Warden shook his head. “Just when you think someone can’t surprise you.”
12
I was naked on a table, my arms stretched over my head and my wrists tied together. If that wasn’t strange enough, Trace seemed to be dripping sauce on my stomach and licking it off. Seemed was the key word since Judson had told me to close my eyes and I’d listened to him. I couldn’t really see what they were doing to me, but oh fuck could I feel it. In every pore of my body.
He was smart to tell me to do this. Otherwise, I’d have been worrying about each of them. Was Warden misusing his arm? Was Trace doing too much? Was Judson okay with what was happening? But they were adults and capable of making decisions about what they should and shouldn’t have been doing. I couldn’t look or interfere.
All I could do was enjoy.
A mouth pressed to mine, and I knew it was Trace. His lips were thinner than Warden’s or Judson’s. He tasted like barbecue spareribs, and it might have been my very favorite taste ever. He fluttered his fingers over my stomach, running them up toward my breasts.
“You are so beautiful.” He stopped kissing me just long enough to whisper in my ear. “I wondered some nights if I’d made you up.”
He slid his hand up to cup my breasts. My nipples hardened. I could hardly think.
“I can’t see you right now, but I know you’re still just as gorgeous as ever, Trace.” I smiled, hoping that would push down some of the cheese of what I’d just said. Maybe it would just be better if I didn’t talk.
Warden caught my attention, running a finger over the outside of my pussy. “You are, Everly.” His voice boomed through the room. “I feel lucky that I even get to look at you.”
He kissed one of my inner thighs and then the other. I squirmed, and he laughed, putting his hand on my knee to drag them wider. His mouth returned to the spot he’d kissed last, and he ever so slowly kissed his way toward my core, staying just beyond where I wanted him.
Not being able to see him was sweet torture.
I ached everywhere. My nipples burned, my stomach clenched, every part of my body begged for attention. The stubble on his cheeks cut into my skin—even if I missed the fullness of his beard—and I loved the feeling.
“You guys might be trying to kill me.” I squirmed again. It was getting harder and harder to stay still. Judson laughed somewhere nearby on my left. He must have been watching this whole thing. “Jud, how are you going to participate in this? You’re not getting any foreplay from me.”
His second laugh sounded deeper. “I assure you, watching you squirm and get turned on is an incredible aphrodisiac for me. I’ll be good and ready. You’re wearing my tie and that is… beautiful.”
We were throwing the b word around a lot, and I didn’t mind at all. Particularly because they were using it to describe me. I smiled at my own vanity. Sometimes I did need to have my ego stroked just like the rest of me. They should think I was beautiful if they were all going to fuck me.
Warden pressed his tongue inside of me, and I cried out, surprised by the contact. Distracted by all the different sensations, he actually caught me by surprise. My sound was half shock, half pleasure. It was possible to have both, and I’d never known that before.
Continuing as he was, Warden licked the length of my pussy until he stopped just over my clit. He paused there like he wanted to torture me. In fact, I was pretty sure he did want that just knowing Warden the way I did. I could practically picture his self-satisfied smile as he tormented me.
He flicked his tongue over my clit, and I cried out again, this time grabbing onto the table as though it could somehow offer me support. Still, the wood did nothing to help me, and as he massaged my clit again with his tongue, I had no choice but to ride the wave of pleasure threatening to take me under.
I arched on the table, unable to stop the motion, and Trace bit down on my nipple, adding a bite of pain to the whole experience. I was in sensory overload. I couldn’t tell one moment from the next. Trace let go of my breast and his mouth was suddenly on mine. He kissed me like he owned me, and I knew with Trace that wasn’t an exaggeration. He would if he could.
As he pushed his tongue against my own, we started a battle of mouths. It was funny to think of Trace that way, but even as he loved me, it would always be a war of the wills with each other. He wasn’t easy, and he never would be.
“All right, guys. You’ve got her ready. If you can’t do it, and I don’t think either one of you should physically try right now since I’m really not in the mood to redo your stitches, then get out of my way and let me.”
Warden grumbled something I couldn’t make out, and I heard a chair screech, indicating he’d moved backward. Trace let go of my mouth. “The next time we do this I’m going to be at full stamina and there is no way I’m giving you up.”
“The next time you do this you can damned well be alone with her. If you bring me into it, I’m never leaving her alone.” Judson’s voice was hard, determined. “Keep those eyes closed, Everly. I want you feeling things, not thinking about them.”
With my hands tied the way they were, I simply wanted to obey Judson. I knew it was strange that one episode of this, which was all we’d ever had, triggered such a response from me but there it was. Maybe it was just easier to do so, considering he wasn’t telling me to do anything that wouldn’t give me pleasure in the end.
The wood of the table dug into my back, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. I was already sort of floating through a haze of pleasure. Judson moved over me. The heat of his body struck me before I became aware of the slight pressure in the places where he already touched me. He pressed his lips to mine.
Judson’s mouth was sweet. He reached down and stroked his finger once over the outside of my pussy. “Look how wet you are, Everly. I love it.”
I smiled. “I love it, too.”
He laughed, and it was a joyful sound. Judson was so rarely like that I almost wished I could open my eyes to see it on his face. But that would spoil this and I wanted it to last. I had to remember to keep my eyes closed.
He pressed himself inside of me, stretching me as he went. I bit down on my lip, and he rubbed his thumb over it just as he pushed all the way in. “Don’t do that. Give us your noises. They’re ours. Like you are ours.”
Judson pulled out and then drove back inside of me, pressing his cock against my clit as he did. It sent jolts of pleasure through me, and I came off the table, banging my sensitive tits into his chest. Pleasure zapped through me.
He repeated the motion, driving harder into me. It was hard not to touch him, hard to keep my eyes closed. But as he slid in and out of my body, I managed. I was primed and this wasn’t going to take long.
“Everly, open your eyes and look at me.”
Oh, it was such a relief. The light over his head was almost blinding, but a second later my vision cleared. It was impossible to look away from Judson. He stared at me with a mixture of adoration and what almost looked like anger in his gaze. I held his gaze in my own, refusing to look away, and after a minute it softened. Whatever he’d needed to see from me, he’d gotten.
I came fast and unexpectedly. I had no warning it was about to come. One second I reveled in pleasure and the next I exploded from the onslaught, with no build up to alert me to prepare. I dug my hands against each other, jerking against Judson.
He tensed, every muscle in his body reacting as he came inside of me. My heart beat so loudly in my ears that I couldn’t hear past it. I pressed my forehead against him, knowing that it broke the touching rule but not really giving a shit right then. I closed my eyes. The world was going to have to wait until I could hear again.
* * *
I sort of drifted after that. Judson undid my wrists, bringing my arms around his neck. I guessed he wanted me to hold onto him, and I did. A minute later he’d scooped me up and brought me over to the couch. My back appreciated the relief from the table. That was fun but now that real life intruded on this moment, I
didn’t need to have the wood digging into my skin anymore. I curled up on him, my head in his lap as he stroked my hair.
“Long day,” Judson said. I wasn’t sure to whom, but soon Warden sat down, my legs in his lap. Trace wasn’t far. I could hear him picking things up off the floor. That had to hurt, but he was capable of deciding what he wouldn’t do.
“You all right, Evy?” Warden squeezed my feet.
I managed to nod. “A little overwhelmed I think but otherwise fine. Are you? I can get up and take care of you and Trace. I can…”
He shook his head. “Stop it. I was glad I got to participate at all. Not sure I could do more right now. Leave it. I’ll look forward to a date not too far in the distant future.”
All right, that sounded fine. I decided to lie there just like that. There was nowhere to go, nothing to worry about.
“You always tie her hands like that?” Trace set a glass of water in front of me.
Judson shook his head. “Nope.”
I guessed that was the end of that conversation. I hadn’t dwelled on it, but Judson must have really been embracing the whole trusting each other thing to show them that he did that at all. Now that I was thinking, sort of, it was an interesting thing to consider. Had tying my wrists this time with the other two here asserted his dominance over the whole thing?
Internally, I shrugged. I didn’t really care. “You’re wrong, you know.”
Judson turned his head to stare down at me. “Me?”
“What you said to me. You’re wrong.” I might not have been making a whole shit ton of sense here, but I understood myself perfectly well.
“Which part?” He smiled down at me. “You’re going to have to refresh my memory. The last hour is somewhat of a haze. Either that or I have post-coital haze coming over me.”
Warden snorted. “Look at Judson using the fancy words for fucking her.”
Judson ignored him, keeping his attention on me. He needed an answer so I gave him one. “You said I belonged to you. To all of you. I don’t. I absolutely don’t belong to any of you but you all belong to me.”
There, I’d said it. Now they could all understand.
He nodded. “I think that’s probably true, Everly Marrs. Close your eyes. You’re rambling.”
I did just that.
* * *
I stood on top of a hill overlooking a valley down below. The wind picked up, blowing my white skirts up so that I had to push them down before I gave a show of my panties to anyone watching. I knew that I was asleep, and yet I didn’t know it at the same time. Such was the nature of dreams. I smiled at my ridiculous thought.
“Everly.” Trace ran to me. He wore his signature black, and he was healed. His color was good. What was he doing on this hill with me? Before I could ask him, he extended his hand and I took it. His hands were smooth, the way that Trace’s always were. He didn’t do a lot of labor that required his hands to toughen up. Kade’s were different, rougher. That was funny. I’d never thought about either of those things before.
He spoke again. “We have to go. You know that right? This was a temporary reprieve, but real life is coming. And we all have our roles to play.” He passed me a gun. Where had it come from?
I stared down at the weapon, feeling the weight of it in my hand. I was so comfortable holding it that it practically fused itself to my fingers as though it was part of my body.
“Everly,” Derrick called my name. He stood in the center of the other four. Trace stepped away from me, joining the others. They were all lined up.
I tilted my head to the side. It was funny. I should have been feeling something right now. Some emotion should play into this and yet there was… nothing. When it came down to it, I really had become nothing.
I lifted my arm and fired.
I sat up in bed, panting. My ears rang and sweat broke out all over my body. I had… I had fired at the Letters.
“Hey.” A cool hand touched my face, and I turned to find Trace next to me in the bed. He blinked awake, and his eyes weren’t clear. The room was bathed in sunlight, making it easy to see. “You okay?”
His voice was slightly slurred. He must have pretty recently taken a pain pill. Either that or he was feeling discomfort much more acutely. I wiped at my face. “Yes, sorry. Bad dream.”
He snuggled back down. “You were out of it last night, and you didn’t budge. I had to practically pay Judson off with promises of future favors to get to stay with you. He thought I might disturb you if I ended up in pain. Well, I didn’t. So he can suck it.”
I ran my hand over his cheek, feeling the stubble there. “I’m going to get up. You can sleep longer.”
“Just a little bit more.”
I nodded. “Get some rest.”
The house buzzed with noise as I padded my way down the hallway toward the kitchen. Kade was back. He’d made a mess of the table, covering it in equipment and that was fine. After last night’s adventure, I wasn’t sure we should eat on it anymore. Maybe it would be our useful table instead of our dining table. There were some things that couldn’t be disinfected enough.
He looked up as I approached and grinned. “Hey, gorgeous. You were out of it last night, big time. Judson put you to bed and you didn’t even budge. You okay?”
“I’m good.” I smiled, walking into his embrace for a hug. “Is there coffee?”
“Warden made it when he got up. He’s outside starting what Judson called gentle physical therapy. Apparently something last night made him get motivated to push on with the healing process?” He raised a dark eyebrow, and I pinched him, which evoked a laugh.
So far, it had been an easy morning. I didn’t trust those. Not after my dream. I’d lifted my arm and fired. Who had I hit?
“Is Derrick back?” I looked around. I hadn’t seen him, but Warden and Judson weren’t here either. Just Kade and his computer plus the turned on television. He might be back.
Kade kissed my cheek. “Not yet, but he isn’t due yet. Want me to get in touch with him about what happened?”
“What happened?” I hadn’t followed his train of thought.
He blinked. “The drug addicts you had to get rid of. Don’t worry on that. No evidence you were ever there.”
“Oh.” I winced. “Kade… I’m not normal. Shouldn’t I still be thinking about it? The two days you and Warden described. Two days to feel it? I don’t. Not a thing.”
He pressed his forehead to mine. “I don’t feel it anymore. Derrick doesn’t. Maybe you just got there faster. The place where the value of human life is so small you don’t give a shit whether most people live or die. Let me ask you, would it upset you if I died?”
My mouth fell open. “Are you kidding? It would end me.”
“Then you’re not incapable of feeling. You just value people differently. Some people count, some people don’t. You have a circle, and you decide who’s in it.”
That rang very true for me, and I wasn’t sure I liked it. By the same token, I wasn’t sure there was a damned thing I could do about it. “That’s not who I was.”
“You should kiss that old version of yourself goodbye. She’s gone, and she’s not coming back. If it means anything, I love this version of you something hard.”
I pinched him again. “Yeah, but you’re an Alliance psychopath so what does that make me?”
“Takes one to know one, my love.”
I supposed he was right. I didn’t need to keep banging my head against things, worrying about what I did and didn’t feel. This was who I was. And I liked her just fine.
I chewed on my lip. After coffee, I knew I’d forget about that stupid dream. It was time to get the caffeine in me fast.
* * *
Derrick came through the door that afternoon as we were all crowded around Kade’s electronics, trying to make sense of what he was doing. The idea had been that we’d all wear a small button on our clothes that sent a signal to confuse the satellites. We’d essentially look like someone else.
Then we could go wherever we wanted.
I thought it sounded like genius, but Warden thought Kade was biting off more than he could chew even if he did invent the programs for the satellites to begin with.
Kade didn’t seem to care one bit what anyone thought. Actually, he was hardly communicating at all. This was Kade totally focused on what he was doing. Completely absorbed in his work…
Who would they have all been if there hadn’t been any Alliance?
Derrick’s arrival distracted us. I rushed over to him, bringing him into a tight hug. “You’re back.”
He kissed my hair. “You missed me.”
I loved how he didn’t ask but informed me. “Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t.”
“She killed two people,” Trace offered as he passed us walking into the kitchen.
“That so?” Derrick kissed my hair. “They’re dead. You’re not. Successful time for our side.”
He stepped away from me. “I have some news, and, Kade, I’m going to need your help with it if you can pull yourself away from that.”
Kade looked up. “I can.” He set down whatever piece of machinery he was using. “For now. What’s going on?”
Trace came out of the kitchen and Derrick crossed to the couch before he sank down on it. “My contacts helped a tremendous amount. Marcus’ people reached out to several assassins.” He shook his head. “But no one wants to deal with him. They’re all holding out for us to come back, particularly since the word got out that you are back in play, Evs. That said, there are some people who will always take work because they either need the money or they need the kills to just be okay in their head. Certain amount of sanctioned killing so they don’t go on a rampage.”
That sounded like some ridiculous movie, and yet here we were dealing with it as absolute truth. “Okay. So they found some people.”
“They did, and you two,” he pointed at Warden and Trace, “can thank your lucky stars they got who they did because otherwise you’d be dead.”
Deadly Truths: Kiss Her Goodbye #3 Page 14
