by Wendi Wilson
I’m getting a little twitchy with need. “More,” I mumble into Silas’s mouth.
I pull my tank top up, removing the layer of cloth between his palm and my skin. He spreads his fingers wide, moving his hand in circles across my abdomen. The friction feels so good, spiking my adrenaline. A purr vibrates in my chest.
The lamp clicks on and soft light fills the room. I break my kiss with Silas to look at his brother, whose eyes are drinking in the sight of my bare stomach just before his hand presses against the skin. I guess he wanted to see me, all of me. The thought only accelerates my need and I turn my head once more to kiss Silas.
Silas moves his hand into my hair, giving his brother full access. Slade’s palm brushes over my stomach, twisting until his fingers slide under the edge of my tank. His hand freezes and he kisses my shoulder, waiting for me to make the next move.
I break off my kiss with Silas and, grasping Slade’s wrist, give it a slight tug upward. He takes the movement as permission and with a quiet groan, slides his hand under my shirt and palms my entire breast.
Lava rushes through my veins, burning me up from the inside out. I roll, resting my back against the mattress. I need relief. Relief from the heat. Relief from the tension coiling inside me.
“So hot,” I murmur as Silas’s hand splays along my stomach once more.
I raise up, and in one swift motion, pull the tank top over my head and toss it. Slade groans again, his hand moving from my left breast to the right, paying the same homage to that one as he did the other. Silas’s hand moves up, much too slowly, tracing his finger along my flesh, circling the sensitive peak without touching it.
I open my mouth to complain, but Slade’s lips crush against mine, cutting off my protest. As I return his kiss, our tongues brushing against each other in a slow dance, a searing heat replaces the gentle teasing of Silas’s fingers.
I break off my kiss with Slade to look, and the sight nearly destroys me. Silas, having scooched down so that his face is even with my chest, has his mouth suctioned to my breast. As I watch, tension coiling tighter and tighter in my core, his eyes open, meeting mine with bright, silver intensity. He moves his head away, just a few centimeters. Keeping his gaze locked on mine, his tongue comes out and flicks against my nipple.
The world explodes. I die a million deaths.
A yelp— half pleasure, half surprise— bursts from my mouth. Slade cuts it off with a kiss, matching the sound with a heavy groan as aftershocks rock my body. His lips grow gentler as I ride the euphoric wave and my body starts to settle.
Silas presses one kiss to my belly before pushing himself back up toward the pillows. He has my tank top in his hand and, after motioning for me to sit up, pulls it over my head. As I stick my arms through and pull it down, nerves assail me.
“But… What about…”
Slade presses his palm into my cheek, silencing my incoherent mumbling. “We’re fine. More than fine, actually.” His dimples appear as his mouth lifts into a grin.
I’m not brazen enough to look, but I’m almost positive that if I did, I’d see proof that they are definitely not fine. I’m sure they didn’t reach the same release I did. I open my mouth to say… something, I don’t know what. Maybe offer to do something for them…
“Lizzie,” Silas says, pulling me out of my own head. When I meet his eyes, he continues, “Your pleasure is our pleasure.” He looks at his brother and I see Slade nod in my peripheral vision. “We will move forward at the pace you set, not doing anything until you’re ready. You just agreed to be in relationship with both of us.”
“There’s no rush,” Slade adds. “We just want to make sure you’re happy.” His smile turns devilish. “And fully satisfied.”
I can feel my face heating as I murmur out a stilted thank you. They settle down on the pillows, each draping an arm over my midsection. The pressure of Slade’s arm disappears, and the lamp clicks off, the darkness settling around us before his arm stretches across me once more.
Silence reigns, the boys’ breathing growing even and shallow, but my mind will not settle. Questions bounce off the walls of my brain, refusing to let me drift into sleep.
How did that even happen? My lower half was fully clothed and no one even touched me… there. I didn’t know it was possible to have an orgasm without some kind of stimulation in the lower regions.
Do these boys wield some kind of sexual super-power? Or am I just so deprived that a simple touch has me coming undone at the seams?
I realize it doesn’t matter. What just happened was glorious. All-consuming. Miraculous. My lips tug upward as both boys tighten their grip on me in their sleep.
The tempo of my breathing slows to match theirs as my body relaxes. Darkness takes over, pulling me into slumber, a smile plastered on my face.
These boys may be the death of me, but it’s a death I’ll gladly face.
27
The ding-ding-ding pulls me from slumber. I feel a strange weight, like I’m trapped, and I experience a moment’s panic before I remember where I am.
In bed. With the Madsen brothers.
“Here,” Slade murmurs, his voice husky with sleep as he rolls over and reaches for my phone on the nightstand.
I thank him as he passes the device to me, and he plants a quick kiss on my lips before snuggling back down against my side. Silas, on my other side, brushes his lips against my shoulder and tightens his arm over my waist.
I’m tempted to ignore whoever texted me and try to entice the boys into continuing what we started last night, but I don’t give into the temptation. It could be Savanna with news about Brother Earl. Or my parents.
I press the button to wake up the device and the time pops up, big numbers stretched across the screen. Barely five in the morning! This better be important.
I swipe my finger across the screen, punch in my four digit security code and tap on the icon for the texting app. Brother Earl’s name shows at the top in bold letters. I sit up quickly, earning groans of displeasure from the dozing boys.
“What is it?” Silas asks, pulling himself up to sit next to me with a yawn.
“Everything okay?” Slade cuts in before I can answer, his movements an exact copy of his twin’s.
“It’s Brother Earl,” I grit out, not sure if anger or fear will win out in the war of emotions raging through me at the sight of his name.
I tap the screen and my heart jumps up my throat. My blood runs cold and my breathing accelerates, short, fast pants that feel like the onset of hyperventilation.
The boys are talking to me, waving their arms and brushing my curls back from my face, but I can’t hear them. All I can hear is the blood rushing through my veins as my heartbeat echoes in my ears.
“Grace,” I whisper, as the phone slips from my fingers, bounces off my thigh and lands on the mattress.
Somehow, I get out of bed, leave the room and end up outside the room Savanna is sharing with the Pattons. I don’t remember how I got here, but it doesn’t matter. I lift my fist and bang the side of it against the wood. Hard.
“Savanna, let me in!” I yell when no one opens the door right away.
I rush in as soon as Jett opens the door. The tears I’ve been holding back burst free, splashing down my face as I run to Savanna, who’s climbing from the bed.
“He has my little sister,” I announce without preamble, shoving my phone in her face.
Silas and Slade hurry in and Jett closes the door softly behind them. Savanna takes the phone from me, studying the screen. I know what she sees. It’s forever imprinted on my mind. Grace, sitting in a chair, her wrists tied to the wooden arms and her eyes wide with fear.
“My idiot parents must have handed her over to them. She’s only twelve,” I say, hearing the manic tone to my voice.
“You don’t know that,” she says, hugging me tight. “Maybe Dr. Patton took her like he took my parents. Yours could be freaking out right now.”
“I don’t think so,” I argue, pulling out of h
er embrace. “I told you he has them completely brainwashed. I thought she’d be safe. They’ve never involved her with church matters before. But, they would do anything for him. Anything.”
“It doesn’t matter how he got her,” Jett interjects. “What matters is that he does have her, and we have to get her back.”
Savanna nods, agreeing with Jett. “Where are my mom and dad?”
“They decided to get their own room last night,” Silas says. “We were way too crowded in that room. I assume they’re still asleep.”
“Good,” Savanna responds, her expression thoughtful. She looks over at me. “Did he send any instructions? What do we have to do to get her back?”
“Nothing. Just this picture.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, a phone starts ringing. It’s not mine. Savanna scrambles to the night stand, snatching the device up and tapping the answer icon.
Holding the phone to her ear, she growls into the speaker, “What the hell do you want, you bastard?”
A bark of laughter echoes from the phone. I know that laugh. My hands tighten into fists as Savanna listens to his words. I think I hear my name, and that’s enough to set me off. He’s gloating. I know he is.
“Let my sister go!” I scream before the Madsen brothers cocoon me in their arms, whispering words of comfort.
“What do you want?” Savanna repeats, refusing to take the bait. He says something else before she says, “You’re going to have to spell it out for me. For all of us.”
She taps the speakerphone icon and a sigh echoes through the speaker. “Very well. I need you to meet me at the gates of the White House. Come alone, or Grace will not fare well.”
Savanna looks confused, her lips forming my sister’s name without sound, so I wave to get her attention. When she looks over, I tap my phone and mouth, “my sister.” Her face goes red as her eyebrows drop low and a snarl contorts her lips.
“Does that make you feel powerful?” she snaps. “Such a big, strong leader, threatening a child.”
“Shut up,” he barks out. “You shut your filthy Alt mouth and listen to me. You will meet me at the gates at nine this morning. Nine o’clock sharp. Do you understand me?”
“And if I don’t?”
“I will kill Grace Williams and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
Tears stream down my cheeks as I lean into Silas, who tightens his arm around my shoulder. One of my hands is gripped in Slade’s, our fingers tightly interlocked.
“We’ll get her back,” Savanna promises after ending the call, her voice filled with conviction.
“You have to,” I say, sniffing. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to her.”
“That’s the first time he’s referred to me as an Alt… like, in a derogatory way,” she says. “I’ve always had the feeling he held me above the rest. Like I was superior because he created me.”
“Well, I guess foiling his dastardly plan dropped you down to our level,” Wyatt jokes, a grin ghosting across his face before it regains its serious expression.
“We need a plan,” Silas says.
“Why don’t you head back to your room?” Jett suggests. “We all need to get dressed, then we can go grab some breakfast and strategize.”
I look around, noting that the boys are all shirtless and Savanna is only wearing a long t-shirt that hangs almost to her knees. Glancing down at myself, I cringe and cross my arms over my chest before spinning around to head for the door.
I really need to put on a bra.
Once safely back inside our room, Silas spins me around and locks his arms around me. Bending low, he whispers words of encouragement and promise, telling me we’ll get Grace back, unharmed. Slade pushes up behind me, hugging me from the back and I lean into him as his lips brush against the side of my neck.
“My brother is right,” he whispers, his breath on my ear. “We’ll rescue Grace, then get back to our lives. Together.”
I can only nod, not trusting my voice to speak. I feel like I’m drowning in emotion. Fear for my sister. Gratitude for the determination of my friends to get her back. Anger at my parents. Disgust with myself for ever being a believer in Brother Earl and the Purist movement.
If the last several days have taught me anything, it’s that the Alts are not the monsters the Divine Church of Purity makes them out to be. The church’s own leader is, by far, more evil than anyone I’ve ever met.
God would not condone the actions Brother Earl has taken in His name. I know this for a fact.
The boys release me with one last stroke along my back, one last kiss upon my head, and we move around the room in silence, gathering clothes to change into. The boys let me have the bathroom first, and I take a quick shower, brush my teeth and get dressed, all inside of fifteen minutes.
When I exit the bathroom, the boys head in and take care of their morning rituals while I sit on the bed, in silence, fear for my sister playing out grotesque images in my mind. Savanna said the president tried to use his Alts to rape her. What if Brother Earl gives my sister to him as some sort of bribe? Grace hasn’t had Savanna’s blood, as far as I know. She’s not immune.
President Worth could use her innocent body and she’d never know. I can’t breathe. I feel like throwing up. My body slips forward, darkness clouding the edges of my vision.
I find myself wrapped up in strong arms as my body lowers to the floor. Slade has me tucked against his chest, his mouth whispering comfort into my ear. I take a deep breath and brush my lips against his before pushing out of his embrace and standing.
Silas takes my hand as I steady myself, and I tug his, pulling him forward so I can kiss him, too. Slade rises from his seat on the floor.
“I’m okay,” I say, trying to ease the looks of concern etched on their faces. “Really, I am. No more basket case.”
“We never thought you were a basket case, Lizzie,” Silas says, sincerity shining from his eyes. “What you’re going through could break the strongest person. It’s okay to need help. It doesn’t make you weak.”
“You’re a lot of things, Lizzie Williams, but you’re not weak,” Slade adds, a grin tugging his lips.
Silas pulls his phone from his pocket and checks the screen. “It’s Beckett. They want us to meet them by the van, so we can go to breakfast and strategize.”
“Then let’s go,” I say, leading the way to the door.
It feels good to be doing something besides just sitting around, letting my mind conjure the darkest images, the worst-case scenarios. We’ll figure this out. All of us. Together.
“What about your parents?” Slade asks as Savanna and I take simultaneous sips from our steaming coffee mugs.
Setting down her coffee, she picks up her fork and stabs at a strawberry on her plate. “I sent my mom a text,” she admits. “I told her we had some things to do and we’d be back later.”
Savanna’s face flushes, like she’s a little ashamed she’d taken the coward’s way out, sending a vague text instead of talking to her mom in person. I’m glad she didn’t. Mrs. James would argue. Savanna would win in the end… she always does, but we just don’t have time for it right now.
“What are we going to do?” I ask, moving the eggs around on my plate.
“Well, we’re not going to let Savanna go on her own, that’s for sure,” Jett declares.
“But Brother Earl said—”
Slade grabs my hand, stopping my flow of words. I stare at our clasped hands for a moment before meeting his eyes. I see promises reflected in their silver depths. We will not fail. We will get my sister back. But we’ll do it on our terms, not Brother Earl’s. I inhale deeply and release the tension coiled inside me on the exhale.
“We’ll save her,” Savanna vows in a quiet voice.
I look at Savanna and nod. I’m scared out of my mind, but I trust her.
“Does anyone have any ideas?” Silas asks.
“I might,” Savanna says.
She st
arts talking, telling us about the press conference the president has scheduled for this morning and laying out the scheme she has concocted. All eyes are on her, everyone listening intently and offering up suggestions to improve her idea. After about an hour, we have a solid plan.
“We’re going to get Grace back,” she promises as the planning session wraps up. “We’re going to stop Dr. Patton and make sure Alts everywhere are safe.”
I believe her, because I believe in her. I believe in all of them. I believe in myself. We can do this. We can get Grace back and stop Brother Earl’s awful plan to eliminate the Alts.
We have to. There’s no other option.
28
The White House is spectacular. Seeing it on television just doesn’t do it justice. I can’t stop staring, my mouth open in awe. I glance over at Savanna and see she’s just as stupefied as I am.
The seriousness of our situation comes rushing back and I shake off my bedazzlement. Savanna needs to meet Brother Earl in an hour and we have to be ready.
Savanna shifts her weight from foot to foot before hopping up on tiptoes to see over the crowd. At her lofty height, she has a better shot than me at seeing over everyone’s heads. She gives me a thumbs up, letting me know the line for the White House tour is moving. We decided joining a tour was the easiest way to get the rest of us inside while Savanna circles back around to meet Brother Earl at the press entrance at nine.
After a quick online search, we realized getting a tour wasn’t as easy as just buying a ticket and going in. Apparently, you have to apply through your local congressman, no less than three weeks in advance of your planned visit.
So, we have to improvise.
When we finally reach the security guard, Jett persuades the people in line behind us to back away so they won’t overhear our conversation. Wyatt uses persuasion on the guard, telling him to approve our admission and give us all lanyards with V.I.P. passes in them. We can break away on our own with those, no questions asked.
“Hey!”
