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Prologue
Wren
I almost never said this,but I regretted my outfit. The all-black ensemble felt like a good idea as I stood in my bedroom, contemplating what would be appropriate for a stakeout-slash-rescue-mission. Two of my best friends, Dev and Alex, had extensive experience in the realm of illegal breaking-and-entering and gave me the pared-down instructions of “dress for a stakeout.” After I texted a series of question marks to the group chat, the expanded directions consisted of “wear black,” and I took that guideline seriously, pulling out the darkest items of clothing from my closet.
Unfortunately, I’d gotten a little too excited for the transition into fall, which was admittedly still a couple of months away, pulling my sweaters and long pants out of storage in preparation. I reasoned with myself that a florist who constantly moved in and out of cold storage to grab flowers for arranging didn’t have much need for summer clothing anyway. While I still had a few shorts and tank tops to battle the heat when I gardened with Ames, I was a colorful bitch, so the only remaining black items were full-on winter gear. Meaning I sat in the car sweating while everyone else wore more August-appropriate outfits: jeans and black, short sleeved shirts.
But it wasn’t the heat causing my heart to pound or that made me second guess my admittedly impractical outfit. It was the eyes I felt on the back of my neck as I kept a steady gaze out the side window, refusing to look in her direction.
Over the past few weeks, I had become well-acquainted with the look I knew she’d be aiming in my direction, even if no one else seemed to notice it. My best friend’s sister - the same best friend currently being rescued after she was kidnapped by her abusive creep of an ex-boyfriend - had given me nothing but the cold shoulder since we first met.
* * *
I wouldn’t admitit to anyone unless they asked really nicely after getting me slightly drunk, (a combination that had - luckily - not happened yet), but I had originally crushed hard on Ames’s sister. That first day she walked into Alex’s kitchen, blonde hair streaming behind her, finger poking his chest with no regard for her own safety among a bunch of strangers, my heart stuttered so fast I lost my breath for a moment. She looked like some kind of fallen angel, sent to drag Alex back to hell with her, her clunky boots and chains on her black cargo pants clinking with every movement she made.
The small crush lasted less than an hour, most of that time spent with Dev and Alex in the kitchen as we rounded up ingredients for burgers while we let the sisters catch up privately. Alex occasionally peeked out the kitchen window, making sure the sisters were making up after their long fight instead of starting a new one, the slightest edge of a smile turning the corner of his mouth whenever he looked at Ames. The guy was so in love with her I could barely stand it, and my yearning for my own romance had me attempting to casually bring up Bex’s sexuality and relationship status as I sliced tomatoes and arranged them on a plate for the burgers.
“Do we need to worry about an angry boyfriend running in here after we threatened his girlfriend?” I tipped my chin toward Bex as I attempted to casually ask, “Or girlfriend, maybe? She seems like she could be into women.”
Dev shot me an amused look at my obvious line of questioning, but fortunately, Alex was much less concerned with boundaries. He and Dev ran a successful cybersecurity business that often dealt with shady figures, so it made sense that he didn’t have much room in his brain for a conscience. Unsurprising, too, considering he stalked Ames for months and sent her anonymous gifts in an intense, albeit romantic, way to win her over.
“Single, unless she’s shacked up with someone in the past couple of days. History of dating men and women, dating apps open to all genders, so I’d assume she’s bi. Pan, maybe.” He didn’t blink as he listed the information he found through his reconnaissance on his wannabe-girlfriend’s sister. The information gave me hope, ears perking at the possibility of finding an attractive, available woman who already knew my friends.
After we determined the two had finished making up, the rest of us made our way back outside, Alex throwing burgers on the grill and inviting Bex to stay for dinner as if that hadn’t been part of his plan from the beginning.
Ames led her sister over by their linked hands, and I could finally see the family resemblance as they stood next to one another. They both had oval faces with almond-shaped eyes, their noses wrinkling in the same way when they smiled, though Bex’s smiles were more tentative than the wide grins I’d seen from Ames. Piercings littered both their ears, silver and gold studs and hoops running down the rims, sparkling in the setting sun. Both wore dark clothes, though Bex’s were more oversized and grungy than the ripped black jeans and band t-shirts that filled Ames’s closet. She also stood half a foot taller and a few inches broader than Ames. She was the rougher, blonder, bigger version of Ames. But she was also more wary, eyes flicking back and forth in distrust for the first handful of minutes around the grill. Not so much in fear as in precaution, as if she didn’t trust anyone other than the sister by her side.
I watched Bex’s shoulders slowly inch down from where they had tightened up toward her ears. Her eyes sparkled as she and Alex bonded over some kind of Matrix-y, darknet shit that caused my eyes to glaze over with all the technical lingo I didn’t understand. She even smiled as she connected with Dev over her martial arts experience, the icy blue of her eyes lightening to something almost warm.
“You should see Alex’s home gym, Bex. It has all the equipment you could want, plus floor mats for sparring.” Ames turned toward Dev at his surprised expression, explaining in a proud voice, “Bex actually has martial arts training. She’s pretty good.”
Bex shrugged off the praise. “My ex-girlfriend was a Jiu-Jitsu instructor -”
Ames scoffed, mumbling under her breath until Bex rolled her eyes. “Shewasa Jiu-Jitsu instructor. But she also participated in illegal underground MMA fights. Which is where we met. We didn’t last, but I kept up with the skill. I know a bit of Muay Thai and Krav Maga too, from her MMA training.” Her wistful tone caused my smile to drop into a frown as I glanced down at my petite frame, which was clearly not meant for structured fighting. Much less illegal underground martial arts.
“You think I could take her?” I joked, holding my fists up in a poor imitation of a fighting stance. I just wanted her attention on me for a moment, to see if she felt the frisson of energy I had since she first walked into the room.
The friendly expression that had started to transform her face immediately disappeared, replaced by a blank one as Bex turned in my direction. Her eyes tracked up and down my body in a slow perusal that had a shiver running down my spine. But when she made eye contact with me for the first time that night, I watched as the blue of her eyes, which had been warm and ocean-deep a moment ago, froze into ice as she stared me down.
“No,” she said, turning immediately back to Dev as they set up a time to spar together on the mat. Unsurprisingly, he had experience in mixed martial arts, alongside various other fighting techniques and weapons training he’d picked up in his military black-ops group before he started working for Alex.
But I didn’t bother listening to their conversation, my entire focus on keeping the tight smile on my face after Bex’s callous response and total lack of interest. It went like that the rest of the night. Any attempt of mine to engage with her was met with disinterested looks or single-word answers that were clearly meant to brush me off. Her dislike of me was so apparent that Ames sent me a few apologetic looks that I dismissed with a smile.
I made sure to sit next to Dev on the couch to allow Bex her space, quietly mourning my first hope for a relationship in years. I knew how much Ames loved her sister and how much Alex loved Ames, and I refused to get in the middle of either of their relationships. If Bex wasn’t interested in speaking with me, then I would respect that. Maybe she had a good reason, after all. Maybe she was in a relationship and wanted to make it clear that she wasn’t interested in me romantically. Maybe she felt like I had replaced her as Ames’s best friend while they were fighting. Maybe she was more comfortable making male friends and would open up once we got better acquainted.That’s it, I told myself, brightening at the thought, we’ll become friends once we get to know each other.
Only we never got to know each other. Bex attempted to avoid our group at every opportunity, even as Ames became more integrated into our little family. The few times Ames or Alex or Dev managed to wrangle her into a dinner, she avoided me, her total indifference enough to slowly drive me insane. I tried every self-help technique in the book, constantly chanting to myself that it wasn’t my fault, that I didn’t deserve this treatment, that I should just let it go. But there was a part of me that craved her attention, even if it always led to an annoyed look or harsh words. Because even if it were just for a moment, having her eyes on me was a thrill I couldn’t resist.
* * *
It wasthat same masochistic part of me that caused me to turn in the backseat of Alex’s SUV, meeting the eyes I knew would be looking in my direction. And because I wanted it to hurt, I pasted on my flirtiest smile and winked in Bex’s direction. “Like what you see?”
She flinched, a small motion that caught me off guard because it was the first source of emotion other than disdain Bex had aimed toward me since we first met. When she first saw me in Alex’s kitchen, she backed away from me like I was a wild animal contemplating taking a bite out of her. I would’ve sworn she’d seen a ghost based on the look that crossed her face, but she covered it so quickly I had almost convinced myself it never happened. Until now.
Sure, everyone else got small talk and amicable conversation, but other than her sister, I hadn’t seen anyone else pull any sort of strong emotion out of Bex. She laughed and smiled occasionally with the others, but she never seemed invested in any of their relationships. I would know, since I watched her with a sort of semi-obsession whenever we happened to be in the same room. No one ever upset her or made her laugh more than a small exhale of air.
Before I could investigate her response - thatflinch- further, she turned abruptly in the passenger’s seat, facing her laptop screen again.
“You don’t belong here,” she muttered under her breath, just loud enough for me to hear. I bristled at her brush-off, glancing again at my outfit. I knew that I stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of them. I wasn’t a member of their cybersecurity business, which meant I didn’t have experience with undercover operations or rescues. Hell, I knew Dev and Alex wouldn’t have let me come along if it hadn’t been my best friend who was kidnapped. They definitely wouldn’t have brought me if I hadn’t sworn to stay in the car with Bex while they ran off to rescue Ames.
