by J Bree
Avery hums under her breath, and I hear Ash murmur a goodbye to her as he drops her off to her class and heads off to his own. She waits a second like she’s making sure he can’t hear her and then murmurs, “Are you sure she’s okay? If she’s too loopy I should come up and check her out.”
I glance over again, but she’s still just watching me. “I swear to you, she’s fine, she’s just off her tits. Her words, not mine.”
She chuckles. “Of course she is. Fine. I’ll be up as soon as I’m done with exams.”
“Okay, bye.”
I chuck my phone onto Lips’ nightstand with hers and then move down the bed until my head is on her pillow, turning to face her. Fuck, I might have to be here for hours just watching her sleep and ramble on and flail about, but there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. She turns her head to face me, and we’re so close that the back of her hand brushes against my lips from where it’s still clamped tightly over her mouth. She’s fucking cute, and I can’t help but smile as she snatches her hand away like it’s on fire.
There’s a frown on her face, and her eyes are still a little glazed.
“What’s wrong, little Nightingale?” I murmur, brushing her hair away from her face.
Her eyes roam over my face and they finally focus a little. “This is going to go very badly and then you’re never going to speak to me again. After all my work this year to get you guys to trust me and now I’ve fucked it. My voice is still all weird and floaty. Floaty is a strange word.”
“Right, it is a strange word but let’s stay on topic.” I don’t want her freaking the hell out and talking herself out of this before we’ve even given it a go.
She startles a little. “Shit, I’m saying stuff without realizing it again.”
“Yes, you are. You haven’t fucked anything. Harley wasn’t pissed this morning, he was impressed. Then he was awkward and embarrassed because he upset you.”
Her eyes glaze over again, and I know I’m fighting a losing battle here. I just need to keep her calm and busy so she doesn’t do anything stupid.
“I think I’ve lost the filing cabinet. I think the office is closed for maintenance. I hope they repaint.”
Her phone buzzes on the nightstand again, but we both ignore it. “Fuck, we need to get you stoned. I need to see you on THC.”
“Nope. Whiskey or nothing. Vodka in emergencies. Possibly tequila but sometimes I get mouthy and fight…-y on tequila.”
The Wolf of Mounts Bay gets ‘fight-y’ on tequila. That’s some vital information to remember if I’ve ever heard it before. “Duly noted. Your phone keeps buzzing. Want me to get it?”
She nods and I grab it from the nightstand, handing it over to her, which I realize quickly is not going to get us anywhere, because she stares at it like she’s never seen it before in her life.
Then her eyes keep focusing on my chest, and I have to take charge again so the situation doesn’t spiral out of control. “Here. It’s from Matteo, who’s that? He says he can’t wait to see you tomorrow. He calls you Starbright, what the hell does that mean?”
I don’t like the sound of the guy just from the message itself, but the look of panic on her face has me ready to call Ash and Arbour so we can go find him and fucking kill him.
She flails and struggles for a second before I realize she’s trying to sit up, so I immediately help to prop her up until we’re both leaning against the headboard.
As soon as she’s steady she grabs my biceps and attempts to give me a shake. “Don’t ever tell anyone. That’s the Jackal. He’s bad. You can’t tell anyone his name. He wants me to go to see him but I’m going to put him off. I don’t like him and I definitely don’t want to fuck him.”
Fuck.
That’s the worst possible option to be messaging her in such a fucking flirty and familiar way. I know she’s said a million times that she hasn’t fucked him, but I can’t help but wonder if she’s hooked up with him at all. Clearly he’s crazy for her.
I nod and run a hand up and down her spine in a soothing stroke. She takes another deep breath and says, “Most importantly, don’t ever tell anyone my middle name is Starbright.”
Oh fuck.
Oh fuck, I cannot laugh right now, because I get the feeling she’ll either stab me or kick me in the nuts and throw me out of the room. Fuck, her mom must have really been a piece of work because Eclipse Starbright Anderson? Fuck me, Lips is lucky she survived middle school with a name like that.
Blaise Morrison, son of Blaine Morrison, doesn’t sound so bad now.
When I’ve got my shit locked down tight, I meet her eyes and say with complete seriousness, “I will take your secret to the grave, Mounty.”
Her eyes grow soft again and she looks back out at the room. When her eyes hit the bathroom door she blurts out, “I need to pee, but I can’t move, but I don’t want to pee myself.”
Fuck, keeping a straight face is almost impossible, but I don’t want to piss her off or get stabbed for laughing at her while she’s this… vulnerable. “It’s okay, Mounty. I’ll help you over to the bathroom.”
I hoist her up into my arms and laugh at the way she kind of flails about before she gets comfortable, her arms looping around my neck. Her mouth starts running about how much ice cream Avery has been feeding her, and I have to shut that shit down fast. She weighs practically nothing, and I’m all for the extra roundness her ass has these days.
“Calm down, there’s no way I’m dropping you. I’ll get you on the toilet.”
The gasp out of her is hilarious. “You are not watching me pee, Morrison. Nope. That’s—nope.”
I scoff at her, gently lowering her to the floor in the bathroom. There’s nothing for her to hold onto, but she frowns at me when I try to help her out.
“I can shut my eyes if you’re that worried, Star.”
The nickname slips out but she doesn’t notice it yet.
She pouts. “There’s absolutely no fucking way, Morrison.”
I leave her to it, laughing at her talking to herself and then when I hear the flush and the scuffing sounds of her hobbling around again, I step back in.
“Oh. He’s still here.”
I chuckle and brace her hips as she washes her hands. “I’m not going anywhere, Star. You’re stuck with me now.”
Her leg starts to wobble again, and I lift her up a little to get her weight off of it.
“What the hell does that even mean? I’ve ruined everything.”
This again. I could fucking kill Arbour for how he reacted this morning, the dick. I try not to sound pissed though, I don’t think she could take it with the way her mouth is running right now. “You haven’t, Star. Look, we all agreed to share you. That means you’re not getting away from us that easy. Whatever it takes, we’re keeping you.”
I see her brain melt a little more, and I swing her back up into my arms, walking back over to the bed and sitting down with her in my lap. She hums happily under her breath, wriggling and rocking her hips until I grab them to steady her.
The dopey, loved-up grin on her face is adorable. Fuck, I never thought I’d be calling the Mounty adorable but here we are. She starts stroking my chest, and I’m struggling not to get hard at the grinding she’s absently doing on my dick.
I’m not a total asshole; I’m not going to fuck her while she’s high like this, but fuck is she tempting.
I try to distract myself by recording her and sending it to Harley, a little payback for his fuck up this morning, but she’s too fucking hot. The rocking has me as hard as stone underneath that ass of hers.
“If both of his hands are on my hips then that hand must belong to me.”
I try not to burst out laughing at her. “Yes, that’s your hand.”
Her eyes widen, and I see the hazy sort of panic take over her. Fuck, after everything we’ve said to her for the last two years no wonder she’s freaked out about touching me.
Fuck, I want her touching me.
I lean forwa
rd to whisper against her lips, “You can touch me wherever you want, little Star.”
I swear I see her brain break.
I’m about to just say fuck it and spread her out on the sheets, strip her naked, and taste every fucking inch of her skin when the door flings open and Harley storms into the room. Great.
He’s pissed the fuck off like always.
“Morrison, if I find out you’ve laid a single fucking finger on her while she’s been high, I’ll gut you.”
Avery arrives back to the room five minutes after Harley, takes one look at Lips, and then coaxes her back into bed to attempt to sleep off some of the painkillers. Even as high as she is Lips listens to her best friend, lying down obediently and slipping into unconsciousness within seconds.
Harley stomps into the bathroom to take a shower, mostly to clear his head because the asshole really did think I was up here coercing our girl into something while she was off her face on painkillers.
I’m going to take a swing at him later for it, but right now I just want to be close to her, so I settle back down on my side of her bed and fuck around with some lyrics on my phone again. I’ve never written such… hopeful songs before. They’re still dark and moody, I don’t think I’ll ever write uplifting shit, but there’s a silver lining in my latest work that wasn’t there before.
Lips has given me that.
All of the time we’ve spent together where she’s given so much of herself to me without asking for anything in return. The patience and kindness and dry wit, all of it has finally given me something to look forward to.
I’ve never really had that before.
When Harley gets out of the shower, Avery takes her turn, threatening us both as she leaves us alone with Lips. It’s stupid and childish of her because she should know us both better than that, but Harley takes it on the chin and moves Lips gently into the middle of the bed, stretching out next to her on top of the covers so we’re both flanking her.
Something about the pressure of the blankets on her body sets off a nightmare.
She starts thrashing around like she’s being murdered. Harley and I both jump up and pull the covers off of her, hoping that alone will stop her from spiraling, but if anything it only gets worse. We both try speaking to her and waking her up, but the pills are too strong and she just keeps thrashing around.
It takes until Avery comes back out and murmurs to her, stroking her hair away from her face again and rubbing her back, before she calms down. Harley makes a comment about the shorts she’s wearing as he settles back down on the bed, and Avery snarls threats at him again.
I turn the TV on and try to ignore them both.
The longer Lips sleeps, the more she gravitates into our bodies. It starts with her legs being thrown over Harley’s, then her head rolls into my lap, and slowly she shifts into us both like she’s just as drawn to us as we all are to her.
It settles into my chest just how right this all is.
After an hour of playing with her hair, she finally wakes up. It’s a slow process and watching her eyes slowly blink open I can almost see her realize that she’s draped over us both. I see the tiny moment of calm and peace before the panic sets in.
The problem is her ass is too fucking perfect, and I don’t blame Harley for the groan he lets out when she grinds it on him. “For the love of God, Mounty, don’t move like that. Avery has already threatened to castrate me twice tonight.”
Instantly she’s gasping and struggling to sit up, her eyes darting around at us and then she’s scooting away from us both like she’s afraid we’re about to ruin her for sleeping on us.
I’m angry at myself for our freshman year all over again.
“What the—“
Avery cuts in from the kitchen and saves the day once again. “Chill. You were thrashing about in your sleep and it took all three of us to settle you back down.”
Lips takes a breath, her eyes not meeting ours as she wriggles back to sit between us against the headboard. I huff out a laugh at her and a blush spreads over her cheeks.
I didn’t realize how much I missed her reactions until I see it now on her face. “You must be feeling better, there’s color on your cheeks again.”
The flush deepens and she clears her throat. “Thank you for checking on me. And letting me word vomit for hours on end. Please leave me to die of shame with what little dignity I have left.”
Harley scoffs and pulls out his phone, bringing up the video I’d sent him and hands it over to her. I refuse to feel bad about it because she’s fucking perfect sitting there, grinning like all is right in her world.
She elbows me and I shrug. “Hey, they asked me why I called you adorable. I figured a video was better than any explanation I could come up with.”
“I am never taking those pills again. I’ll white knuckle it through the pain next time,” she declares, and we all roar with laughter at her dramatics.
It all feels so fucking normal, like this is how it should’ve always been.
There’s a knock at the door and Avery opens it to find Ash back from track, still dressed in his uniform with his gym bag slung over his shoulder like he couldn’t wait to be up here with the rest of us.
“Mr. Embley is a demon. I’m not doing track next year, fuck him and his shitty attitude,” he snaps as he strides in. Avery scrunches her nose up at him and shoves him toward the bathroom.
“Go shower, you’re not sleeping here covered in sweat.”
Lips sits there quietly for a second before she makes this little gasping noise, scrambling onto her hands and knees again and sliding straight off the bed. I have to immediately cross my legs because her shorts are so fucking tiny her ass peeks out of the bottom, and there’s only so much teasing a guy can take.
Harley groans and grabs a pillow, shoving it in his lap and side-eyeing me as Lips drags Avery into the closet.
“Did you do something that we should be worried about?” he murmurs, and I scoff at him.
“Nope, I fixed your little fuck up this morning. You’re welcome.”
He takes his boner covering pillow and throws it at my head like an asshole. “Don’t start that shit. I’ll fix it myself when we don’t have an audience. Did you… tell her about our conversation?”
I shrug. “Yeah but you saw how fucking high she was, fuck knows how much actually went in. We’ll just have to talk once Avery isn’t breathing down our necks.”
He grunts and turns back to the TV.
When Ash steps out of the shower in his pajamas, he pauses at the closet and frowns at the sight of the girls both huddled in there. “Why are the two of you whispering in the closet?”
There’s a shrill squeak that had to come out of Avery, because I can’t imagine Lips making that sort of sound. Not without my dick involved and, yup, there goes my dick again.
I really, really need to end this celibacy before Avery cuts my fucking dick off.
I can’t hear Avery’s reply, only her tone, but Ash’s scoff as he answers her echoes through the room loud and clear. “With the two of you that could be anything from pairing the correct shoes with an outfit to plotting the murder of a filthy rich senator for your own gain.”
Avery steps forward and pats him on the chest. “Lips is freaking out about where everyone is sleeping. The drugs have scrambled her brain and she’s woken up in her ideal fantasy orgy.”
Fuck.
Oh holy fuck, I hadn’t even thought of the orgies we could be having with her the second we can get her away from Avery’s watchful eyes. Junior year is going to be the best year yet.
Ash bursts out in a raucous laugh at his sister, calling out to Lips as she scurries into the bathroom, “You’ll have to pause those dirty thoughts, Mounty, Avery has already threatened our dicks if we so much as kiss your cheek in front of her.”
When the bathroom door flicks locked behind her, Avery pushes Ash toward the TV and says in her fake sweet tone, “I’d love nothing more than to castrate the lot o
f you, please remember that.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Harley
I’ve woken up at 5 a.m. every morning since I came to Hannaford.
The moment I arrived, I joined the swim team and started training harder and longer than any other kid here. My insomnia helped with that because it’s easy to be on time when you never went to sleep in the first place, but for the first time since my grandfather killed my dad, I fall asleep without prescription drugs or alcohol and I sleep the entire night without waking up until my usual 5 a.m. for training.
It’s a fucking miracle.
What’s even better is the fact that Lips is there right beside me, still tangled up in Ash’s arms but her face is tilted up to mine as though even in her sleep her lips are seeking mine.
I’d give anything to taste her.
I’d even risk waking Avery and getting murdered, but it feels wrong to just kiss her awake when we still haven’t actually spoken about what the hell we’re doing here. It feels predatory, and after everything I’ve learned about the men who’ve stalked her, I’m not about to do that shit.
Instead, I cup her cheeks gently and stroke at her lips with my thumb. She wakes up slowly, her eyes fluttering open in the darkness of the room as she looks at me. She doesn’t startle or freak out, just stares at me as her breath stutters out in a little gasp.
I brush my fingers over her cheek, not wanting to let her go yet or break this quiet moment because this little moment is just for us.
Fuck, I want to kiss her though and before I have the chance to attempt to silently communicate that to her she’s nodding her head at me, her eyes dropping down to my lips, and I have to force down the groan creeping up my throat.
I smirk at her then I press a finger to my own lips to tell her to stay silent. She nods, the smallest motion so Ash doesn’t wake up from where he’s wrapped around her. I appreciate that because I need this moment. I need something just for the two of us right now, even if it’s just a good morning kiss before my swim practice, because the last few months have been too fucking much.
