Taken By the Pack

If I closed my eyes,I could still feel Renee’s chest rise and fall against my ear. And I kept doing that a lot. Over and over again. It was the closest I’d managed to get to her in over a week and I really missed that moment. Especially because now, I was here.

“It’s going to be fine,” Wes hissed to me as he strolled passed me with a warning look on his face to make sure I kept up appearances. “Just keep your head up high.”

Easier said than done. I honestly wasn’t sure how to keep my head up high. I knew Renee didn’t want this bachelorette party and that it had been forced upon her, but it didn’t make it any better for me. Rebecca, the wedding planner, had suggested it, and the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom had jumped on the idea. Of course Diego was having a bachelor party. One filled with strippers and debauchery, but Renee didn’t care about that. She still didn’t want this. A party at the house was all she would agree to.

The guys and I were in charge of making sure none of this got out of hand. So far, it had been okay, but there was a lot of booze swirling around, and booze never led to good outcomes. I really did need to focus, but I was having a hard time.

“What are you doing?” Stark pinched me in the side. “Take that look off your face.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “I’m trying. And I wouldn’t worry, it isn’t like anyone is looking at me. Come on, look at them. No one cares about us.” I waved my hand around the room. “Can you see? We’re basically furniture here.”

“Well, I am looking at you, and I don’t like what I see.”

I tried, I really tried to not look so crushed, but it was fucking impossible. Now that I had come to the realization I was in love with Renee, and that I would never be in love with anyone else like I was her, I couldn’t fake a smile again. I had been trying to fake it all night long, and I couldn’t do it. It was just too much for me. I was overwhelmed.

“Maybe you should take a walk,” Stark snapped. “Take a look outside. See if there is anything to worry about on the perimeter. Get yourself together.”

How could Stark do it? I couldn’t understand how the rest of the guys were holding themselves together. It was insane. I decided to nod and agree with Stark. Maybe a walk around the building, where I could get myself together, would be good for me.

“I won’t be long,” I hissed to Stark. “I will sort myself out.”

“Good. I want you back here in a much better mood.”

I scoffed. “Right, I get it. You have made yourself very clear.”

I headed out the building and sucked in endless buckets of fresh air. I was hurting, really hurting. The problem was I thought the happiness between us the other night was going to be the start of everything changing. I thought it was going to be the beginning of the end. For Renee and Diego anyway. I assumed she was going to choose happiness, and choose us. I even woke up the next day with a skip in my step. I might have been a little nervous because I knew there was going to be a lot of drama when it came to us destroying her father’s plan and deciding to be together, but I couldn’t wait for it.

The bachelorette party was a sign that wasn’t going to happen. Renee was still planning on going forward with the wedding. She was going to get hitched to Diego and live a life of misery while we all missed her and yearned for her. None of us would be happy without Renee. I wasn’t sure we would be able to go on without her. I didn’t know what job I would do, but I didn’t think I’d be able to continue at RedEye Security.

What was that?Footsteps. I heard someone walking behind me. That wasn’t good, I really didn’t want to have to deal with anyone or any awkward questions or small talk.

“Oh, Renee!” Her, I did want to see. I always wanted to see Renee. “Shouldn’t you be at the party? I thought you were having a good time with your friends.”

She sighed and shook her head. “They aren’t my friends. They haven’t been my friends for years. They are just here for the gossiping and the party. They don’t even care that I’m clearly miserable and don’t want to marry Diego.”

There it was again, the sullen upset. This was why I couldn’t stand this. If I thought Renee was going to be happy with Diego, then it would be different. But I knew she would be unhappy forever. I had to help her, I had to do something.

“Oh, Renee.” I had to hug her; it was the right thing to do. I opened up my arms and invited her in. She fell against me willingly. “It’s going to be okay.”

“It’s not going to be okay,” she said robotically. “It’s not. It’s too late for me to change things now. My father has set my life in motion and all I can do is follow that plan. Every time I think I can change things, it doesn’t work out.” She started to sob, which only made me feel so much worse. “You think I haven’t tried? I’ve tried. Over and over again, I’ve tried. But my father won’t listen to me, he refuses to hear it.”

I held her to me, not caring if anyone could see us, not caring if anyone thought anything about it. At this point, even Stark couldn’t care because even he had accepted that we needed to get Renee away from Diego somehow. Whatever it took.

But if her father wasn’t listening to her, then what could we do? What could I do? Because I wasn’t doing very well with sitting back and doing nothing. It was making me incredibly uncomfortable. I hated sitting back and doing nothing, it didn’t sit well with me at all. It never had. I was only happy when I was being productive.

Hacking, that was about the only thing I could do that the other guys couldn’t. But I had seen everything related to Diego’s cheating and it changed nothing. Renee knew about the cheating, and she had told her father about it, and it changed nothing. So, at this point, I wasn’t sure what I could find to make a difference. What would change her father’s opinion about the stuck-up little rich boy who deserved no one?

“I will help you, Renee,” I promised her. “I will see what I can do for you.”

“There is nothing.” She sounded hopeless now. “It’s too late. I'm stuck. I’m going to be stuck with him forever. I’m going to be trapped and I just know it’ll be horrible. I know it’ll suck because Diego is the worst person I’ve ever met.”

I looked up at the building, wondering if she was missed. Even in my distracted state, I managed to notice that she wasn’t exactly the star of the party. Even though it was Renee’s bachelorette party, no one was paying her that much attention. I could see that her old friends weren’t great, and her parents were using it as an excuse to show off.

We had some time. We could wait out here for a bit longer. Just until she was feeling better. Renee was going to want to be a whole lot calmer when she finally faced everyone back inside. She wouldn’t want to be red faced and upset. That would be a surefire way to end up with all eyes upon her. Unwanted attention would not help.

“Come on, let’s take a seat.” I took Renee over to a bench by the pond. “Let’s just have a moment. No one will miss us if we take some time. You can still hear the party going on right now. I’m sure we’ll be made very aware if someone misses you.”

“Are you sure?” she whispered, tears staining her cheeks. Her makeup was a bit of a mess, but I would do whatever I could to clean her up when the time was right. “I don’t know…”

“Come on, let’s just take a moment,” I reassured her. “Just a second to calm down.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I probably do need that,” Renee sniffed. “Okay, just a moment.”

Now I was glad I’d taken a walk outside. I was glad it was me who found Renee in her moment of need. I was pretty sure I understood her better than anyone else. I got her, I could see her, I knew what she needed. Right now, she felt hopeless about her upcoming wedding, but she didn’t need to feel that way because I was on her side, I was going to help her. I didn’t know what I would do, but there had to be something.

I wouldn’t lose Renee, not like this. Not to someone like Diego. I couldn’t. Even if it risked RedEye Security, I had to do something. For her. She didn’t feel like she had anyone in her corner right now, but she had to know she had us. All of us.