by Janie Marie
Ryder kissed her forehead. “Just think about it. I mean, if you get pregnant, I know the others would step up, but like I said, I’m husband.”
Jane nodded as she smiled stupidly. “I kinda don’t want to think about sex with the others right now, though.”
“Me either.” He stared down at his dick. “Look how fucking limp that shit made me.”
She threw her head back laughing. “It’s still a bit hard?” She didn’t know how to describe it, but he was cracking her up.
“A bit?” He smacked the side of her ass and moved away. “Okay, I admit it, David has a nice ass.”
Now she was howling. “I can’t breathe.”
He laughed, pulling the shower door open and turning on the water. “I mean, mine is better, but he comes in second. Good for him.”
She couldn’t stop giggling, but she wobblily slid off the counter. “I’m so telling him this.”
“Don’t slip, cowgirl. You’re like a baby deer.” He had his hand in the cascading water as he watched her. “You gotta pee?”
Nodding, she hurried over to his toilet, relieved the seat was down but a little embarrassed about peeing in front of him.
“I won’t look. I’m gonna piss in here before you come in.” He said it like it was no big deal, which was so fucking cute. No wonder he called himself her husband.
“Okay.” Jane pulled a towel down to cover herself anyway, peeking over as he got in the shower. As promised, he didn’t watch her, but she watched him staring down at his dick, when he was clearly trying to piss. It almost looked like he was in pain, but he relaxed and straightened, grabbing his soap.
Now she focused on her own pee. She felt full in so many ways, like she needed to empty more than her bladder. Oh. That’s when she remembered she’d held his come inside her.
Jane snuck a glance to make sure he wasn’t looking before spreading her legs. There she watched it drip out into the toilet. “Oops.” She felt a little weird about it. Did Ryder consider this his kids?
She shook her head at her stupidity, but she still peeked down as her bladder gave out, and she peed. “Sorry, little guys.”
Ryder’s low laugh almost had her falling off the toilet. “Are you talking to my boys?”
“I peed on them,” she said, moaning though because she had really needed to go.
“And you’re enjoying it.” He was facing away, but she could tell he was laughing. “Get your cute ass over here. I’ll clean you out.”
For some stupid reason, that was sweet as hell to her. She still cleaned herself the best she could then made her way to the shower. Now he was facing her, and he pushed the door open to let her in.
“We’re gonna fuck in here a lot but not tonight.” Tingles danced across her jaw then her lips as he held her face between his hands. The water was falling over him, but he blocked it from smacking her in the face. Her shield. “I love you,” he murmured, his eyes swirling with green flames as he searched her face.
“And I love you,” she said, copying him from earlier. She liked it.
He smirked, obviously picking up that she stole his line. “I knew one day I’d make you mine, but it still feels like a dream.” His hands moved to hold the back of her neck. “You’re still okay, right? No regrets with me?”
“Never.” She pushed up on the tips of her toes, offering him her kiss.
With a gorgeous smile that had her wanting to clench her tired legs together, he hoisted her up by her ass. “Babe, you know these lips are gonna get us in trouble,” he said, balancing her on his forearm as his free hand stayed on her neck.
“I like getting in trouble with you.” She teased him now, brushing her lips faintly over his. "I'll have your back no matter what, and I know you’ll have mine."
“You bet your sexy ass I got your back through anything. My ride or die girl,” he said, pulling her closer but now teasing her when she tried to press her lips to his. “But you know what? You and I never die.”
Soul mates.
And maybe something more.
"We're always," she whispered.
"No, babe." He finally gave her the kiss she wanted, but he stopped long enough to add, "Longer."
Fifteen
Jane blinked sleepily as Ryder sat at the foot of his bed with her feet on his lap as he tied her shoes. Sweet Ryder.
“Are you gonna be able to walk?” He lifted his head to meet her bleary stare. “Or should I carry your newborn Bambi trying-to-walk ass?”
“That’s so descriptive it’s cute.” She grinned but it was a sleepy smile. “I’m sore and tired.” She seriously felt like she’d had the workout of a lifetime. Her stomach, her legs, her vagina—they all screamed in sweet agony.
Ryder was more alert than she was, but the faint circles under his eyes proved how tired he really was. After all, they’d only gotten two hours of sleep, and it was already six in the morning. “I’ll carry you then.”
She was going to argue and stop being so whiny, but he already had her in his arms. After situating her legs around his waist and pulling her head to his shoulder like a baby, he carried her out of the room.
“This is one of those moments I envy David gets to be your stepbrother,” he said as he descended the stairs.
“I don’t think you and I would ever get along as brother and sister.” She couldn’t even imagine it.
“We’d be kinky as fuck, babe. I’m not noble like he is; I’d fight my dad if it meant I got to love you.” He chuckled, pausing on the last step. “Fuck.”
Jane turned, her jaw dropping at the living-room full of guys. Some were passed out, but most were lounging, sipping either beers or orange juice. It looked like someone had made breakfast because a group was huddled around a mixture of pizza and pancakes.
Archer laid on his back at the center of the group. He waved with his slice of pizza. “Morning, beautiful.”
There were knowing smiles all around but not one of them teased her or Ryder.
“Who the fuck wants sausage?” Savaş came strolling out with a sizzling pan. It was popping grease everywhere, even smacking his massive bare chest, but he didn’t even flinch. He merely waved the spatula at her. “Mornin’, Tex. Want some sausage?”
“I think she already had some.” Archer snickered as someone threw a pillow at him. “I couldn’t resist.”
Ryder was too pleased with himself, apparently, because he only turned to her. “You want breakfast? Or do you want me to take you home?”
“Um . . .” She scanned the group of guys, most of them shirtless. “Maybe take me home. I’ll have breakfast next time.”
The boys cheered, high-fiving each other.
Ryder shook his head at them, carrying her away from the boys celebrating that she was declaring there would be a next time. “I’d rather them focus on us,” Ryder said, “than the shit that happened after the game.”
Jane stiffened as his words hit her hard. She’d been avoiding thinking about it, and even the thing with Kingston, but now it was time to go back to reality.
“Hey,” Ryder said, smoothing her hair back. “You know I’m not letting that fucker get close to you again. And we’ll work out shit with your stepdad. He should fucking know no one hits my brothers but us.”
She closed her eyes, tightening her arms around his neck as he talked. He anchored her to the present, but the moment he went silent, it felt like Dylan’s finger was sliding down her throat. “No,” she gasped, pushing away from Ryder.
He stopped walking right in the middle of the yard and sat down with her, rocking her. “Look at me, Jane.”
His voice wasn’t Dylan’s, but she was struggling to breathe. She couldn’t look at him. She’d been taken so easily. No one saw. No one helped.
“Jane,” Ryder said, remaining calm. “I was there with you—just a little bit away, but I was there. I saw. I stopped him. I’ll stop him, baby girl. Now, look at me.”
It was a command, a powerful one, and Jane’s eyes flew open,
locking onto an emerald pair. She cried, touching his cheek as he smiled.
“That’s it. See? I’m here.” He watched her struggling to get enough air. “Breathe, it will pass.” He kept smoothing her hair back but then he lowered his hand to her chest, pressing his palm over his spot. “Feel me?”
Tingles. Jane nodded, dragging in air as she tried to keep his green eyes in sight.
“I didn’t want him to hurt you more,” he said calmly. “I knew if I revealed myself too soon, before I could reach you, he might hurt you. I had no idea if he had a weapon or anything; I couldn’t risk charging out there. So I waited until you got close enough. He wasn’t taking you anywhere, Sweet Jane.”
“I’m sorry.” She kept gasping, her heart. Her heart . . . Oh, no, she was having a heart attack. “I think I’m dying.”
He shook his head, pressing his hand over her heart. “You’re having a panic attack. It’s okay. Just focus on me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
No, but he couldn’t stop her from dying, which is what she was doing right now.
A car door slammed, and she faintly heard a familiar voice as the world seemed to spin out of control. Everything kept getting dark around the edges of her vision, but she refused to look away from Ryder. If she was going to see one last thing before she died, it was him.
“What happened?” Heat blasted down on her just as a burning brush against her cheek jolted her in Ryder’s arms.
“She’s having a panic attack,” Ryder was saying. “The shit with Dylan.”
“Baby?” David. It was David. “Give her to me.”
“Sit the fuck down,” Ryder snapped. “She stays with me, but I’ll hold her between us.”
“David?” she called out.
“It’s me.” He leaned closer, pressing his lips to the back of her head. “I’m home.”
Jane cried, embarrassed and afraid. They were going to be taken from her. Dylan was going to get her.
“Jane,” Ryder said, that command again, as he tilted her chin up. “We’re here. David and I are here. You’re not dying. You’re not going to be taken.”
She hiccupped, nodding. David’s hands were scorching as they slid down her back, and Ryder was leaving tingles as he smiled at her.
He tilted her face toward David, and she sighed the moment those sapphire eyes locked onto hers. Home.
“Hi, baby.” David didn’t act bothered by Ryder at all. He leaned down, kissing her on the lips. His brand . . . his brand was back in place, though not for a second did it feel it would destroy her. As he leaned away, he kept on hand on her cheek and spoke to Ryder, “Did she stay the night with you?”
“Yeah.” Ryder shifted, sitting fully on his ass and pulling her onto his lap again. “I just said something . . . triggered it. I guess she’s been avoiding it.”
A humming sound mixed with their voices, but she tried to keep her eyes on David. He was furious, his jaw tight as he listened to Ryder, but his touch. Oh, his touch right beside Ryder’s . . . Heaven.
“What’s going on out here?” It was her mom.
Ryder answered, “Just bringing her home.”
“She was supposed to be home at a decent hour last night.”
Jane clutched Ryder’s shirt with one hand, but she also grabbed David’s wrist, afraid to have them taken away.
David smiled at her. “It’s okay.”
Her mom had been approaching, but she came to a sudden halt, her gaze narrowing on David. “You were supposed to stay with Lance.”
He slowly met her mother’s glare and moved his hand to intertwine his fingers with Jane’s. “I came home to check on Jane.”
“I told you what I expected of you,” her mother told David, her words tight. “I’ve already spoken to Jane, and she understands nothing can happen between you two. Is that not clear by the fact that she stayed the night with this boy?”
David darted his eyes between her and Ryder. Pain.
Jane whimpered, reaching up to touch his lips, sobbing when he smiled and kissed her fingers.
“It’s okay,” he told her, nodding to Ryder as well. “It’s okay.”
“I fucking know it’s okay,” Ryder said before pressing a sweet kiss to her temple.
David stood and faced her mom. “Sarah, I love you because you make my dad happy. I usually obey you because you’re his wife, but you’re not my mother. I’ve never been able to see you that way because I’ve been in love with Jane for as long as I can remember—before you ever thought about my father romantically.”
For a few seconds, he stayed silent, weighing his words. That same determination he’d shown in the car ride was there; he wasn’t hiding his feelings anymore. “You knew about us, and you hid a relationship with my dad, let him think Jane liked Ryder more than me, and you let him tell Jane instead of telling her yourself. For that, you will only be the woman who married my dad, and I will no longer pretend Jane is merely my stepsister. We don’t see each other that way.”
Jane held her breath as Ryder slowly got up with her. He let her stand on her own, but he held her to him, his forearm resting over the top of her breasts as his free hand held onto hers.
Her mom, well, she looked torn between bawling and screaming at David.
David reached for Jane’s left hand, raising it so he could kiss her fingers. “She’s my Jane.” There was a hardness in his tone that she’d never heard before. All she could do was stand there as Ryder leaned down, kissing the top of her head. And David’s reaction to Ryder’s affection? He pressed another kiss to her knuckles and continued, “We said nothing when it came to you and Dad choosing your happiness over ours. I get it, I really do because I know you love my dad, and you were broken over Eric’s death and raising Jane alone, but you don’t get to choose for her. She’s conflicted right now because I fucking broke down and told her how I really feel. So, she’s trying to pick between us.”
“Actually,” Ryder butted in, dragging out his words, “she’s considering all of us, and I’m down with it.” He peeked down at Jane. “None of this shit is important right now, though. If you hadn’t noticed, she was having a fucking panic attack because she was almost abducted and raped last night.” Now he looked at her mom. “So, can we just stop? Jane’s my girlfriend, she loves David, and she likes my brothers. We’re almost legal, and we’ll figure out how our relationship is gonna work. Not you. And though I appreciate you sending her my way because I’m your number one pick for her, I won’t forgive you trying to make your daughter settle, sending her to me like I’m a slice of fucking chocolate cake for her. Damn, woman, she’s not a whore and I’m not a fucking gigolo.”
Her mother shifted her gaze to Ryder then to David. Then back to Ryder. “Kingston was right about you. You’re trouble.”
Ryder chuckled, hugging Jane closer to him. “Lady, take your fucking anger out on someone else. Trying to turn us against each other or trying to make her choose one of us just so she won’t be with David isn’t gonna work.” He pointed at David. “I’ll leave it up to him on how he tells his dad, but you can stop the little game of trying to make Jane choose me. Eric told her she didn’t have to, and he told us not to fight over her. We’re getting along, and that’s how it’s gonna be. Now move out of the way so I can carry her upstairs so she can rest.” He smirked at David. “She’s sore.”
Holy shit.
“Come on, babe.” Ryder didn’t wait; he lifted her into his arms like he was about to carry his bride across the threshold. “Practice makes perfect,” he murmured, passing her mother.
It was cute as hell, but she was too stunned by everything that had been said. Her mom was a good person, but she never really treated her the way Jane expected a mother to treat a daughter. She didn’t comfort her, didn’t try to learn about her. She provided food and shelter. She gave her medicine when she was sick, but there was everything absent that Jane’s dad had given. Love.
“You okay?” Ryder kicked the front door shut behind him when D
avid raised his voice to her mom. “Let him deal with her right now,” Ryder said. “Think about yourself for a minute. ‘Cause I’m worried about you. David’s worried about you, and if the vibration in my pocket is who I think it is, Tercero and Luc are worried about you. Your mom, though? She’s worried about herself.”
“She has a reason to be. She’s right—David is my stepbrother. If Kingston reacted badly to you, he’s going to explode about David.”
Ryder shook his head. “Maybe, but right now she should be worried about you almost getting raped last night. Instead, she leaves you out in the dark to go to a party at my house. Did you see how many assholes were there? Not like they’re stupid enough to fuck with my girl, but your mom doesn’t know that. Someone could’ve snatched you. You could’ve been hurt, anything could’ve happened.”
Jane leaned her head on his shoulder. He was really the most amazing guy. “Maybe she wanted me to run away with you.”
He grinned, opening her bedroom door and carrying her right to her bed, but he sat, keeping her on his lap. “That would fix her fears, wouldn’t it? She probably thinks I’m loaded like Luc, so at least she’s thinking you’ll be provided for.”
“Are you?” She sluggishly pulled her phone from her pocket, noticing she had several notifications from Wendy, Tercero, and Luc. Everyone was going to have to wait until she was calm and rested.
“Not really. Gabriel has control over our mother’s assets. He got us cars of our choice, but he’s holding everything else. Dad’s is untouchable because he’s alive. Like I said, I need a good job or I’m robbing Luc.” He tossed her onto the bed and started untying her shoes. “Shoulda just kept your ass naked.”