In the Crease (Assassins Book 11) Read online

  Whatever made her brother happy.

  But when Alex went to the bathroom with Brie, Wren leaned toward Wells, across Jensen, but before she could say anything, Jensen was in her ear. “Let’s dance.”

  “Hold that thought,” she muttered. Though she wasn’t much of a dancer, she’d take every chance to dance with Jensen.

  Every. Single. One.

  “Wells.”

  Her brother looked over at her. “What?”

  “Dude, Alex is going to be a drag queen?”

  Rolling his eyes, he leaned back in his chair. “So he says. I think it’s dumb, and I had no clue he was into that kind of thing.”

  “Wait? What? Like dressing up like a girl, right?” Vaughn asked. “That’s weird. If you want a girl, go get one.”

  “Thank you, my straight best friend, but I don’t want a girl.”

  “That’s crazy. Did you tell him you aren’t down for that kind of thing?”

  Wells shrugged. “I mean, I’ve mentioned it, but he’s pretty set on it. He’s been training for it for a couple years, and I just found out.”

  “Which is why you date for a while before you marry someone,” Jensen added, and Wells scoffed.

  “Says the dude who married my sister with no dating at all.”

  Jensen shrugged. “I’ve known her my whole life.”

  “Yup, and I don’t have any hidden shit like that,” she said, but even as the words came out of her mouth, she knew that was a lie. Especially when Jensen’s gaze fell on her in disbelief.

  Thankfully, Wells didn’t catch on as he shrugged. “It’s whatever. I love the guy.”

  “Okay, whatever makes you happy.” But Wells didn’t seem happy as he leaned back, nursing his beer. “This is what you want, right?”

  He nodded. “Yeah.”

  She wasn’t convinced but left it alone. Then Wells leaned on his legs, his gaze on Wren. “Guess who we saw today?”

  Her stomach dropped because she had a pretty good guess as to who that was. “Who?”

  “Shanna and Bradley.”

  “Oh?” she asked, feeling Jensen lean forward against her, his hand sliding down her back, resting on the outside of her hip.

  “Yeah, Shanna was asking for you, of course. She wants Jensen and you to have lunch with her and Jay.”

  She nodded. “Eh, maybe. We’ll see.”

  “You know you’re gonna see her at the wedding,” he asked, but that wasn’t who Wren was worried about. Yeah, she needed to talk to Shanna, apologize, even if she had no clue how she was going to do that.

  “Yeah. I’ll text her.”

  Thankfully, he seemed to believe her as he said, “Good.”

  She wanted to ask if Bradley would be there, but she couldn’t, nor would she have. Then Vaughn asked, “Did anyone else think Bradley was being weird?”

  She looked toward him, wide-eyed as Wells nodded. Luckily, she couldn’t see Jensen’s face. “What do you mean?” she asked, and Wells shook his head.

  “I don’t know. It was like he couldn’t comprehend that you and Jenny were together and shit. It was strange. He kept asking about it, and then he was all…weird. Shanna had to shut him up. Dude has always been a dud.”

  Wren’s heart was dead in her chest. Shit. Had Jensen noticed?

  Vaughn scoffed. “That’s ’cause you hit on him, and he turned you down.”

  Wells held his hands out. “Come on, doesn’t he give off the vibe?”

  “No, not at all.”

  But all Wren could do was balk at him as Jensen asked, “You hit on Bradley?”

  Wells shrugged. “Yeah, like five years ago. Before Matty.”

  “That’s funny.”

  “Right?” Vaughn agreed, shaking his head. “Either way, dude is a weirdo. I don’t know what his issue was.”

  “Yeah, that’s odd,” Wren found herself saying, and she wished she hadn’t. She wished she would have just ignored it.

  “Because, really, it was like he was jealous. Or was that just me?” Vaughn asked, and she wanted to smack him. Shut it, Jo!

  “No, I got that vibe too, but it was almost like he didn’t believe it,” Wells added, and Vaughn smacked his arm in agreement.

  “Yeah, as if it was so crazy for them to be together. Let’s all be honest, we knew it was coming as soon as Jensen got his head out of his ass.”

  “And Wren stopped being a cunt when it came to love,” Wells added, and Wren glared.

  “Wow, really? A cunt?”

  “What? You were.”

  “Watch it, Wells,” Jensen warned, and Wells grinned.

  “It’s bizarre you having backup,” he winked, and Jensen laughed. “Anyway, if Shanna hadn’t have stepped in when she did, I would have told him off. Because, come on, you and that douche? Please. That’s disgusting. He used to whack off in the bathroom at school, you remember that?”

  Vaughn laughed out loud. “Yeah, and that teacher caught him with his pants down, cock in hand, and walked him to the office.”

  “Didn’t he get fired for it?” Jensen asked, but Wren had stopped thinking.

  What in the living hell was going on?

  “Yeah, I think he did. But still, shit was funny,” Wells laughed, shaking his head.

  “For real, he needs to get it together because I’ll whoop his ass. Wren is Jensen’s, that’s it, and he needs to move on. Right, bro?” Vaughn said, holding his beer to Jensen, which Jensen tapped eagerly with his own.

  “Right.”

  “Come on, that wouldn’t happen. Right, sis?”

  Wren swallowed hard as she nodded feverishly. “Right, duh.”

  Leaning back against the booth, she glanced over to find Jensen looking at her.

  “Yeah?”

  His lips curved. “You’re beautiful.”

  The tension in her shoulders dropped as she went to lean into him, but he was getting up, holding his hand out to her. “What are you doing?”

  “We’re dancing,” he said, pulling her up and into his arms. With his arm around her waist, he led her out to the private dance floor that was beside the VIP area. It was awesome, and soon they were moving together as Justin Bieber sang about whatever girl he had done wrong. When Brie and Vaughn joined them out there, Wren was in knots laughing as Brie was doing her signature dance, her pelvic thrust. Poor Vaughn was embarrassed, trying to stop her, but she was owning it, and Wren couldn’t love her any more. When Vaughn wrapped Brie up in his arms, basically picking her up off the ground as his mouth pressed to hers, Wren’s heart soared for them.

  Jesus, they were made for each other.

  Which sort of made Wren laugh. For so long, she didn’t believe in that kind of thing. Didn’t think it could happen, but then, it did. Not only for the people around her, but for her.

  Jensen happened.

  Wow. It was sort of overwhelming.

  It made her feel like she was flying.

  When Zayn’s newest filled the little space around her, her fingers danced along his shoulders as his lips came across her chin and then her earlobe before resting there. Her eyes fell shut as she held him, never wanting to let go. She felt safe in his arms. “So that was weird.”

  Still with her eyes shut, she asked, “What was?”

  “Bradley.”

  Her eyes shot open as her blood went cold. Her voice was shaky as she muttered, “Yeah, it sounds like it.”

  “I thought for a second he was the douche who knocked you up.” There it was. Swallowing hard, she squeezed her eyes shut as she clung to him. “But then, the more I thought about it, the more that would be crazy. He’s like five years younger than you, and he’s married.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed, and damn it, why did she do that?

  Because it was the easy fucking way out! God, she was pathetic.

  As they danced together, Wren looked over to see Brie and Vaughn doing the same, and she smiled. But inside, she was dying. She should tell him the truth. It was the perfect opening, but she couldn�€