The Living: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance (The Thorns of Rosewood Book 3)

by Cassie James

  “Jude, that was really expensive,” I chastise him when I finally manage to find my voice again.

  “I’ll buy you ten more.” He doesn’t look the least bit sorry. He’s Jude Alton. Of course he’s not sorry.

  I nod slowly as my gaze drops to his shirt. He must read my mind because he makes a disapproving sound. “Save your energy,” he tells me with a raspy voice as he works to quickly unbutton his shirt and discard it plus the shirt he’s got on underneath. Damn, I was kind of looking forward to ripping his shirt off of him again. Next time, I promise myself.

  He doesn’t stop with the shirts. He unceremoniously slips out of his dress shoes, kicking them halfway across the room. I stare in bewilderment as he starts to shuck his pants.

  “Uh, what’s going on?” I whisper, just loud enough for him to hear the question.

  “Playtime is over, Piper.” There’s a glint in Jude’s eyes as he steps out of his pants and starts towards me.

  “Uh...” Brennan’s face looks seriously alarmed as Jude stops right in front of me and bends to strip off his underwear.

  My mouth goes dry as Jude’s eyes hold mine. He speaks to the guys without looking at them. “Feel free to stay, but keep your dicks out of my face.” And without waiting for a response, he wraps a hand around my exposed neck and drags my mouth to his.

  The shock keeps me from responding right away, but he doesn’t give a shit. He thrusts his tongue into my mouth, pushing against my tongue insistently until I finally pull myself together enough to return the kiss. I still can’t wrap my mind around how we got to this point, but Jude has a way of kissing me until I just don’t care. I can hear the sounds of movement from behind him, and my heart sinks a little as I realize Brennan and Tyler are bailing. For a second, I actually kind of got my hopes up. What girl in her right mind wouldn’t want three hot, naked guys all ready to fuck her six ways from Sunday?

  Jude pulls away, chuckling when I lean forward trying to keep him from breaking the kiss. I’ve just started to open my eyes when he clamps a hand down on my shoulder and spins me in a circle around him. I have to blink several times before I realize what I’m seeing.

  Brennan and Tyler didn’t leave.

  And they’re both very, very naked.

  I almost laugh as I look at the two of them pointedly avoiding eye contact with each other. They don’t seem to want to look at Jude, either, which is unfortunate since it means they also don’t look at me. “Are you all sure about this?” It won’t be any fun for anyone if they’re so uncomfortable they can’t manage to relax.

  “We’re not…” Brennan’s face goes red as he lowers his voice to ask, “We’re only touching you, not like each other or anything, right?”

  I bite back a laugh at how clearly uncomfortable he is. Jude doesn’t bother to, he laughs loudly, the sound of it sputtering out only after a long, awkward minute. “Don’t worry Brennan, no one’s asking you to take any dick. No one in this room, anyway.” I didn’t think it possible but Brennan’s face gets even redder.

  Tyler forces his attention solidly back to the group. He doesn’t look directly at Jude, but at least now he’s looking at me. We make eye contact for a long moment, long enough to make me shift uncomfortably to rub my legs together. His eyes are scorching right now. He might not be quite sure where to look, but it’s obvious he doesn’t have any actual complaints. He starts to move towards me. “Fuck it, let’s just—”

  He catches me around the waist and grinds his lower body against mine as he captures my mouth. He tries to reach his fingers up into my hair but grunts out a protest when he realizes my hair’s still in its prom updo. He keeps kissing me, but suddenly another set of hands join his at the nape of my neck. Jude. He brushes Tyler’s hands aside and slides his fingers into my updo. I nearly break the kiss with Tyler to ask what he’s doing, but I get my answer before that’s necessary.

  Jude starts to pull the pins out of my hair. Slowly, tendrils of hair are released, caressing the bare part of my back as Jude frees it all piece by piece. He’s surprisingly gentle, too.

  When the job’s done, Jude’s hands don’t disappear like I was expecting. They drift down to cup my ass. I gasp into Tyler’s mouth when he squeezes. Tyler barely seems to notice. I can feel him go from aroused to rock-hard as he slips his fingers into my now loose hair, though. He pulls away just long enough to mutter out, “Fucking thank you for that.” It takes a second for my slow brain to realize he’s thanking Jude for freeing my hair.

  “Sure thing,” Jude says as his hands skate down to caress the back of my thighs. My whole body shivers between the two of them. I’m fucking dripping right now for them. There’s something crazy hot about hearing them carry on that short conversation while I’m naked here between them. Much sexier than any regular conversation.

  Tyler starts to kiss me again, but I twist away after a minute. I’m almost entirely distracted by all the places Tyler and Jude are touching me right now, but I haven’t forgotten about my poor, sweet Brennan. I peer over Tyler’s shoulder to check on him.

  Oh. Poor, sweet Brennan isn’t in desperate need of my concern after all. He’s moved to stand where he’s got one hell of a view of what both Tyler and Jude are doing to me, and his hand is wrapped around his hard dick. He’s giving himself one hell of a hand job, I realize with jealousy creeping up. I don’t want him to touch himself. I want to be the one to do that.

  “Can I—” I can’t manage to choke out the words, so I just gesture with my hand instead. Brennan jerks his hand away from himself as he winces. I can’t say for sure, but I have a feeling that I almost just accidentally finished the job before ever actually getting my hands on him. He moves slowly enough toward me that I’m pretty sure that confirms it. Even once he’s gotten close, he stays just out of reach for another long minute.

  Not that there aren’t plenty of other things for me to focus on while I wait, hand at the ready. Tyler has managed to kiss his way down my neck and to my breasts, where he’s now taking his damn sweet time teasing me, and Jude is still doing quite the leisurely exploration of my ass.

  I’m overwhelmed by a million different sensations. I don’t have any choice but to give into all of them, closing my eyes as my head drops back. I end up resting my head perfectly on Jude’s shoulder just as warm, velvety skin finally slides across my palm. I let out a soft moan as I wrap my hand around Brennan’s dick and give it a testing squeeze. I hear his sharp intake of breath just before he brushes my hand away. My eyes pop open with annoyance as I glance over to see what the hell the problem is now.

  “Fuck, guys, I can’t…” Brennan trails off with a groan as he squeezes his eyes closed. He can’t last much longer.

  “Fuck.” Jude must be able to see it, too, because he pulls away and points his finger toward a door I’ve never used before. “The bedroom. Now.” I feel empty when all the touching abruptly stops as the guys pull away. I pout, but I blindly follow as the three of them make a break for that door, bursting into what turns out to be a guest bedroom with a huge king-sized bed. My thoughts are a fucking mess.

  Well, that’s convenient. Oh my god, did Jude know all along it would eventually come to this? Hell, I think that might actually make it hotter.

  “Hello? Earth to Piper? Your ride’s here.” Jude smirks as he gives me a hard push toward the bed where sure enough, Brennan’s ready and waiting for me.

  My lips part as I step closer to the bed, admiring the way he’s sitting there watching me approach with hooded eyes. I take my sweet fucking time crawling up onto the bed. With a groan, he starts to touch himself again, and that speeds me right the hell up. That is not how I want things with him to finish. I climb over his legs and straddle him, and Jude oh so helpfully reaches out to offer me a condom. Brennan tries to take it but I brush his hands away so I can put it on him myself. And then with no more hesitation, I sink down on him, jolting forward a little when Brennan’s arms give out and he falls back against the bed with a grunt.

>   A proud grin tilts the corners of my lips up as I brace myself with my hands on his chest and give a testing roll of my hips. “Piper,” he says my name like a warning. I already knew he wouldn’t last long and was fully prepared to delay my own pleasure for the moment, but apparently Brennan’s not having that. Even though he already looks fucking spent, he reaches between us to touch me just above where he’s buried inside of me. His fingers brush up against my clit, making my hips automatically move again.

  He must know it’s now or never, because he clasps his other hand down on my thigh to keep me still as possible as he picks up the pace, working me into a quicker frenzy than I thought possible. Sure enough, though, the combination of how turned on I already was combined with the quick pace sends me shooting off like a rocket way quicker than I would have liked. It’s definitely for the best though, because all of the motion of me getting off sets Brennan off, too.

  I collapse over him, momentarily too exhausted to actually move. I close my eyes as I listen to him panting, his heartbeat crazy erratic under my ear. A minute passes by before I get a sharp smack on my ass.

  “You better wake your hot little ass up because we’re not even close to done,” Jude growls. I turn to see him staring at me with downright wild eyes. I shift carefully off of Brennan, who doesn’t move at all, and start to move towards Jude until he shakes his head and points to the opposite side of the bed. I glance over my shoulder at Tyler, who’s waiting patiently on the other side. I mean, he’s hard as a rock, too, but unlike Brennan he looks like he can hang a little longer.

  I purse my lips as I look back at Jude, confused about what exactly he wants me to do. He leans close, tucks my hair behind my ear and whispers for my ears only, “Third time’s the charm, so go ahead and get your seconds. Once I’m done with you, there’s no chance in hell you’ll be able to move the rest of the night.”

  A soft whimper falls off my lips. He gives me a quick kiss and then tugs me off the bed. I stand on barely functioning legs, made all the worse when Jude gives me another sharp smack on the ass to send me reeling toward Tyler on the other side of the room. I don’t know what Jude’s deal is, but Tyler perks right up when he realizes I really am making my way over to him. The first thing he does is yank me up against his chest and kiss the ever loving hell out of me. He plants his mouth hard on mine again and again until I’m pretty damn sure my lips are bruised. Not that I’m complaining.

  “You’re good?” Tyler pulls back to ask.

  “So, so good,” I moan out softly. He grins as he leans in to kiss me one more time.

  When he pulls away the second time, it’s to tell me, “Turn around.” I start to do what he’s asked, but either I’m moving too slow or Tyler’s not actually feeling as patient as I first thought, because he puts a hand around my waist to force me to turn faster. I barely have time to register what he’s doing before he’s pressing me down over the bed. I hadn’t really noticed before, but the frame has a good lift to it, which means from this angle, Tyler’s in the perfect position to slide right into me. Which is exactly what he does after only the briefest of pauses so he can catch the condom Jude tosses from across the bed.

  What is Jude the fucking condom fairy or something?

  I grin around the thought as I glance up and catch his eye. There’s a twinkle to his eyes, too, which makes me think he has at least some idea of what’s amusing to me right now. He winks at me at the exact same time Tyler lines himself up behind me and slides right into me. I’m so soaking wet now there’s not even the slightest bit of resistance as starts to work himself in and out of me.

  “Touch yourself,” Tyler instructs me in a tight voice.

  I was partially holding myself up on my elbows, but I turn my head and rest my cheek against the comforter so I can do what Tyler asked. Now, it’s Brennan’s eyes I meet instead of Jude’s. He’s still splayed out in the center of the bed, but he tilts his head so he can look down at me, his eyes bouncing between mine and whatever view he’s getting right now of Tyler fucking me from behind. Glad to see all the shyness is gone.

  Now that both hands are free, I reach one down to touch myself as I offer the other one to Brennan. He takes it, clasping his fingers with mine, and I whimper as my index finger makes contact with my overly sensitive clit. I’m not actually sure how much more I’m going to be able to take. I can feel Tyler struggling to contain his big finish as he talks to me, encouraging me to touch myself harder. Faster. Lower. My fingers brush his dick as he’s sliding inside of me and he inhales a sharp breath.

  It’s actually that sound and not the touching that sends me over the edge. Nothing’s better than making The Thorns come undone. He jerks inside of me while I squeeze Brennan’s hand so hard I’m surprised he doesn’t complain. Tyler starts to pull out as I’m still riding out my own wave of pleasure. Realizing that, he leans over me and kisses a line down my spine, wringing out every last bit I have to give him.

  My knees give out completely, leaving Brennan no choice but to let go of my hand to avoid hurting me, and Tyler jerks into motion to grab me before I hit the floor. He helps me up, and then carefully pushes me down to sit on the edge of the bed.

  I automatically turn to seek out Jude again. He eyes me skeptically. “Are you going to make it?”

  “I want you to fuck me, Jude,” I say completely deadpan. I can’t even find it in myself to be self-conscious about it, either, even though I know I sound like one hell of a cock-hungry slut right now.

  “Well, hell,” he drawls, “who could ever say no to an invitation like that?”

  I hold a hand out, trying to encourage him closer since there’s no way in hell I can stand up on these jello-legs. He does step closer, but only close enough to take my hand in his. He strokes the back of it with his thumb as he looks down at me with an expression that’s far too gentle for what’s happening. I tug, trying to encourage him to get a move on even though I can barely hold my eyes open at the moment.

  Jude surveys the room then gives a hard shake of his head. “Come with me.” I don’t know why he bothers saying the words, because the next thing I know he drops my hand and bends down to grab me around the back of my legs, hoisting me up and over his shoulder.

  I lift my head up to see Brennan still practically lifeless in the center of the bed and Tyler collapsing in the chair in the corner. Neither of them moves to follow us out. Guess the group activities are done, I think with mild disappointment.

  I’m more than a little confused when Jude doesn’t stop in the next room… or the next… and then I hear the unmistakable sound of the sliding glass door opening. We’re… going outside? We’re both completely silent as he carries me across the patio. I can’t figure out what the hell he’s doing at first, but then he makes a sharp turn and I know exactly where’s headed.

  The first splash of water is plenty warm enough, but it still makes me shiver. Jude’s surprisingly well-balanced as he descends the pool ladder with one hand and me still balanced over his shoulder. He doesn’t let go of me until he reaches the last step, relaxing his grip when we’re fully submerged for a short second. He grabs a fistful of my hair to guide my head back out of the water, lips desperately meeting mine as our bodies tangle under the water in a mess of writhing limbs.

  “What about—” I turn my head slightly and start to ask about a condom, but don’t get the question all the way out. Jude grabs my hand that’s on his shoulder and pulls it underwater. He guides my hand to stroke the length of him, and I clearly feel the condom he’s already wearing. When the hell did he…? “Great,” I manage to croak out as he brushes my hand away again.

  He nips my shoulder with his teeth and then puts his mouth next to my ear. “I’ve seen how you are, how you’re mesmerized every time you see the water. And from now on, when the water catches your eye, you’ll think of this, too.”

  That’s the only warning I get before he’s pushing into me, the force knocking us back so that I’m backed against the wall of the
pool. I reach back to clasp my hands around the tile on the edge of the pool, needing something to hold on to as Jude slams his hips against mine over and over. There’s no need for foreplay or build-up at this point, we’re both already too far gone. I hold on for dear life as he fixates on getting just the right angle to make me loud as hell.

  I’m absolutely fucking shameless as Jude just wrecks me. I’m moaning, and groaning, and gasping, and calling his name out so many times the letters all start to jumble together in my brain.

  “I want you to come,” he growls in my ear. I let out a crazed laugh, thinking it’s ridiculous he thinks I have any control over that right now. But then he growls my name, and I fucking lose it. This time I don’t just see white spots behind my eyes, I see fireworks, and neon hearts, and a whole damn marching band.

  I shake as I collapse forward against him, draping my arms loosely over his shoulders as my body goes absolutely numb with pleasure, and even though I can’t move, he keeps fucking me even harder than before. He puts an arm around my back to keep me in place as he grunts from the effort he’s exerting to keep up such a grueling pace.

  Just as I start to feel him nearing the edge, I turn my head to whisper, “I love you,” into his ear.

  “Dammit, Piper.” He groans as he tightens his grip on me, the rest of his body shaking slightly for a moment as he definitely comes harder than he ever has before. I mentally file away that trick for later, which just about uses up all the brain power I have left.

  Just as I’m pretty damn sure I’m about to fall asleep right here in the pool, Jude rests his cheek on the top of my head and breathes out, “I love you, too, Piper.”

  25

  Brennan

  After prom and the night in Malibu, we all slip into an easy sort of peace, and Piper even gets a respite at home when Jackie goes back to treating her with careful disregard. Her new sort-of freedom leads to her house being empty for an entire weekend a couple weeks before school’s out. And maybe we shouldn’t test her parents’ trust when they leave her alone for the first time, but not taking advantage of a parent-free household for an entire glorious weekend seems like an even worse idea, especially knowing just how hot things can get when we don’t have to worry about the threat of parents breathing down our necks. Everything’s hotter, more intense after the unexpected bout of group sex in Malibu, but other than sharing one of the hottest nights of our lives, nothing really changes with us.