Page 83 of Sticks and Stones (Shadow Valley U)

I shut my eyes to hold back the tears, knowing I’ll sleep better than I ever have before.

CHAPTER29

WREN

I reachmy hand back and slap the nightstand. Except, instead of hitting the wood, I slap Stone instead.

“What the fuck, Sticks,” he mumbles.

I’m pulled backward and sigh at his warmth.

“Should I slap you back?” His voice is sleepy.

His teeth graze my ear, and I have no idea how it makes my body twist, but it does. My cheeks heat, but then the vibrating of my phone starts up again. I shove his arm off my hip and sit up, pulling the blankets up to hide my naked chest.

“Really? Hiding your tits from me? They were in my mouth no less than three hours ago.”

The sun is peeking through the window, and exhaustion has set in. My body hurts, and there’s a soreness between my legs that wasn’t there before I fell asleep last night. After Stone told me to sleep, I drifted off, only to be woken up again to his fingers trailing my thighs. He went back for secondsandthirds.

“Who’s calling you?” he asks, moving the blanket down.

I lean over him, and he flicks his tongue onto my nipple.

“Stone!” I chide.

My phone slips into his hand with his catlike reflexes, and he presses it up to his ear. “Hello?”

There’s a pause, and I sit back while dragging the blanket up to my neck again. I wait and stare at his strong profile.

His throat moves with a swallow, and then he snaps, “Who’s asking for Wren?” Stone’s angry brow unfurrows. He takes the phone and turns it on to speaker. “Here she is.”

I don’t recognize the number, but I’m grateful it doesn’t sayunknown.

“Um, hello?”

“Wren?

“Yes?” I answer with a question because I don’t recognize the voice.

“It’s Mary-Lou.”

I sit back. I only know one Mary-Lou, but I question her anyway. “Mary-Lou Anderson?”My old social worker.She wasn’t a bad one. She did her best, always stealing me away from my father the moment he slipped up and placing me with Evan’s parents.

“Yes, it’s me.”

Stone sits up and rests against his headboard, letting the sheet fall to his hips. I’m too concerned to stare at the thick outline below it.

“Oh…um, hi?”Why is she calling me?I haven’t spoken to her since my eighteenth birthday, because once you’re out of the system, you’reoutof the system.

Stone’s hands jut outward.

“My old social worker,” I mouth.

“Wren, someone broke into my office last night.”

“Okay…” My response lingers, and I’m conflicted. “Do you think it was me…?”

Her light laugh floats out of the speaker, but her humor doesn’t last long. “Of course not.”