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“I beg to differ,” I argued, keeping my face blank so as not to spoil the surprise I’d been working on the past few weeks. It was difficult, especially since I still kept a close eye on Wren, a part of me unable to bear being away from her too long. All I could think of were the sick threats Alfie had thrown in my face, the fact that he stood close enough to touch her while he held a gun in my face, and I’d often abandon my project, racing back to Wren’s side.
She didn’t like to talk about it, but I knew the ordeal had affected her too. She often woke up in a cold sweat, calling my name with tears in her eyes. Occasionally, I’d hear her murmur something about not making it to me in time, and I’d recall the fierce protectiveness in her eyes as she fired a shot into Alfie’s shoulder, hell-bent on saving me.
It was sweet, but scary, knowing how much Wren cared for me. Sometimes I wondered if it would be better if she cared for me less, if she put her own safety above mine, just for my own peace of mind. But then she wouldn’t be the woman I fell in love with, and I’d stop wondering. I only hoped the scheme I knew Dev had been cooking up would pay off in the end, providing us all some level of protection from the threats - both real and imaginary - I saw around every corner.
“Is this another game?” Wren asked, her voice bringing me out of the dark thoughts running through my mind. Her voice caught at the end of the question, excitement spilling into her voice. I hadn’t planned for this, but I could never deny the chance to play with Wren. So rather than continuing up the last hill before our destination, I pulled over the car, gesturing for her to get out.
She complied with eager movements, licking her lips as I locked the doors after her departure. I rolled down the window, calling out, “Start walking, little bird.”
The scene felt so familiar, Wren standing outside the car, stuck on the side of the road, while I stared her down from the driver’s seat. Except instead of fear in her eyes, excitement and desire mingled in her warm gaze. Rather than trying to scare her away, I gave her the small commands she craved, all part of the games she still liked to play with me. And instead of coldly leaving her behind, I winked and told her, “If you find me, I’ll give you a surprise.”
I drove off, leaving Wren behind, and took a couple turns until I reached my target. I had dropped Wren off less than half a mile away, which would likely take her short legs ten or so minutes to walk, giving me plenty of time to lean against my car and access Wren’s phone microphone, both for her safety and my own sense of nostalgia.
Her panting breaths - made heavier by the cold air and steep incline - echoed through the speaker, reminding me again of that night weeks ago. But instead of tears and sniffles, I heard Wren’s quick, excited footsteps, the occasional snicker. I imagined the excitement she felt, both for the game we played and the surprise I’d promised her at the end.
When she finally rounded the corner, meeting me at the end of the street, her eyes were dry. So instead of licking away her tears, I licked at her lips instead, pulling Wren onto her tiptoes so I could access more of her, taking advantage of her panting breaths by sweeping my tongue into her open mouth.
“Where’s my surprise?” She asked as soon as we broke apart, and I couldn’t help but huff a laugh at her eagerness.
I’d realized over these past few weeks that Wren loved surprises. Not just providing them - after all, helping Alex with his secret gifts for Ames had been how he and Wren first met - but receiving them, eyes lighting up whenever I came home with a coffee or pulled an apple pie out of the oven. She was also exceptionally greedy and terribly impatient, so rather than argue I began to pull her down the street, closer to our destination.
“This way.”
“Goddess, this place looks familiar.” I watched the furrow form between Wren’s eyebrows, her eyes bouncing around the neighborhood.
Even as we got closer to our target, Wren’s confusion only grew more obvious, lips puckering as she tried to figure out what we were doing. We finally came to a stop, Wren looking at me in surprise as she told me, “Dev and I toured this house last month.”
She was right, of course. It was actually thanks to Dev that we were here. Despite never asking for their help, he and Alex had been instrumental in my planning.
Dev had sat on the information about the house for a couple days, waiting to break the news until we were in Alex’s office, waiting to start another meeting to review updates on Alfie and the Cillian job. Ames had been atJuniper Pottery, putting in a few extra hours after her long weekend in the mountains, leaving Wren by herself downstairs. Wren had still been acting oddly after our date, so I was already on edge when Dev sat on the edge of my chair and wrapped an arm around my shoulders in a way that instantly raised my hackles.
“I know something you don’t know,” he sang in a moderately-impressive falsetto, nudging my knee with his foot while he waggled his eyebrows. If they didn’t look completely different, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out he and Wren were siblings, their attitudes so similar it still shocked me to think they’d only known each other a few months.
“What do you know?” I asked impatiently, already sure the information would be related to Wren.
Wren and I were still in a strange limbo, her eyes only warily meeting mine since our date at the haunted house. Dev had been the only one to spend an extended amount of time with her since, taking her for an all-day errand to visit various houses for sale. I’d tracked both their locations half an hour after Wren left, frustration and curiosity itching at me until I realized their location was at a house coming up for sale. I had accessed his recent computer searches, and it wasn’t hard to make the leap from there. “Does it have to do with the house you’re buying?”
“Did you track us?” He asked with a laugh, and the lack of surprise and judgment in his voice only confirmed how used to Alex’s antics he must be. “You could’ve just asked, B, and I would’ve told you where we went. We’re friends, yeah?”
The sincerity in his voice had sent a flicker of shame through me, because the idea of simply asking had never crossed my mind. And I realized we were friends, even if I rarely acted like it.
“Yeah, we are. You’re probably one of my best friends,” I admitted with a small amount of surprise, recognizing that it was the truth. Dev had been my first friend in a while that I didn’t plan on taking advantage of or fucking.
The only other platonic friends I could think of in recent memory were a few high school friends I’d visited over the summer to catch up over lunch. Only they weren’t really my friends anymore, most of them having grown out of their rebellious phases while I’d fallen further into the chaos of my life. A couple had even asked about the trial, treating me like a criminal that would steal their purses when they left to go to the bathroom.
But Dev had treated me like a friend from the start, without any expectations, and he continued to do so as he showed me the listing for the house and recounted his conversation with Wren.
“You said you were done resisting,” he’d reminded me with a quirked eyebrow as he texted me the listing along with the number for the realtor both he and Alex used. “Our realtor got us an early showing but said it’s going on the market in the next couple of days. So I’d suggest thinking quickly.”
“I don’t have to think; I’ll do it.”
“Do what?” Alex asked from the doorway, leaning against the frame as he watched us bent over Dev’s phone, scrolling through the pictures Dev took during his tour.
“B’s going to buy Wren a house.”
I shoved down the discomfort at so many people knowing my business, both my decision to make Wren mine and buying her a house.
“If my offer is good enough,” I amended. “I have enough for a down payment from my savings and my first few paychecks from this job, but I’m not sure how picky they’re going to be.”
