Taken By the Pack

I wasn’t even sure why I asked that, but it was too late. I had no control over myself, I had lost my shit. I was locked in on Renee’s eyes and she made me insane.

Renee’s eyes drooped with sadness, and I earned myself an intense glare from Wes. Yeah, that was shitty of me to say, especially when Lucky had already told us that his hacking revealed cheating beyond compare. I was an asshole.

“N-no,” Renee stammered, tears filling her eyes. I felt vile. Raw, muddy, exposed, like shit. “No, Diego won’t be joining us tonight.”

Silence filled the house as Renee ran back into the bedroom and dragged on some pants before running out of the house, leaving Wes and me very much alone.

We stormed to the front door to watch Renee, probably to check that she was making her way back inside to stop Stark from freaking out anymore. I knew I was in for it when he came back.

“What the fuck was that about?” Wes growled as he stared at me.

“What?” I shrugged, trying my hardest to play dumb.

“You know what. Don’t bring up that piece of shit.”

The way he acted like he knew Renee so much better than me only riled me up. I had known her for years, she and I were friends, we were good. How dare Wes treat me like shit just because he had crossed that line from professional to personal.

“I’m taking her to the gala tonight,” I reminded Wes. “I have a right to find out whether or not it’s just going to be the two of us. I’m doing my job.”

Wes scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Sure, whatever, Mr. Professional.”

“Well, one of us has to be professional, right?” I snapped back. “Since you are clearly doing the opposite. What the hell do you think you’re playing at?”

At this moment, when I was acting all high and mighty, I was so glad no one knew what had gone on between Renee and me. Otherwise, I lost all moral high ground.

“Oh right, so this is the real issue, right?” Wes cocked a knowing eyebrow.

“Well, I can’t just ignore the fact that the woman we’re supposed to be looking out for, the engaged woman, came out of your bedroom half naked.”

It honestly made me so freaking mad that he was being so calm about blatantly breaking the rules. What the hell was his problem? I could not understand what was going on with him. Anger and confusion surged through me like crazy.

“Toby, don’t act like you’re better than me. Don’t act like you’re feeling a totally different way to the way you’re actually feeling. I know you. I know you.”

I had to admit he’d taken me aback a bit. I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times before I finally found the right words to say. “What…what do you mean?”

Wes approached me and rested his hands on both of my shoulders. “Buddy, I have seen the way you look at Renee. I have also heard you calling out her name at night.”

“I don’t do that.” Heat surged through my body. “And if I am dreaming about her, it’s only because we’re working so closely alongside her.”

“That isn’t it, and you know it as well as I do.” Wes shrugged. “And I don’t see why that’s an issue. We can both have feelings for her, we can even make it work if we want to. I don’t know about you, but I come from a harem family.”

I shook my head. Not only did I not come from a harem family, but my twin had gone on to have a very traditional relationship in England, and I guess I just kind of assumed I would end up in the same way.

“I have four fathers and one mother. It’s a beautiful life. I have always been happy.”

I hung my head low. “Yeah, but in college, Renee dated Trey.”

“A million years ago, yes,” Wes agreed. “But what does that mean now?”

“Well, I don’t think it matters since she’s getting married soon.”

Wes couldn’t argue with this. He fell into silence in the same way I did. None of us wanted Renee to marry Diego, but I hadn’t thought about the idea of her actually not being with him. As I sipped my coffee and thought about this, I realized that while I had deep feelings for Renee, my main priority was for her to be free.

I really wanted her to get away from Diego and do whatever made her happy. If that meant attending an art school in Europe, then so be it.

“So, what do we do?” I asked Wes quietly. Thinking hadn’t helped either one of us at all. “How do we help?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted with a defeated sigh. “But I think we need to get back to the main house. You said Stark is looking for me, right? I suppose I better face my punishment. You really think he’s going to kick my ass?”

I shrugged. “Not really. Not if he doesn’t find out why Renee was missing.”

Thankfully, Wes seemed to understand that this meant I wasn’t about to say anything. Because much as I thought I probably should, I knew I couldn’t. Not when my moral high ground was on wafer thin ice. It could crack at any moment.

No, it was much better for me to work with Wes, rather than against him.

Slowly, we walked back to the house, both of us weighed down with the knowledge that things were about to get incredibly hard before they got easier. If this worked and things did end up easy, there was no guarantee that shit was going to get better. Not when a powerful man like Diego Vanderbilt was in the picture.

What a shame he wasn’t coming to the gala tonight. I might have been able to find a way to scare that motherfucker off. I would somehow make him see that he needed to leave Renee alone because she was way too good for him.

I would get rid of him however I could. Unfortunately, that just couldn’t happen tonight.

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