Page 91 of Falcon's Prey

I cut him off. “Someone has wanted me dead for years. I know you aren’t exactly Mr. Nice Guy, and this isn’t the committee for world peace, so I’m staying. Besides, you didn’t get your stupid money for the fight.”

“You’re going into the ring?” Gideon asked.

Ren ignored everything and stood up, taking me with him.

“Are you with them?” He leveled Gideon with a look.

“The vote to join has to be unanimous. I ruffled some petals, so I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

“It’s feathers,” I told him.

“Oh no, it was most definitely petals.”

“I’m fucking wiped. We can talk about this tomorrow morning?” Ren said.

“Aw are we having a slumber party? Wait, we’re too old. It’s called an orgy now,” Gideon quipped.

Ren shook his head, but didn’t bother to respond him again. We took the stairs up, and I noticed how sluggish Ren was walking.

“Are you in pain?” I asked once we were in the room.

Ren looked at me first with confusion, but it slowly morphed into awe.

“Am I in pain?” he asked, dumbfounded.

“They hurt you,” I whispered.

“Baby, you were kidnapped.” His hand came to my face, cupping it.

I would never admit it aloud, but I liked the way he called me baby. He didn’t do it often, but when he did, there was a softness to it that calmed me.

“You lost…”

Ren sighed, then sat on the edge of the bed. It took me no time to realize how much things had changed between us. If you had told me a year ago that Ren and I would be here like this, I would have laughed. Darkness always called to darkness, and mine loved his.

“There’s a hit on mine and Pam’s heads,” he started by saying.

I gasped, surprised because that’s the last thing I thought he would have told me.

“I shouldn’t be telling you any of this, but I figured there’s a lot of lies between us.” He ran a hand through his face, looking tired. “I wasn’t completely honest with you the other day.” My stomach filled with dread, and I felt like I wanted to throw up. “You weren’t the only reason I wanted to come work for Remington’s. I was never supposed to be your guard. I didn’t expect you to ditch your old one as quickly. Make no mistake, Ember—I would have still found a way to get you beneath me, but that wasn’t my priority. My life and Pam’s were. There’s an organization, and when you audition for them, you give them what you promised, or they put a price on your life for making them waste your time.”

“What are you saying?” I whispered.

“Princess, you’re not stupid,” Ren answered back just as softly.

I wasn’t stupid, but I needed to hear him say it.

“It was a heist to clear your vault to get enough cash to pay back the organization so they wouldn’t come after us.”

I shook my head, letting his words sink in. I always knew there were secrets he hid, and it made sense.

“This is why you haven’t killed me.” I looked down at the floor because I couldn’t look at him and see that everything that had happened these past few days was a lie to him. “You still need me.”

My back hit the door hard. Ren was pissed; his blue eyes had gone inky. His hand was at my throat, and with his thumb he caressed where Gideon had cut me.

“Don’t,” he growled. “Don’t try to twist some bullshit in your head.”

I huffed. “You said I would pay. You still need me—”

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