Page 19 of Intolerable Bishop

Unbelievable. Even my friend was on their side.

MAY 18 – THURSDAY 10:10 PM

Myles

Ren had hardly spoken two words to me since the whole Rylan situation. I still wanted to hunt that guy down and mess up his face. She had a crush on him? This really shouldn’t be bothering me as much as it was, but fuck me, I wanted to bury his body where no one would find it. I didn’t even care when Theo spoke up and said that she was his as well. Maybe I was only good with our group. Because fuck me, if she said she wanted that guy to join what we had, I couldn’t handle it. I could taste the rage on my tongue.

She normally curled into me or Blake as we watched television, but instead, she was sitting across from us beside Ivy. My eyes tracked her every movement even though I was pretending not to notice her at all. She stood and walked out of the room. Blake and I looked at one another and shrugged, confused as to how to fix the strain that had formed.

Fuck it.

Like a stalker, I got up and went searching for her. I hated any distance between us. Even the slightest disagreement kept my mind reeling for hours. Silently jogging up the stairs, I walked into our bedroom to find her changing in the bathroom. My eyes traced every line of her beautiful body as she bent over to step into her pajama pants.

As she stood up, she pulled her top off at the same time, and I groaned as my cock thickened at the sight of her pert tits and hard nipples. She was stuck in her sweatshirt, and watching her fight with the material was killing me. Ren gasped when I grabbed her waist.

“Let me help,” I said, pulling the hoodie off over her head and dropping it to the floor. Her snowy hair was wild and half covering her face. She was incredibly sexy. There were no words for how she affected my entire body. Pushing the long strands of her hair behind her ears, I locked eyes with her cool stare. She tilted her head up and lifted one accusatory eyebrow at me. Ignoring the angry look, I dropped my lips to hers and nipped at her bottom lip as my thumbs traced the underside of her breasts.

Her breath caught, but the stern look remained. Tracing her jawline with kisses all the way to her neck, I took a deep breath and kissed her fluttering pulse.

“I don’t like him,” I finally said. “I know that I’ve no leg to stand on considering my past, but the way he looked at you….” I shook my head. “I know that look. He would’ve fucked ya in the ice cream shop bathroom if ya let him. I cannot explain the burning rage I felt when he touched yer arm. He’s lucky I didn’t rip it off and beat him with it.”

“Myles….”

“Naw, Snowflake. I can give ya the stars. I don’t care about Blake, Theo, or even Liam and Nash, but not this guy. You want any of them? Take ʼem, but not him. I can’t accept this guy, please don’t try to make me, I will lose me mind and⁠—”

Ren grabbed my face and stopped me mid rant. “Stop. I don’t want him. The crush I mentioned was old, is old. I didn’t feel anything when I saw him again.” I sighed as her lips touched mine. She pressed against me and instantly calmed all the apprehension that had been swirling around in my mind like a lethal vortex.

Gripping her hips, I growled into her mouth and pulled her up my body. She locked her legs around my waist, and just like that, everything was right in my world again. It didn’t seem to matter what was going on around us. If we were okay, I could take on anything. Without her, a desperation filled me. My mind wanted to slip down into a dark place that had me crawling around and groping for the light.

Walking out to the bedroom, I laid her down on the bed, my heart pounding as if I was running a race. “Yer so fuckin’ beautiful, Snowflake.” Her lips twitched up as she released my neck and slid her fingertips down my shoulders and arms.

“I love you, Myles.”

“I love you more. I would’ve killed him. Ya know that, right?”

“I do.” Her eyes searched my face. “That should scare me.” She licked her lips and gripped my arms tighter. “But it doesn’t.” I kissed her again and shuddered as she moaned when I pressed my cock against her. “Make love to me, please Myles. I swear I’m ready.”

Pushing up, I looked down into her eyes and could tell she was telling the truth. But I just couldn’t and glanced away.

“I can’t,” I said.

“Why? Did I do something wrong? Do you not want me like that anymore?”

Chuckling, I pushed my hips against her again and loved how her eyes fluttered. “Does that feel like I don’t want ya?”

“Then what is going on? I get that shit with Axel messed things up, and I’ve appreciated how you and Blake haven’t made me feel pressured. But I’m telling you, I’m ready.”

“Aye, but I’m not,” I said, rolling over onto my back.

Ren pushed herself up, and I couldn’t help but run her hair through my fingers. “What do you mean?” I’d been trying to avoid this conversation. I lifted my shirt and pointed to the now mostly faded word, worthless, my father had carved. “You don’t believe that, do you? Because it’s not true.”

“Naw, I…I just didn’t realize how it fecked with me up here.” I tapped the side of my head. “I need to figure out how to avoid the arrow.” Her brow furrowed. “Not real arrow, it’s a Buddhist teaching, and I’m strugglin’ to let it go. Add in everything with Axel on top of that, and my brain is a mess. I don’t want to be with ya when my head is not in the right place, ya know?”

Ren’s eyes shimmered with tears as she cupped my face. “I’m so sorry. I never considered…I just…I’m just so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I thought I was good until I realized I wasn’t, ya know? But I’m happy that yer feeling better, yer so strong. Ya know that, right? Ya just have a way of shoulderin’ shit and movin’ on. I wish I was more like that.”

Her hair fell around her like a waterfall as she leaned forward and kissed me. Dear God, I wanted her. “You are strong,” she said against my lips. “You take my pain away. If I didn’t have you and Blake, then I don’t know if I’d be where I am right now.”