Page 41 of Vexatious Queen

Sleep now, Princess, don’t you start,

I can hear your beating heart.

Fear trickled down my spine like ice water.

The door opened, and I screamed so loud that I scared the two girls walking in. They jumped back, looking around for the danger.

Jesus…my heart was pounding out of my chest.

“Sorry,” I said.

With a hand pressed over my heart, I darted out the open door. If this came from Nash, I was going to kill him, because this wasn’t funny. But I already knew it wasn’t him.

JANUARY 17 – SATURDAY 2:46 AM

Nash

Tonight had been a great night and just what we needed. Lark had over ten thousand people watching the live stream, and within minutes, Volatile had reached max capacity, with a line outside. Nora had been taking phone calls all night and said that the next six months were booked with special VIP events. Lark had even managed to spin the tragedies.

The only thing dampening my mood was that I had Vicky to thank for it. She had been all too happy to gloat about her amazing idea as she hung off Lark.

Yawning, I opened my dorm room and froze. The lights were on, and the door to the ensuite was closed. Ren had left with Ivy, Chantry, and Myles, who had offered to drive them back so that I could take care of Lark until close. It was most likely Ren, but I’d assumed she would stay with Myles and Blake tonight.

Not taking the chance that I had a surprise visitor, I closed the door and walked over to my dresser. I slowly pulled open the drawer with the hidden compartment that held my gun and had just unlocked it when the bathroom door opened, and Ren walked out. Her head was down while she rubbed her hair with a towel. She hadn’t seen me yet.

“Hello, Princess.”

Ren all but jumped out of her skin. She resembled a cartoon cat clinging to the ceiling. The towel flew at me as she screamed and darted back into the bathroom, slamming the door.

I couldn’t help but laugh and had tears rolling down my cheeks when she opened the door a crack and looked out at me.

“Nash, you asshole,” Ren growled, only making me laugh harder.

After relocking the gun safely away, I turned to look at my very pissed off wife. The fury in her eyes was arousing. I had been ready to crash out, but now…now I was awake and happily feasting on the sight of her wearing my T-shirt and boy shorts.

“Do you have any idea how sexy you are when you’re pissed?” I teased, crossing the room. But she stomped away before I could touch her.

“Don’t.” The one word was clipped and truly angry.

“What’s wrong?” I looked around my room. “Why are you in here anyway? Myles didn’t jump at his chance to cuddle?”

Ren rolled her eyes.

“I needed to speak to you, so I waited up,” she said, and grabbed her phone off the nightstand. “Did you send me a text tonight?”

“No…was I supposed to?”

“Shit.” Ren sat down on the edge of the bed. “I was hoping that you were just being a jerk or trying to be funny.”

“What’s going on?”

When Ren didn’t respond, I joined her on the bed. She handed me her phone, and I read the creepy message while anger churned in my gut. What kind of sick fucking game was this? I watched Ren as she stood and started to pace. Her arms were crossed over her chest, but she still managed to chew on one of her fingernails. She looked genuinely terrified.

“You thought I sent this,” I asked, and she shook her head.

“No, not really. But if it wasn’t you, then the alternative…”

She covered her eyes, and I jumped up to offer whatever comfort I could after putting her phone down on my desk. The guys needed to know about this ASAP.