Chapter 16 - Rage

Wren Austin stared at the man standing a few feet from her in bewilderment. The smug expression on his face managed to anger the blonde even further. As if his encounter with her yesterday wasn’t enough, he had the guts to pull this stunt on her.

Wren Austin couldn’t help but wonder what he wanted from her. He broke her heart when he left. He broke her heart again, yesterday when he called her a slut, and he was, once again, breaking her heart with this little stunt of his.

Wren Austin looked defeated. She couldn’t, for the life of her, comprehend what he hoped to get from this. Forgiveness?

“I am not going to have sex with you” she added firmly, folding her arms to add more pressure to her statement.

“Yes, you are. I paid five million for a night with you. You don’t have a choice” Giovanni added firmly.

Did he pay five million to have sex with her? Wren didn’t think it was possible to be degraded any further than this.

“That seems to be your problem, not mine. I already told you, I would rather lose an eye than have you anywhere close to me” the blonde was merely putting up a front because she was a few seconds away from crying, and if she didn’t get out of this room sooner, then he would have to see her vulnerable, and Wren Austin refused to give him that luxury.

“Yeah, I doubt you will want this to get back to Hunter. He wouldn’t be pleased to hear that you were rude to a client” Giovanni’s tone was filled with amusement.

The blonde scoffed in disbelief. As if emotionally hurting her wasn’t enough, he wanted to hurt her psychically?

“You know what, Giovanni? Fuck you! Fuck you and your stupid money. Fuck you and your egoistic and self-proclaimed authority. Who the hell do you think you are? You can’t just waltz back into Craigsburg and expect everything to be the same. Things will not work out the way you want simply because you threw money at some misbegotten son of a leprose donkey who portrays the same narcissistic behaviour as you, and I sure as hell wouldn’t be one of those girls who will desperately be at your beck and call. I don’t give a damn if you get back to Hunter. What’s the worst he can do? Have me beaten up, and that’s it. But the fact still remains, I will not have sex with you. Let that sink into your boneheaded brain” by the time Wren Austin finished speaking, she was a panting mess. But regardless, she felt relieved. She had bottled up her emotions for the longest of times and it felt amazing to finally let them out, especially at the one who caused her pain.

“Wren, I didn’t mean-“ Giovanni’s tone was not filled with guilt and embarrassment.

“Save it! I couldn’t care less about what you meant. Leave me the hell alone. That is all I ask of you” Wren finalized, and this time when she walked past the man with the burly physic, he didn’t stop her. Matter of fact, he couldn’t. Not after he had just witnessed her outburst. 

As Wren Austin slammed the door to the motel room, Giovanni for the nth time, realized how bad his idea was. Not only did he hurt her, but he had ruined all chances of ever making things right with Wren.

As the blonde walked outside in the cold, she couldn’t help the tears that started to roll down her cheeks. She found it had to comprehend where he had gotten the audacity to disrespect and hurt her like he just did.

Now, she was more angry than hurt. Angry at Giovanni for what he’s just done, but mostly angry at herself for crying.

She blamed herself.

Despite the tough font she put, she had hoped that the young man will see past that and find out a means to woo her. Just like he had all those years when young Wren was in an active battle with life. Instead, he had shown her all the reasons why she shouldn’t have fallen in love with him.

So, no one was to be blamed for the hurt she was feeling other than herself.

As Wren Austin matched towards the pub, she made a mental note to herself to never shed a single tear for him. And that promise took effect immediately as she wiped away the last drop of tears.

The blonde was interrupted from her mental rambling by the voice of the last person she wanted to see, not today, not forever. If she could, she would gladly ignore him.

“Wren, hold up” Luke’s happy and panting voice made Wren roll her eyes. She ignored him and kept marching forward.

“Hey, Wren. Hold up. I need to talk to you” this time, Luke had already caught up with Wren and took a hold of her arm. This sent shivers down Wren’s spine and not in a pleasant way.

“What? What do you want, Luke?” Wren snapped at him, shrugging away her arm from his hold.

Luke raised his hands defensively. “I’m sorry. I just want to talk” he stated.

“Wren rolled her eyes, although she knew Luke wouldn’t see that in the dark.

“What do you want? Make it quick!” Wren impatiently tapped her leg on the ground as she waited on Luke to speak up.

“You’ve been avoiding me. Why is that? Did I do something wrong?”

Wren Austin scoffed in disbelief at Luke’s question. Did he do something wrong? Of course, he did everything wrong. He spread the news about their non-existent night throughout Craigsburg, and now, everyone seemed to have a say in her life. That aside, his mere existence was another thing wrong. The fact he was Hunter’s son was another problem for her.

Wren ached to tell him that, but of course, she refrained from that. She didn’t want to be the cause of his already low self-esteem lowering any further.

"I just thought, after the memorable night we had, things between us will ameliorate" he added.

Wren frowned. "Are you drunk? What are you talking about?"

"Aren't we a couple?" Luke asked.

Wren's eye sockets almost fell out of her face. What on earth was happening with everyone tonight? She wondered to herself. They seem to have developed a sense of ownership over her. First, Giovanni acting like he was the boss of her, and now Luke thinking they were dating because of their non-existent night.

Suddenly, she burst into a fit of laughter. There were so many things she wanted to yell at Luke's face, but once again, she didn't. She was too tired for that. So, instead, she as calmly as possible set her point across.

"I don't know where you got that from, Luke. But now, we are not dating. And I will appreciate it if you never bring it up again. Thank you" and with that, Wren walked away.

"I need a drink. Or ten" Wren murmured mostly to herself, knowing full well that all the alcohol in the world will not make her forget tonight's events.


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