Page 126 of Vexatious Queen

“Four extra nights,” I said with a smile.

“One.”

“Three, my final offer.”

“Two, and that is my final offer.” She moaned and wiggled on my lap.

“Unfair play, you should get a yellow card or a foul or something.”

With a soft laugh, she did it again. My hand snaked up into the waterfall of white hair and gripped a handful.

“Fine two. You don’t negotiate fairly.”

Ren smiled and shook her head at me.

“Don’t pretend you’re getting a raw deal. I’m going to get your life in order, you get to live out a dream, and you get me for two more nights a month. That seems pretty fair to me.”

God, I loved her. I absolutely didn’t deserve her, but fuck that noise. She was mine, forever.

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Then no harm, no foul,” she said, seeming pleased with herself. “You tell Coach Richards that it is too much.”

“Do I still get to keep my two extra days, Princess?”

She punched me in the arm, and I laughed as I stood up, bringing her with me to the bed.

“Have I told you today how much I hate you,” I asked, loving how her face lit up.

We were both a little crazy.

“No, but the night is young,” she said, with a devilish smile.

Lying her down, I took a moment to appreciate having her in my life. Then, I kissed her like I hated her.

Ren put a hand on my chest.

“Wait,” she said, breaking the kiss. “Do you know where my notebook and hairbrush are?”

“Uh…no clue.”

“I can’t find them anywhere. Even after I cleaned up.”

“You probably left them in one of your boyfriends’ rooms.” I smiled evilly. “I mean…you do get around.”

“Jerk,” she scolded, but didn’t try to stop me when I kissed her again.

I had zero idea how she was going to arrange things to free up my time, but if she wanted to give it a go, I wasn’t stopping her. I would do anything to have a shot at the Olympics. And I loved her even more for wanting to give that to me.

FEBRUARY 14 – SATURDAY 6:36 PM

Myles

It had been a while since my last tattoo, and I’d never done a group event. But this was a lot more fun than I’d expected. Nash had called our go-to tattooist and asked him to bring in enough artists who were as good as he was to do us all at once. Cost wasn’t an issue, and it had been worth every cent.

The best part so far had been watching Nash pout like a child when Ren decided to make things fair. She’d opted to put our names in alphabetical order down her side. Nash had argued that he should still be first, instead of Blake, because his last name started with a C instead of an O. She just shook her head at him. Blake had been smiling from ear-to-ear ever since.

Nash did talk her into tattooing a band on her wedding finger with a fancy N in the middle, so now we all had a finger as well. I chose the middle one right next to Nash, so I was longer and always flipping the arse off.