“How about you, Luce? What did you tell them?” Tess asked, redirecting the attention off the twins.
It was their decision to make and nobody should pressure them.
“I’m in love with a girl. She needs my help. I want to be a hero. They charge extra for that. A stupidity tax or something, Carl said,” War answered.
Her own heart thumped hard.
“Stupid to love me? Can’t blame them for levelling the tax,” she softly whispered. “I’m worse trouble than Kade tries to make himself look like.”
“The tax is because I might not be paying enough attention to the dangers around us because I’m too busy giving you an infatuated gaze,” War said.
“Have they met you? Infatuation didn’t stop you from storming into Daniels and pulling me from danger. You’re sharp as...?”
“A tack, just say it, Pumpkin. Your love of sayings is rubbing off on the rest of us,” Kade said.
“That’s not what’s important. Luce said he loves me. I can’t be distracted until I tell it back to him,” she insisted.
She pushed up on his chest, as much as Kade’s arm would allow her, and looked War in the eyes.
“Did you tell them that the girl loves you back? You kissed her on your front step after saving her from the villain and won her heart,” Tess said.
“I love you, Tess-girl,” War simply replied.
“I love you, Luce,” she said.
They kissed. This time Kade and Keir weren’t content to sit back and let them take their time leisurely expressing their feelings with long, sweet kisses.
“I want some of that love, Pumpkin-berry,” Keir whined.
His hand found his brother’s on her back and then linked fingers over top of her.
“Both of us are in love with you, Pumpkin. Right from the very first kiss,” Kade said.
“You mean tit-nip,” Keir taunted.
“That was your fault,” Kade retorted.
Tess pulled up from her kiss with War. “Seriously? I love both of you assholes, too.”
“If you’re going to be changing nicknames, give that one to the asslicker. I’m claiming tits, as my brother has pointed out, I’ve already marked them mine accidentally,” Kade said.
Tess giggled. Tits and Ass. That had been an old joke between them.
War rolled his eyes and said something not in English. She was pretty sure it was a curse or two.
“Let me roll over, so you guys can seal our love with a kiss, too,” Tess requested.
The heavy arms and leg lifted, so she could turn over.
War wrapped his arms possessively around her. She reached her hands up and clasped his bulging biceps.
“How many of those Scottish romances have shirtless men in their kilts?” she asked.
War rumbled the answer beneath her. “All of the lads seemed to have lost their shirts or ripped them. Tragedy.”
“Close your eyes and imagine War as a curly, red-headed Princess that doesn’t want to marry and turns her mom into a bear,” Keir suggested.
She closed her eyes while laughing.
War laughed as well, sending the vibrations of his amusement through her.
“You’re never going to be able to un-see that now,” Kade said. “Keep your eyes closed.”
About a minute and some obvious movement on the bed later, two sets of soft lips brushed over her eyes first, then at the corners of her mouth. They weren’t sexy kisses. It was sweet, loving, and beautiful.
She felt tears at the corners of her eyes.
Kade and then Keir wiped away the wetness before it could fall. She could only tell which of them it had been because she’d felt Kade’s lip ring as he kissed her and remembered which side he’d been on.
They’d switched, though she had no idea why. She could guess.
“Not fair,” she whined.
“What? Can’t tell who’s who?” Keir asked.
She turned her head towards him, eyes still closed.
“I want to be selfish. Even if we’re all in love, together, I still want to kiss you and kiss Kade. Fully, not something you always have to split. No second best. Both, then one and the other. All equal.”
Keir tangled a hand in her hair and pulled her head up for an all-encompassing kiss. This wasn’t sweet. Keir demanded she open and surrender to him. He swept his tongue into her mouth and taught her not to tangle with him unless she wanted all of his intensity.
If anyone could fuck with his mouth it was Keir. He was wicked and cunning with everything he said, every spoken word thought out. His kiss was like that, each lick, suck, and swipe planned to drive her into a bundle of needy lust as she moaned and spread open under him, sucking his tongue.
When he finally pulled back from the kiss she was wet between her thighs, left with bruised lips and an impression that would never leave her.
Keir was contained passion. Only shown to her.
“Open your eyes,” Kade demanded, replacing his brother’s hand with his own fingers sweeping through her hair.
He caught a good grip and turned her to face him with her eyes wide open to take in his differences. Pierced, punked, and fierce on the outside. He was no less passionate in the stormy gaze he swept over her face. His desire was plain for anyone to see that was looking.
Kade kissed her like it was the first time all over again. Each time, he started softly as their lips touched, a hesitant engagement like he was tasting her anew. A fine whiskey or wine that he could discover nuances from each sip no matter how many bottles he’d drunk in the past. His kiss was full of wonder.
Her sexy, rebellious stranger that she’d fantasized about kissing at first sight. He let her feel the danger, rubbing that pierced lip against her lower one as he sucked her tender flesh into his mouth to nibble.
He hadn’t even stuck his tongue in her mouth yet. Kade could spend hours savouring just her lips. He’d drive her mad with his patience and restraint.
Her bad-boy at heart needed permission to be naughty. A little push.
She let go of War’s biceps to thrust her hands into Kade’s blue-tipped locks. She was much rougher with him than he was with her. She growled and yanked with her demands to be kissed harder, deeper.
Just like that, she was lifted off of War and rolled over to her back, Kade meeting her demands with everything he had been holding back.
A rapid staccato of knocking left Kade with a bitten tongue that he pulled back with a bloody curse.
“Ruby’s back with Sneaks. Hurry up. Don’t you want to see him? He’s groomed short but a super fluffy tail. I’ll tell Ruby you’ll be five minutes? Come downstairs to the backyard. We’re letting the dogs run. Ruby says she hopes you had a nice trip.”
Ashley’s nervous, rapid delivery of an invite through the door didn’t need an answer. Her sister must have left already, everything quiet on the other side.
“Love hurts,” Kade joked as she gave him a quiet apology for the accidental nip before pushing him up, off of her.
“Even-steven,” Tess told him, rising from the bed.
“Let’s go. I’ll show you the ensuite afterwards,” War said, also getting up.
Keir followed suit with an exaggerated groan.
Tess turned with her hand on the doorknob to look back at him. He was holding onto the back of his neck. She arched her eyebrows up in query.
“In case I want to ‘get even’ later. I think it’s worth at least two kisses, right?” he answered her raised eyebrows.
“What is worth two kisses?” she asked, knowing she was falling for it but unable to deny her curiosity.
“Whiplash.”
“Oh, really?” she asked, turning the doorknob. No doubt, he was going to make some sort of corny joke.
“If Ashley doesn’t stop interrupting us when we’ve got you sandwiched, I’m going to invest in a very good lock for your door.”
Tess turned tomato red.
Turned out Ashley had been quiet, but she hadn’t left.
18
Tess
Bittersweet
Tess had gone downstairs with the guys after Ashley stammered an apology to them and ran downstairs first.
Oops. Keir had run after Ashley and apologized to her for his big mouth. Lucky enough for him, he’d been able to say the right thing, getting Ashley to give an embarrassed laugh. A quick hug and they were back on good terms. That had almost been a disaster.
Tess still was as embarrassed and shy as her sister had been upstairs. Her lips felt like red flags, swollen and kiss-marked for everyone to see.
Of course, Ruby was too polite to say anything about it, although she did seem to have a twinkle in her eyes.
War had gotten hugged by his mother. Then, everyone had taken turns talking about what they’d done over the weekend. It had all been small talk, nothing serious mentioned such as why they were all hiding out at Ruby’s house.
Tess had brought up Maddy, awkwardly.
Ruby promised Mom was coming home soon. She was doing much better. Ruby even handed Tess a big raisin-oatmeal cookie she’d gotten from the hospital cafeteria stash after Maddy had told Ruby how much Tess liked them.
Tess stuffed the cookie gratefully in her mouth to hide her lips, glad Ruby didn’t mention anything about her son or the other guys. Ruby acted as if Tess was just another one of War’s friends, one of the boys. Not a girl War was sleeping with or someone that had laid all of her dangerous problems at her barely-adult son’s feet.
Ruby made Tess feel comfortable enough to relax. It wasn’t the first time she’d done so for her.
Unfortunately, just like last time at the hospital, with the scratches on her mother’s back, Ruby had something unpleasant she needed to discuss with Tess. It had nothing to do with the guys, and Ruby said Tess ought to hear it first before the kids.
Ruby took Tess aside, to another room in their massive house. A comfortable one with a daybed that was a giant swing hanging from the ceiling. Lacey canopy, a flushed-pink paint on the walls, and a white desk with a brocade wingback chair made Tess surprised when she heard this was Mr. Stewart’s office.
“He likes to make sure I’m comfortable enough to work here too when he’s home. We can spend hours together in here,” Ruby confessed.
Tess took a seat on one of the chairs grouped for discussion in the front of the room. It was similar in set-up to the office where the security guys had their operations, even the sunken-in seating and a fireplace on the front wall.
The back of the office seemed more a private place for Ruby and Grayson. This was a place for others to sit and talk.
Ruby joined her. They both waited a moment.
“Tell me,” Tess invited.
Ruby smiled, held her hands out for Tess to clasp, leaning forward. The story came out slowly.
Ruby focused on what Maddy had said was the most important.
Her mother was making decisions. It was Tess’s first clue that things had changed as quickly for her mother as they had for Tess over the weekend.
Maddy wanted to make sure everyone was safe.
The hospital was aware of the concerns War and Ruby had raised regarding Greg. Bastion had tipped the scales when he talked to her mother during his visit before their island trip. He told Maddy that Tess and the kids were in trouble and they needed their mother back.
Tess wasn’t sure how she felt about Bastion being so up-front with her mother, but she couldn’t question the results. The news had snapped Maddy back to her parental role: the need to protect her children no matter what the cost.
It meant giving herself up.
Maddy had confessed to Ruby about getting mixed-up in some small drug-dealing under coercion from Rachel. It turned out her mother hadn’t actually sold drugs, but she turned a blind eye to deals that were arranged between customers and Rachel.
Maddy was the reluctant middle man.
Her mother had even paid Rachel a fee in a bizarre turn-around. Thirty dollars every week or a new customer.
Usually, her mother paid the thirty dollars as long as she could afford it. The customer base had been drying up because of Maddy’s reluctance to have anything to do with drugs.
Rachel should have known to expect that from an ex-alcoholic. They were always the first to recognize the potential for addiction and did anything to avoid associating with those falling off the wagon.
Retrospective insight and self-preservation outweighed friendship.
Not that Rachel was ever a friend.
Maddy had started in order to keep Greg away from the kids. Rachel had found them first, running across Maddy at the grocery store by a stroke of bad luck. Maddy turned down Rachel’s first business proposal, but Daddy’s Girl knew how to dig her way into any potential goldmine.
Rachel followed Maddy to the townhouse and knocked on the door, just like that fateful afternoon Tess had seen Rachel screaming at her mother a few years ago at their apartment.
Maddy would have known that she was lost before Rachel opened her mouth. Unlike Tess, her mother couldn’t send the younger kids away to keep them safe. So her mother had done the only thing she could: sell herself.
Her morals, the decency she had fought to re-enact once Greg had been kicked out.
That bitch had scratched Maddy’s back, digging her claws in when she couldn’t bleed anymore from her broken mother. It had sent Maddy over the deep-end when Rachel threatened that she was going to tell Greg to go after the kids instead.
Go after Tess.
That threatening remark about taking it out on her baby-pussy hadn’t been so thoughtless, after all. Rachel had meant it. Planned for it.
Would have done it sooner if Maddy hadn’t done what she had before she broke.
The talk with Ruby was kind but brutal at the same time, hearing what really had happened. There was no easy way for Ruby to tell it.
Tess cried. She got blotchy and her nose needed a lot of tissues.
Ruby probably thought it wasn’t all that far off from the first time she’d seen Tess.
The nurse was stoic though, until Tess had asked for War and the other guys to come into the room so they could hear it, too.
War had taken one look at the sob-story on Tess’s face and rushed to her side. He’d sat on the chair, only big enough for him, so he’d picked her up and put her on his lap. Then, he’d crooned in that Scottish accent a little lullaby.
Tess hadn’t understood a word but she quieted.
Ruby teared up. She sat back in her chair and gave them space.
The rest of the guys had walked into the room with emotional landmines exploded all over the place.
Her guys didn’t hesitate to go to her, even Bastion, who she’d thought had enough talking about emotions during sex earlier.
Lovemaking. She better call it what it had been.
Didn’t matter if it had been steamy and a bit raunchy. Bastion had treasured her, their joining, marking their first time fully together with tender, heartfelt words.
If he could open up to her, then shouldn’t she do the same for all of them?
“Mom’s coming home,” Tess said, then a hiccup.
That always happened when she cried hard.
Kade walked over, putting a hand on her shoulder and looking at her first and then to Ruby.
“Does Doc Mike think it’ll be okay?” Kade asked.
“He feels she needs to be home. A long stay in the hospital is rarely good for patients or their families. The kids are missing her something awful,” Ruby answered.
Keir came to Tess’s other side. He sat down in front of their chair and leaned his head back against her thigh on top of War’s lap. Pulling her arm around his neck, he sighed and settled.
“When is Maddy coming home? We should get things ready for her,” Keir said.
“Likely this week,” Ruby answered.
Tess hadn’t gone over the details yet with her, but she was glad Keir thought to ask. There were things they had to get done i
f Mom was coming home.
“Maddy took your advice,” Tess said, shooting Bastion a look.
She had to crane her neck as he was almost behind her. He had come close, but all the other guys were crowding around her. He seemed to be maintaining some polite distance, like he was taking a turn or something.
Bastion didn’t mince words.
“To come home?” he asked. More like confirmed.
“Yeah. Did you tell my mother that we needed her?” Tess asked.
“I told her the truth. She doesn’t want lies.”
Tess thought about Maddy’s ‘little girl’ act.
Was that actually a cry for help? Did she purposefully behave aberrantly to get the attention she needed, so someone would look deeper at what was wrong?
Tess tipped her head right back on War’s shoulder and looked at Bastion upside-down.
“Thank you,” she told him.
Bastion leaned over the chair from behind and kissed her like that, still sitting on War’s lap and one arm wrapped around Keir, her other shoulder under Kade’s warm touch.
Ruby saw it all.
“Your Da was right. He’s gonna brag about his instincts or some other men are smarter nonsense when he claims he figured it out first at dinner next week.”
Tess shrank down from Bastion as Ruby spoke, like a puppy slinking away from evidence of the mess she’d made right in front of the owner.
Bastion turned his head to look at Ruby.
“As if you didn’t know?” Bastion asked.
Ruby chortled and slapped herself on the thighs.
“I knew she was right for Kade, but I selfishly wanted that sweet fighter to see my handsome boy for the prize all those cheerleaders seem to be missing. Guess I got my wish?”
“And then some,” Kade replied.
“You know how we’re the Musketeers at school?” Keir asked.
Ruby hmm’d her agreement.
“That’s how this started. Now, it’s something more,” War explained. “I hope I have your permission, just like Da’s, to date Tess along with her other beaus. We’re good at not fighting about it. Good for each other.”
“You all need each other,” Ruby agreed. “There’s been a lot of hurt. Friends stick together. You’re young enough that I don’t think they’ll be that many comments about openly dating more than one boy, ‘less Tess flashes that ring around school.”
Duplicity (Victory Lap Book 2) Page 32
