Composed at Randy’s (Diner Days)

16. Bael

Chapter 16

Bael

S o I guess Wren really is who he said he was, and I was very, very wrong. All of my mad got washed away after a five-minute conversation with Harvey.

He made me wait three hours for that conversation, by the way, and I'm still kind of salty about it. Harvey claimed he needed the time to get in contact with Kai and straighten everything out, but I think it was revenge for the bomb I dropped at the concert. Even if I made us a lot of money and it worked out okay in the end, Harvey still hates surprises.

I do a ton of googling after that, only I have the right name this time. Wren is spelled like the bird, not Rin like Harvey had searched for. It occurs to me then that if I'd bothered putting in even a little bit of effort into believing Wren, I would have figured it all out ages ago.

Hindsight, right?

Hey, you know that saying about the old dead guy? It turns out he was a comic book character and not a real person. Google knows everything, I’m telling you. Dead Guy’s advice is still pretty solid. I can’t remember his exact words, but it boils down to ‘having power means you gotta do good things with it or else you’re a dick.’

Boy, was I being a dick. Did you know that you can do that even if you're not trying to? Sometimes you can do it even when you're specifically trying to do good things.

I have some serious apologizing to do, and I hope Wren can forgive me. I don’t blame him for running away like he did. I would have too if I had nothing but borrowed clothes and people who treated me like a helpless liar. Trust me, I’m kicking myself as I speak because it sounds even worse spelling it out like that.

I do wish he’d left me some kind of message though. I’ve been worried sick.

Life is hard sometimes, you know? You think you’ve got stuff figured out, and then something comes along and kicks your feet right out from under you. I keep going, though, because I know I can figure stuff out problem by problem if I just keep trying.

I’m in the car, scrolling through the image search I just did for Wrensong, and wow. Wren is so goddamn talented. His art is displayed all over the world, and some of his work is worth enough to make even someone with pockets as deep as mine wince.

I’m in the middle of it all when I get a text.

Harvey

Where are you?

Bael

Just out getting some air.

Harvey

You didn’t take any guards.

Bael

Nope.

Harvey

I know it’s difficult to wait, but Kai assured me that Wren will be available to see you tomorrow.

Bael

I know.

Harvey

Do you at least have the limo with you? Having your driver for security is better than nothing.

Bael

Yep. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Talk to you soon.

I put my phone away and put it on silent. The limo stops, and I open the door before the driver gets a chance.

I look over at my bandmates. I started a super secret group chat, told them all what happened, and they all tore ass to get up here from Hartford, pronto. Harvey thinks they’re all still on the bus, slow-poking their way home at a Harvey-sanctioned speed, when in reality, they paid the driver a stupid amount of money to drive like there are no traffic laws. I didn’t ask them to do it. They insisted on being here to support me.

“Are you coming with me?” I ask my guys when I’m out of the limo.

“Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world,” Mel says, eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Get your ass out of my face, Mel,” Travis swears as he tries to get out of the limo, but he fails because Mel has some seriously curvy hips and can block the entire doorway if the slut wants to, and right now Mel seems to want it badly. Probably specifically to annoy Travis. Annoying Travis is a crap-ton of fun, by the way, and Mel is a master at it.

“A little bit of manners goes a long way, my friend,” Mel says haughtily.

Travis finally gives up and says, “Please,” in a small voice. Mel gets the rest of the way out of the limo and allows Travis and Shay to climb out too.

“Swanky,” Shay says, tugging at one of his sleeves to even it out.

I don’t think he’s self-conscious about the fancy-ass place we’ve arrived at. We visit a ton of glamorous and grand venues and hotels, so this is old hat for us. He just wants to look his best because he's as much of a slut as Mel is.

“Do you have your stickers, or do you need some?” Mel asks Shay.

Shay gives a please, who do you think I am laugh and shakes his head. He pulls out a small plastic bag and waves it at Mel. They fist-bump each other and head toward the stairs leading up to the art gallery.

Travis and I linger behind them, and he asks, “Are you sure you want to do this right now?”

“I can't wait anymore,” I answer, and I hurry to catch up with Mel and Shay.

There's a fancy-looking bouncer at the door, but he doesn't stop us. The guy takes one look at us, and says, “Holy shit, do you know who you are?”

I'm pretty sure I said it before, but it bears repeating. Some people get super weird about rock stars. I don't blame them though. If I’d met one before I got famous, I likely would have been a lot weirder.

So we breeze through the doors after signing the guy’s shirt.

I make to peel away from my entourage, and Travis says, “Do you want to do this alone, or do you want us with you? You know we’ve got your back, man. Plus, we need to apologize to Wren too.”

I shake my head. “I get first dibs, and Wren doesn’t need you three looming over us while we talk.”

“Fine, but we’re still going to loom in the corner and watch. This is a family issue, after all.” Mel smiles, but it’s not the usual one that’s overblown for dramatic effect. This is a genuine one from the heart. Mel really likes Wren.

I think my whole band does. They're probably here just as much to keep me from fucking everything up as they are to give me support.

I move around the cavernous area of the main event space, bypassing realistic sculptures and stunning, abstract art displayed on floor-to-ceiling canvases until I see what I'm looking for: a massive crowd surrounding a tiny man. I motion to my band that I’ve found my target, and I’m off.

I rely on my size and height to allow me to plow through the crowd until I reach my destination. Wren looks small and vulnerable, and he’s clinging to the arms of two taller men who act like a shield between him and the world. I’m bigger than them, but both the man in a shiny kimono and the Asian man with serial killer eyes look like they’re ready to lay down their lives for Wren.

This slows me down enough to make my way respectfully through the crowd rather than like a runaway freight train.

When I make it to the front of the crowd, I stop dead in front of Wren.

“Hi.”

Hi? That’s my opening line? I write record-breaking singles, and this is when my ability to express myself fails me?

It seems to do the trick because Wren turns beet red and says, “Oh! Um. Hi there!”

Kimono Guy looks torn between verbally tearing me a new one and jumping up and down like a schoolgirl. I guess he's a fan.

The serial killer’s eyes go dead, and I swear he opens up a portal to hell in those things. He doesn’t like me at all. I guess he’s not a fan.

I rally and pull myself and my words together. “Wren, I know you have a thing going on right now, but can we go somewhere to talk? When you’re not busy, I mean.” I didn't come here to crash his event, so I'm willing to wait to talk until he has time for me. I wasn’t willing to wait until his fans went away to see him, though, because I needed to see with my own eyes that Wren is safe.

I had no choice (sorry Harvey!). Otherwise, I would have waited to hunt him down until after his event.

I never would have made it until tomorrow though. I fucked up, I know it, and I can't wait a second longer than necessary before apologizing and trying to fix my mistake.

“I can go now,” Wren says, and there’s an immediate uproar around us of complaint. He squeezes his serial killer’s arm and looks up at him with those crystal-clear eyes of his. “Please, Kai?”

Kai’s hell portal eyes go soft, and he nods and jerks his chin toward the back of the crowd. He makes eye contact with me and narrows his eyes. A chill goes down my spine, but Wren is worth standing up to this guy.

“I won’t let anything happen to him,” I promise.

“You’d better not.” The hell portal flares and there isn’t a doubt in my mind that this man has killed people without remorse in the past and wants me to know it.

As bodyguards for Wren go, Kai seems almost perfect. If it wasn’t for him ditching Wren and nearly letting him starve, I’d probably like him. But as things stand, I don’t think he’s that great no matter how formidable he appears.

He’s letting me know with every bit of his tense, ready-to-fight body language that I need to prove myself to him. I narrow my eyes right back at him and have to bite back a growl. He needs to fucking prove himself to me too, and I make sure he knows it.

Something about that makes his hell portal close, but the tension in his frame doesn’t lessen one bit.

I give him a smile, showing all of my teeth, before turning my attention back to Wren, who seems not to have noticed any of the by-play. He grabs one of my sleeves, and I allow myself to be pulled between Kai and Kimono Guy.

Kai doesn’t stop us, but he rolls his eyes before moving to intercept the people who try to follow us. Kimono Guy doesn’t try to stop us either, but he gives me a cool, assessing look before turning to help Kai manage the crowd.

So, a Baelfire fan, but loyal to Wren. Good for him. Maybe if he can keep from letting Wren starve for an entire year, I might not hate him either.

Wren darts between two curtains, holding tight to me, so I get smacked in the face by the heavy, velvet material because he doesn’t take up enough space to make a hole large enough for me to fit through.

I’m not annoyed at all. I’m delighted by his size, his energy, and his easy acceptance of whatever life gives him. I’m overwhelmingly obsessed with Wren and everything he does. He can drag me through a million curtains at top speed, and I’ll still be laughing by the end.

We reach our destination—a corner filled with scaffolding and surrounded by the random odds and ends that tend to get tucked out of sight during events like this so no one fancy can see them.

God forbid that happen.

“I think I’m underdressed for your event.” I gesture to my ripped jeans and leather jacket. “No, hold on.” I pop out my pinky finger tipped with chipped, black nail polish like we’re ladies having high tea. “This should fix things.”

Wren gifts me with the best laugh, husky and free of any self-consciousness.

He wouldn’t be laughing right now if he was planning on hating me forever, right?

He pulls one side of his fashionable sports coat away to reveal the loose crop top he’s wearing underneath. “I stole it from Marty. Shelly made me wear the coat to make me fit in, but maybe I should stick mine out too, just in case.” Wren pokes my pinky with his.

I’m not really registering his words anymore. Wren is wearing my merch. He has my name emblazoned across his chest like he’s my property.

Oh shit.

I try to shift subtly to allow my incoming hard-on a chance to not make itself known to the world.

“That looks…” I cough because my mouth has gone dry. “It looks good on you. Really, really, really good.” That might have been one too many reallys . I bite my lip to keep any more words from escaping, like, “I bet it will look amazing on you as a gag while I fuck you over the scaffolding.”

But we haven’t even talked yet, and we need to.

I take his hand in mine. “Wren, I?—”

“I’m sorry!” Wren shouts. “I’m sorry I ran away. I should have left a note, but I didn’t think of it until I was long gone, and then it would have been super weird to pop back in, shove a note in your hand, and then run away again, you know?” Wren’s eyes are pleading with me to understand. “I had to go.”

I kiss his small hand and smooth away the worry lines between his eyebrows with my thumb.

“You don’t need to apologize, Wren. Really. This is my fuck up, not yours. I should've listened to you instead of trying to fix all your problems. I just wanted you to be happy and safe, and I failed miserably.”

Wren’s eyes go wibbly and soft. “You didn’t fail. I'm so grateful you're the one who found me when I needed help, but I promise that you don't need to fix all my problems. I have a wonderful support team. I know it may not seem that way, but this is the first time something like this has happened since Kai joined my team, and it's partially my fault for being so forgetful.”

“Self-care is a real problem for you, isn't it?” I put a hand on his hip, stroking an exposed hipbone with my thumb. He’s so thin that it makes my heart hurt.

Wren’s eyes look everywhere but at me when he whispers, “Yeah…”

I tilt his chin to get him to look at me. “It’s okay. There are lots of things I can’t do either, but everyone worth being around still loves me anyway.”

“I hope I’m someone worth being around.”

“If it were up to me, you’d always be around.”

Wren’s answering smile makes me breathless, but it falls away almost immediately. “I really should have left that note.”

“I wish you had, but I’m not mad. I mean, I was until I realized what happened, but after that, I just felt like an idiot. I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you.”

“I’m not mad either. I don’t think I ever was. Mostly I just felt stupid and helpless, and… super into you.” Wren flicks his gaze up to me.

Those eyes hit me like a punch, and I have to take a moment to recover before saying, “Does that mean you’re still my boyfriend?”

Wren steps into my space. “Oh my god, yes, please .”

“Thank god,” I whisper, leaning down slowly, wanting to give him a chance to object before I kiss him. Wren goes up on his toes and meets me, wrapping his arms around my neck, and I take that as all systems go.

We’ve got more to say, I’m sure, but being Wren’s boyfriend means I have time to say everything I need to.

I grab Wren’s waist and lift, and he wraps his legs around me like we’d choreographed it. The scaffolding is too rickety to put Wren on, so I hold him up with my hands, squeezing his sweet, perfect little ass while I get reacquainted with his mouth.

When I come up for air, I say, “One day is too long to go without kissing you.”

Wren pulls me back in, humming in agreement.

I take us toward the wall behind us, planning to see how far Wren will let me go considering we only have a curtain between us and his adoring fans, when I spot a familiar sticker on it.

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

How the hell were Shay or Mel able to work so fast? There’s no way either of them could have found someone, seduced them, and fucked them in the time it took for me and Wren to get here.

I squint and look closer. “Thank god, it’s one of the ones from last week.”

“Huh?” Wren’s hazy eyes and body language are saying, why the fuck did you stop kissing me?

“I can’t do this here,” I say. I absolutely do not want to fuck Wren somewhere Mel or Shay scored during their little contest.

“Oh.” Wren’s eyes clear a little, and suddenly he looks mortified. “I’m so sorry! I got carried away.”

“No! Please get carried away any time you want, it’s just…” I unhitch Wren’s legs from around me and set him on his feet. “Mel and Shay are both massive fans of semipublic sex, right?”

Wren nods like he's known them for years and is well aware of their quirks. But seriously, you only need to know those two for five minutes before realizing they are DTF any day, all day long. The only people they haven't done or tried to do is each other, and I swear to you the day they realize that will be the day before they get married and live happily ever after.

“Anyway, they have this thing, sort of like a contest, where they try and find the most random or interesting place to hook up with someone. Any time one of them manages it, they slap a sticker of The Rock in the place they did it.”

“I can definitely see them doing that, but why The Rock?”

“Shay had a magazine on him the first time it happened, and he tore off the cover and stuck it to the wall with a piece of gum. After that, they both just ran with it.”

“Classy.” Wren gets a kittenish smile on his face and looks up at me. We both stick out our pinky fingers and tap them together.

Holy fucking wow, I am so in love with Wren.

“Even though this is one of last week's stickers, I still don't want to rely on someone having done a deep clean here since then, do you?” I ask. I mean, I will absolutely bang Wren here and now if he wants me to, but it's not my first choice. Or my second. Or my tenth.

Wren throws his hands up, palms out. “I’m all set, thanks. I feel confident in our ability to find somewhere that your friends haven't banged.”

“Thank you.” I was hoping he’d feel that way. Can you imagine if Mel and Shay found out we’d banged here? Then they’ll claim I took part in their contest, and they’ll never let it go.

“You know what? We should get our own stickers! How do you feel about ducks? I have a ton of duck stickers for some reason, and autocorrect seems to think it’s the same as the word fuck, so we could slap up a duck every time we?—”

I slam my mouth down on his because forget what I just said. This is the best goddamned idea ever. “I love you. I so fucking love you,” I say against his mouth and then go back to kissing Wren breathless.

Wren starts smacking my chest to get me to move back way too soon for my liking, but I stop anyway. “We’re still not fucking here. And I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you first, so it’s not fair for you to say it first.”

“Really?” This is impossible, but I still want to hear Wren say it. “When did you know?

“It started when you burst through the door at Gwen’s clinic, but I think you really clenched it when you said you wanted me to go home with you so you could take care of me.”

“You’re easy,” I laugh. “But also totally wrong. I fell when you collapsed in my arms.”

“You’re definitely easier. I do that sort of thing all the time!”

Uh… no. He’s not doing that anymore.

“Don’t look at me like that. I was joking! I haven’t done something like that in ages before this week. Kai is really good to me. I promise.”

Kai is going to be a massive pain in my ass, I can just feel it.

“If you live with me, you won’t need Kai.”

“I’m not going anywhere without Kai. He’s family.” Wren sets his jaw and his eyes flash dangerously.

Goddammit.

“Fine, but he doesn’t get to carry you anywhere, and you aren’t allowed to collapse on him.”

“Fine, but you don’t get to let your groupies fondle you.”

That’s no hardship because I never let them do it in the first place. “Deal,” I say and hold out my hand to Wren.

Just as he shakes it, Kai’s voice filters through the curtains. “Either fuck or leave. This is getting boring, and I’m hungry.”

“Did you know he was there?”

Wren shrugs. “I assumed.”

“Well, At least I know you won't have a problem with how codependent the band is.”

“I think my people and I will fit right in.” Wren kisses my cheek, grabs my hand, and tugs me toward the break in the curtains. “Now come on, let's go show Marty and Kai how awesome Randy’s is.”