Page 18 of Intolerable Bishop

I took a small step back and bumped into Theo, who I thought had gone to stand with everyone else. Myles stepped in front of me, and Blake appeared at my side. Nothing made you feel as tiny as being surrounded by three tall guys who were blocking out the sun, let alone my view.

“Naw, mate. She’s not interested in havin’ dinner with ya, nor hangin’ out, being friends, or anythin’ else yer thinkin’. What did ya say yer name was?”

“Who the hell are you,” Rylan asked.

I tried to maneuver around Myles, but he held me back and pushed me behind him again. My ice cream almost ended up squished into his back.

“It’s okay, Myles. Rylan is an old friend from school. We’ve known each other for years,” I said, but I could still feel the testosterone rising around me.

“Yeah, we’re old friends, and I’ll ask again. Who the hell are you?” Rylan’s tone was threatening. If we had Kings here, then it was Rylan and his team. Most of them were on the fast track to the NHL, and you didn’t mess with them, their families, or their girls.

“I’m the guy who’s going to bury ya, if ya don’t step out of my space and stop tryin’ to hit on my girl,” Myles growled, and I shook my head. Just when I thought I understood men, I realized I probably never would.

“Our girl,” Blake chimed in, and I covered my eyes.

“As in, Ren is dating both of you or all three of you?”

“He means all of us,” Theo piped up, and I looked over my shoulder at him. What was happening here?

“Okay, enough, guys. Really, I can take care of myself, and Rylan is just a friend. We hung out right up until the day I left to attend Wayward.”

“Naw, Snowflake, yer friend wants to see ya naked, dipped in chocolate just like yer cone. And if he doesn’t put the roaming eyes back in his head, I’m going to rip them out of his sockets.”

“Oh yeah, you and who else…mate,” Rylan growled, and I knew his team must have arrived.

Myles released me, and I could feel him getting ready for a fight. I took the opportunity to slip out from where I’d been boxed in and stepped in front of Myles. Instead of trying to defuse the fight with logic, which was beyond their caveman chest thumping, I wrapped my arm around his neck and kissed him hard. Pressing my body up against his, he groaned into my mouth and opened for me. Arms wrapped around me as I tasted the sweet strawberry ice cream on his lips.

When Myles broke away, his eyes were glazed over, the anger subdued. Turning around, I faced Rylan and his team.

“As I said, I can’t go out with you. But thanks for the invite. I’m already taken. Have a great summer, Rylan. Good luck to your dad in his election this year.” I grabbed Myles’s hand to pull him away before he lost it completely. The tension oozing off him promised pain. Rylan still looked pissed but wisely didn’t say anything other than, “I’ll pass the message on.”

My heart was hammering in my chest as we walked to the Yukon in silence. As soon as we were inside, I turned and looked at the three irritations.

“Don’t do that to me again. Rylan wasn’t a threat, and you almost made front page news. His father is the mayor, and Rylan’s a local star, not to mention that I didn’t need your help. If anything, you made things worse.”

“But he….”

I glared at Myles, and he stopped whatever it was he was about to say. “I don’t care how he was looking at me. I can handle saying I’m not interested without you threatening to kill him. If I needed you, I would’ve screamed or something. Got it?”

“No,” Theo said. My mouth dropped open as I turned in my seat to look at him.

“I was sent here to keep you safe, Ren. You may think you know who is who and what is what, but the truth is we don’t know anything anymore. What are lies, what is the truth, who is planted to watch you? If anyone is at all. So no, we will not stop stepping in.”

“I’m not even dating you,” I said, and he shrugged.

“I don’t care. I have a job to do, and if that means killing every guy who looks at you in a way we don’t like, then so be it.”

“Oh my god, you’re all impossible. There is no way Rylan is a mole, or a threat, or anything else. He’s just a guy, a friend, who I had a crush on, and it didn’t work out. That’s it,” I said.

“You had a crush on that prick,” Myles asked, pointing.

“Before I came to Wayward, yes. Do we really want to get into our past crushes? Cause I’m sure that you have more than my one,” I said. He grumbled but crossed his arms and slumped in the passenger seat beside me.

“The point is, just because you’re home and you think this place is your little safe haven, the threats surrounding you are very real. Stop taking it so lightly,” Theo scolded. I didn’t want to believe him, or that I could’ve been deceived by Rylan or anyone else I thought I knew. But he was right. How did I really know? Fuck.

“Fine, I will. But don’t try and pretend that what you three were doing was anything other than a cock measuring contest. If you really wanted to keep me safe from a potential threat, you wouldn’t have been escalating the situation into a fight in broad daylight in front of a store with cameras. I’m not stupid.”

“Can I just say that I think this is really hot,” Ivy piped in, and I glared at her. “Sorry, but I’d take a group of hot guys fighting over me any day. Just saying.”