by M. Never
When they land on Tage, he smirks darkly. “You’re still walking around, groundhog?”
Groundhog?
“Loud and proud.” Tage doesn’t cower.
“How many of those nine lives you got left?” It almost sounds like a threat.
“Enough.” Tage’s response mirrors Gunners. It’s clear they have history. I did a little research on Gunner and the raid that went down at his compound eight years ago. Of all the agencies mentioned, Endeavor was not one of them, and there was no mention of an operative named Tage, not even in the court files I could access.
It was quite the takedown, though. Millions of dollars in cash and drugs were seized, along with militarized assault weapons. Gunner had his hands in a little bit of everything. Including child abuse and neglect.
Everly is so eerily quiet I almost forget she’s in the room. She has somehow managed to shrink away to nothing, to near invisibility.
Gunner sees her, though. I have a feeling she was never invisible to him.
“You are so grown up.” He almost sounds nostalgic. She remains silent. “Why you here, pretty? Never thought I’d see you again.”
“I didn’t want to come.” Everly’s voice is gravelly.
“But here you are, with . . .?” He finally notices me. “Who the hell are you?”
“Legal counsel,” is my snarky reply.
“Legal counsel? Right.” Gunner knows there’s more to me than that. Five minutes in his presence and I can already tell he’s shrewd, intelligent, and greasier than motor oil.
He looks around the room, at me, at Tage, at Everly. “What exactly is going on here? What’s this all about?”
“Mom,” Everly provides him with the answer.
“Aww, Christ. Is she dead?”
“I wish.”
Ouch.
“What’s she up to now?”
“Trying to ruin my life. Again.”
“This time I have nothin’ to do with it. I’m vacationing here.” He lifts his bound wrists and the metal clinks.
“You know the funny thing about the past, Gunner?” Tage plants his hands on the tabletop and leans over. “It has a shitty way of coming back to haunt you.”
Gunner’s eyes sharpen. “Don’t get too close, groundhog. I still bite.”
“So do I,” Tage hisses.
“Stop.” Everly slams her palms on the table. “Please just fucking stop.” Everyone’s attention lands on her. She looks up at Tage, nearly ready to crack. “He almost killed you once.”
“Almost being the operative word. He can’t do shit now.” Tage has balls of steel. I’m forming a new kind of respect for him.
“Can’t I?” Gunner grunts.
“You threatening me in the presence of a high-powered lawyer and a room full of officers?”
“I’m not threatening shit. Just protecting my ego.” Gunner stays calm, but we all know how much malice is behind his words.
“Gunner,” Everly huffs. “I heard you and my mom fighting over some key. I think she’s after it now. Where is it, and what’s it for?” Everly’s done playing. She wants answers, and she wants to get the hell out of here. I stealthily place my hand on her thigh for support. No one but Tage can see.
Gunner’s black eyes narrow. He’s a scary motherfucker. I will not lie. His buzzed head, tattoos, sharp cheekbones, and gold crowned tooth scream street king.
“I don’t recall ever fighting about a key. Got no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’re lying,” I call him out. I can read the signs even if they’re all subtle. Gunner is an expert liar, but I still catch the twitch of his finger, the heavy bob of his Adam’s apple, and tick of his jaw. Reading people is what I do. What I’m paid to do, and I do it real fucking well.
“I can’t help you, pretty.” Gunner never takes his eyes off me as he addresses Ever. “Got no clue. Your mama is a wild one. Devil only knows what’s happening in that drug sick head of hers.”
“What a fucking waste.” Everly shoots out of her chair, sending it flying backwards to the floor “You ruined my life. You stole everything from me. Why? What for? What was I worth?”
I think those questions have been festering for years. Even if we don’t find out what Vicki is after, confronting Gunner might be a type of closure Everly needs.
“I loved you like a daughter.”
“You are incapable of love,” she spits. All the men in the room crowd her, including myself.
“You deserve death. You and my mother.” For a split second, I think Gunner is actually hurt. Maybe on some warped, twisted level he did care for her.
Tage and I begin to drag Everly out of the room. She’s had enough. She’s upset and agitated and fighting like hell not to cry. She wants to be strong. She doesn’t want Gunner to see her tears. I realize in the heat of the moment that she has been suffering for so long. More than I can even comprehend.
“Destiny,” Gunner calls, and she cringes at her birth name. “You’re worth as much as a single fingerprint.”
We all look at Gunner like he’s crazy. What in the hell is that supposed to mean?
“I know what a single fingerprint is worth. Nothing.” Everly storms out of the room.
Well, that was a total fucking waste of time and energy.
“He was a fucking kook then, and he’s a fucking kook now.” She stomps down the hallway. “Always talking in riddles that make no damn sense.”
I glance over at Tage inquisitively, keeping pace with Everly.
“I don’t know.” He shakes his head. “Gunner always came out with weird shit like that. He loved to play head games,” Tage explains.
Wonderful. Someone could have warned me we were going to see the Riddler.
“Why did you think this was a good idea, Tage?” Everly spins on her heel once we’re back outside. She’s clearly upset and unravelling at the seams. “We should have known he wouldn't give us answers.”
“Who said he didn’t give us answers?” Tage argues, and she looks at him like he’s looney. We both do. “Gunner is one of the smartest criminals I have ever encountered. He left us a clue.”
“About fingerprints, and how much they’re fucking worth?”
“Maybe, and maybe one about you.”
“What are you thinking?” I ask Tage, intrigued.
“Nothing solid at the moment, but there is a reason Gunner locked you away. My gut has always told me that. More than it being a freaky obsession.”
“You know what I think? It’s all just more bullshit. Gunner is bored. So he sends us off to stew over a riddle that has no answer. He has no clue what my mom wants. If you wanted to get to the source of the problem, we should have confronted her.”
“Gunner was the much safer option,” Tage disagrees. “He’s incarcerated. Less chance of bullets flying.”
“A bullet flying in her direction doesn't sound so bad to me.”
“One flying in your direction does.” Tage opens the car door for her. Everly jumps in, sprawling out across the back seat.
“Maybe we should set up a meeting?” I suggest to Tage. “Just me and you. Find out what she’s after.”
“Hell no.” Everly pops her head up. “Tage, can’t you just have her arrested or deported to another country or something?”
“One, I can’t arrest people. I’m not a cop. Two, I can’t deport a US citizen, as much as I would like to. Three, she hasn’t broken any laws.”
“She threatened Alec!”
“I have no solid proof. Only hearsay. She won’t be held.”
“Ugh. Are you sure you’re not a cop? Because you sound just like one.”
“I’m just familiar with the law.”
“I, unfortunately, can confirm everything he just said,” I add.
“This is a nightmare.” Everly drops back down, defeated.
“It’s a bump in the road. We’ll figure it out.”
“Can we stop and buy out a liquor store on the way back to the hotel? I
think I’m going to need a liquid dinner.”
“We can stop for a bottle or two.”
“It better be the good stuff. One hundred plus proof.”
“Sure,” Tage pacifies her.
“Tage, Alec?” Everly’s tone is meek.
“Mmmm?” I look back at Ever as Tage drives.
“Promise me I never have to come back to Chicago again.”
Tage and I exchange a look. “No, never,” I promise on behalf of both of us.
“Good.” She closes her eyes and laces her hands over her stomach. She sort of looks like she’s laid out in a coffin. It makes me shiver.
A life without Ever?
Unimaginable.
25
Everly
I drink my weight’s worth of tequila.
Alec bought the really good stuff. Strong and smooth. Deceptive it’s even alcohol.
Seeing Gunner again twisted my sanity into a goddamn pretzel, and now I’m trying to deal.
Since we got back the hotel, Tage has been on the phone with God knows who, and Alec has been surfing the Internet. Both on a mission to decode Gunner’s riddle. It’s a waste of time. There’s no answer. They’re both dogs chasing their tails.
I’m doing the only productive thing. Getting drunk.
“I’m going to bed.” I slink off the couch. I’m tired and tipsy and ready to pass out.
“Sleep on your stomach,” Alec advises with his eyes plastered to the screen.
“Promise.” I hold up scout’s honor.
“We’ll be in later.” Tage drops a kiss on my head. I smile faintly. The only good thing that came out of all this is sharing a fancy hotel room with the two of them.
“I love you,” I hum. “Both of you.”
“We love you right back,” Tage returns as I step into the bedroom. The mattress is calling.
I fall face first like Alec advised. See? I listen. I close my eyes and sink into the plushy comforter.
Tequila, take me away.
* * *
I wake up early, starving, and dying of thirst.
The sun has barely risen.
Tage and Alec are stretched out on each side of me, sleeping soundlessly. I wonder what time they finally came to bed?
It is still totally strange, utterly surreal, and implausibly astonishing that I get both these men. It’s also fucking stifling. Their bodies are like heat conductors. I slink off the bed and lose my jeans. Even with the air blasting, I’m still perspiring. I do my business in the bathroom, grab a bottle of water from the mini fridge — which isn’t so mini — and crawl back between them in just a tank top and underwear.
“You all right?” Alec places a sleepy hand on my bare thigh.
“Fine, actually.” I snuggle up to him. Surprisingly, I feel much better than I thought I was going to. I only have a mild hangover, and it feels like a weight has been lifted off me. Maybe confronting Gunner was more therapeutic than I realized. It felt fucking amazing to yell at him. To scream the questions that have plagued me for years, even if I didn’t get definitive answers. The scared, hurt, sixteen-year-old girl didn’t have the nerve to stand up to him then, but the twenty-four-year-old woman sure did.
“Good.”
“What time did you come to bed?” I whisper.
“Very late,” Tage groans.
“I’ll let you sleep.” I kiss his tattooed shoulder.
“I’d rather fuck,” he shoots back point blankly.
“I second that,” Alec jumps right in.
“Nothing is stopping the two of you,” I tease.
Two pairs of light-colored eyes pop open. Oh, shit, I did it now.
“Not that Alec is bad-looking, but he’s a little too masculine for me.” Tage pushes himself up and crawls on top of me like a predator. “You, on the other hand, are the perfect mix of sweet, soft, and feminine.” He massages my breast as he covers his mouth with mine. I melt right there beneath him. I’m such a goner. Goner for both these men.
I succumb instantly, lifting my arms at his command as he drags my tank top off. Soon, I’m naked and being ravished by two hungry mouths and twenty skillful fingers. Pinching and prodding, they touch me in all the right places. I’m a sacrifice laid out on a beautifully profane altar. I drown in a deep abyss as they take turns sucking my nipples and licking my clit. My body is their wonderland. Their Zion.
Their mouths and hands my Utopia.
Moaning loudly and freely, I undulate on the bed as I’m pelted with sensations from all directions. Keeping a constant pressure of excitement, they know just how far to push me before I stumble over the edge. They have gotten way too good at working together in such a short amount of time.
“I want to watch you come.” Tage nips at my ear as he plucks at my sharpened nipples. “I want to watch you ride Alec, and then I want to fuck you.”
In a lusty haze, I look up at him. I would do whatever he wants. Whatever he asks. Whatever either of them asks.
Alec seems to be right on board as he repositions us on the bed. I’m so wet and aroused, I slide down onto his cock with no hindrance at all. In this position, he’s buried so deep I can feel him everywhere. A fantasia of fullness flooding my reality.
“Move,” Tage encourages me, lying right beside Alec. This is all brand new. They have only ever shared me, never taken turns, but the fresh dynamic is hot, erotic, and a lotta bit filthy.
I feed right into it. I want to turn them on. I want to give them everything they want.
I ride Alec commandingly, providing Tage the show he’s after. It doesn't take much to put on an act. I am as much invested in this as they are. I share eye contact with one, then the other as my pleasure point rises. The feel of Alec’s throbbing erection stretching me, massaging me, stabbing me in the perfect spot has me impaling his cock harder and harder. Tage said he wanted to watch me come, and he is going to get exactly that. All three of us are breathing heavy for our own reasons as my climax accelerates hard and fast.
“I’m going to come,” I mewl out loud, my nipples pinching from the extreme stress my body is under. “Oh, fuck . . . oh, oh, fuck.” I squeeze my eyes shut as my pussy aches, and everything inside me free falls into oblivion. All my fulfillment, all my satisfaction, all fiendish desire pours right down over Alec.
I ride him until there’s nothing left. Nothing left of me, and nothing left of him.
I’m in an orgasmic-induced trance as Tage takes his turn.
Forcing me onto my back, he spreads my legs and drives himself into my soaked, sensitive pussy. The impact shocks me back to reality like an electric current.
“Ah!” I crunch up and cry as Tage begins to fuck me. He’s sliding in so fast and so deep my body responds without any warning. He feels just as good as Alec, just as mind-blowing and barbaric as both these men can be.
“Tage, Tage, Tage,” I pant his name with each unforgiving thrust. I’m going to come. I’m going to come, again, with both men watching me.
Tage’s eyes are as wild as his hips. The sound of slapping echoes around the room, along with tense grunts and gasps for air.
My body gives out when it all becomes too much.
I splinter under Tage’s bodily command, shuddering fitfully. I was given no choice. No matter how tired or spent or used I felt, he mandated the outcome.
My pelvic muscles are sore from intense constriction, my thighs are soaked from constant surges of arousal, and my head is light from extreme physical exertion.
I barely register the roar that escapes Tage’s mouth or the single violent thrust that has him erupting inside me. I just know I’m a woman who belongs to two virile men.
Men who make no apologies for turning me inside out, lifting me upside down, taking what they want, and leaving me to crave so much more.
I lie lifeless on the mattress, crushed by a lofty, energy-sucking weight. Tage and Alec both lay next to me, one on each respective side, and both fucking smug as hell. They know exactly what they do to me, and it
pumps up their already-inflated egos. I’m surprised there’s room for all three of us on this bed.
I don’t add fuel to the fire. I just lie there and bask quietly in bliss.
“Your face is red.” Alec traces circles across my cheek.
“Well, you two just banged the hell out of me. What do you expect?”
Both Tage and Alec burst with laughter.
“How about we make the other set of cheeks match for that smart comment?” Tage flips me over and spanks my ass. I scream and laugh, trying to crawl away.
Tage and Alec pull me back. “Two against one. Those are totally unfair odds.” I squirm beneath them as they take turns spanking me.
They both leer at me devilishly. “Oh, baby, we know.”
26
Tage
By mid-morning, I’m pulling Everly out of bed. “Time to go home, love.”
“I don’t want to go.” She throws the covers over her head. “I just want to hide right here for the rest of my life.”
“As much as you permanently fixed to a bed sounds appealing, it isn’t practical. And Chicago isn’t your home.”
“No, never,” she whines. I love it when she does that. It’s cute as all hell. “But what’s going to happen when we get back to New York?”
I pull the covers away from her face. “I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out.”
“That doesn’t sound promising,” she pouts.
I sigh, sitting down on the mattress. “You wanna hear something that sounds promising?” She nods, her dark bangs falling into her eyes. “I promise I will never let anything bad happen to you. I promise I will never let your mother ruin the new life you worked so hard to build. I promise neither you nor Alec will feel the effects or fallout from her bad decisions. So, no matter what happens when we get back to New York, your life won’t get interrupted.”
“That does sound promising.”
“I aim to please.”
“Is it realistic, though?” Her pessimism surfaces.
“Of course, it is. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s cock-blocking. Just ask Alec.”
