by Kit Rocha
Lex lifted her head and brushed a delicate kiss to Scarlet’s open mouth. She leaned in immediately, chasing something deeper, but Lex turned the woman’s face toward Dallas instead. Dallas’s kiss was rougher--scraping teeth and low laughter when Lex’s arm flexed and Scarlet groaned into his mouth.
They were building a moment for Scarlet, working together with perfect silent coordination--and absolute awareness of their audience. As Lex sank to her knees, she gave Mad an uninhibited view of Scarlet’s trembling body. Dylan had his fingers tangled in Mad’s hair now, and Jyoti stroked his chest, her brown eyes locked on the sight of Lex shoving Scarlet’s skirt up.
“Breathe.” Bren’s hand inched lower--not low enough, but closer to touching her pussy. “You don’t want to pass out just as things are getting good.”
Six sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. The music throbbed through her, echoing the solid thud of her heart. With Lex a mere heartbeat away from getting her tongue inside Scarlet, Six knew no one would be watching them. Her head still spun as she brought her thumbs and forefingers together, pinching her nipples until the sharp sting of it cut through the pleasure. “Oh, fuck...”
“Shh.” His lips grazed her ear again, this time lingering to whisper softly. “Don’t rush it. I’m here. I’ve got you.”
Still breathing raggedly, she slid her hands down and behind her, gripping his hips until the world steadied. Pain might take the overwhelming edge off of pleasure, but with Bren wrapped around her, she didn’t have to run from it.
She could embrace it.
Trusting him to hold her, she opened her eyes again--and nearly groaned.
Lex wasn’t fucking around. Even on her knees she owned Scarlet, using her fingers and tongue to drive the other woman crazy. Scarlet’s hips tried to buck, but Dallas locked an arm across her abdomen, keeping her skirt out of the way and holding her helpless for Lex’s attentions. His other hand gripped her throat, forcing her to stare at Mad across the space separating them, his lips moving against her ear, speaking words that Six had no doubt were so filthy, they’d make devils blush.
Two months ago, Bren had brought home a crossbow. A real pre-Flare artifact. Six couldn’t imagine she’d be packing it in place of her pistol anytime soon, but there’d been something hypnotic about watching Bren’s hands as he worked the crank, each small movement increasing the tension and contributing to the moment when he pulled the trigger and the bolt slammed through the sheet of metal they’d set up against their target.
Dallas and Lex were working the same magic. Every touch, every lick, every whisper--but Scarlet wasn’t the only one they were twisting tighter. The tension around Mad was electric now, and Six wanted to hold her breath again, wait for the moment they let him fly.
It started with a shocked cry. Scarlet’s hands clenched and unclenched at her sides, and her head fell back on Dallas’s shoulder. She rocked her hips, riding Lex’s fingers and tongue as a tense shudder wracked her whole body. It went on and on until she opened her eyes, dazed and still trembling, and fixed her gaze on her three lovers.
Mad rocked forward. Jyoti released him, but Dylan kept his hand where it was, holding him still until Mad’s lips parted on a word Six could feel in her bones.
Please.
Dylan groaned and let go. Mad stumbled forward a step before falling into a gliding stalk, and Lex barely had time to twist out of the way before Mad was on them. He didn’t stop, didn’t hesitate--he crashed into Scarlet, crushing her back against Dallas as he seized her mouth in a bruising kiss.
She clung to him, moaning into his mouth as she dragged his T-shirt up. He broke away to haul it over his head, and Scarlet wrapped her arms and legs around him, as if the only substitute for his lips on hers was to have their bodies pressed together just as tightly.
It was Lex who reached around Mad to unbuckle his belt. Mad angled his hips to give her more room without releasing Scarlet’s mouth, the movement so smooth and instinctive that Six wondered who was usually responsible for getting Mad out of his jeans when he was out of his head and trying to fuck Scarlet against the nearest hard surface.
This time, that hard surface happened to be Dallas. The king of Sector Four widened his stance, turning himself into a wall. One hand slid down Scarlet’s thigh to hook under her knee, pulling it up and out as he murmured something against her ear. Lex freed Mad’s cock and wrapped her hand around it, fingers stroking as she pressed her lips to the spot between his shoulder blades.
Mad broke away from Scarlet’s lips, his head falling back. His entire body shuddered. Dallas gripped Scarlet’s other leg, his body rigid as he held her in place, held her open--
Six felt Mad’s first thrust in her bones. The desperation behind it, the naked relief as he sank into her. She tightened her grip on Bren’s hips, pulling him tighter against her ass. “Bren.”
His hand slipped lower, lower, until he finally reached slick, aroused flesh.
The pleasure was hot and immediate. Overwhelming. Her hips bucked in his grip, an involuntary movement. She turned her face into his throat and panted for breath as one rough fingertip circled her clit.
She could come like this. In the shadows on the dance floor, biting back moans, invisible as everyone watched Mad fuck Scarlet into next week. Bren knew just how to touch her to crank tension higher--slow and indirect, working his fingers lower until one dipped inside her.
It was so good like this. Furtive, his hand hampered by her jeans. Not too easy, not too exposed. Right on the edge of illicit.
“This is what it should be,” he whispered. “Doesn’t matter who’s part of it, or for how long. Right now, everyone’s getting exactly what they fucking want.”
She knew that looking would overwhelm her, but she couldn’t stop herself. She forced her eyes open and bit her lip at the sight of Mad gripping Dallas’s shoulders to brace himself as he drove into Scarlet. Dallas stared past him, his gaze locked on Lex’s, silent promise clear in the slow curve of his lips.
Lex was still watching him as she jerked Mad’s head to the side and bit the spot where his neck curved into his shoulder.
Dallas’s eyes glinted in approval. This was their favorite kind of foreplay--granting fantasies like some sort of obscene gods of debauchery. They could be generous with the fire they generated because the two of them sparked so fucking bright. They’d probably fall into their bed and fuck until dawn.
Which sounded like a good idea, actually. “Bren...”
“Not yet.” He thrust another finger into her and rocked his hand. “First, I want this.”
The heel of his hand ground down against her clit just right, and pleasure jolted up her spine and arced all the way to her fingertips. Her toes curled in her boots as she squirmed against him, trying to escape the immediacy of his touch.
But there was no escape. Not for the release building low inside her, and not from the eroticism unfolding before her. Even the music couldn’t drown out Scarlet’s cries now, and every time Six tried to close her eyes, a fresh moan dragged her attention back to tangle of clutching hands and thrusting bodies.
Bren’s quickened breath fell hot against her ear. His cock ground against her ass, a reminder of how good he’d feel when they were back in their room. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to wait once they got there. Maybe he’d slam her back against the wall and drive deep, fucking her with Mad’s lack of control.
Or maybe he’d hold on. Stretch his patience to the breaking point. See just how far they could go before he snapped.
Six didn’t care, as long as he snapped. Because Bren only lost control with her.
“Soon.” A single word, a promise that turned into a vow as his teeth closed on her earlobe.
And she only lost control with Bren.
The orgasm didn’t slam into her. It unfolded with agonizing slowness, first the blooming heat where his hand rocked in a demanding rhythm. Then the tremors--her thighs, her arms. She teetered on the edge, watching it come up at her forever
, knowing she wouldn’t be able to hold in her moan.
She didn’t have to. Bren released her hip and folded his fingers over her mouth, muffling her groan of gratitude. Muffling the sound she made when her body clenched around his fingers and the first wave of release shuddered through her.
He panted against her ear, hot, hitching breaths that rose and fell in time with the throbbing pleasure. His fingers edged between her parted lips. She closed her teeth on one to keep from screaming, then wanted to scream all over again when he hissed at the pain and ground his cock against her.
Giddy triumph made her head swim. It was going to be one of those nights. The sweet, dangerous nights that ended with both of them sweaty and wrung out and too sated to move. Where the only thing more intense than Bren’s need for dominance was his need for pain.
Dizzy in the aftershocks of her orgasm, Six soothed the bite with the tip of her tongue. And just as he was relaxing behind her, she bit him again--sharp, rough, and challenging.
His body stiffened against her. The heel of his hand ground against her clit, shifting the sweet aftershocks to spiky pleasure. She rolled her hips, urging him on as her teeth clenched tight, knowing he’d punish her impertinence with another bone-melting orgasm right there on the dance floor.
She didn’t care. Tonight, punishment was all part of the game.
»»» § «««
His room looked the same--the single high window, the block walls, the narrow bed placed precisely in the center of the floor against the far wall. But it didn’t feel the same. Instead of a small prison cell he’d crafted to contain an even smaller life, it was a refuge. A place that would always be here for him when he needed it.
He wasn’t alone anymore.
Six’s fingers tightened around his as she kicked the door shut and leaned back against it. She was still flushed, relaxed and languorous, even though anticipation glinted in her eyes.
She was beautiful.
Bren smiled. “Hi.”
“Hi.” She tugged slightly, pulling him closer. When his body brushed hers, she released his hand and slid both of hers under his shirt, slowly pushing it up his chest. “You’re stupidly patient tonight. You know you could have been in me a half hour ago.”
“I have other plans.” The sensation of her fingers sliding over his skin was almost enough to convince him to abandon those plans--almost. He could push their clothes out of the way and hoist her against the door. It would be good. It would be mindblowing.
But they could make it better.
Her lips tilted up in a slow smile. Her nails scored his chest, so hard that he’d have marks in the morning.
He wanted them. But he wanted other marks, too.
He gripped her wrists in his fists. “What do you think?”
“I think you want pain.” She rocked up on her toes, trapping their arms between their bodies, her lips so close he could taste her words. “I think you want to tell me exactly how to hurt you.”
She was still learning her way around all the tools tucked away in the chest at the foot of his bed. She was comfortable with the lighter, more supple floggers, but she was still unsure about using anything that delivered a sharper kiss of pain.
Sometimes, he needed that kiss, so they’d find Ace and ask him to continue the lessons he’d started. But tonight, Bren just needed her, sure and confident, absolutely certain that she could get him there.
“The suede,” he rasped. “You know the one.”
She brushed his lips, soft and sweet and gone before he could deepen the touch. She slipped past him, already stripping her shirt over her head. She let the fabric drop across the table, revealing her back to him--her scars gloriously complemented by the tattoo Ace had given her.
Instead of opening the chest, she braced one foot on it and tugged at the laces on her boot. But by bit, she peeled off the rest of her clothes. Then she knelt, naked and unashamed, by the chest. Her movements were slow and confident as she pushed open the cover and lifted the flogger he’d requested out. “Where do you want me?”
“On me.” He drew his shirt over his head, then reached for his belt.
“Wait.” She flowed to her feet, leaving the flogger on the foot of the bed. Then she prowled to him, heat in her eyes as she gripped the leather and slid it out of the clasp. “Let me.”
She tugged his belt free, then dropped to his feet and began untying the laces on his boots. It was so much like that first time that Bren sank his fingers into her hair and pulled gently.
So many things had changed since then, but this would always be the same. The way his body stirred at her touch, and the way his heart pounded when she looked up at him, utter trust shining in her eyes.
She removed his boots and socks, tossing them away into the shadows. Her fingers traveled up the outsides of his legs with teasing slowness as she pressed her cheek against his fly, where his cock strained against the fabric. “Wanna take the edge off?” she murmured, peeking up at him. “I don’t want you to blow the first time I hit you.”
Oh, but she loved teasing him. “No faith in your man’s self-control?”
Six laughed and popped the button on his jeans. “We’ll see who comes first.”
His jeans hit the pile of clothes in the corner, and Six rose slowly, rubbing her body against his. Bren gritted his teeth and wound his fingers tighter, pulling her hair. “Do it,” he whispered.
He stretched out on the bed as Six reached for the flogger again. She let the wickedly pointed falls trail up his legs, a tickling sensation that quickly vanished as she braced herself and brought the suede down across the tops of his thighs in a gentle slap.
It wasn’t the hard bite of pain, heavy and demanding, that usually got him going. This was more like a soft heat that flared and then washed outward, warming his skin with anticipation.
She did it again, and again, her face fierce with concentration and her hand steady. Ace was a skilled teacher, and Six had been an apt student. She knew where she could hit him, and how hard. She knew when to fall into a hypnotic rhythm that built that heat into a quiet flame, and when to break the pattern, startling him with a sharp jolt that arched his back and cut off his breath.
He burned. The suede wasn’t heavy, but the repeated blows left his skin sensitive. He hissed in a breath when she climbed over him, settling on his thighs as she stroked the suede over his cock, teasing it around the pierced crown. “Hi,” she murmured, voice teasing.
He laid his hands on her knees and let his nails bite into her skin, just a little. “Uh-huh.”
“You said you wanted me on you.” She inched up, letting the falls trail up his abdomen as she settled with the slick heat of her pussy grinding down against his erection. “Is this what you want?”
Yes. The slightest shift of his fingers, and he had them wrapped around the backs of her knees. He pulled her closer, until the head of his cock nudged that slick heat.
She shuddered and eased her hips up, rubbing back and forth. “Do it. Take what you want, and I’ll give you what you need.”
He slid his hands to her waist and arched, thrusting up into her as he dragged her down. She let out a rough curse, the flogger dropping to his chest as she clutched at his arms. Her nails bit into his skin, and she swore again as their hips collided, leaving him buried deep in the tight heat of her body.
“Fuck,” she whispered, shuddering on top of him. “Nothing else feels like this. Nothing feels like you.”
She stilled, his body buried inside hers. Neither of them was soft or easy, but he was learning to appreciate the beauty of these moments. Like the suede, it didn’t have to be hard to be intense.
He let her drag in one more shaky breath, then clenched his shaking hands on her hips. “Now.”
Obedient to his command, she picked up the flogger. Her hips shifted, testing his grip--and she shivered when he tightened his fingers, trapping her in place. Her gaze locked with his, hot and ready.
And she swung.
; The tails thudded across his chest, striking his right nipple. His cock jerked as sharp, stinging pain wreathed him, then subsided in an adrenaline-fueled haze of hunger. “Again.”
She hit the other side of his chest, just as precisely. “How far do you want to go tonight?”
With anyone else, even people like Ace that he trusted with his life, the answer was always the same--not too far. But with Six...
There was no such thing.
“All the way,” he rasped. “As high as you can take me, sweetness.”
Six leaned over him, her hair swinging past her shoulders to tickle his face as she brushed her lips across his in a soft kiss. “I love you,” she whispered against his mouth, then retreated before he could deepen the kiss.
Her first real blow streaked fire through him. She was careful to keep the flogger falling on the more muscled parts of his chest and shoulders, but even the most precise arc couldn’t control the little bits of leather that reached out. They bit at his neck and his sternum, every strike glowing hotly.
Bren fell into it, embracing not just the pain, but the gleam of satisfaction in her dark, dark eyes as he began to jerk beneath her, tensing and relaxing until his whole body was thrumming. Throbbing.
Clenching, just like her pussy every time he groaned. Six might never share his appreciation for pain, or develop Ace’s feverish devotion to delivering it--but knowing Bren enjoyed it was enough.
But even with her body betraying her arousal with every furtive shift of her hips, her focus remained total. She watched his face as she slowed her pace, each blow falling harder. Hurting deeper.
It didn’t hit him fast, but it hit him hard. Overwhelming him in the truest, purest sense, like sinking into hot water. Surrounded and never wanting to come up for air. Bren’s fingers bit into her thighs, and he held on to her as she continued raining blows on him--it could have been an hour or mere moments, fractions of heartbeats. A lifetime. His sense of time had been stripped away along with everything else, and all he knew was Six.
That was what dragged him back, knowing that she would take him as far as he wanted to go, but she’d never forgive herself if she hurt him.