“Are you going to let me in here, baby?” I grunted, pretty sure I’d die if she said no.
“Yes,” she whimpered. “Yes… Easton…”
I took my time, even though my body was screaming to claim that last part of her. I didn’t want to hurt her, and I didn’t kid myself that she wasn’t going to feel a certain amount of discomfort, but that wasn’t going to stop me.
I wanted all of this girl.
No more secrets between us.
No more denial.
When I finally got my cock worked deep inside her ass, I couldn’t stop my eyes from rolling back in my head. Lightning shook the building, and the storm was a vicious one. I could only pray that her parents didn’t come banging on the door, even though it was locked. I wanted nothing ruining this for us.
Once I gave her a few seconds to adjust, I slowly pulled back, then pushed back in. I did this a few times before she pushed back against me and she began meeting me thrust for thrust.
After a while, we were fucking like we’d been doing this for years, and though I knew she had to be in a considerable amount of discomfort, she wasn’t stopping or asking me to stop. “You like that, baby?” I hissed, practically going out of my mind. “You like that I fucking own you?”
Then she cried out words I never thought I’d hear. “Yes…yes…Easton…God, Easton, I love you.”
“Fuck,” I hissed, my thrusts into her body driving me insane. “Neve, baby…”
I reached underneath, found her clit, then helped her cum all over the place. Her ass clamped down on my cock so tightly, it was a wonder I could still move in and out of her body. “I’m cumming!” she yelled. “Oh, God…”
I came like a fucking freight train, and I almost passed out from the pleasure. It wasn’t from having my cock lodged deep in her ass, either. It was from her words.
She loved me.
Neve Stallard Lively fucking loved me.
Chapter 22
Neve~
After Easton had taken everything that I had to offer him, we had taken a long, hot shower and it had been the most meaningful, sensual experience of my life. We hadn’t had sex in the shower. He had washed me, and I had washed him. It hadn’t been about sex, or anything physical like that.
It had been about us.
It was while we’d been showering that I finally understood what my sister had been trying to explain to me in the car. The physical desire and emotions weren’t mutually exclusive. That was the very reason affairs existed. You could be attracted to someone sexually while wanting nothing more to do with them, apart from the sexual chemistry you shared. I didn’t want Easton just sexually. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to experience the peace I felt whenever he was near.
Once the storm had died down, we had showered and dressed, then Easton had called Griffin to ask where they were at. Griffin had only been interested in whether Easton and I had made up or not, and when Easton had assured him that we had made up, the plan was made to ditch the sightseeing and finally get this shit over with.
And now we were all in the sitting room of what I imagined every mansion in the country to be like. It was elegant, classy, clean, and nice. Just very, very nice. The décor was tasteful, and like the rest of the town, had a welcoming style.
Now while I hadn’t been eager to take in all that the town had to offer, the part of Rýkr that I had seen on the drive over here had reminded me of those sleepy little towns they depicted in Hallmark movies where there’s always a happy-ever-after. It was a truly beautiful town that seemed warm and welcoming.
Too bad its mayor was an asshole.
“So, what is this?” my sister asked. “Is it a power play to make us sit around and wait on them?”
Dad snorted. “You’re starting to sound like Neve.”
“Well, I’m nervous,” she muttered, and Griffin leaned over to kiss her on the head.
Avalon and Griffin were sitting together on the love seat near the fireplace while Mom and Dad were sitting on the couch positioned in front of the gorgeous bay windows. I was sitting in one of the Theodore Alexander accent chairs with Easton pacing the floor behind me. And for as comfortable and luxurious as the furniture was, no one in the room felt comfortable.
“We’re ten minutes early,” Severus pointed out from where he was standing near the arched entrance from the foyer. “This isn’t a power play.”
“But they know we’re here,” Easton snapped. “Why the fuck are they taking so long?”
Before Severus could answer, a lyrical voice joined in on the conversation. “Language, Easton.”
We all turned towards the voice and coming from the hallway access on the other side of the room had to be the most stunning person I have ever seen in my life.
Holy.
Shit.
At around the same height as me and my sister, Mrs. Keenstone was delicate and feminine and just plain beautiful. Strands of platinum blonde hair hung loose around her shoulders in precision layers. Her eyes were the same brilliant blue shade that we all had, and her face reminded me of a Barbie with all of its symmetrical perfection.
She also didn’t look motherly at all. I expected her to be soft around the middle with the signs of age doing their thing. But nope. Calliope Keenstone had a body that I imagined her husband probably couldn’t keep his hands off of.
Calliope Keenstone was absolutely stunning.
Absolutely. Stunning.
Dad and Griffin stood as she glided into the room, shooting Easton a reprimanding look, but he wasn’t having it. “Where’s Dad?”
“Right here,” came another voice echoing from the same hallway entrance and holy crap.
The complete opposite of his wife, there was no doubting that the man walking into the sitting room was Astra Keenstone. Looking at him, you could see where the guys had gotten those chocolate locks from. And their eyes. And their Romanesque faces. And their sharp jaw. And their plump, soft lips. And their broad shoulders. And their defined chests. And their flat stomachs. And their strong legs. And their everything else.
It was such a shame that Astra Keenstone was such a jackass because the man was gorgeous in that handsome, sophisticated way. If the man standing before us was any indication of what Easton was going to look like in twenty years, then I had nothing to complain about.
Dad stepped forward and extended his hand. “William Lively,” he said, introducing himself. “I’m Neve and Avalon’s father.” Mr. Keenstone shook his hand. When Dad let it go, he stepped back to introduce Mom. “This is my wife, Betty.”
Mom didn’t reach out to shake his hand. She just gave him a terse nod. “Mr. Keenstone.”
“Mrs. Lively,” he acknowledged before placing his hand behind Mrs. Keenstone’s back and introducing her as well. “This is my wife, Calliope.”
Mrs. Keenstone smiled at my parents. “William, Betty, it’s lovely to finally meet you.”
Easton snorted. “Is it?”
Astra looked over at his son. “Watch yourself, son,” he warned. “I will not allow insolence, no matter how earned.”
Before they could get into it, Mrs. Keenstone looked over at Avalon. “You must be Avalon,” she said, smiling. Then looking over at me, she said, “And you must be Neve.”
Neither me nor my sister made any attempt to stand up and greet them. I wasn’t sure why Avalon was being rude, but I knew why I was. It was insulting to greet us as if they’d done nothing wrong. It was insulting to greet us as if they didn’t know that we were mad as hell.
When no one said anything, Mrs. Keenstone cleared her throat and took a seat in the empty armchair across from the one I was sitting in. Mr. Keenstone took his rightful place behind her. Their postures were upright and proper, and they looked every bit as regal as Easton claimed they were. We really were being hosted by a king and his queen.
“It’s our understanding that you are here for answers,” Mr. Keenstone started. “What is it you’d like to ask that Easton nor Griffin have been
able to answer to your satisfaction?”
Avalon’s eyes darted my way and I wish I had sat next to her when we had arrived. We were in this together and I didn’t like her sitting way over there with Griffin. Even though I knew he had her back, we were here for us, not the guys.
I thought about all the questions I had bouncing around in my head, but now that I was here, I realized none of them really mattered. The why had already been answered. Astra Keenstone was a megalomaniac, a narcissist, and an asshole. He’d been only thinking of himself with his little experiment, not us or his family.
No questions we asked and no answers he could give would change the past. His reasons might make us hate him a little less, but I really didn’t care about making friends with him, especially when it was no less than he deserved.
So, there was really only one question to ask.
“What now?”
Astra and Calliope looked over at me. “Excuse me?” Astra mused.
“Look, we didn’t drive four hours for false pleasantries or banal nonsense,” Avalon jumped in. “What you did to us was unconscionable, and we’re not going to let you pretend otherwise. It was selfish, immoral, reckless, and just plain wrong.” She stood up because the girl was on a roll now. “You gambled with your sons’ lives and who does that? What kind of people offered up their children’s lives like a sacrifice for the sake of curiosity?”
“Young lady, that’s not how this came about,” Astra denied.
“Even so,” I said, picking up where Avalon left off, “since your reasons can’t change the past, they really don’t matter, do they?” Mom and Dad remained silent as Easton’s parents looked stoic, giving nothing away. “No matter what relationship you have with your sons, I can’t look past the fact that you played with my life when you had no right. Even if you are the king of your people, you had no right to make decisions about my life. That should have been left up to my parents.”
Astra cocked his head, and the smirk on his face made me want to slap him. “But that’s exactly what we did, Neve,” he said.
My head reared back a little. “What? How do you figure?”
“We already know this was nothing but a twisted experiment you wanted to see played out for your own reasons,” Avalon added.
Mrs. Keenstone shook her head. “I’m afraid you have it all wrong.”
Her words caused my spine to ripple with an awful feeling of anxiousness.
Chapter 23
Easton~
“Quit dicking them around,” I growled, past the point of caring about disrespecting my parents. I’ve been behaving like a jackass long enough for them to be used to it.
“That’s enough, Easton,” Mom warned.
“Like hell it is, Mom,” I fired back.
“Can we get back to where you claim you made no decisions on our lives?” Neve interrupted.
Dad looked over at Neve again. “Your mother gave you to the Livelys, Neve,” he replied. “Your parents had a volatile marriage, and that was unfortunate for us all.” His face softened, but that didn’t make me soften my attitude towards him. “Your father found out what your mother had done and had wanted to go get you. However, before that could happen, an argument ensued, and he killed your mother in a fit of rage. Knowing he would never get away with such an atrocity, he chose to end his own life rather than face the consequences of his actions.”
“After your parents were laid to rest, I spoke with Astra about going to get you girls,” Mom said, explaining her part in all this. “My sons…well, my sons were in a terrible state with you girls so far away from them, and it was agonizing to hear them crying out for you all the time. Nothing settled them, and it broke my heart.”
Dad put his hand on Mom’s right shoulder. “Though it pained me to have to deny my wife, with both your parents gone, all I could do was honor your mother’s last wishes,” Dad said, fucking us all up with that one statement. “We had failed her in life by not aiding her in her time of need, I didn’t want to also fail her in death.” I looked over at Mr. and Mrs. Lively and he had her held tightly in his arms. “You say your parents are the only people who had the right to make decisions about your lives, well, they did. Your mother decided you were better off with your parents, and that is where we left you. We honored your mother’s wishes, even to the detriment of our own children.”
Avalon dropped back down in her seat, Griffin’s arms automatically wrapping around her shoulders. He looked pissed, but I wasn’t sure what he was pissed off at exactly. Mr. and Mrs. Lively looked tired. And Severus looked regretful.
I wasn’t buying it, though. “What about your experiment?” I asked, bringing up the bullshit he’d told me and Griffin when we’d been fourteen.
“That part is true,” Dad admitted. “But that idea began to form in my head after the decision was made to leave the girls with their new parents. With you boys crying all the time, I thought the situation was a good opportunity to test what we were made of. To really cement the validity of our bonds.”
Neve stood up from her seat. “If that’s the case, if you truly honored my birth mother’s decision for altruistic reasons, then why did you send Easton and Griffin after us?” she challenged. “Why not let us continue to live as we were?”
This time, Mom was the one who spoke. “Because you wouldn’t have been able to continue living as you were,” she answered. “The boys had a rough time when they reached their maturity birthdays. Coming into their full potential, their bonds intensified along with the powers performing at their full strength.” She looked back and forth between Neve and Avalon. “You girls would have never been able to lead full lives with anyone who wasn’t Griffin or Easton. It would have been a lonely existence you never would have understood.”
“So, what? You did us a favor?” Neve scoffed.
“We gave you a choice,” Dad corrected.
“A choice?” Avalon choked out. “What choice? There was never going to be a choice with the bonds being what they were.” She shook her head. “You knew what would happen the second we met them. You knew.”
“You still have a choice, though,” Mom insisted. “There might be unpleasant ramifications from that choice, but you still have it.”
“Unpleasant ramifications?” Neve echoed. “Is that how you describe it?”
“Is it so terrible?” Mom asked. “Is what you have with my son so terrible?”
“That’s not the point,” Neve snapped. “You brought them into our lives and that changed everything. What is it you expect to happen now? That we all just live happily ever after?”
“Are you saying that’s not possible?” Dad asked.
“When you sent Griffin and Easton after us, was it to send them to us or was it for them to bring us back here?” Avalon asked.
“Both,” Dad answered.
“Well, I guess the joke is on you because I have no intention of moving here,” Neve replied, and her words felt like a kick to the chest. I did my best to hide my reaction, but it was hard. I’d follow her wherever she wanted to go, but it wasn’t an easy thing to just give up my entire life. As pissed off as I’ve been at my father all these years, this was still my home.
“Easton?”
I lifted my chin and looked my father in the eye. “I go where she goes.” Mom’s face looked pained. “I won’t be without her again.” I walked over until I was standing behind Neve. “You guys showed me what it was like to live without her and what it’s like to live with her. I’ll never go back to living without her ever again.”
Dad looked over at Griffin. “And what about you, son?”
“I go where Avalon goes,” he said, repeating my words. “I can’t be without her, so trying isn’t even a consideration.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Lively, what do you think about all this?” Dad finally asked them.
“I think I know enough to stay out of something I don’t understand,” Mr. Lively answered. “We’re here to support our children, Mr. Keenstone. Nothin
g more, nothing less.”
Dad looked over at Severus. “Severus?”
Severus walked further into the room, no longer a bystander. “Whatever connected them in utero is more powerful than what I’ve normally seen. While the bonds of our people are strong, what these young people have is more than that. Now that they’ve…connected, I don’t believe Griffin is exaggerating when he says he cannot live without Ms. Lively. And I cannot imagine Easton’s disposition should Neve ever be separated from him again. Whatever happens, these couples cannot and should not be separated.”
Dad’s chin came up. “So, we just let them go? And the future of Rýkr?”
“Your brother is not an imbecilic fool, Astra. Rýkr will be just fine.”
Something was happening here, and I was sure it was manipulation at its finest, though I couldn’t prove it. Then my eyes narrowed. “Do your powers work on the girls?” I asked, because if Astra was manipulating the girls, I was going to kill him.
“No,” he answered. “If that were the case, your mother would have all the answers she needs.” He looked over at the Livelys. “We possess the same abilities as our children.”
“So, what now?” Neve asked. “We’re free to go?”
Dad gave her a curt nod. “Yes.” He glanced around the room. “You’re all free to go back to Seaport and continue with your lives.”
“Just like that?” I asked, skeptical as hell.
“You’ve made your position clear, son,” he replied. “What would you have me do? Forcibly separate you from Neve? Cut you off? Make your life miserable?” He let out a deep sigh. “Severus is correct in that Arkin is not a simpleton and he and his sons will do a fine job taking over the town.”
“I’m so confused,” Avalon muttered, and Griffin just patted her thigh.
“So, you’re just going to stand back and let Easton throw away his future?”
Mom cocked her head. “Neve, you are his future,” she answered. “If you and Avalon do not want to live here, there’s no choice in this for the rest of us.” Her brows furrow. “I’m beginning to think that you still don’t understand what it is you have with Easton.”
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