Book of the Lost: AAV-07d25-11: (A reverse harem, post-pandemic, slow-burn romance) (The JAK2 Cycle, Book 3)

by V. E. S. Pullen

  She reared back, eyes wide and those plush lips forming a little O, and I grinned lazily.

  “Does that shock you?”

  She nodded, slowly.

  “What part shocks you? That I’ve been jerking off thinking about you since we met, or that I told you?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re going to have to get used to it, little flower. The things I plan to do to you…” I let the thought trail off, enjoying her shiver. She hadn’t moved away, there were only a few inches between us now — I could lean forward and be kissing her with just a small tilt of my head, but I resisted the temptation. “Azzie, this is real. It’s real for all of us, and we want to make sure you’re happy, and safe, and— to be way more fucking honest than you’re probably ready for, but there’s five of us so you’re probably going to be really sore. At least in the beginning. But more than satisfied,” I promised her, massaging circles on her hips with my thumbs. I held her loosely — unless she tried to pull away then she’d see how tight I’d hold on. “Really happy, and really tired. Sorry if that embarrasses you, except not really.” She was blushing so deep red that I wanted to touch her cheek to see if I got burned, but I kept my hands where they were. “Nod if you understand.”

  We both knew what I really meant: nod if you accept this.

  Nothing.

  “We understand what it’s going to take to be with you, and you’re crazy if you think that’s scaring us off. Nod and tell me you understand what I’m saying.”

  Big eyes, biting her bottom lip so hard, but still nothing. She studied me, and I didn’t budge, waiting.

  Finally, finally, she gave a little jerk of her head up and down, and inside I collapsed in relief though I didn’t give any indication to her that I expected anything else — not even a microexpression — another one of those times all the training and conditioning paid off.

  “Glad we’re finally on the same page. The guys are going to be happy we got all that settled.”

  “This isn’t settled—” she husked out, clearing her throat.

  “Yes, it is. I told you how it’s going to be. We’re all in agreement.”

  “Oh, well as long as all of you agree—”

  “Isn’t that what you want?” I furrowed my brow, tilting my head slightly. “Don’t you want to know we’ve all considered everything and are still all-in? It’s not exactly the most traditional way to start a relationship but these are unique circumstances.”

  “You can’t just bulldoze me into a— a relationship with all five of you—” Her shock was giving way to indignation, and she was blatantly trying to twist the argument, because real discussions of sex or intimacy made her anxious. Jokes and innuendos were fine, but real talk triggered her.

  I shook my head at her, countering her move. “We didn’t bulldoze you, you hit us like a fucking riptide. Yeah, one second we’re all innocently paddling around in the water, and the next thing we’re on our way to fucking Hawaii the hard way. None of us stood a chance, and the harder we fought, the faster we got worn down. The only way to survive you is to surrender to the inevitable and let you carry us where you want us. You have all the power, you have all the control, as long as you accept that you can’t shake us loose. Nod for me.”

  I knew damn well she’d understand what I was saying, that everything was going to go at her pace but we would be moving forward with this. And if I was lucky, me derailing her argument would piss her off and I’d get some more of that Azzie rage like when we met — but this time we weren’t in school and I wasn’t her teacher, and I could shut her mouth with mine anytime I wanted.

  She pursed her lips together and did not move, stubborn as a fucking mule.

  “Azzie, whatever you think is standing in our way — and I mean our as in you and us — it’s not. Whatever we need to do, we’ll do, it’s that simple. And hopefully, eventually, you’ll learn that relationships are about compromise and you’ll give a little too, but until then, you call all the shots.”

  “I can’t— my body—”

  “I will treat you like spun sugar, as fragile as a butterfly, if that’s what you need. You’re my delicate little flower, and I will never cause you pain or discomfort if I can help it. For the rest of our lives, if all we ever have is the gentlest of lovemaking, I will be totally satisfied. God I love when you blush like that. Yes, Azzie, we’re going to have sex, and it’s going to be whatever you need it to be, and I’m going to be so fucking happy. Nod for me, please. Just— just nod for me.”

  “You’re awfully confident,” she murmured, raising her hand to my face, her eyes tracing my skin like a caress. She ran her fingers along my cheek and into my hair as I closed my eyes, basking in the feeling of her touching me, by her choice and not just responding to me, for the first time. She scraped her fingertips along my scalp, sending shivers down my spine, and said, “Open your eyes, Spider.”

  And when I did, she was nodding.

  We hadn’t been kissing that long, just enough that her eyes were shiny, her lips glossy and swollen, and I was feeling good, when someone cleared their throat nearby. I looked over Azzie’s shoulder at Jason Callis standing about ten feet away, smirking.

  “Hey, um, sorry to interrupt—”

  Yeah, he didn’t sound sorry at all. Azzie looked back at him over her shoulder, and I watched his face soften. Fucker.

  “—but it’s starting to get dark.”

  “Oh, crap,” Azzie climbed off my legs, and put her hand on my shoulder to steady herself. “I’m sorry, I lost track—”

  “It’s fine.” Jason’s arm twitched like he’d been about to reach out his hand for hers but stopped himself. I wrapped my hand around Azzie’s calf and slid it up her knee and thigh, and over her hip to settle at her lower back as I got to my feet, not letting her go near him without me.

  She leaned against me and kissed the underside of my jaw, whispering “You’re being a little overly possessive. Pretty sure he’s aware we’re together, considering what he interrupted.”

  Jason looked between us, and grimaced. “Could we talk at some point?” he asked her, completely ignoring me. “Not now, but maybe— maybe later?”

  She hesitated but nodded. Strangely, he didn’t look happy that she agreed, and something told me it wasn’t going to be a good conversation for either of them.

  She took my hand to lead me back to the group, and as I passed by, I studied him closely. Even with just a few seconds to observe him, I knew it was going to be bad.

  He curled up his lip and looked away, unable to meet my eye.

  Sev

  They weren’t gone too long, maybe twenty minutes or so, and when they came strolling out of the woods holding hands, Azzie’s eyes bright and lips swollen, Spider looked as smug as shit.

  I didn’t know how to feel, until Jason Callis came trailing behind looking like he’d been kicked in the chest, then I felt smug — until I started overthinking things.

  She’d kissed Tai and Spider and Sasha now, what if she didn’t want anyone else? Or it was too much for her? What if she wasn’t interested in—

  She crashed into me, wrapping her arms around my whole body, my arms trapped inside her hug. “Stop it, Sev,” she whispered. “You’re thinking way too hard about all of this. We’re all on the same page, okay?”

  Spider nodded at me across the clearing, standing over with Tai now and talking softly to his brother who was grinning.

  “For real?” I couldn’t quite believe it.

  “I have to be the only one. Can you live with that?”

  “Already am, dummy. Who else would measure up?”

  She made a noise. “That’s what he said too. Are you sure? Can’t even be for a night.”

  I peeled her arms off me and held her by her shoulders a foot away from me, looking her dead in the eye. “If you’re asking me if I can be faithful to you, and give up all other women, then you know the answer to that. I told you days ago, unprompted. I also couldn’t even talk to yo
u about any kind of relationship without confessing all my sins to you, ones that happened before we were even friends let alone together. But if you don’t think you can trust me, then this won’t work, and we shouldn’t even start.”

  She made a face. “It’s not you, it’s me. No, don’t look at me like that, that’s a perfectly valid way of explaining this. It isn’t that I don’t believe you mean what you say or you won’t be faithful or whatever, it’s that I’m still having a little trouble wrapping my brain around the idea that you’d choose me, okay? Get down off your cross, you martyr, I’m the one who’s fucked up over this, and I don’t want you to commit to anything that you don’t really want. It won’t just hurt me, it’ll hurt you too.”

  I glared at her, not appreciating that martyr shit one-freaking-bit even if she was right. It was rude. Unnecessary.

  “Martyr? Fucking rude, Az.” She rolled her eyes at me. I squeezed her shoulders again, giving her a little pinch that made her eyes flare. “Even though that was a bitch thing to say, I want this. Technically, I told you I was in love with you last week. Yeah, you might have been unconscious at the time, but it still counts. And you said the words back but it was under duress so it doesn’t count, which means you have yet to say anything about it— not even hey, thanks Sev, that’s cool! so I think I’m being pretty chill about everything and then you go and call me a martyr? Rude. So rude.”

  “I love you, Sev. Don’t hurt me.”

  “Finally!” I huffed out a breath, bobbing my head at her. “Thank you, Azzie, that’s cool.”

  “I hate you so much right now. You couldn’t just say it back—”

  “No you don’t, you just said you love me.” I sounded overly smug even to myself.

  “I’m changing my statement. Revising it. I’m okay with you, Sev, you’re tolerable. Don’t hurt me.”

  I dragged her against me and rocked us side to side. “Too late, I’ve already recorded it in my diary, surrounded by hearts and flowers and shit. Mr. Azzie Vokaty written in the margins. That’s like carving commandments into stone: thou shalt not lie about loving Sev. Thou shalt not crush his heart. My favorite is the ninth commandment though: thou shalt give kisses every day. By my count, you have some penance to do, missy.”

  “You’re so weird.”

  “Fuck I love your little giggle. Okay, enough of this, you’re distracting me. We need to get inside so I can kidnap you to one of those dozens of rooms you’re so proud of, and you can start saying your prayers. They sound a lot like oh God, oh God, oh Sev don’t stop!”

  I think I say these things just to see all the shades of red she’ll turn. The spectrum is truly amazing.

  “Sev—”

  “I just want to kiss you, Azzie. I’ll behave. I know this isn’t the time or place.”

  “I wish it was, Sev. I’d like to see if you can live up to your own hype.”

  I sucked in a deep breath, expelling it and stretching my arms, limbering up. “Oh, honey b, now that’s a challenge I’m looking forward to.”

  “Can I assume by the exaggerated stretching motions that you’re not freaking out any longer, bro?” Luka swooped up and grabbed Azzie, swinging her around.

  “I wasn’t freaking out,” I snapped at him, feeling foolish. How come he and Sasha were so damn confident all the time?

  “Of course not,” he agreed insincerely. “He’s always been the sensitive one,” he whisper-shouted in Azzie’s ear. “Baby of the family and all.”

  “Seriously?” she asked, legit surprised. “I was sure you were the youngest, Luka.”

  “Nope, I’m the dreaded middle child, but instead of Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, it’s Sasha, Sasha, Sasha!”

  “Are you forgetting we have two little sisters? Technically, both of us are middle children.”

  “Still Sasha, Sasha, Sasha though.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.”

  Luka looked down at our beautiful girl and frowned. “What’s going on with you and Jason-fucking-Callis?”

  “None of your fucking business,” she smirked in a blatant challenge.

  “How about you and your foster-fucking-parents?” I asked, and her smirk twisted into a snarl.

  “Again, none of your fucking business.”

  “Is Luka going to have to cut a bitch?” Luka asked, all sincerity.

  “I don’t know, is Azzie going to have to choke you out?” she asked back, eyes flashing.

  He grinned, shaking his head. “I love it when you get all threatening. Turns me on.”

  She rolled her eyes and stepped away from us. “I wish I could give you shit about that, but in all honesty, I get super tingly every time one of you gets all testosterone-infused and aggressive, and I’m not going to be a hypocrite. I’m not proud— when it’s justified—!” she grabbed him as he turned, looking for one of the Callises, and he frowned at her.

  “Stop being a tease then,” he pouted — yeah, that was a definite pout. “Don’t tell me aggression turns you on then stop me from beating some fucker who deserves it!”

  “Not the time, Luka!” She was scolding him, two seconds away from her hands landing on her hips and stomping her foot, and I mimed eating popcorn as my brother shot me a glare. She narrowed her eyes at me too. “How about this,” she turned back to Luka, “You can get one punch in on Sev for being a douche right now—”

  “Hey!” I made a face at her then had to take off running because Luka was after me, hissing that I should stand there and take it like a man because “sweetpea wants to see some blood…”

  Animals, the lot of them.

  Chapter Three

  Tai

  Luka and Sev were fucking around, Luka chasing after Sev like they were little kids hopped up on sugar, until Sasha finally told them to cut their shit out. Azzie was moving over to the cave entrance and I joined her, wanting to make sure at least one of us was always with her.

  Between her foster family, the Slopes, and the Callises, I didn’t want her alone.

  Everyone else gathered closely too, suitcases and boxes and bags in hand. Azzie grabbed my hand when I reached her, squeezing it lightly, and I squeezed back, missing her touch when she released me.

  “If you could shine a light up there?” She pointed at the inside of the cave and Sasha stepped forward with a flashlight, pointing it up where she gestured. We all pressed in to look and then stepped back after seeing the ceiling of the cave was a metal wire grid packed with boulders and rocks of every size.

  I also saw the large metal door that Sasha had described, with the wheel set into the center and a keypad off to the side. I snorted when I saw the door was blue with “111” painted on it in bright yellow. Unlike the triplets, I didn’t play the Fallout games obsessively when I was young, but I knew the reference.

  “Once we get inside, that’s it. I’m going to drop those rocks down, and this cave isn’t going to be a cave any longer, and this entrance is going to be sealed. Anyone approaching this area will see a pile of boulders that look like they’ve been here forever. There are at least two other exits to the bunker. No, Greg, I’m not telling you exactly how many there are because I don’t trust you — you’ll have a way out in case anything happens, but you’re not going to have an opportunity to seal us out if we need to get back in.”

  He looked pissed but didn’t say anything, like he knew she was justified. An itch settled over me that I needed to scratch.

  Azzie punched something into the keypad and there was a whoosh of air like a vacuum seal had released, and she spun the wheel until the door swung in on its hinges. She stepped inside a narrow hallway and folded up the cover on another keypad, disarming the alarm that was beeping. “I’ll give you codes you can use,” she said to Greg, then, “everybody in, and I’ll seal it up behind us” to the rest of us.

  Eleven of the fourteen of us filed in past her and continued down a sloping hallway like a big metal tube with a grate along the bottom over the top of some pipes. It ran a good thirty feet down, and
Spider and Sasha kept everyone moving. There were a half dozen dim lights sunk into the ceiling — only about eight feet from where the grate sat, and it was grim and claustrophobic feeling. It reminded me of the interior of a battleship. If the rest of this place was as tight, it would be a miserable place to live for any length of time.

  Greg held back until it was just Azzie and me left, gesturing for me to go on without them. I crossed my arms and braced my feet. I wasn’t going anywhere.

  He gave me a dirty look then ignored me. “I’m not going to keep you or Mouse out. You can give me all the codes and the entrance locations.”

  Azzie continued to close the hatch up, spinning the wheel on the inside of the door until it wouldn’t go any farther, then focused on the keypad. She punched in a code, and I could hear a muffled rumbling on the other side of the door, then a few thumps as rocks settled into place. Once it was quiet again, she rearmed the alarm, muttering, “Just in case.”

  Greg waited. She stood staring at the keypad, finally saying, “Two years, Greg.”

  “They threatened our kids.” It sounded like he was repeating himself, possibly from earlier.

  “I was a kid,” she responded right back, anger flaring.

  “But you weren’t our kid.”

  “Yeah, and only family gets the codes,” she spat at him, and his face went a deep shade of red as he clenched his fists at his side.

  I got between them, using my bulk and size to intimidate in a way that I tried never to do, forcing him to back off away from her. “Not sure exactly what’s going on,” I kept my tone low and spoke slowly, my stare locked on him, “but I think you need to walk away right now. Before you force me to make you.”