Impetuous (Victory Lap Book 1)

by Mercedes Jade

  “What kind of nicknames did Keir teach you?” War asked.

  Bastion was curious too, knowing that Keir was the more devious of the two twins. Keir might be lighter at heart, but he was trickier.

  Tess pulled out her phone despite Keir starting to protest. It was too late and the rest of them wanted to know now as well. She started reading out the chat, speaking the nickname first and then the rest of whatever they had typed out to the group.

  Oh, Keir was so dead. Bastion wasn’t sure which of them would get to Keir first, although ‘jock itch’ seemed to have the advantage, War wrapping his arm around Keir’s neck in a headlock that would be hard for any the rest of them to break.

  Then again, Kade lived with his brother so ‘bright and shiny’ would have nowhere to hide from ‘dark and gloomy’ once they got home. As for Bastion, he wasn’t all that surprised that Keir had called him a bastard on the chat, didn’t even let it hurt, knowing that it was probably the most real name that Keir had used out of all of them. It was a warning to Tess and one that Bastion hoped she was going to ignore.

  “New nicknames are definitely in order. I propose that Tess is in charge since she has to come up with something better then Keir did and Kade would only make fun of the rest of us as well, coming up with something even worse than his twin,” War said

  “I second that,” Bastion said. “I want to be the one to name Tess.”

  “Is that just because you want to taste her lips?” asked Keir. He thought he had it all figured out. “You’re the only one that hasn’t kissed her yet.”

  “How do you know? I was the first one to get her into a car alone, and I don’t drive around a family vehicle like you guys. My backseat was just big enough for her dog. We had a nice squeeze up front for extracurricular activities after school.”

  Tess shot him a betrayed look. She would learn one day. “Bastion and I have not done any kissing,” she said, ruining Bastion’s fun. “He is too much of a gentleman. All we did was talk about you guys while we were together and he mentioned the fact that he’s filthy rich. I don’t see how that makes him a prince because the rest of you don’t seem to be that far from him financially.” She looked over at War. “Well, nobody is as poor as me.”

  Oh, that was a misconception that would lead to trouble and Bastion wasn’t going to correct her on any of those points. “What does it matter, why they think I’m a prince?” Bastion said, keeping his tone light and teasing. “Maybe it’s my good looks.”

  “You're as full of hot air as Keir,” Tess said. That made Keir really laugh, which was beyond Bastion why that was so funny.

  “Yeah, his dick would definitely deflate,” Keir said.

  What the fuck were they talking about now?

  “It isn’t important,” Tess said. “Just ignore them,” she advised Bastion like she was trying to protect his sensitive feelings. He gave her a glare to let her know that her over judgement of his sensitivity was not appreciated and he would chew Keir out in front of her before he would let Tess coddle him.

  Of course, Keir started laughing uproariously when Tess hugged Bastion to add further unintended insult.

  Bastion gave Keir a shut up look. “Keir, if you keep it up I’m going to come over there and I can guarantee you, your twin isn’t going to do anything to stop me,” Bastion threatened.

  “Tess, he doesn’t need a hug,” Keir told her.

  She let go and looked up at Bastion’s face. “I’m not calling you bastard. Prince seems wrong, too.”

  Bastion shrugged. “Unless you want to call me, Sir, I think it’s best to stick to Prince until you come up with something better.”

  Tess’s eyebrows shot up. She picked up on the BDSM hint. “I’ve already come up with nicknames for all of you in my head so I may as well add them to my chat.”

  “Aren’t you going to tell us what they are?” Kade said.

  “What’s the fun in that?” Tess said, a teasing note entering her voice.

  “Well, the whole point is for you to come up with nicknames and if you don’t tell us what they are, then none of the rest of us are going to be able to use them,” Keir pointed out.

  “I guess that means you’ll have to call each other by your real names. Or you could use whatever nicknames you were using before I came along,” Tess retorted.

  “And what was your nickname before Kade named you a squash?” Bastion asked.

  “It wasn’t Kitten,” she said. Touché.

  “I bet it was something boring,” Bastion challenged. “Some incredibly dull and uninspired name that some perfect, cookie-cutter guy at your old school that impressed you with his wallet and his lineage and his ability to recite the entire periodic table in alphabetical order gave you after a date under the stars.”

  “Actually, I would be impressed if anyone could recite the elements all in alphabetical order since we learn them by atomic weight,” Tess pointed out. “But to answer you—it was a supposition, right—my last boyfriend didn’t come from my old school. Harvey was in university, and he’s a few years older than me, and boring is the last thing that I would call him.”

  Bastion already knew that, although he stood by the label of boring. In fact, Bastion knew that everything else he had accused Harvey of being was almost completely true. Her old boyfriend was boring and rich and ordinary because he did everything that his parents asked and his only rebellion had been to date Tess, and that hadn’t lasted very long. He treated Tess like a night on the wild side, slumming with the poor scholarship girl, and the detective that Bastion had hired to investigate Tess told him that Tess had caught the boring college boy cheating on her at a frat party standing by the kegger.

  How provincial.

  “Whatever boy lost you is a fool, Kitten. I wouldn’t waste any more time thinking of his boring nicknames. I’m sure Keir can be more creative, at least, and I know I have better things to call you by if you ask me nicely,” Bastion said.

  “Ask you nicely?” she repeated.

  He hadn’t actually expected that to give rise to a challenge. She was riled up more than he had anticipated by the mention of her ex-boyfriend. She had caught him cheating and it had been a recent breakup. It had been a mistake to dismiss those facts because Bastion realized Tess was focused on them now.

  First loves or even crushes were hard to lose. The detective hadn't dug up any other boyfriends.

  “Keir did point out that I’m the only one who hasn’t had a taste of your lips. How can I name you, if you don’t let me get close? Would a rose be a rose by any other name?” Bastion said.

  She latched onto the ‘rose’ saying as he figured she would. Her information about her mother and the sayings had been true. They had all seen the whiteboard on the fridge with the last bit of advice her mother had written out.

  Don’t go gently.

  “You need to smell the flower to name it?” Tess said, rephrasing it.

  “No, I said I want to kiss your lips, which means I want to lick and suck on them, then stick my tongue in your mouth and get a taste of your sauciness from the inside. I probably will feel you up, and if I’m particularly lucky, you will climb onto my lap and-”

  “Bastard, stop harassing her,” Kade interrupted.

  Tess actually looked as disappointed as Bastion felt. They had both noticed the spark light up between them as they bickered. It had been foreplay, and for once, Bastion wasn’t the bored, detached guy trying to get a girl off so he could finish and kick her out.

  He had only been teasing Tess but his body wanted to follow through. Fuck, his dick wanted it, which was not what he should be using to think with if he wanted more than one night. Kade was trying to intervene with common sense, although he was the most girl shy of their group ever since he got burned.

  Or at least that is what they all wanted everyone else to believe. Sometimes, Bastion didn’t know how much of that was true and how much Kade was making up. They had lost some of their perspectives in trying to become wha
t they needed to be to fix things.

  “What if I want it?” Tess said, looking over at Kade.

  “Want what?” Kade asked back for clarification as he walked up closer to Tess.

  She wasn’t intimidated by his pierced, punked look. Tess was brave for such a tiny bite, her petite body standing up to Kade like he was shrinking instead of looming higher while he closed in on her.

  Of course, even that turned Bastion on. He was tempted to take her from behind, surprise her by sandwiching her like the twins were always teasing girls. Damn if they didn’t like it, getting squeezed between a couple of hard places and nowhere else to go.

  Bastion had never taken a girl with another guy but he would be willing to give it a try for Tess. Hopefully, the others wouldn’t mind his other proclivities too much.

  “I want Bastion to kiss me. I want to crawl onto his lap and grind against him, although I plan on leaving him hard for giving me such a difficult time about the nicknames. Also, to show him that I was being nice earlier but I can be a bad girl if he prefers.”

  That was fucking it. Bastion loved pushing buttons but Tess bloody well jammed her fingers into them all at once and pressed until something buzzed alarm. She was going to send the elevator straight to the basement and he wasn’t about to stop her.

  No, Bastion specialized in uncovering dark fantasies.

  Chapter 20

  “HOLD HER,” BASTION ordered. He made sure to use the voice that let Tess know he meant business. He saw her shiver in response, just a little quake of her muscles in anticipation, but she didn’t shift to get out of Kade’s reach.

  Too bad Kade didn’t hold on. He simply brushed his hands over her shoulders in a warning. “Bastion’s not playing with you, Pumpkin.”

  “Oh, I plan to play with her, alright,” Bastion whispered as he got closer.

  War had let go of Keir at some point during all of this and they were both watching as Bastion changed from a sweet prince to the dark bastard the rest of them knew right before their eyes. War seemed like he might intervene but Bastion shot him a warning glance.

  They had agreed not to cockblock the others, even if it meant Tess might fall for one of them and choose instead of accepting them all.

  “What’s a girl gotta do to get some satisfaction?” Tess said, deliberately turning around slow and staring up at Bastion’s eyes. She was challenging him with all she had, every inch of five feet, and maybe one or two more if he was being generous. It made him want to growl at her at the same time as laugh.

  He settled on the old standby of a smile. She had been warned by Kade and decided to ignore it. Nobody got second warnings.

  “Lie down on your back on the bed and put your hands above your head,” Bastion said, stopping his prowl forward.

  Kade couldn’t complain. Tess had to be willing and choose to do this on her own. Bastion wasn’t forcing anything.

  “You want to kiss me in bed for the first time?” Tess said without immediately complying.

  Tess wasn’t other girls, snapping to his finger’s command. That had been made perfectly clear. “Is it your first kiss, Kitten? Did you lie about Mr. Perfect University Boyfriend, or was he all about the books only with you? In it for your brain, not your tits?”

  Tess’s sneer was ugly. “You think I’m so desperate for a fuck that I have to sell myself by doing someone’s term papers? Do you think that I’m tutoring you just for the attention of the hot prince of the school?”

  He hadn’t thought that at all but now Bastion could see how her insecurities could let her suspect that of him. Heck, his own jealousy of her ex-boyfriend was screwing his approach. He was treating her like a casual fuck. He told other girls what to do and got them both off as fast as possible and then out of his life.

  Kade warned them all to go slower and maybe he wasn’t completely wrong about that. The problem was that all Bastion could think about at the moment was getting Tess under him.

  “Do you honestly believe we aren’t all hard for you right this minute? The books are nothing but an excuse to get alone with you,” Bastion said.

  “Bastion’s silver tongue is a bit tarnished because we do appreciate the tutoring, but he’s telling you the truth about us liking you,” Kade said. “Did you think Keir and I were faking it in the car?”

  Tess turned her back to Bastion and faced Kade. She still had a lot of tense anger that showed as she jerked around stiffly. “I don’t know what to think. Are you guys playing games with me?”

  “No, we’re serious about you,” War said. “It’s awkward because there’s four of us and only one of you, and if you favour one of us, the rest feel left out. We told you this group thing was new to us, too.”

  “Whoever heard of group dating anyway?” Tess said, sounding more frustrated and hurt now. Some of the anger was dropping from her shoulders.

  “There’s that anime show,” Bastion said.

  “Harem anime,” Keir expanded.

  Tess looked like she was still drawing a blank. Bastion hadn’t known what it was either until geeky Keir had shown him some girl oriented anime with ‘reverse harem’ themes that the Japanese girls ate up.

  “A bunch of guys and one girl,” Bastion spelled out for her. “You can geek over some shows with Keir sometime, but right now, I want you to lie down on the bed as I told you if you still want to let me kiss you.”

  He held back pleading with her. Already, he had softened the order by modulating his tone. He was talking to a girl he didn’t want to run.

  “Please,” he added when she didn’t move. It was past his lips before he could bite it back.

  She turned back around and threw herself at him. Bastion caught her, picking her up into his arms as she wrapped her legs around his hips. Her mouth was pressed against his before he could draw his next breath and then her tongue was exploring him, licking along his lips and a tiny nip he barely felt of his lower lip.

  “Don’t think this means I’m wrapped around your little finger like Kade,” Bastion whispered, pulling back enough to talk. He nibbled her lips back when she tried kissing him again, walking her towards the bed he had ordered her earlier. He kneeled onto the futon mattress, thankful it was already laid flat because the couch configuration wasn’t going to fit his long legs unless he could angle them.

  A new bed should be on their list of things to convince Tess to let them buy her. Definitely, a California king if this group thing was going to continue.

  He grabbed her hands, and while kissing her mouth thoroughly, he delivered on his promise to the letter, pulling her hands above her head as he learned the feel of her mouth and tongue.

  She yanked against his grasp and he tightened it enough to let her know there wouldn’t be an easy escape. Not unless she vocalized it. Speaking of such, she needed a safe word if she was going to continue to play with him.

  With some girls, Bastion pushed to see what he could get before they crumbled and used their word. He hoped never to hear Tess use it with him.

  “Pick a safe word,” he told her as he broke from the kiss. “You say it and I’ll stop whatever I’m doing.”

  “And run away at midnight?” she snarked, pulling at his hold on her hands again.

  “No, I’m not going to leave you. I’ll just stop pushing and we’ll figure out together what limit we’ve hit.”

  She swallowed, throat visibly moving as she pondered it. Things were moving quickly but this time it was all about her choice.

  “Pink,” she said.

  He closed his eyes for a moment so she wouldn’t see that glimpse of vulnerability that flashed through them. For a long second, he had thought she would tell him no without giving it a try.

  “We’re all going to play with you, Kitten,” Bastion said as he opened his eyes again.

  Another swallow and she drew her bottom lip into her mouth to nibble nervously. That safe word never passed her lips, though.

  “Keir, take off your belt to fasten her hands together ab
ove her head.”

  Bastion looked over at Keir and watched as the younger twin obeyed but slowly. “I’m pretty sure we don’t have to tie her down.”

  “We’re not going to fasten the belt to anything,” Bastion explained. “It’s a little symbol of her surrender to this seduction. A reminder. She still has her safe word,” Bastion reminded him.

  “Ever been tied up?” Kade asked, coming closer.

  “Nope, pretty much vanilla for me,” she answered.

  “Bastion’s called the dark prince by all the girls for a reason,” Kade explained as he crawled onto the bed beside them, taking the far end. His fingers played with Tess’s hair while his twin came over with the belt.

  It was thick and heavy. Bastion nodded to the bed for Keir to put it down. “Go to her sock drawer and get a pair of those knee highs she wears with this short kilt to school,” Bastion said.

  “Leaves almost half a foot of bare skin between her knees and top of her skirt,” Kade exaggerated, fingers from one hand trailing down Tess’s body towards the kilt in question.

  She inhaled sharply as Kade scratched his nails along her bare thigh, lightly but her skirt really had risen up and he was making all that bareness felt. Bastion smiled down at her. They were only getting started in petting his Kitten.

  “War, get ice from upstairs. Bring down a cup with enough for all of us,” Bastion said.

  This got another inhale from Tess and a sharp look.

  Keir returned with the socks.

  “Wrap the softer material of the socks around her wrists first and then the belt in a figure eight, Bind her and buckle it loosely. The weight and her trust should be enough to keep her hands where I put them.”

  With that said, Bastion let go of her hands and allowed Keir to bind her.

  War’s footsteps thudded down the stairs almost as soon as he had gone up. Yesterday's trips to get supplies from the kitchen had come in handy. War’s efficiency was appreciated when all of them were waiting impatiently to give Tess a taste of what it could be like with them together.