Wicked (A Wicked Trilogy #1)(22)

You'd think I pulled out a handful of naked brownies that were willing to live and serve Tink by the way he reacted. Buzzing around the kitchen excitedly, I was worried he was going to accidentally fly into one of the windows. Eventually he calmed down, and we ended up watching the rest of what turned out to be Eclipse and then Order of the Phoenix for whatever research purposes he wasn't ready to share. I was okay with the brain candy. It kept me from stressing over everything that had happened and what I'd have to do going forward.

I crashed a little after nine like a total loser, but I ate five more pralines before I rolled myself into bed, my stomach not appreciating the overdose of sweetness. Unable to fall asleep and striving to keep my mind free of all the crap, I grabbed a worn novel off my nightstand, cracking open Rule. A little after ten my eyes grew too heavy for me to keep open. I put the novel down, flipping off the light, and shifted onto my side. I wasn't sure exactly when I fell asleep, but when I blinked open my eyes, my bedroom was lit with a soft glow.

It took me a couple of seconds for my brain to process that there were only two lights in my bedroom. The ceiling one, which was much brighter, and the lamp on the nightstand, but I'd turned that off.

Thinking that Tink was being a freak again and had sneaked in my room, I started to roll onto my back, expecting to find a damn troll doll on the pillow next to mine, but my hip hit something warm and hard.

I froze as my heart skipped a beat.

Something was there, something that was way too big to be Tink, and then it moved, no longer resting against me. Instinct shot to the surface, and I shifted onto my back and sat up.

Déjà vu smacked into me, except this time I wasn't in an alley, but somehow unexpectedly staring into a pair of eyes the color of spring grass.

Son of a bitch.





Chapter Five





Part of my brain couldn't fathom what he was doing in my apartment—in my bedroom, sitting on my bed, giving me a half grin that revealed one deep dimple.

Was I dreaming?

He tilted his head to the side, and several dark, russet colored curls fell across his forehead. "You do this a lot? This stare at me and not speak kind of thing?"

Yeah, not dreaming.

Instinct was still firing within me, and I pulled my legs out from under the bedspread as I rolled back. I was more of a kick ass first and ask questions later girl. Ignoring the pull of the stitches, I planted my feet into Ren's chest.

He was knocked back, but caught himself before he fell. On his feet, he rose to his full height as I slid off the bed, landing in front of him. How did he get in here? Had he found Tink? Oh my God, what if he'd done something to Tink? Concern blossomed.

Not giving him time to recover, I spun on one foot and caught him in the stomach with my other foot. Ren's grunt told me that it hurt, and I snapped forward, aiming my fist for his face—his really nice face. What a shame I was going to have to bloody and bruise it.

He moved like lightning striking, catching my wrist and using my momentum to spin me around. An arm gripped tightly just below my breasts. "Whoa, Ivy, you need to chill."

I so didn't need to chill. I shoved my free arm back, catching him in the stomach again, but this time I could feel exactly how hard that stomach was. His abs didn't even budge. I went to do it again, but he did something that was going to piss me off until I took my last dying breath.

He shoved one leg between mine, hooking his foot around my ankle. One second I was struggling against him and the next I was falling forward.

"Crap," I muttered.

Ren didn't let me freefall. Instead, he controlled my weight and where I was heading. Before I knew it, I was on my stomach and he was above me, his knees on either side of my hips, and his hands wrapped around my wrists, pinning my arms to the mattress. My cheek pressed into the bedspread, and from my not-so vantage point, I could see that the bedroom door was open.

How quickly he incapacitated me yet again was humiliating, and I was too damn angry to be that afraid. "If you don't let me go, you're going to regret it."

"Jesus, is this going to happen every time we meet?"

"If you keep doing shit like this, then yes!"

He shifted so that his breath danced along my cheek. "I'm not trying to hurt you."

"You're practically crushing me." I tried bucking my hips, but he squeezed his knees in, stilling me. "I swear to God, if you don't let me go, I'm—"

"You're really feisty, aren't you?" He chuckled, and that ticked me off even more. "Look, I didn't come here to fight you. I need to talk to you."

"This is a really funny way of talking." I tried to twist my arms, but all I managed to do was make the position even more uncomfortable. "How did you find me?"

"Looked at your file in David's office."

My fingers curled into the bedspread. "He's going to kick your ass."

He chuckled again. "Nah, I don't think so."

God, he was so lucky I couldn't get my hands on him right now. "If you looked at my file, then you would've seen my phone number. You could've tried, I don't know, calling me like a normal person."

"I did call you," he replied, and again his breath stirred the hair along my temple. I hadn't been close to a guy since . . . since Shaun, and go figure, it was a dude breaking into my apartment that was the one. "You didn't answer."