Page 21 of Ruthless Desires: Vol. Two
He nods. “Let me know if you guys need anything. I’ll try to help in whatever way I can.” With that, he claps me on the back. “I’m glad you’re safe. And I’m glad you guys got Wren back. Now let’s keep you all together, okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.”
And then I’m off, trying to figure out how to break it to Elliot, Rhett, and Wren that I’ve fucked up royally.
Chapter five
Wren
Oliver wakes me up with cuddles and kisses. It’s hard to keep my eyes open, but the promise of coffee and more kisses gets me out of bed after a minute.
It’s not until I’m brushing my teeth that I’m awake enough to realize how nervous Oliver looks. He’s pacing his bedroom, wringing his hands while he mutters to himself.
Once I’m done, I hover at the threshold between the bathroom and the bedroom. “Oliver? Are you okay?”
“Hmm?” He looks up, stopping in the middle of the room. “Yeah, yeah. Just gotta… talk to everyone. Something came up.”
“Came up?”
“I’m not sure if it’s a problem or not. We may have to approach things differently.” When he notices my concerned look, he grabs my hand and squeezes. “We’ll be okay. The sunglasses were always a good idea, but now I think they’re definitely our safest bet.”
“Safest bet?”
“I’ll explain over breakfast. C’mon.” He tugs me out of the room and downstairs.
Elliot and Rhett are already sipping coffee at the kitchen table, and I smile at the sight of them. I’m not sure what’ll happen after this week. It feels too soon to move in permanently, but I never want to miss a morning with them. My only issue is that it feels too fast. I need to maintain some sense of individuality, otherwise I’ll end up repeating all the same mistakes I made with Adam.
“Morning.” As Elliot says it, he leans back in his chair and watches us. He looks much more relaxed than he did last night.
“Morning,” Oliver says, pulling out a chair and pushing me into it. Then he blurts, “We have a problem. When we got back from Wyoming, I went to Evolve to talk to Ludo.”
“What?” Rhett spits out, turning in his chair to stare at Oliver. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“Because of the way Ludo was looking at Wren when we took her to Evolve.”
Now I’m the one turning in my chair. “Looking at me? What are you talking about?”
Elliot stands and immediately starts pacing. All of the tension that bled out of him overnight is back. “What did he say?”
Oliver doesn’t answer my question, only gives me an apologetic glance. “She’s his type, we all know it. I figured Ludo was keeping tabs on her. With the way he couldn’t keep his eyes off her, it was at least a decent hunch. He claimed he wasn’t and that he didn’t know where she was, but I’m not sure I believe him.”
I shiver. At Evolve, I was so focused on Oliver and on having fun that I didn’t even notice Ludo was watching me. It leaves me with a vulnerable and icky feeling, like I need to take a shower and scrub my skin clean.
Elliot stops behind Rhett’s chair, gripping the back of it. “Tell me everything Ludo said. Word for word if you remember.”
Oliver does, going into as much detail as he can. Apparently Ludo is the one who gave Oliver the idea of getting himself kidnapped. As Oliver explains, I start putting together a timeline. My stomach drops to the floor as everything falls into place.
If Oliver went to Ludo the afternoon he got kidnapped, that means Ludo had already stopped by Jordan’s house and seen me. Ludo knew exactly where I was, and he chose to keep that piece of information to himself.
Why? Why would he do that?
I need to tell the guys.
“I’m going to kill him,” Rhett growls. “Howdarehe suggest something so—”
“Let’s not dwell on it,” Elliot cuts in, resting a hand on Rhett’s shoulder. “He’ll get what’s coming to him.”
Rhett clamps his mouth shut, but the deadly anger in his eyes only grows. It has me biting my tongue. The last thing we need is Rhett snapping and acting on his emotions. If he knows Ludo could’ve helped me, he’ll flip his shit. I can’t be the reason their revenge plans go awry.
