Page 52 of Disobedient Pawn

“Well, isn’t this cozy?” He walked over and stood behind Ren, looking down at my notes. “That looks fucking boring. Then again, I’m not surprised. You are mid. I’m not sure what my boy Myles here sees in you.”

“Bro, who pissed in your cereal this morning?” I laughed, hoping to diffuse some of the building tension that felt like it could explode at any time. I wasn’t sure if his tactic was to try and piss her off to make her want him, but if it was, I didn’t think it was going to work.

Ren lifted her eyes from the notebook and stared up at Nash. “Trying to be cool now, I see. That’s a switch from jerk mode. Not sure it suits you any better.”

“You have quite the mouth on you, Princess. I wonder what it will be like with my cock shoved down your throat.”

“I’d bite your shit off,” Ren said. “I would then stuff it in a garburator and feed it to the first pigs that can be found. A fitting end to your cock, in the belly of a hog.”

I shivered as she said the word cock, and as fucking horrible timing as it was I wanted to ask her to say it again.

“What the fuck is a garburator,” Nash asked as he leaned over Ren, grabbing one of the bags I’d given her, and looked inside.

“How do you not know what a garburator is? You put your leftover food in it.”

“You mean a garbage disposal.”

“No, I mean a garburator. Try looking it up, or is that too difficult for you?” Ren growled, while Nash chuckled. I had to give it to her. She held her own with Nash, and I fucking loved that.

“Whatever, not worth my time. Damn, Myles, you got the good shit. I’m taking this one. You don’t mind, do you, Princess?”

“What I mind is you here at all,” Ren said, and the intense anger between them rose to another level.

“I see now why your family sent you here. I wouldn’t want you around with an attitude like that either.” Ren jumped to her feet. Her face contorted in rage as she glared up at Nash. I stood and placed my hand on Ren’s shoulder.

“Nash is purposely trying to get under your skin,” I said. “He loves to see how much he can push, don’t ya, Nash?”

This felt strange. I was caught between standing up for Ren and my best friend, who also happened to be my boss, and the next King of Kings. We could disagree, but anything more, and we were as good as dead. It had never been an issue, and I never thought it would become an issue since all of our ideals had lined up until her. Now I was conflicted, my brain screaming at me from two different directions, and I wasn’t sure what to do. They just stared at one another like they were in a contest.

I snatched the bag with the muffin I’d gotten for Ren from his hand. “Come on, man, just chill and get your own damn muffin. Don’t be a cheap ass,” I teased, once more settling on humor to try and break the building storm of tension that was swirling around them.

Nash glared at me but didn’t seem angry, just curious about my reaction. I didn’t know what was worse at this point. It was a fifty-fifty split. Either way, he could play with my emotions where Ren was concerned, and I didn’t like feeling that exposed.

“Fine. I’ll go, for now.” Nash leaned past Ren, getting into her personal space as he grabbed the last bit of muffin Ren had been eating and popped it into his mouth. He smiled at Ren as he stood up straight and licked his fingers. “But I always get what I want.”

Fuck I hated this bet.

“And that’s my cue to go. I can only take so much on my asshole meter,” Ren said and turned to stuff everything into her backpack. As soon as she had it zipped, Nash grabbed the bag and then her arm.

“Let go of me,” she growled out as he yanked on her arm hard enough that she tripped over the chair she’d been sitting on and would’ve landed on the ground if Nash hadn’t held her so tight.

“What the hell, Nash?” I said, my hands balling into fists. If he wanted me to throw down with him, all he had to do was ask. He didn’t have to put Ren between us. It was the look on Nash’s face while he stared at Ren that was so confusing. It was like she’d beaten his pet and stolen his car or something equally horrible. He was glaring at her like she needed to be eliminated, and that was what was chilling.

“I told you I’d be coming for you, Princess,” Nash said, and my muscles tensed.

Shit.

Could he really be that pissed about the other night? Nash didn’t take to being embarrassed well, but this seemed out of character, even for him. Nash stepped back and dragged Ren with him, but that was when her composure slipped, and she pulled back, trying to break Nash’s hold.

This was going from tense to volatile in a blink.

Smiling, I walked over to Nash and wrapped my arm around his shoulders. “Nash, man, come on. This seems pretty extreme for an embarrassing stunt, and this is not us. I mean, we’re assholes, but not like this.”

“Says the guy that threw a girl off a balcony,” Nash shot back, and Ren’s eyes went wide.

“It sounds worse than it was, I swear. I was only tossing her into a pool,” I quickly said and prayed Nash didn’t finish the story of why I tossed Pam over the railing. “Point is that was for fun, but ya seem….” I turned my head away from Ren. “Like yer lookin to really hurt her, ya seem like yer dad,” I said under my breath so only he could hear.

Nash sucked in a sharp breath, letting Ren go so fast I thought she would fall back over her chair and made to grab for her, but she caught herself with her hand on the table. She quickly righted herself and glared between me and Nash, like I was okay with this. I wasn’t. I just didn’t know what else to do other than knocking his ass out, and that came with more issues and maybe more problems for Ren. I needed to diffuse without escalating.