Page 106 of On My Side
“I’m notactuallyflirting,” Leo whines, rubbing at where Ren pushed against him. “I’m a really likeable guy who knows how to give a compliment! Try it sometime!”
Ren rolls his eyes. “Whatever,” he grumbles, and him being jealous of his brother is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. His arm is still slung over my shoulder as we walk to the door and I’m literally obsessed. “We’ll talk later.”
“Nothing to talk about,” Leo says quickly, bounding up the stairs behind Hunter and Piper. He calls over his shoulder, “I mean, I have nothing to talk about.You,however, look like you have quite a lot to talk about, pretty boy.”
I smirk, and pinch Ren’s cheek. “You are such a pretty boy, aren’t you?”
Ren’s face turns scarlet. “Fuck. Me,” he whispers, suddenly removing his arm from my shoulders and gently grabbing my hips to move me in front of him.
“Wait, what’s happening?” I ask in confusion.
In lieu of a verbal answer, he presses against me, like he did in the kitchen all those months ago. And like that time in the kitchen, he’s astoundingly hard.
I glance over my shoulder at him in surprise. “Where didthatcome from?”
“That did it for me,” he answers sheepishly.
“Whatdid it for you? Me calling you a pretty boy?”
He groans and grips my hips again, guiding me toward the stairs. “Apparently? Because all I want is for you to sit on my face and tell me what a pretty boy I am when I’m drenched in your come.”
I stare at him, mouth agape.
He winces. “Too far?”
“Use that in an audio,” I say after finally being able to close my mouth. “You should… uh. Definitely use that in an audio.”
“Are you coming?” Leo hollers from the front door.
“I wish,” I sigh, only loud enough for Ren to hear. He coughs in an attempt to mask a laugh. “Get that thing under control, Lorenzo, or else your family will really think Iama slut.”
He puts his hand on my lower back and gently pushes me forward, which immediately has fireworks going off and spreading fire throughout my entire body. I take off my coat as we enter the house, immediately enveloped in the scent of garlic and onion, and the loud noise of a family that loves each other.
I grieve for the time when this was my second home. When Mr. Quinn would make us grilled cheeses after school and every Sunday meant Mrs. Quinn’s Italian food.
Ren senses my discomfort and takes my hand in his, squeezing gently. “We can leave right now, if you want to.”
I want to. I want to put my coat back on, find Piper, and speed back home so I can crawl beneath my covers and hide from the things that hurt me, from my past. But that’s what I’ve spent my entire life doing, and Ren has me wanting to do things differently.
“Are you going to introduce me as your friend?” I ask, squeezing his hand back.
He smiles. “I can, if you want. But I need to warn you: I refuse to hide the way I feel about you, to pretend you’re not the most important person in my life. I can’t go back to treating you like a friend.”
“How would you want to introduce me instead?” I ask, throat thick with an emotion I’m not ready to name.
“I’d introduce you as mine,” he says simply. “Because they need to understand you’re here to stay and if they want me, they have to want you, too.”
We break off from the rest of the group, Ren guiding me into the front parlor. The room looks the same as it did sixteen years ago, with a baby grand piano and floral furniture. I wander to the piano, tapping on C sharp.
“I learned to play on this bad boy.”
“I remember. Can you still playThe Imperial Marchwhile staring menacingly at whoever pissed you off?” I tease.
He scoffs. “Can I still playThe Imperial March? What a silly question, Audrey.”
I run my fingers lightly across the keys, soft enough they don’t make a sound. Part of me wishes we could just stay like this. Me, Ren, and Piper in our own little world, without anyone else. I whisper, my eyes cast down to the piano, “What if they don’t want me?”
“If they don’t want you, then the love they have for me isn’t as unconditional as they claim it is.” He shrugs and leans casually against the piano, like he’s not talking about cutting off the family he loves. “They’re family, but you’re home, Aud. You and that persnickety blonde with a penchant for sarcasm and catnapping. You’re where I want to begin and end my days, where I’m safe and known.”
