Wicked

Chapter 5

ChapterFive

Part of my brain couldn’t fathom what he was doing in my apartment—in my bedroom, sitting on my bed, giving me a half grin that revealed one deep dimple.

Was I dreaming?

He tilted his head to the side, and several dark, russet colored curls fell across his forehead. “You do this a lot?  This stare at me and not speak kind of thing?”

Yeah, not dreaming.

Instinct was still firing within me, and I pulled my legs out from under the bedspread as I rolled back. I was more of a kick ass first and ask questions later girl. Ignoring the pull of the stitches, I planted my feet into Ren’s chest.

He was knocked back, but caught himself before he fell. On his feet, he rose to his full height as I slid off the bed, landing in front of him. How did he get in here? Had he found Tink? Oh my God, what if he’d done something to Tink? Concern blossomed.

Not giving him time to recover, I spun on one foot and caught him in the stomach with my other foot. Ren’s grunt told me that it hurt, and I snapped forward, aiming my fist for his face—his really nice face. What a shame I was going to have to bloody and bruise it.

He moved like lightning striking, catching my wrist and using my momentum to spin me around. An arm gripped tightly just below my breasts. “Whoa, Ivy, you need to chill.”

I so didn’t need to chill. I shoved my free arm back, catching him in the stomach again, but this time I could feel exactly how hard that stomach was. His abs didn’t even budge. I went to do it again, but he did something that was going to piss me off until I took my last dying breath.

He shoved one leg between mine, hooking his foot around my ankle. One second I was struggling against him and the next I was falling forward.

“Crap,” I muttered.

Ren didn’t let me freefall. Instead, he controlled my weight and where I was heading. Before I knew it, I was on my stomach and he was above me, his knees on either side of my hips, and his hands wrapped around my wrists, pinning my arms to the mattress. My cheek pressed into the bedspread, and from my not-so vantage point, I could see that the bedroom door was open.

How quickly he incapacitated me yet again was humiliating, and I was too damn angry to be that afraid. “If you don’t let me go, you’re going to regret it.”

“Jesus, is this going to happen every time we meet?”