Page 41 of Disobedient Pawn

“No, it can’t wait and….” I drew an X over my heart. “I promise I won’t miss another session if we can chat right now.” I held up my finger. “If for some reason I have to, I will make sure to let ya know like I should’ve this morning.” I was trying for sweet and sad, but I couldn’t tell if it was working from the look on her face. “I can take ya for a ride in my car. This is the last time I can take her out, and I’ll have you back long before curfew.”

“Hey man, butt out of my date. We were having a good time,” Blake bitched, but I ignored him and kept my eyes trained on Ren.

“It’s not a date,” she corrected and didn’t bother to look at Blake. I wanted to smile but kept it off my face. “I can’t leave Ivy.”

“No, you go ahead. I’m fine with Blake,” Ivy said, and I could see Blake getting more pissed by the second, which warmed all the evil little parts of my heart.

“Blake, ya don’t mind taking Ivy back to the academy, do ya?” He glared at me. “I mean, you were heading there anyway.”

“No, of course not.” His voice was tight, but he smiled wide as the girls looked at him. “I need to get to bed early. We were up way too late last night. Did you ever get that girl’s number?”

It was official. I was gonna kill Blake. “Ya mean the one to detail my car? Yeah, and her rates are lower than my other guy, so I’m going to give her a chance. I really hate that he scratched my car with all the money I paid.” It was the first lie I could think of.

Blake lifted an eyebrow, his lip pulling up, letting me know he was impressed. We hadn’t gotten to party at all with the Meadow Grove fiasco, so there was no random girl last night. It was a good try, and I had to give him credit for pulling out all the stops.

Ren nibbled on her bottom lip, and I couldn’t stop staring. I could tell she still wasn’t sure, so I threw out my last ditch effort.

“How about this? There is a great coffee shop not far, and we can all go there for a coffee. Then we can talk on the way back to the academy. Ya can keep me company, and we can follow Blake so ya can make sure that he’s not driving off into the wilderness with your friend.”

“Unbelievable. Always ruining my dates,” Blake grumbled.

“Lord tunderin Jesus, it’s not a date,” Ren said as she glared at Blake.

I burst out laughing. I couldn’t hold it in, that was the cutest shit I’d ever heard a girl say in my life, and the confused look on Blake’s face made it like sweet icing on the cake. As her glare found me, I tried to suck it in but couldn’t and ended up laughing all over again.

“That was amazing.” I choked out and realized that at least Ivy had been giggling too.

Ren rolled her eyes at me, but she couldn’t hide the hint of a smile that played along her lips. “Fine, let’s do the coffee thing. I don’t want to ditch my friend completely, and Blake was nice enough to bring me to town.”

I so badly wanted to say if you only knew the real reason for his interest, but that would lead to the bet, and she couldn’t find out about that. I was already sweating with the possibility. I could hear Blake grumbling as he got in the car. Ivy grabbed Ren’s hand and smiled. I assumed that was girl code for ‘I’m all good.’

As she walked toward me, my heart pounded a little harder. Giving myself a kick in the arse, I met her around the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her.

“What are you doing,” Ren asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re being all…nice,” she finally said.

“I am nice.” I had to stop myself from leaning into her as the delicate scent of cherry blossoms hit me. “Just only to select people.”

“Ah, and how did I get to be one of the lucky ones?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“How about ya get in since it is freezing out here, and you can interrogate me all ya want?”

“It’s not cold. You don’t know cold until you’ve spent a February in Alberta.” Ren stepped in closer to get into the car, and I lost the battle leaning into her like she was calling me.

She immediately leaned back and scowled at me, which was fucking adorable. “I like the smell of your shampoo. It reminds me of home. My home before coming to America.”

“Oh. Okay.” Her cheeks pinked, and I gripped the door tighter to keep from kissing her. I was pretty sure she would knee me in the balls for it, and yet I was still fucking tempted. It was good that she slipped into the car before I took the chance.

“Fuck,” I mumbled, walking around the back of the car. I needed to get control, but she made me so damn hot. Blake glared at me from the driver’s seat of his car, but I ignored his irritating ass. He might be my best friend, but there was no way in hell I was going down without a fight. I saw Ren first, and I wanted her before the bet. As far as I was concerned, he could fuck right off.

Getting into my car, I glanced over at Ren. She looked liked like a little snow queen. It was a ridiculous thought, yet she sat so perfectly. Her face was serious and commanding without even trying, with her long silver hair and white coat. Her eyes questioned every little thing as she looked around the car and then at me.

“Are we going to go? You do know you have a strange habit of staring at me, right?” She said, putting on her seat belt.

“Aye, I do.” Starting up my pride and joy, I backed out of the spot and pulled in behind Blake, who was already waiting for me.