by L. E. Bross
~
X poked his head in just after midnight to let us know he and Ry were back. Neither came into my room though. Baz insisted on sleeping alone. I slept fitfully and got up more than a dozen times to tiptoe around the house, making sure the guys were okay.
I heard noises outside my room throughout the night and figured they were doing the same.
I wake up groggy and unrested, but I’m supposed to work this morning, so I climb into the shower to wash away the sleeplessness. As I get ready, I wonder if I should be worried yet. Has Peter had time to find out that Baz turned over the chip? Enough time to find someone to come after me again? Ry might be worried about me, but what about them? Peter is going to be livid when he finds out what Baz did; if he doesn’t know already.
I can’t believe he’s been keeping tabs on us this whole time.
My face is paler than usual when I look in the mirror, but a careful layer of foundation brings my complexion back to normal. I choose a sleeveless shirt that has a high collar to hide the bruises on my neck.
When I step out of my bedroom, Baz is waiting in the hall.
“I’m going with you.”
He isn't asking and honestly, I feel better not having to walk to work alone. I kind of don’t want them out of my sight either. I grab a cup of coffee in the kitchen and am leaning on the island sipping it when X stumbles out of his room.
“You got her today?” he asks Baz, grabbing a mug for himself.
“Yeah. Plan on hanging around till she’s done.”
X nods.
I watch the exchange with my eyebrows lifted.
“She’s standing right here and I don't remember anyone consulting me on what sounds a lot like babysitting.”
They both shrug.
“It’s not up for discussion,” Baz says.
I stomp my foot. “I’m a grown-ass adult.”
X lifts one eyebrow and stares down at where my bottom lip is sticking out.
“Fine, but you can’t do this for the rest of my life, you know.”
The challenge on both their faces makes me groan. They would. I wouldn’t put it past them.
“We don't even know if he knows yet.”
“He will by today,” Baz says. “They’ll want to charge him right away.”
So soon? I ignore the way the back of my neck prickles. I guess it’s better to know for sure. So I know to start looking over my shoulder now.
“You ready? Shift starts in twenty.”
I swing around and glare at Baz. How the hell does he know when I start work…unless he called Kaylee? I open my mouth then snap it shut. X’s chuckle makes me want to throw my cup at him, but I’m not wasting perfectly good coffee on his smug ass.
“We are going to discuss this later,” I tell both of them sternly. “It’s called ‘personal space’.”
“Ooh, can we have personal space naked?” X quips, light dancing in his eyes.
I glare at him until he throws his arms up and goes back to his room.
“You’ll cave. You’ll beg for all this, mark my words,” he calls out over his shoulder.
“Seriously,” I tell Baz as I grab my purse. “I have a job. I can’t work with you hovering all day. How long are you planning on doing this?”
He grunts and trails behind me.
∞∞∞
The answer turns out to be one week.
That’s how long it took for Ry to start speaking to Baz again. Once they re-bonded over keeping me safe, they’ve all been hanging out at the cafe while I work. Apparently school, work, and racing aren’t important anymore.
Sav loves it.
She’s asked at least a dozen times for verification that they are all my boyfriends. I’ve heard her mutter lucky bitch more times than I’ve screwed up an espresso. That’s a lot, by the way.
Payback is me making the guys drink my messed-up coffee. If they’re going to sit there, they’re going to make themselves useful. But even useful things can get old. As much as I love seeing their faces for six hours a day at work, then all night at home, it can’t go on forever.
The Feds have been keeping Peter isolated while he awaits trial. He’s not allowed phone calls or visitors. There hasn’t been any sign that I might be in danger.
My boys need to back off a little because I’ve almost reached my breaking point. If I thought I was lonely before, well, I’m suffocating now.
There has got to be some middle ground we can find where we all get what we want.
I know they’re worried about Nate too, but the last time Baz checked in with Agent Starett, we found out he’d been arrested in Mexico for trying to smuggle drugs out of the country. The cartel takes that shit seriously down there, I’ve heard. I don't think he’ll be a problem anymore.
Early Friday morning, I shift in bed and shove X’s arm off me, trying to roll over. Baz is wedged against my other side. Boundaries. Yeah, there aren't any now. I’m either in bed with Ry or trapped between Baz and X most nights.
All three of them are cover hogs, too.
It feels like I’ve barely settled and closed my eyes when a phone buzzes me awake. Sunlight filters in between the curtains. Maybe I did get a little sleep.
“I called you in sick,” X mumbles beside me. “Don’t answer it. It might be a pastry emergency.”
I snort out a laugh and lean across to see.
“Baz.” I nudge him with my elbow. “It’s you.”
“The fuck time is it?” he grumbles, slapping his hand down on the nightstand until he lands on his phone. He rolls to his back, offending phone to his ear. “What?”
I can hear a man’s voice but can’t make out what he’s saying. It doesn't help that X is running lazy circles over my hip. As Baz listens, his body grows stiffer.
“I understand. Thank you for letting me know.”
He drops the phone on the stand and lies there, staring up at the ceiling.
“Get Ry,” he finally says.
I’m not sure if it’s the tone of his voice or something else, but X rolls onto his back and yells Riot’s name.
“Get your ass in here.”
Not thirty seconds later Ry stumbles in, rubbing his eyes. His boxers hang low on his hips and I admire the view until Baz speaks.
“Peter’s dead.”
Shock echoes around the room and Ry sinks down onto the foot of the bed.
“That was Agent Starett. They were getting ready to move Peter to a higher-security prison because of some death threats. They found him this morning. His cell was still locked. No one saw anything and no one is claiming responsibility.”
“It’s not like he didn't piss a lot of people off,” X says.
“He was going to make another deal. It looks like someone wanted to stop him.”
We sit in silence for several long seconds.
It seems almost sacrilegious to celebrate a murder, but with it comes freedom.
“It’s over?” I say out loud.
Baz turns to me and a relieved smile turns his lips up.
“It’s over.”
Chapter Nineteen
Ever
We spend the day on the couch watching Walking Dead reruns. We eat, laugh, and pick apart how unrealistic it would be for the undead to actually be walking around.
Then an argument starts over who’d be the most useful in a zombie apocalypse. I end it by telling them it would obviously be me. They refuse to argue with me on that point.
By the time darkness falls outside, I’m draped over X, content as a cat while Baz rubs my feet. Ry gets up to get more drinks, but when he comes back he doesn’t have drinks and he doesn't sit.
He stands in front of the TV, dark eyes watching me.
“What?” I ask when Baz reaches for the remote and turns the screen off, leaving the room lit only by dim light from the hall. “What’s going on?”
“We have a problem,” X whispers in my ear.
“We do?” I inhale harshly when his hands wander over my sto
mach and up over my breasts. I know he can feel the way my nipples pebble instantly at his touch. A low groan echoes in the room when his thumbs brush over both peaks.
Except for that morning on the kitchen island, none of the guys have tried to have sex with me. I sleep in their beds every night, but not a single dick is to be had. I have three boyfriends and should be getting my rocks off every damned night.
“See, we can’t decide who gets to have you first, because we all fucking need you.” His lips press against my neck and my head falls to the side.
My breath hitches when he nips an extra sensitive spot.
“We decided that we’d all have you together this time. To make it fair and all.”
Ry is still standing still only a few feet in front of me, watching, but Baz slides off the couch to kneel between my legs.
“We need to make sure you know how important you are to all of us. We want to show you.” He leans over me, taking my mouth in a searing kiss that I feel all the way to my toes. “Will you let us?”
I swallow thickly and nod.
Hands reach the hem of my shirt and start to ease it upwards, but I have no idea which one of them is doing it. When my stomach is bare, my shirt is pulled up and over my head.
Since I didn’t put on a bra after my shower, my breasts are exposed. I almost come when X cups one and Baz closes his mouth over the nipple.
“Oh god.” I arch up and try to wind my arms around Baz, but my wrists are trapped and then pulled over my head. My fingers lace behind X’s neck and the angle pushes my breasts out even more.
Baz groans and I feel the vibrations against sensitive skin.
“You look so fucking hot.” X’s warm breath washes over my ear and then his tongue traces the delicate shell.
I am in sensory overload and they’ve barely begun.
I cry out and dig my nails into X’s neck when Baz shifts and closes his teeth around the other pebbled peak. An ache starts between my thighs but I can’t close them to create friction—not when Baz is wedged between them.
“Doesn’t she look like a fucking wet dream,” I hear X ask and it takes a moment to realize that Ry has moved closer. He’s watching as X cups my exposed breasts, rolling the tip between his fingers.
For all his assertive arrogance, this is one area where Ry hangs back. I know he’s not entirely comfortable with sharing me, even though he loves his brothers.
After all the shit we’ve gone through, we need to be connected. All of us. Because we are together, and nothing and no one will ever come between us again. However, I won’t push him—this has to be his decision, and I will respect whatever he chooses to do.
I love them all. That won’t change even if I have to bed-hop every night for the rest of my life.
Ry looks up and catches my stare.
Behind the reluctance, I see fire burning in his eyes. The bulge in his pants proves he isn’t immune to what he’s seeing. I suddenly find I have a new appreciation for grey sweatpants.
I loosen one hand and reach out to him. He immediately threads his fingers with mine and as if planned, Baz and X clamp down on both nipples, causing me to cry out at the explosion of pain and pleasure that shoots through my entire body.
Ry groans and the couch shifts as he puts one knee next to me and plants his free hand on the back of the couch. His lips are on mine and I open eagerly, tongues coming together in a dance that steals my breath.
X nibbles up the side of my neck as Baz releases my nipple with a pop and starts to kiss his way down my stomach.
I’m pretty sure I’m the luckiest fucking woman in the entire world right now. I let go of Ry’s hand so I can trail my fingers down his rock-hard chest. When I get to the V between his hips, I trace lower.
He never stops kissing me and I swallow his moan when I caress him through the fabric. His hips move slowly, like he’s savoring every second of my touch.
X cups both my breasts and teases my nipples as Baz slides my sleep shorts down my legs. With him still between my legs, I’m spread open and bared to him. I’m sure he can see how turned on I am.
“God, you are so fucking beautiful,” I hear him say, then he drags a finger up through the wetness to circle my clit.
I cry out and Ry swallows the sound with a groan of his own. My fingers tighten around his dick, his sweatpants the only material between us. He’s moving his hips now, thrusting against my touch.
X keeps whispering in my ear, asking me how it feels to have so many hands on my body, so many mouths. I’m burning up from the inside, the inferno raging hotter and hotter with every touch.
Baz closes his lips over my clit, then I feel the steel ball rolling circles over my swollen, sensitive flesh. I rip my mouth from Ry, already on the verge of orgasm from all the attention.
“Oh god.”
I try to close my legs but X takes one thigh and Ry the other and they keep me open as Baz devours me. X wraps his free arm around my ribs and keeps me pinned in place against his chest as I climb closer to release.
“Please…fuck…I need…”
Fingers caress my cheek and in a daze, I look up and meet Ry’s hungry stare.
“We got you, Peep. Let go, let us make you feel good.”
A whimper rushes from between my lips and Ry dips his head, pulling an overly sensitive nipple into his mouth. Baz eases two fingers inside me and starts to pump slowly, never pausing the agonizingly slow circles on my clit.
The build toward climax ratchets up as Ry nips and soothes.
“You look so hot, about to explode all over Baz’s tongue,” X whispers hotly in my ear. “You want to come for him, sweetheart? You want him to make you feel so good?”
Baz circles faster and my legs start to shake. My eyes drift closed and I give in to pure sensation. I feel their touches everywhere. Baz crooks his fingers and hits that spot inside me and suddenly I’m right there, teetering on the edge.
“I’m going to come,” I pant.
“God I can’t wait to be inside you when you do that again. And maybe, one of these days, you’ll take all of us at the same time, feel us all inside you, connected as one.”
His words send me over the edge. Bright white light flashes over my vision and my body bows tight as the most intense orgasm of my life crashes over me. I buck against Baz’s fingers and tongue, not sure if the ringing in my ears is the echo of my own screams.
Mini shocks wreck me even as Baz withdraws his fingers. X holds me tight and I’m so limp, I can’t even close my legs when Baz moves aside. The inside of my thighs are slick and the fresh air feels cool.
I didn’t even notice that Ry wasn’t there anymore until I force my eyes open. He’s the one between my legs now, his eyes blacker than I’ve ever seen them. He’s got his engorged dick in his hand, moving slowly up and down the length.
“Do you want him?” X asks, breathing hot air into my ear.
When I nod, he loosens his hold and eases me forward until my ass is perched on the edge of the couch. I can feel X’s erection digging into my back, my ass cradled between his thighs, but he makes no move to leave.
When he slides his hands down my outer thighs, I’m not sure what he’s doing until he hooks behind my knees and raises them toward my chest and sits back. My eyes widen when I realize that he’s holding me open for Ry.
I look up at Ry, but his gaze is focused between my legs.
I gasp when I feel the smooth head of his cock run through the wetness, then nudge my clit. Ry’s chest heaves with every harsh breath as he watches what he’s doing to me.
“Tell him what you want,” X whispers. “What you need.”
Ry finally looks up and our gazes lock. His eyes turn feral as he rubs the head of his dick between my folds.
“You.” My voice is raw, filled with overwhelming need. “I need you, Ry. I need all of you.” Tears burn the back of my eyes. As I stare at Ry, my chest feels like it’s going to explode. I thought I’d never get back to this place and I swore
if I did, I’d never hide anything ever again.
I’d tell them all exactly what I was thinking.
“I love you.”
Ry’s eyes burn with so much more than hunger and he surges forward, buries himself to the hilt inside me. A raw, ragged groan wrenches from his lips and I arch up, consumed by the feeling I’ve unleashed with my words. I love them all so much.
Ry pulls me from X’s hold and grips the back of my neck. His thrusts are erratic and wild as he leans back, my legs draped over the crook in his arms. I feel him swelling, making my already sensitive walls clench and spasm.
“Say that again,” he demands, pinning me in place with frantic eyes as he pounds into me.
I wrap my arms around his neck, hold him tight as I rock my hips, chasing a second climax that overtakes me in seconds.
“I love you, Ry,” I cry out, clamping down around him as he drives himself deep one last time and freezes.
“Fuck, Peep,” he grits out right before I feel him pulsing inside me. He drops his forehead to mine, our harsh breaths mixing as the aftershocks make us both tremble. The intensity of his gaze takes my breath away.
“I love you so fucking much,” he says against my lips.
This kiss is languid, satisfied and unhurried.
We have all the time in the world now.
Ry eases me back onto the couch in front of X and tucks himself into his sweat pants. Baz hands him my sleep shorts to clean between my legs. I can’t hold myself up so I slump back against X with a soft giggle.
“Hope you’re not too exhausted yet,” X says, pressing a kiss right below my ear. “I’m hard as fucking rock from watching that.”
Baz trails his hand up my inner thigh and I can’t help the tingles that follow his touch.
“Same,” Baz says with a wink.
I can’t deny the flutter of excitement that springs to life in my suddenly not-so-exhausted body.
I catch Ry’s gaze and he gives me a soft smile.
“I’m going to shower. You all might be more comfortable in a real bed.”
“Ry?” I reach for him and he takes my hand, kisses the tips of my fingers.
“It’s okay, Peep. I’ll get there. Your happiness is the most important thing in the world to me. That’s all I want. They want to make you feel good too; it just might take a little time before I can watch you get fucked by someone else.”
