by Katie May
“What’s your plan?” Avery queries, emerging suspiciously from what appears to be the main bedroom. When my eyes narrow, he quickly shuts the door, prohibiting me from seeing whatever he did.
I really, really don’t want to know.
“My plan?” I catch my reflection in the hallway mirror, and I can’t help but note that my smile resembles the sharp edge of a scythe glinting in the moonlight. Something primal and dark and dangerous, something that embodies death and sin. “We’re going to confront the traitorous bitch.”
“And then?” Avery presses.
“And then we’ll do what needs to be done.”
Even if that “thing” means killing one of my best and oldest friends.
HOURS LATER, after attempting to scarf down dinner, I enter my bedroom, fully prepared to take a short nap before we leave in a few hours for the club, to see Avery and Desmond in the midst of a heated conversation.
Desmond’s cocky smile is firmly in place, but I see it for what it really is—a shield. There’s too much darkness and hatred in his eyes for it to be anything else.
Avery, on the other hand, isn’t bothering to wear his boy-next-door persona today. Remember when I said that monsters come out at night? That’s not true for my God of Death. He strides out in broad daylight, a perfectly content smile on his devilishly wicked lips. But the world doesn’t know that those lips are capable of tasting death, that little facet is reserved only for me. Maybe that’s what makes him so terrifying. Unlike the other monsters and beasts in the world, you can see Avery coming from a mile away. Death isn’t always subtle. Sometimes, it’s a bang, like walking outside during a ferocious thunderstorm.
The two immediately quiet down when they catch sight of me, though both of their bodies are still thrumming with unrestrained tension.
“Whatcha talking about?” I ask casually as I move to my drawers and grab my favorite pair of satin pajamas. I don’t need eyes in the back of my head to know that Avery and Desmond are exchanging a long glance, one electrically charged with resentment and anger.
“Just a little disagreement,” Des admits with feigned nonchalance. When I spin back towards them, both men have yet to move from their intense standoff. The air around them practically crackles with electricity as Avery’s sea-blue eyes hold Desmond’s swamp-hazel ones, a muted combination of woodsy brown and forest green.
“And that disagreement is?” I demand, placing my hands on my hips and dropping my pajamas.
Avery finally turns to me, a crooked smile lighting up his face. He really is a beautiful man, all sharp edges and jagged sides like a puzzle piece that doesn’t quite fit.
Snorting derisively, he takes a step closer and wraps me in his arms. “Just jealousy,” he murmurs as he brushes his lips against my cheek. “Your God of Combat needs to calm the fuck down.”
“Calm the fuck down?” Desmond rages, dark splotches of color appearing on his cheeks. It’s very, very rare to see my friendly, laughing god angry. Unease pricks at the skin of my spine as I watch him with bated breath. It doesn’t take long before he explodes. “This fucking asshole thinks he can just replace me. Who the fuck do you think you are? You’re nobody. I was Emily’s first friend and love. You were just an afterthought.”
“So are you saying that you weren’t able to please Emily by yourself?” Avery queries in faux innocence. He bats his eyelashes at a fuming Des. “And I should thank you for your ineptness?”
Desmond releases a ferocious snarl, one that isn’t quite human, and lunges towards Avery. I know that in a hand-to-hand fight, Desmond could take Avery, no problem. But if they’re allowed to use their powers?
“Enough!” I scream, throwing myself in between them. The punch Des was throwing stops mere centimeters from my face. Avery’s dark power coils around my ankles once, twice, three times, before releasing me with a hiss. Both men are panting heavily, eyes narrowed into slits.
“What the fuck, Em?!” Avery breaks the silence first, throwing his hands into the air. “That was stupid! You could’ve been hurt!”
“Maybe if you learned to control your fucking power,” Desmond hisses.
“I wasn’t the one with my fist inches from her face!”
“Enough!” I place one hand on either of their chests, feeling their hearts beat erratically beneath my palms. “I said, enough! Tell me what the fuck is going on?”
Out of all my men, Avery and Desmond are the two least likely to start an argument. Despite their brutal natures, they’re both easy-going men.
“Desmond’s fucking jealous!” Avery rages, lips curling away from his teeth. “Because he feels as if he’s been replaced as your best friend.”
My heart stutters before abruptly stopping, especially when Desmond doesn’t immediately contradict his claim. Instead, the God of Combat’s head drops almost sheepishly as he stares at his bare feet.
“Is that…is that true?”
In the Realm of the Gods, Des was my best friend. My first friend. He was the man I went to whenever I needed advice or just someone to talk to. And in this realm, Avery quickly filled that position with his charming smile and comforting presence.
“Des…” I drop my hand from Avery’s chest and turn to face Desmond completely. Avery wastes no time crowding into me from behind, the chiseled planes of his chest brushing against my back. I can feel his cock through his sweatpants, but I don’t focus on that. Not now.
“We weren’t just lovers, Em,” Desmond whispers despondently. He looks young just then. Young and vulnerable, like a forlorn child. I don’t like this expression on my fierce warrior’s face, not one fucking bit. “We were best friends. And now…”
“And now what?” I demand. “Desmond, we’re still best friends. Honestly, all of you assholes are my best friends. My relationship with Avery has nothing to do with my relationship with you. Yeah, I’ll be the first to admit that something changed between Avery and me during our time here. We became closer than ever before, and I feel as if I can trust him with anything.” As if my words were some sort of catalyst, Avery begins kissing my skin desperately. First my shoulder, where my shirt has fallen down, and then the curve of my neck. “But that doesn’t negate what I have with you. You’re my best friend as well, Dessy. Sometimes I need Avery’s calm, soothing presence, and sometimes I need your jubilant one. Sometimes I want to be assured everything’s okay, and other times I want to put pubic hair in Tate’s food.” I shrug calmly, but my lips can’t help but twitch when he breaks into laughter.
Because, yeah, we totally did that to Tate before.
And yes, Tate fucked the shit out of me in revenge.
“I need all of you guys,” I admit on an exhale. “Helio’s steadfast presence. Your joy. Avery’s calm-head—”
“He’s a fucking serial killer, Em,” Des reminds me dryly, and Avery’s lips pause where they’re nibbling on my earlobe.
“I take offense to that,” he murmurs before resuming his ministrations once more.
“Even today, when I got shot—”
“What the fuck?” Avery pulls away from my back as if my skin caught on fire. Desmond stares at me with wide eyes.
“You got shot at?” he demands.
I mayyyyy or may not have forgotten to mention that little snippet of information when we got home. I think Tate was pissed and embarrassed that he allowed someone to get the drop on us, especially a pesky human. And me? I knew my men would react like this.
“I’m fine,” I huff in irritation. “It was just a graze on my shoulder—”
Before I can even finish speaking, Desmond is pulling my shirt over my head and Avery is unclasping my bra.
Touch as light as a moth’s wing, Desmond begins to stroke at the puckered pink skin that was once spewing blood. So much blood that I had to burn my clothes with the help of Sin. Of course, he didn’t ask why I wanted to light them on fire. He probably thought it was a form of date night or some shit.
“It’s healed,” Des murmurs in s
tark wonderment.
“I’m the Goddess of Pain.” My voice is breathy when Desmond lowers his lips to my skin and begins to kiss at the sensitive, freshly healed mark.
“So you made yourself feel pain in order to heal?” Avery whispers in my ear, once more pulling me flush against his hard body. And I mean hard.
“That’s naughty, baby,” Des murmurs as he kisses a blazing trail from my shoulder to the top of my right breast. He lingers there, and I bite my lip to contain the agonized mewl that wants to escape.
“I thought you guys were mad…at…each other,” I pant out. Instead of answering right away, Avery grabs both of my wrists and forces them behind my back. This position pushes my breasts further into Desmond’s suckling mouth.
“Nah.” The God of Combat licks a fiery trail around my areola, never touching the one area I so desperately want him to. “You only confirmed what I already knew—that I’m better.”
Avery scoffs as he moves my wrists into one hand and pushes down my shorts and panties with the other.
“You keep telling yourself that.” I can feel something soft wrap around my wrists, but I can’t turn to see what the object is. It doesn’t feel like rope or anything of the sort.
“I guarantee you that I can make her come faster than you,” Desmond challenges from where his lips rest on my breast.
Avery’s fingernails scrape down my back until it stops at my ass cheek. I just barely hold in my moan at Desmond’s soft, taunting kisses juxtaposed by Avery’s brutal descent.
One of Avery’s fingers enter my tight channel, swirling the juices around in a decidedly lackadaisical manner.
“We are not having a competition that impedes my chances of getting an orgasm,” I hiss, groaning low in my throat when Avery adds a second finger.
“Baby,” Desmond purrs lazily, removing his lips completely from my aching breast. I practically growl, and I know that if my hands weren’t tied, I would grab his long hair and pull his face back down to my tit. “I promise you that you’ll love this idea.”
“Orrrr…” Avery starts as he removes his fingers from my pussy.
This time, I can’t stop myself from crying out in indignation.
“Or?” Desmond quirks a brow as he peels his shirt over the top of his head in a sexy way only some men are capable of pulling off. You know what I mean—grabbing the back collar and tugging it upwards, exposing the bronze, gorgeous planes of his chest in the process. He makes quick work of chucking off his shorts as well, his cock springing free, already dripping with pre-cum.
“Or you get top half and I get bottom?” Avery suggests. “And then we switch?”
Desmond grins diabolically, going all supervillain on my ass.
“It’s on.”
“Wait—” But my plea gets lost when both men descend on me in a fury. Desmond wastes no time capturing my beaded nipple in his mouth, swirling his tongue around the tip. Avery drops to his knees behind me and uses his own tongue on my aching pussy. The dual stimulations have me bucking my hips, desperate for something that’s just out of reach.
Desmond begins to knead my neglected breast, pulling and twisting at my nipple, while Avery devours me from below. His teeth clamp down on my clit, tugging to the point of pain, before he releases me and replaces his tongue with three fingers. It feels as if I have an angel and devil on both of my shoulders, each one demanding my complete and utter attention.
But I can’t tell you which of my men is which.
Avery continues to scissor his fingers inside of me, stirring up heat and friction between my thighs, while Desmond’s hot and hungry mouth feasts on my nipple.
When Avery begins to use his thumb on my clit, causing my aching body to throb and pulse in response, Desmond bites down on the tight nub, pulling it through his teeth.
My orgasm ripples through me like shooting stars cleaving apart the inky black sky. When I finally come down from my high, I’m boneless and breathless, and I would’ve fallen on my ass if Desmond and Avery weren't there to hold me up.
“Fucking hell!” I gasp.
“Not bad, Living,” Desmond teases as he releases my nipple with an audible slurp.
“I could say the same for you, Rey.” Avery remains on the ground, just out of view, but I can tell from his voice that he’s wearing a cocky, self-satisfied smile. “Switch?”
“I have a better idea,” Desmond purrs as he leads my trembling body to the bed. “Hey, baby, are you up for a little anal play?”
“Jesus Christ,” I moan as I hear a drawer open and close.
“Our little goddess has been waiting for us,” Avery muses as he dangles a bottle of unopened lube and Desmond unties my hands. Apparently, the assholes used my own bra. “You’ve been waiting for our cocks, baby? Waiting for us to take you?”
Avery’s eyes soften as he stares at my sweaty, needy body. I just had one mind-blowing orgasm, and already, I’m desperate for another one.
“Is that a yes?” Desmond gently, but very forcefully, grips my chin and tilts my head back to meet his dark-rimmed eyes. “Baby, I need to hear your words.”
“Yes,” I groan. “I want your cocks inside of me.”
Avery smirks as he opens the bottle and drops a generous dollop of lube onto his fingers. Moving behind me, just out of sight, his finger runs down the crease between my ass cheeks.
Desmond holds my eyes as he puts his palms on my ribcage and slowly glides his fingers down the swell of my hips and to my thighs. The way he’s staring at me…
I feel beautiful.
It’s not always easy for me to feel like that. Even when I was a literal goddess, there were some days that I stared at myself in the mirror and wished I was thinner. Prettier.
But my men always stare at me in the way that an artist would stare at the sunset, as if they’re itching to paint me and sign their initials at the bottom to claim the finished piece.
Maintaining eye contact, he slowly brings his lips to mine, the touch almost teasing as his tongue licks first my upper lip and then my bottom lip. Behind me, Avery’s finger finally breaches that tight ring of muscles.
My hands trace the light stubble on Desmond’s cheeks as I hook a leg around his waist, and he lifts me into his arms. This position puts his cock directly against my needy core. Slowly, carefully, I penetrate myself on his thick dick, the scalding press of Avery’s body from behind causing my muscles to tremble.
“You’re beautiful, baby. So beautiful. So perfect. Fuck, your pussy feels fantastic. I’m sure your ass will feel just as perfect,” Desmond praises, and his dirty talk causes a blush to stain my cheeks.
Avery uses his lubed fingers to tease me from behind as I sit on Desmond’s lap, feeling impossibly full. My vision flickers with golden splotches, almost like fireworks, as Avery’s fingers are replaced with the tip of his cock.
Is it possible to die from an orgasm? If the answer’s yes, then that is how I want to go—surrounded by the men I love and perfectly sated.
I dig my fingers into Desmond’s disheveled brown hair as inch by inch, Avery breaches the muscles of my ass. I know that there’s only a very thin wall of flesh separating them, that they can no doubt feel each other’s cocks, but that thought only adds to the intensity of the moment. I feel so incredibly full, causing me to cry out from the sensation.
Desmond begins to knead my breasts as Avery snakes his arms just under my chest and rests them on Desmond’s sweat-soaked chest. My God of Combat kisses me with every ounce of feeling he can muster. Every word he’s never said is screamed at me through that one, eloquent clash of lips and tongues.
My men move in and out of me, finding a rhythm as easy as breathing. After all, this isn’t our first rodeo, though it feels like it. It feels…new. New and exciting.
It’s a frenzy of movement as their cocks slide in and out of my tight holes. I can feel another orgasm rapidly approaching, and I don’t hesitate to give myself over to it. Desmond comes next, his huge cock twitching inside of m
e before he spills his seed across my pussy lips. Avery holds out a moment longer—but only a second—as he stirs my pleasure to new heights, pounding into my ass with reckless abandon. He releases a roar, his teeth biting down on my shoulder, directly where the bullet pierced my skin, as he comes as well.
For a long moment, nobody moves. Both of their cocks are still inside of me, and the sheer rightness of this moment, the overwhelming perfection of it, brings tears to my eyes.
“I love you both,” I whisper as their cocks begin to twitch inside of me.
“I love you too,” Desmond answers immediately.
“I love you more,” Avery quips, and the two men glare at each other over my head. And then he adds, “Switch?”
I can’t help but laugh, my body tired, sweaty, and so unbelievably sated. Still, I can feel the tendrils of pleasure returning with a vengeance as they pull their half-erect cocks out of me and casually flip me around.
“We’re going to go again?” I ask in disbelief as Avery lines up with my pussy and Desmond begins lubing his cock.
“We’re going to go all fucking evening, until you forget your own name,” Avery responds with a smile.
And they’re right—we do go all evening.
And I do forget my name.
CHAPTER 23
Crystals is a club located in a ritzy part of town, where a majority of the buildings have a dilapidated feel to them and the cops don’t dare venture out. It’s a single-story, silver building with black-out windows and a line that curls around the side and into the parking lot. The desolate nature of it reminds me of a carcass that’s been eaten away by maggots and vultures.
Today, everyone is bedecked in bright neon clothes and face-paint, glow stick bracelets adorning their wrists. Some shady-looking guy with a goatee and a stained white t-shirt sells them on the street corner for ten dollars a strand.
“Do you remember that one party we went to in high school?” Avery moves to stand beside me, and I take a moment to admire him in the ambient glow of the silver moon.