his words.

But from Jed’s face, he doesn’t like whatever it was Wren said.

I follow them at a short distance, picking at my nails as Wren all but drags Jed along merrily. It’s…something to see him being manhandled by someone much bigger than him, and part of me almost feels bad for my kidnapper.

Jed finally pulls away when we’re inside, going to the kitchen and opening the fridge before he turns and looks at me. “What would you like?” he asks, gesturing to the well-stocked fridge. “Just water to wash your mouth out for now? I can make you something to eat soon, if you feel like it after that?”

Wren makes a noise I can’t identify and sits down hard at the counter in one of the high, stool-like chairs. “Oh man, Jed,” he sighs, leaning forward and running his hands through his mass of black hair. “You have it bad. What did he make you for dinner last night?” He peers up at me from under his hands, grinning, and I freeze in place, confused.

“Umm. Chicken and broccoli Alfredo?” I reply, confused.

Wren whistled. “He made you pasta from scratch already? We’re not holding back, are we, brother?” His grin is wolfish when he looks at Jed, who hunches his shoulders and gives a quick shake of his head before swiping three bottles of water from the fridge and closing it.

“Don’t do that,” he requests, because there’s no way it’s a dare when he says it so…hopefully. Even a request is being generous. “Don’t make her uncomfortable, Wren. This is weird enough for her.”

“Weird isn’t the word I’d use,” I admit, leaning against the back of the sofa, darting a glance at the water bottles in Jed’s hands. He pauses, stopping mid-way when he’d been going to sit, and instead strides across the distance to hold one out to me, smiling slightly as he does.

It makes my heart twist in ways that definitely don’t fit the situation, and I want to bang my head against the nearest wood pillar in the room in response.

“I’m not trying—” Wren trails off with a sigh, his smile falling incrementally as Jed sits down beside him. “Look. You fucked up by kidnapping her. We don’t do that Jed. Cass said something about it being a bad circumstance, but I want to hear it for myself.”

Jed makes a noise in his throat, stirring as he grips the bottle hard. “Like I told him⁠—”

“Nah, sorry.” Wren doesn’t take his eyes off me as he talks. “I want to hear it from her.”

I jolt, probably jumping a few inches as my ribs squeeze down on my heart. My hand trembles as I bring the water bottle to my mouth, swishing it around before swallowing. Thankfully, I’d only heaved up a little bit of bile and nothing worse. I’d hate for it to have been worse. “Why me?” I ask, glad I don’t have to sit. I know I don’t really have anywhere to go, but I feel better standing here instead of sitting there. Especially when my heart thumping in my chest tells me that Wren might be the one to actually kill me.

My face must give something away, because his gaze softens. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he promises, raising his empty hands in surrender. “Jed wouldn’t have let me in here if I was going to hurt you, okay?” He glances between us, and Jed dips a quick, jerky nod at his words.

But I don’t understand what in the world he means by that. Why would Jed let him in or not, depending on if Wren was going to hurt me? But I don’t question it. Not out loud, at least. I’m not sure I want the answer. Instead, I tap my fingers along the plastic of the water bottle; being careful not to smoosh it in my clammy grip.

“You want to hear what happened that night from me?” I clarify, lounging against the sofa’s supportive back. I want to make sure I understand him right and determine if he’s making fun of me.

Wren dips a nod, taking a swig of water. “Please? I want to figure out how I can help you the best…without Jed getting sent to jail,” he admits ruefully, almost as an afterthought. “So, if you could help me understand everything that’s happened, I’d appreciate it.”

When I start, it’s by telling him about the job. About why I’d been in the preserve in the first place. My words are unsure, but thankfully grow in confidence as I explain the first time I saw Jed and the other man. I try to leave out the stupid things, like how afraid I’d been and how I thought Jed was going to do the same to me. I also try not to paint Jed in the worst light possible, though it’s impossible to miss when he buries his face in his hands and sighs heavily as I explain about him drugging me.

Well, I don’t exactly know how to soften that part of it. But at least I leave out him licking blood off of my skin, which feels too personal for Wren to really get to hear.

By the time I’m done, while leaving out the licking, the kissing, and the way some of his words and actions make me feel, Wren’s water is empty and he’s twisting the bottle in his hands, looking thoughtful.

“Wow,” he says at last, when silence has enveloped the cabin for at least thirty seconds. “Wow. You know, I thought Virgil and Sloane were bad. But this?” He tilts his head in my direction, eyeing up Jed. “This takes the cake. You know that, right?”

Jed doesn’t answer. He’s too busy staring at his water bottle like it might put him out of his misery. But at this point, I find it impossible to keep my mouth shut, so I ask, “Who’s Sloane? And Virgil?”

That gets their attention, though in two different ways. Jed looks guilty, and a little bit nervous. Wren looks…thoughtful.