“Dev, stop!” I screamed.
Caz could barely breathe, but he chuckled anyway. “You really… are… a dumbass,” he croaked.
I hopped onto Dev’s back , grabbing him by the arms. “Stop it!” I screamed in his ear.
“Listen to your wife,” Caz managed to eke out as the color drained from his face. “Oh wait…”
“Shut up!” I told Caz. I turned back to Devlin. “Let him go right now or I swear to God I’ll call the police!”
His eyes swung angrily to mine. “You’d really side with this piece of shit over me?”
I reached for his hands to peel his fingers away from Caz’s neck. “I’m not doing it for him!”
He finally released Caz and stumbled backward. I fell onto the sofa beside Caz, who coughed and sputtered as he gulped fresh air. It was my turn to ask. “You okay?”
“Peachy,” he gritted before he spit blood in the glass he had never released, even while Dev was beating the shit out of him. “It’s not the first time he’s tried to kill me. Just the most recent,” he added, glaring at Dev.
“Personally I think you’re both dumbasses!” I spat as I stomped out of the room. I returned from the bathroom with a first aid kit. I resumed my spot next to Caz and began tending to his wounds. Given how mad Dev was, and how violent the encounter, Caz only had a puffy eye with a few cuts, including a split lip, to show for it. “Looks like you should be back in fucking shape in no time,” I muttered as I cleaned out the cuts on his lip and his eye.
“Didn’t you hear me?” he said. “I quit.” He laid his head back against the sofa and closed his eyes. “Maurice is a raging homophobe. He deals exclusively with heterosexuals. Iron-clad rule.”
“And what are you?” I asked.
“Whatever gets me the most money,” he replied. Devlin choked back a disgusted chuckle as he returned to my bar, reaching for the first available bottle.
“Caz,” I frowned.
I watched as he sent Dev a look. “I’m whatever Suzanne Everhart wants me to be,” he finally admitted. And he actually had the presence of mind to look contrite about it for once. “She wants. I give. Rinse, lather, repeat.”
“She holds all the cards in his life, just like she holds the cards in everyone else’s,” Devlin supplied before he tipped yet another bottle.
“She got me the job with Maurice, knowing that he had a no-tolerance policy on homosexuality. He said it was to prevent diseases, like AIDS, but you could tell it was because gay men freaked him out. You get a little too close, he gets a little too nervous. So he surrounded himself with stallions who had only one directive: You could date whoever had the money to pay you, but it was always women only.”
“So of course Suzanne made sure he fucked guys within weeks of getting the job. On video, wasn’t it?” he asked Caz before he turned back to me. “He has to do her bidding or she’d bury him with Maurice. No Maurice, no Suzanne, no money. No Caz.”
My eyebrow arched as I glanced back at Dev. “You’re sharing stories with me now?”
He shrugged. “Not my story.” He chugged more booze.
I shook my head as I cleaned another cut. “I don’t know why you guys put up with it.”
“You don’t know what it’s like to have her hold your life in her hands,” Caz murmured.
With a scowl I applied alcohol more liberally to the open wound, making Caz gasp and pull away. “Really?” I challenged.
“Anymore,” he corrected. “Jesus,” he grumbled as he got up off of the sofa and walked to the bar. Devlin handed him another bottle.
I turned back to the mess they made of my living room. “Yes. It’s so nice knowing that she won’t have any impact on my life ever again,” I replied sarcastically before I started picking up all the stuff they’d knocked into the floor.
Apparently both men were shamed by the comment. They joined me, picking up what had been displaced or broken. They were quiet as they finally sat; Dev in my armchair and Caz back on the sofa, nursing his sore face. “Do you always have to go for the face, dude?”
“Do you always have to go for the women that belong to me?” Dev shot back.
“I don’t belong to you, Devlin,” I corrected.
“So you say,” he said quietly. “But I’m still here, aren’t I?”
I sighed. I turned to Caz, who offered a shrug. “He’s got a point.” I started to stand, but Caz pulled me back down again. “But I’m still here too. At least he’d never hit you,” he added before he took another swig from his bottle. “So which one of us is sicker?”
He looked so pathetic, practically beaten to a pulp. And yet, his ties to Dev went even deeper than mine. They were bonded by their shared history, an unintentional brotherhood. “Depends,” I finally answered his mostly rhetorical question. “Did you want to marry him, too?”
Caz chuckled. “Sorry, pussycat. Devlin isn’t my type.” He let my hand go. “Not for free, anyway.”
“So what’s this all about?” I asked them both.
Caz rested his head on the back of the sofa. “We’re shackled to the same chain gang, baby. We hate it. We hate ourselves. We hate each other. We hate her,” he added. “But the only one we can beat to shit is each other.”
“Call it a tension breaker,” Devlin supplied from his spot in the armchair. “Necessary every couple of years or so.”
I sighed as I stood and headed for the kitchen. I pulled some frozen vegetables from my freezer, and took it, along with a towel, to Caz. “You’re swelling up,” I told him.
Again he laughed. “And not in the fun way. Happy New Year’s Eve to me.” He grimaced in pain before he balanced the ice pack on his face. I studied him.
“You need some ibuprofen,” I decided.
“Allow me,” Devlin said before disappearing into my bedroom and the bathroom beyond. When he returned, he handed me the bottle of ibuprofen, and handed Caz one of my pipes and a medicinal bottle full of fragrant colorful buds of marijuana, something I had left out when I was getting ready for this ill-advised evening.
Caz perked up when he saw the paraphernalia. “Way to bring the party, pussycat,” he said as he dug into his new treat. “You might just be a bad girl after all.”
“You have no idea,” Dev said as sat on the other side of me, his arm stretched out behind me as he watched me shake out a couple of anti-inflammatories onto my palm. When I handed them to Caz, he handed off the pipe. I might have refused it, but it had been a helluva night, and I sat in between two of the most frustrating, unpredictable men I’d ever known. I was too sober for this. I needed something strong. And I needed it yesterday.
Dev turned on my sound system with the remote control before he reached for the pipe himself. We all disappeared in a thick cloud of smoke before he passed it back to us. I was finally able to relax after several huge hits, mostly because I felt the both of them relax next to me. After a few minutes, the situation didn’t even seem dangerous anymore.
Devlin leaned back against the sofa as he studied my face. “Not how I pictured this night going,” he murmured. “How about you?”
My eyes hardened. “Not how I pictured the year going.”
He brushed a stray strand of my hair from my eyes. “Me either.”
“Jesus,” Caz exhaled as he rolled his eyes. He grabbed the remote and turned to a music channel that had pulsating dance music. He dragged me up by the hand. “This is a party, for fuck’s sake.”
“Caz, I don’t want to,” I tried to protest as he pulled me to the center of my living room. Still holding the remote, he turned down all the lights courtesy of the dimmer.
“Come on, pussycat. If you wanted to stay here and feel sorry for yourself, you’d have never left.”
A dance tune by Madonna began to play, the aptly titled “Hung Up.” Caz pulled me close, his hands on my hips, to guide me through the sensual movements as we began to undulate to the music. I stole glances at Dev, who watched us from his spot in the corner of my couch.
It was the very same corner where he had been that first night, when he commanded that I strip for him. He had seduced me that night, confidently and well. My flesh responded instantly to the memory. I shuddered and looked way, focusing on Caz, who danced closely to me, grinding his hips against me, his eyes locked with mine. “Only a couple of hours left, baby,” he said. “Do you really want to spend it sad?”
The music pulsated around me, a rolling beat that made the entire room felt like it was spinning and tumbling through space. Of course, that might have been the pot. My brain had taken off somewhere around Pluto. That, combined with the alcohol I had consumed, helped me submit to the dance. I closed my eyes and just allowed myself to ride the music.
“That’s it,” Caz murmured. “Let yourself go. You know you want to.”
Again my eyes sought Dev. Maybe I was waiting for permission. Maybe I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to lose his shit again. My eyes snapped open when I realized he was no longer sitting on the sofa.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt him fall into step behind me, pinning me between both of them.
“Dev,” I started, but his mouth landed right next to my ear.
“Shh,” he shushed, and it sent an involuntary shudder all the way through my body. His hands landed on my hips just above Caz’s. They both guided my movements as we danced closely together. I shivered as Dev’s hands slid up my sides, hooking my arms on his as they curved around each shoulder to pull my arms back. Using his body he arched my back towards Caz, who danced even closer, his hands sliding up my sides until his thumbs could brush under each full breast.
Their eyes locked, and the intensity of their stare took my breath away. It was as if they communicated with no words at all, with Caz immediately followed Dev’s lead. It was as if wherever he touched, whatever he did, he had to get that silent permission first.
As if that wasn’t sexual enough, the song segued into a highly sexed Jason Derulo song. I knew I was in trouble. I was sandwiched in between two men who were professional lovers, who had virtually lived these provocative lyrics for years on end. This song, and this dance, gave them ample opportunity to show off their considerable skills. Their hips ground against me to the beat as each of them lip-synced the song. Devlin released my arms. His hands landed on my shoulders, forcing me to dance even lower, until I was nearly kneeling between them as they gyrated themselves near me, their hands on or around my head to simulate oral sex. It was dirty. It was wrong.
It was so goddamned sexy that when Dev used his hand in my hair to straighten me again, I found myself resting my head on Devlin’s familiar chest. It was almost too much.
I found my body responding to the beat, braced between them. Devlin, whose mouth rested right near my ear, dragged his lips along the sensitive line of my neck. “Ever had two men at once, Coralie?” he murmured.
I practically evaporated on the spot. After everything I’d been through, after everything they had both done, I knew I was at their mercy. I was too high. I was too drunk. I was too bitter after such a crappy, crappy few months. There had been so many moments that I just wanted to turn the clock back to when I didn’t know about Suzanne Everhart, so I just enjoy my fantasy for one minute more.
And here Dev was, like a mirage, offering me another one. A new one. A naughty one. It was one where I could be with him again, despite how high the cost. Costs like a cool $25,000, or a broken heart or shattered dreams.
These were the true costs of loving a man who might just be incapable of loving me back.
And yet… dear God, help me… it was still everything I wanted.
“No,” I finally answered in the faintest whisper.
“Don’t” by Ed Sheeran began to play.
Devlin ran his hands down my arms until he circled both of my wrists with his strong fingers. He lifted my arms straight up as he guided me from behind with his hips, pushing me against Caz, whose sizable bulge began to grow.
I shuddered hard against Dev, who whispered into my ear. “Feel what you do to him?” He lifted my hands until I spread both palms against Caz’s chest. “You’re so sexy. He can’t wait to unwrap you. To see you. To sink inside you. Isn’t that right, Caz?”
“Fuck yeah,” Caz breathed as he rubbed against me.
Dev guided my hands up over his shoulders and up his neck, trailing into his hair. “Grab his hair, Coralie,” Devlin commanded softly. “Let him know who’s boss.”
I groaned softly as I obeyed that command.
“Kiss him,” Dev instructed.
“Dev–”
His voice was the merest whisper in my ear. “Now.”
I looked up into Caz’s amber eyes. He stared in between Dev and me, as uncertain of what to expect as I was. Dev’s hands covered mine, to grab Caz’s head by the hair, and draw him closer until his open mouth covered mine.
I felt Dev grind against me to the music, still dancing as he made another man kiss me. Before I could resist, I felt Dev’s mouth clamp onto my neck. I gasped into Caz’s mouth, and he groaned in response as he pulled me closer, his hands on my hips, grinding me up against him.
I was on sensory overload. I knew I should want to stop everything, but I simply didn’t. Caz was right. I didn’t want to spend the last couple of hours of my shitty-ass year sad. I wanted to feel good.
And it felt good. It felt really good. They knew exactly what they were doing–working in harmony as though they had done this before.
I supposed that they had.
I had to shake away the instant snapshot in my brain of Dev, Caz and Suzanne together. Couldn’t I just feel good for once? Those thoughts had dogged me for so long that I had to wonder if I would ever feel good again.
If I had just started with two escorts from the beginning, maybe I wouldn’t have been so stupid as to fall in love with one. I could have had a wild fantasy and been done with it.
As if Dev could read my mind, he reached into his pocket for his phone, cuing up his own playlist. It started with a Marilyn Manson cover “Tainted Love” on a video website, which he sent to my TV through the magic of technology. The minute the heavy beat thundered through my living room and shook the walls, he ran those magical fingers down my arms and took my wrists back into his hands. “Take off his tie, Coralie.”
Again I shuddered as I complied, pulling the silk tie from around Caz’s neck. The minute it pulled free, Caz obediently wrapped it around my wrist without being told, binding me to Devlin. I watched as Caz reached behind me to untie and release Devlin’s tie, their eyes locked together as he did so, before he repeated the process on my other wrist. This was how Devlin controlled me as our dance continued. He ran my hand up Caz’s body.
“Unbutton his shirt,” Dev commanded.
His arms circled me as I obeyed, releasing every button before I slipped his shirt from his strong shoulders. Like Dev he had a deep V-cut torso, which Devlin encouraged me to explore. Through it all the dance never ended. Both men moved in response to the music, almost as if they were dancing together and I just happened to be a piece of clothing between them.
“Dance for him, naughty girl,” Devlin breathed against my ear, before he guided my hands over my body. Caz’s fingers curved around my neck, leaning in to rest his head against mine as he watched Devlin guide my hands around my full breasts and then down in between my legs. He used my hands to touch me the way he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, thanks to the restraints.
“Kiss him,” Dev murmured.
It was the only green light that Caz needed. His mouth covered mine, gently coaxing my lips apart. I might have protested had Devlin’s tongue not trailed fire around my ear, reducing me to goo like only he could. I didn’t know whose name to call, or what name to respond to. I simply melted between them.
It wasn’t fair. They were highly trained soldiers of love. I was no match for the both of them. They were commanding. Intense. In sync. They didn’t even need to say anything. It was like being held between a ma
ster and his apprentice. When Caz attacked my other ear, I knew I was hopelessly lost under their spell.
My eyes locked with Devin’s as he lifted my wrist to untie me using nothing but his teeth. He repeated the action with the other before he turned me around, backing me against Caz. My eyes widened as I watched him shrug out of his jacket. His eyes never left my face as he unbuttoned his shirt, peeling it from his shoulders before he pulled me back into his arms.
I was locked in between these two half-naked men, with no real clue what to do next, especially when I ended up pressed up against Devlin, his incredible chest under my fingers at last. Devlin curled one hand around my neck as he gyrated against me with those talented hips, his eyes locked with mine, studying me, perhaps seeing just how far he could take things.
The grandfather clock chimed in the foyer eleven times. “Only one hour left,” Devlin murmured. “What shall we do with it?”
I honestly didn’t know. I was on a cloud. In a bubble. Lost.
He trailed a finger down my neckline, leaving behind a trail of fire in its wake. “Shall we take you in that bedroom and fuck you? Or should we fuck you right here?”
I shuddered again. “Devlin,” I started with a slight shake of my hand.
“Still such a good girl,” he murmured. “Too afraid to admit you might want two men at once.”
I dug deep for a little anger, hoping either the angel or devil on my shoulders would wake the fuck up. They had a job to do and they were blowing it. Of course, that was kind of my fault. I was the one who kept them wasted as shit for the past three months. Something… anything to fill the ache losing Devlin had left in me. My eyes fluttered shut as I realized that with just a word, he could be inside of me again.
Maroon 5’s “Animals” filled the room. With widened eyes I watched him sing this brand new song to me as he continued to dance close to me, touching me everywhere but where I needed him to touch. Caz’s mouth was against my neck, his hands grinding me against his raging erection through his dress slacks, but all I could see was Devlin’s intense green eyes as they held me captive. When he sang about being inside me, it was enough to make me swoon slightly between them.
Masters Forever (Masters #3) Page 2
