Forest's Fall (Captive Hearts Book 3)

by Ellie Masters

  “He’s right, Forest,” Sara said. “It would’ve destroyed you. As big and blustery as you are, you’re a gentle and kind soul. You save people. You rescue them. You don’t kill them. You’re a savior, not a murderer.”

  “That’s funny,” I said.

  “How so?” she asked.

  “You sound like my sister.”

  “Really?”

  “What does that mean?” Paul asked.

  “It’s a long story.” I swallowed against a lump in my throat. I was getting choked up.

  “You’re getting mushy on us.” Paul leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

  It was a slow and gentle kiss, a promise made between lovers for a lifetime of more. My entire body trembled, as did his. When he released me, he glanced at the door. “Your men are getting antsy. How about we blow this joint?”

  “I’d rather blow you.”

  He grinned. “Let’s blow this joint first, then we’ll see about the other.”

  “Is that a promise?”

  “Always.” His lips pressed together, and he glanced down one last time at his father. “I have no regrets about killing him. I thought I should feel something, but I don’t. I only have one question.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “When can I see Piper?”

  Sara reached for his hand. “I can’t even begin to imagine how you’re feeling right now, but we can arrange for her to meet us at Xavier’s estate, or you can wait until we get to Insanity. It’s going to be a shock for you both. I’d suggest waiting. She’ll need time, and you need time as well. Tread gently with her. She doesn’t know who her father was.”

  “What’s Insanity?” Paul looked at me.

  “Not what,” I said, “but where. Insanity is our home.”

  Our home.

  I liked the sound of that.

  The idea of the three of us living as one made me ache in the most profound way. I needed them both in my life.

  “Ours?” Paul’s eyes snapped to mine, and a flood of emotions filled his face.

  “Ours,” I said with conviction. It was the only way. “We’ll figure out living accommodations later, but there’s plenty of room for you both.”

  I wanted to build a big-assed bed for the three of us, but that might be too much to ask of Sara. I could always add a suite of rooms for Paul beside mine. My mind churned with ideas.

  “Both?” Sara gripped my chin and forced me from thoughts about what else I would build.

  Paul and I needed a dungeon.

  “Yeah.” I shrugged.

  “Are you leaping before you look?” She gave me one of her looks.

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “I have my own place.”

  “So?”

  “He says it like I’m a sure thing.” She exchanged a look with Paul, who snorted.

  “What the fuck are you talking about? Where else would the three of us live?”

  Paul huffed another laugh.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “A bit presumptuous, don’t you think?” Sara asked.

  “Presumptuous? What’s presumptuous about it?” What the hell was wrong with her? It was the only logical solution.

  “Usually, you ask a girl to move in with you after you’ve dated a bit,” she explained. “The key word there being ask. We’ve technically had zero dates, and you forgot about asking…so…”

  “So, I don’t give a fuck. No need to ask when you’re obviously moving in with me. End of story. Paul will stay in one of the guest rooms until I build a suite adjoining ours.”

  “What if I don’t want to live with a bunch of rockers?” Sara continued. “Insanity is…well, it’s a bit insane.”

  “It’s home.”

  “Right, it’s a group home full of rock stars.” She propped her hands on her hips and looked at Paul. “It’s this massive compound Forest built to keep his rock idols close. They’re like his pets. He’s infatuated with them.”

  “I’m not infatuated.”

  “In addition to everything else he does,” she continued, “he manages their band. They have individual suites and live in this massive communal home.”

  “What’s wrong with that? Your apartment is too small for the three of us, besides my view is to die for, and…”

  Paul gripped my chin and crushed his lips against mine. Strong and determined, he silenced the rest of what I had to say with a sweep of his tongue. Dark, masculine, intoxicating, my toes curled, and my dick twitched. Ending the kiss far too soon, he pulled away with a grin.

  I was definitely building a dungeon.

  “She’s busting your chops. Insanity sounds amazing, but I agree. Typically, you ask before you assume someone is moving in with you. As for me, I’m officially homeless, so I gladly accept. You need the supervision, but Sara is right. You should woo her a bit, take her on a couple of dates, and ask real polite for her to move in with us.” He gave her a wink.

  Us.

  “I’m not taking her on dates.” My sullen reply was met with a firm grip at my nape. Paul drew me close, eyes sparking with dominance.

  “You want to discuss that in private?” The heat in his eyes told me exactly what kind of discussion that would be.

  Big-assed dungeon.

  And completely soundproofed.

  Maybe instead of an adjoining suite, I could build a whole new building for the three of us, give us a little privacy.

  “Stop that,” I said.

  “Stop what?” His eyes twinkled with amusement.

  I reached down and adjusted myself. “You’re making me hard.”

  “From the kiss or…”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Not really, but good to know.” He glanced around.

  “You guys gonna stand around and talk all day?” Ben shouted from the door, watching our interaction.

  “Three dates?” I tugged Sara to my side.

  “Sounds reasonable,” she said. “You need a lot of help in the romance department.”

  “Until you say yes to living with me, I’m staying at your place. I hope you have a couch big enough for Paul.”

  “It’s a small couch.”

  “Then I’d better hurry up and convince you. Insanity is your new home.”

  “I’m thinking a night at the opera for date number one.”

  “The opera!” I covered my ears. “No opera. You might as well drive spikes into my ears.”

  She laughed. “Okay, how about a concert?”

  “Sounds perfect. Angel Fire should be playing someplace.” If they were still on tour, I had no doubt Ash canceled everything when his wife and son had been fished out of the South China Sea.

  “Of course, they are.” She slowly shook her head. “What was I thinking?”

  “You didn’t mean them?”

  “There are other bands.”

  “Not good ones.”

  Ben made a show of tapping his foot and rolling his eyes.

  I took Sara’s hand in mine. “Let’s blow this joint.”

  “With pleasure.”

  We walked out of there together, Paul, Sara, and I holding hands.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Forest

  A helicopter took us to a jet where we all basically passed out for the sixteen-hour flight. Or rather, I passed out. It would take days to recover from what Snowden had done to me.

  When I woke, Sara and Paul sat together at the front of the plane. They had their heads together and looked at me when I shifted to a more comfortable position.

  Paul wandered back to where I sat.

  “How are you doing?” he asked.

  “I’m exhausted.”

  “You’ve been through a lot.”

  “Looks like you and Sara are chilling.”

  “Yeah, she’s pretty remarkable.” He leaned closer. “You know what?”

  “You want to fuck me in the lavatory and join the mile-high club?”

  “Is sex all you thin
k about?”

  “About ninety-nine percent of the time.”

  “It’s a wonder you get anything done.”

  “I’m good at what I do. But if you want to do the mile-high thing…my dick is ready.”

  He laughed. “Your dick is always ready.”

  “Well, I was asleep, and I had a dream about you, so it’s technically not my fault. Are you complaining?”

  “Not in the slightest.”

  “What did you want to say?”

  His gaze flicked toward the front of the plane to where Sara watched us.

  “You’re worried about Sara? Don’t be. She’s a tough cookie.”

  “Not exactly worried…”

  “Then what?”

  “A little confused. Excited maybe?”

  “Why?” I sat up straighter.

  “It didn’t totally suck giving her mouth to mouth.”

  My heart skipped a beat. “Say that again.”

  Hope rose within me, and possibilities churned in my head.

  “It wasn’t disgusting, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”

  “As in not so totally disgusting that you wouldn’t mind doing it again?”

  “I’m not against it.”

  “It? As in kissing her again, or as in more?”

  He shoved me. “I’m not answering that, and if you breathe a word of that to her, I’ll whip your ass until you can’t walk for a week. Plus, I’ll take that very eager dick of yours and put it in a cage.” He shoved his finger in my chest. “That’s not a threat, but a promise.”

  “I like it when you’re bossy. My balls just drew up, and I’m super hard now.” I lowered my voice.

  “Get up.” He punched my shoulder.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m hard now too.”

  “Ah…” I rubbed my palms together. “I’m at your service.”

  “I like it when you’re needy.” We headed to the back of the plane and ignored the snickers from Xavier’s men.

  After getting my brains fucked out at thirty-thousand feet, I crashed back in my seat, laying it out flat where I fell into a dreamless sleep. Sometime later, Sara gently nudged me awake.

  “We’re here, Forest.” Her angelic voice filled my heart to bursting.

  Indeed, the sounds of the plane’s engines had wound down. I’d been so out of it that I slept through the landing.

  The doors cracked open and thick, humid air spilled into the plane. Xavier’s men gathered their gear and filed out. We had nothing to collect. I ducked my head to keep from hitting the bulkhead and shuffled out behind Sara. Paul carried up the rear.

  Bright blue skies and a gentle breeze greeted us. The familiar scents of salt, sea, and tropical flowers floated on the air. I shielded my eyes against the sun and breathed the smell of freedom deep into my lungs.

  A small group of people waited for us on the tarmac. My eyes latched onto one person out of them all, and I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Forest!” Skye ran, dodging between Xavier’s men in her rush to get to me.

  I barely made it down the stairs before she launched into my arms. I held her tight as she buried her head against my chest, then my entire body went still.

  I felt nothing but joy.

  No revulsion.

  No disgust.

  No wretched PTSD tickling at the edges of my mind.

  She started to pull away, but I hugged her tighter.

  “I missed you, my summer sky.”

  “I missed you, Beanpole.”

  “You tried to die on me.” I released my grip to hold her at arm’s length. “How’s Zach?”

  She pointed behind her, where Ash held the tiny infant. Ash walked toward us, his eyes on the arm I wrapped around his wife, my foster sister, who was my everything.

  “Sara!” Skye wriggled out of my hug and launched at Sara. “Oh my God, I was so worried.”

  “I thought you were dead.” Sara wiped at her tears as they hugged. “I thought Zach…”

  “The highlights…we crashed, but everybody got out, and other than getting a little cold, Zach did just fine.”

  “I’m so sorry…”

  “Stop. We don’t focus on regrets, or what we might have done differently, or what horrible people did to us. We’re survivors who win by living our best lives. I’m just so happy you’re safe.”

  “You’re happy? I’m happy. I thought you were dead.”

  “Well, I’m hard to kill. Now let’s get you inside and out of those horrible clothes.”

  When Skye passed me, I grabbed her hand and pulled her tight against me again. Ash drew close, a weird expression on his face. I didn’t care. This was the first time I’d hugged Skye in over a decade without feeling repulsed by it and grotesquely turned on.

  It was a moment I wanted to last forever.

  “Zach!” Sara gave a little yell and held her hands out.

  Ash deposited his son in Sara’s arms, then gave a little jerk of his chin to me in greeting. He knew I hated the man hug and back thumping gig.

  I surprised the hell out of him when I hugged him and thumped on his back. Sara would be proud of me, but she had her face buried in baby kisses and missed it.

  “It’s really good to see you.” Emotion overwhelmed me. I had expected Skye would be waiting for me but was thrilled to see Ash.

  I didn’t have very many friends and considered Ash to be one of the very few who got me.

  “Shouldn’t you be on tour?” I asked. “What kind of a public relations shit storm have you left me?”

  “Well, considering my wife and son were shot down, I’d say you owe me a little public relations smoothing. But don’t worry. We only had to cancel one show. It’s going to cost you, but it’s not a disaster.” Ash’s eyes narrowed when he saw my fingers threaded through Sara’s. “Looks like we have a lot to talk about, loverboy.” He thumped me on the chest. “It’s good to see you, bro.”

  Loverboy?

  I laughed at that. I deserved it and didn’t mind it at all. For once, I was the one madly in love. I would own that title and embrace everything it meant.

  “It’s good to be seen,” I replied.

  He shifted his attention to Sara. “Now, here is a pretty face I don’t get to see often enough. Your boss likes to keep you to himself. Hug me.” Ash spread his arms out wide, waiting for Sara to come to him.

  “It’s good to see you, Ash.”

  When his arms wrapped around her, I held back a possessive growl. It was Ash, but still. I didn’t like her in another man’s arms. If those were Paul’s arms, it would be different. I had no issues with him touching her.

  Skye glanced at me then back to Sara. A ghost of a smile curled her lips, but she said nothing.

  Ash finally released Sara then looked at Paul. “And who is this?”

  “That,” I said with a little more possessiveness than intended, “is Paul, Piper’s brother.”

  “Her brother?” Skye gasped.

  Ash’s eyes widened.

  “Yeah.” Paul rubbed at the back of his neck.

  “Well shit, she thinks you’re dead. I guess you’re not.” He thrust out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. We had a shit of a day looking for your damn pen.”

  “What?” Paul looked confused.

  “Long story.” Ash huffed a laugh, then turned to me and held out his phone. “I estimate you have about one second to send Piper a text telling her you found him. Take any longer than that, and she’ll kill you.”

  I took the phone and drafted a text.

  Piper responded immediately. You found him?

  Me: Yup.

  The phone rang.

  “Hey.”

  “Omg, Forest, put him on.” Her screech had me yanking the phone away from my ear. I held it out to Paul. “It’s for you.”

  He looked at the phone like it was going to bite him and took a step back. I put it on mute.

  “Look, Piper is a bit much, but I don’t think she
’s going to bite your head off.” I thrust it out to him.

  “I don’t know what to say.” He continued to stare at the phone.

  “Start with hello,” Sara took the phone from me and walked it over to Paul. “That’s usually a good place to begin.”

  Paul took the phone. “Hello.”

  Sara placed her hand on his arm, tenderness showing in her expression. I stared at them with hope. If they could forge a relationship between them, there might be hope for what I wanted. It wouldn’t be something I pushed. They’d have to find their way to each other without me, but when they did, I would tie us all together.

  Skye came up behind me. “What’s the story with those two?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I can’t tell which one you’re staring at.”

  “I’m staring at them both.”

  “Both?” Her eyebrows lifted.

  “Yeah.” I draped my arm over her shoulder, loving how good it felt to hold her in my arms.

  “Well, it’s about time,” she said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sara’s been in love with you forever. I like her, but both?” She didn’t look like she believed me.

  I never dated women, and I’d only ever fucked men.

  Now it looked like I was not only going to date a woman, but Sara was moving in with me. I was still fucking men, well one man.

  Everyone around me seemed to be settling down. I never thought I’d be one of them. Now, I had two people I loved.

  Maybe I should take Sara to Vegas, or better yet, Niagara Falls? Tie her to me forever with a ring around her finger like Ash did with Skye.

  I nodded, liking the idea.

  This whole three-date thing? Sara was being a pain in the ass about it. She did it to make a point, which was one of the many things I loved about her. She never took any of my shit.

  As for Paul? Beyond the sex, there was no question I accepted him as my Dom, but I really liked the guy. I didn’t know what he had planned after everything that happened, but I hoped he decided to stick around.

  I couldn’t imagine a life without him in it, sitting down at the beach with Sara, bouncing our kids on our knees as Sara spread the food out on a picnic blanket. Hell, we could have three kids or more.

  Our kids?