by Heather Long
Vaughn hadn’t stopped looking past my shoulder. The set of his muscles, the firmness of his jaw, and the way he stared promised he wasn’t backing down. He might not be glaring, but he wasn’t budging and his arms tightened around me.
I’d missed him too. But I didn’t want there to be another fight. Not…
“Put her down.” The snap of command in Jasper’s voice ripped through me and pissed me off at the same time. Just when I thought I understood him, he’d act like he had the right to tell everyone what to do. Maybe he did with the Vandals. He seemed to call all the shots, but dammit…
“Leave.” Rome’s order carried through the warehouse, echoing across the walls. “Now.”
He walked into my line of sight, but he wasn’t staring at me or Vaughn. Instead, he looked out to the warehouse where the rats were working. A truck had been unloaded, and there were crates they were moving around. We had an audience. Including the guy he’d punched earlier in the day for calling me ‘princess.’
That guy leaned to the side and spit. It was gross as hell, and I jerked my gaze away from it.
“You ice that cheek yet, Dove?” Vaughn asked. Either he didn’t notice or he didn’t care about our audience or Jasper’s attitude. Not much seemed to get past any of them. Even as Rome stared, the others were grabbing jackets and putting down tools. They didn’t even finish their tasks. They just left.
“C’mon, Hawk, lighten up. You know we’re all crazy about Boo-Boo,” Freddie said, but I swore I could feel Jasper looming up behind me. The hum of conversations from elsewhere faded as doors slammed.
Then it was us.
In the warehouse.
Without an audience.
I twisted a little in Vaughn’s arms, and he loosened only enough to set me down. As though if I asked, then that was all he needed. But he kept an arm around me as I turned. A sigh escaped me as I spotted Freddie.
He definitely looked a hell of a lot better than he had before. Still, he was pale, and the lights in the warehouse didn’t do him any favors. His longish hair was lanky and in need of a good brushing. The shadows beneath his eyes were still present but not quite as pronounced.
It hadn’t even been a week, but I swore he’d lost weight.
“I’m good, Boo-Boo,” Freddie assured me, offering me a cocky smile that neither reached his eyes nor quite pulled his lips as wide. It was more a facsimile than the real thing.
“Seriously, Jasper,” Kestrel said, pulling my attention to the bruised and battered Jasper. “Not now. Let’s just work this shit out without…”
“Without what? One of you deciding to snake her out from under me?” Jasper demanded. “Was that why you were running interference with her the last few days? Trying to slide in between my girl’s legs before I got back? Or were you and Vaughn plotting something? It’s bad enough I found Rome all wrapped around her like he was her personal comfort blanket at fucking Liam’s place. Now you’re gonna pull this shit?”
“I’m cutting you some slack because it’s been a long fucking week of long fucking days in a long year.” There was no mistaking the aggravation in Kestrel’s tone, and I’d almost cheer him on, except I was back on the “my girl.”
“Hey, Boo-Boo.” Freddie edged toward me. His hand brushed mine as he added, “Why don’t we go inside and let them work out their issues in private…”
“Don’t fucking touch her, Freddie,” Jasper snapped, and then before I could say a word, he glared past me and Vaughn. “And don’t you deny it. I see it in your eyes too—you all think you have some claim.”
I tapped Vaughn’s arm. “Let go, please,” I said softly, and though he sighed, Vaughn released me. Jasper reached out with one hand and before he even touched me, Rome had him in an arm lock and Kestrel hit from the other side. Vaughn swept me backward and then surged forward. His bulk blocked my view.
One minute, it was fine, and the next, they were all in a fight. Even Vaughn was in there. The only one avoiding it besides me was Freddie. He grimaced as he glanced from the four of them to me.
“What the actual fuck?” Doc swore from somewhere to my right, and I found him staring at them a lot like we were. It was a fucking free for all.
I twisted, looking around, and when I spotted what I wanted, I headed for it, only to have Doc catch me gently. “Go inside, Little Bit…”
“Stop it,” I told him. As much as it would be easy to just lean on him and let him solve things. I’d been leaning on all of them and that shit stopped right the fuck now. “I know what I’m doing.”
Maybe for the first time since I got here, I knew what it was too. His gaze skated over my face, and his eyes narrowed. It was a bruise. I wouldn’t break. I pulled free and hurried over to the hose. It was connected to a spigot, and I gripped it and yanked the dial to turn the water on. Fortunately, this hose also came with a sprayer.
Probably for washing all their fancy cars.
Freddie stared at me with wide eyes and Doc actually bit back a smile as I marched toward the pile of men—boys—steadily beating on each other. I aimed and then braced my feet as I squeezed the control.
Water shot out of it in a stream, and what water splashed me was icy cold.
The four of them froze, all of them jerking somewhat bruised and battered looks in my direction. Rome’s knuckles were open and bleeding. The cut across Jasper’s eye had gotten a lot worse. Even Kellan looked like he had gotten nailed in the face. Drenched, they finally yanked apart and scattered.
After turning off the water, I traced my gaze over them one at a time and then focused on Jasper. He looked worse than when he’d had his fight with Liam, and I didn’t care what Rome said about how they processed their feelings. Rome actually gave me a small smile, and Vaughn raked a hand through his damp hair and slicked it back from his face.
“To be very clear, I may not have asked to be here in the beginning…” I started.
“Emersyn—” Jasper cut in, and I narrowed my eyes.
“Shut up, Jasper. I’m talking this time. Me. Not you. For once, all of you are going to listen.”
He blinked, and Kestrel let out a slow whistle. Even Freddie raised his hands and backed up a step. At my frown, he said, “I know that look. Not arguing with it.”
Whatever. I flicked a look back at the boys. Even Vaughn, who I’d been so damn happy to see, and Rome, who’d made me feel safe and warm after a bad day. Kestrel, who’d supported me getting out of here and doing other things, and finally, Jasper, who needed something from me badly and I wanted to figure out what it was and if I was even capable of it.
But not at this price.
“As I was saying,” I continued when they’d held the line silently. “I may not have asked to come here in the beginning, but I stayed because it was my choice. One I made.”
Rome, Kestrel, and Doc knew what I meant. If the others didn’t, well, right now wasn’t the time to educate them.
“But this…” I pointed to all of them. “This fighting? Over me? Like I’m some bone?” Liam’s reference to a junkyard dog flitted across my mind, and I swatted it away. “I’ve been owned my whole life. For the first time…” Tears burned in my eyes and clogged my throat. “For the first time, I have a chance to be free and none of you are taking that from me.” I locked eyes with Jasper. “None of you. I’ll die before I go back in shackles or a cage.”
He flinched.
Rome’s expression darkened, and the others looked away, but Jasper… He held my eyes.
Dropping the hose, I backed off a step. “I won’t.” Not for anything or anyone.
With that, I turned around and headed for the door. Doc stared at me, a taut frown pulling at his brow. A thousand questions burned in his eyes, and I just shook my head a little. Please don’t ask me.
He didn’t.
He let me go as I stormed past him. It took everything I possessed to move at a purposeful walk and not to run. A part of me wanted to hit the door on the far side of the garage and race out o
f it and keep running. But that part just wanted to get away from the violence. From the fear. From the fact I wanted them, even if I didn’t want them to chain me.
Would it be so bad? some dark little part of me whispered. Just let them take care of everything. Kill your enemies. At least so far, them owning you seems like an upgrade.
Except I didn’t want to be owned.
By anyone.
I didn’t slow down inside, heading straight for the steps and up them. The hallway seemed almost too stark, too institutional after Liam’s apartment with its clean lines and dark walls. My feet slowed at Vaughn’s room, but I refused to stop. I kept going, past Rome’s. Then down to Kestrel’s.
The door was unlocked, and I let myself in.
“Dove!”
Vaughn’s voice followed me, but I ignored him as I pushed into the room they’d given me. I hadn’t meant to admit so much. Those words had been stuck inside for so long, it actually tore something loose to say them aloud.
I shut the door and crossed over to the bed. It was all neatly made and cleaned up. The ragged old bear that had been sitting there the night I arrived was back in place against the pillows. I scooped him up and wrapped my arms around him as I fell onto the bed sideways and stared at the painting on the wall that looked like it had been framed.
The depth. The colors. The world it offered seemed so much brighter than…
The door behind me opened. I didn’t even have to look to know it was Vaughn. Saying nothing, he closed the door once more. A soft sigh pulled out of him. The rustle of clothing followed, and the damp clothes hit the floor in the bathroom.
He cut off the lights, plunging the room into darkness, and then he eased onto the bed behind me.
“I’m sorry, Dove,” he murmured in that soothing voice. That was it. The simple apology. “I’m going to wrap an arm around you, okay? If you want me to keep my hands to myself, I will.”
He waited, and I sighed. Rolling onto my back, I reached out a hand to him, and he caught my fingers in the dark. His relief was palpable as he pulled me against him. His bare skin was still damp and very chilly from my dousing.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
It wasn’t the first time he’d asked me. The other night, I’d come so close to confessing, and then it wouldn’t come out.
“I don’t know how,” I admitted. It was easier in the dark. He couldn’t see me. With a light thumb, he stroked my hand as he raised it to his lips. The press of a kiss to my palm had me shuddering. “I can’t believe I said it down there.”
“You needed us to hear you,” he responded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “We clearly weren’t listening.”
It wasn’t funny, and at the same time, the sheepish note much like Rome’s earlier expression seemed so out of place on him that a huff of laughter escaped me. “No, you were all too busy peeing on my leg.”
“Well…” The faint curl of disgust in that single syllable suggested Vaughn wasn’t a fan of the description. “I wouldn’t say peeing on your leg. But…I get your point. In my defense, I’ve missed you. I got you a couple of presents to say sorry for being gone for so long.”
“You didn’t have to do that.” It was almost automatic, my upbringing kicking in. One should never act like a present was expected or needed.
“Maybe not,” he agreed, stroking a hand down the side of my face and then over my hair. “But I wanted to do it. The flowers were pretty, something that smelled sweet, like you do, and colorful. And because I wanted you to smile.”
I did. Even if I couldn’t see them, I liked the picture he painted of them.
“And I got you a phone, so I could talk to you and message you if there’s a next time that I’m gone. I won’t have to rely on the guys to pass you messages or leave you in the dark because you wake up and I’m gone.”
“A phone?” The second word actually caught in my throat, and I moved to tilt my face toward him as if I could see him in the dark. Not once in all the months I’d been here had they given me my phone back, much less a different one.
“It’s not fancy, just a burner. But I put all our numbers in, not just mine.” I could almost hear the smile. “Though, I freely admit, mine is first and I’m speed dial one.”
Unlocking my fingers from the teddy, I reached up to caress his face. “Thank you.”
The tension in his muscles seemed to let go as he pulled me to him. His lips found mine in the dark, and I almost let the tears out at the sweet sweep of his mouth opening to mine like he could devour all the pain. Then to my horror, one tear did slide down my cheek. It salted the kiss, but rather than pull away, Vaughn stroked the tear away with his thumb, then moved his kisses up to my nose then my forehead and down to my ear.
“It’s all right, Dove,” he whispered. “I promise you’re safe here. You are safe with all of us.” The declaration threatened to take me out at the knees almost as much, because I wanted to believe it as he was making it. The coolness of his flesh seemed to grow hotter as he traced kisses down my throat.
I ran my hands over his bare chest. And it wasn’t long before I realized he’d stripped everything off. When he tugged at the shirt and pulled it up, I freed myself only long enough to yank it up and over my head. His hands spanned my ribs, then he pulled my nipple into his mouth and liquid heat spilled through me.
Between us, we got rid of the sweatpants and the socks. In between long, bruising kisses, he massaged my breasts, and I cupped his balls and then stroked a hand down the length of his cock. It burned against my palm, and I loved exploring the piercing at the tip.
When he thrust two blunt fingers inside of me, I groaned. All the thoughts pinging around inside of me quietened as he soothed and seduced my body. I ached for him.
At my tug, he moved to his back and lifted me up. We could have been fumbling in the dark, but he trusted me to guide him and his strength held me suspended as I straddled his hips. The tip of his dick was a torment and a pleasure as I ran him back and forth against my slickness.
“I need you, Dove,” he whispered, and I shuddered at that confession.
It was braver than anything I’d ever been able to admit. “I think I need you too,” I said slowly, not quite trusting myself to get the words out. Then I sank down on him, and the world narrowed to where his body thrust up into mine.
I might have been on top, but Vaughn controlled the pace, stretching me with his ever upward push into my body. The piercing struck sparks inside of me.
“Play with your nipples, Dove,” Vaughn ordered, and I dragged my hands off his chest to my own as he lifted and pulled me back down to him. I clenched around him. “Pinch them like it’s me,” he whispered. “Roll them between your thumb and your forefinger. Stretch them, twist them. Do it until it hurts, and then feel me fucking into you.”
I moved to obey him, and the soft cries I stifled in my throat grew louder.
“Let go, Dove,” he commanded. “Give it to me. Give me your pleasure and your pain.”
The downward slam had me seeing stars as I swore he was even deeper inside of me than before, and I cried out.
“Yes…” He sounded almost triumphant, and then he tumbled me onto my back and wrapped my legs around his waist. “Grip me tight, sweet Dove. Grip me tight and let me ride you now.”
I swore those were the last words I heard him say as he began to power into me, and it took all the strength I had in my trembling limbs to hold onto him. Then his mouth captured mine and his fingers replaced mine on my nipples. I dug my nails into his back as his muscles bunched and flexed.
I came in a rush of wetness, the orgasm spiraling out of control, but he didn’t let up, not once. The punishing pace drove me up the bed, and I fought to keep him between my thighs. Then one of my legs was over his shoulder as he pulled me upward, folding me near in half as his cock took me deeper still, stretching me right to the edge, and when I came this time, I sobbed and clung to him.
He orgasmed on a
ragged cry, pounding into me until he filled me up, and then we were clinging to each other, trembling. Light teased at my eyelids, and I opened them to find a pair of frosty gray eyes boring into mine. Jasper stood illuminated in the doorway, his attention riveted on us. I opened my mouth, but he turned and left, pulling the door closed with a thud behind him.
Shit.
Broken Set
Liam
The conversation in the other room carried through the door. Not the words, just the tones and the inflections. Ms. Stephanie wasn’t happy. But she didn’t seem to be having much effect on the couple inside. Every couple of weeks or so, the group home got visitors.
Couples. Lawyers. Occasionally other social workers. They came through and studied us like animals in the zoo. Milo said to just ignore them, let them come in, look around, and leave. Most of the time, I agreed with him.
Most of the time.
But I’d seen his face a few weeks earlier. It was the day three kids were adopted out at the same time. Adopted, not placed. Adopted meant they weren’t supposed to come back. One of the kids…
The door opened, and Ms. Stephanie glanced out and then down at me. She gave me the most insincere smile I’d ever seen on her face. It faltered, the corners turning down before the smile could even reach her eyes. No, those only held an apology.
“Liam, come in, I want you to meet the O’Connells.” She cleared her throat as I stood and moved aside so I could see the couple in her office. The man studied me for a moment as he stood, then he stepped forward and held out his hand like we’d actually been introduced.
“Hello, Liam,” he said. “My name’s Jonathon and this is my wife, Mary.” Mary was a quiet thing, but there was an inescapable hope filling her eyes that made me shift in place. I studied his hand for a moment, then shook it slowly. I wasn’t sure what was going on. Most of the time, I could figure it out.
Today? Not so much.
We weren’t even at the group home. Ms. Stephanie had picked me up. Just me. Not Rome. That was strange enough. Now, the couple was looking at me like I was an answer to a question they hadn’t actually asked me.
