The Redeemable: Part Two

by Grace McGinty

  I should feel bad that I'd caused such an upheaval, but I wasn't. Maybe that made me a bad person, or selfish at the very least, but instead I was excited.

  Tolliver and Sam were coming home early.

  Chapter Two

  I bounced on the balls of my feet, desperate to see over the heads of the crowd. There was a Boy Scout troop amassing in the foyer of the airport, and I may have been silently cursing them.

  “Can you see them?” I asked Oz for the hundredth time, wishing I had his over six feet height advantage.

  “I keep telling you, you'll know when they arrive.”

  “How? We don't even have a little placard.”

  With that, there was a cacophony of shouts. I studied the Boy Scouts, convinced someone must have fallen and broken their neck given the yelling. But then I saw the flashes of light. Paparazzi.

  “Why did you leave fashion week, Sam? Was it a pay dispute?”

  “Sam, are you worried that Lance Caulfield will steal your crown as the most sought after male model of the 21st century?”

  “Who's the mystery woman? Is she pregnant?”

  As they finally made it to me, a woman's voice called out,

  “Tolliver, what do you say to the speculation that you are gay?”

  I scoffed internally at that one. Unlikely. Tolliver looked offended. He reached out, wrapped an arm around my back and kissed me like we were in an old school romance film, dipping me over his arm as he plundered my mouth. The kiss went on as the flashes blinded me like fireworks. I felt thoroughly possessed.

  “I guess not,” the woman's voice sounded amused.

  He lifted his head and grinned down at me, and I couldn't help but smile back.

  “I missed you guys,” I whispered to him.

  “We missed you too, Sweetheart. I'm glad you came out of your meeting with Luc in one piece. Doesn’t happen as often as he’d have you believe.” He slung an arm around my shoulders and led me out of the airport terminal, the flashes still blinding as the paparazzi followed along.

  “Are you guys really three paparazzi famous? I mean, I know you were hot commodities, and most people would recognize you on the street, but I didn’t think people would be all that interested in your daily lives.”

  “Sam got drunk and did some heiress in the back seat of her Rolls, much to the delight of a Pap that happened to be hanging around hoping for that exact scenario, and it blew up. Now they follow us around hoping he’ll be that dumb again. He’s not allowed to go out drunk and alone anymore.”

  “Hey, the publicity was good for business eventually. People like a well-hung bad boy with great glutes.” He leaned forward until he whispered in my ear. “Besides, the only person I like doing in the back of a car now is you.”

  Heat rushed to my cheeks and I bit my lip. More flashes. That was going to end up as the fifth run story on TMZ. Sam Sigurson trying to steal best friend’s girl.

  The truth is much more interesting, Ace chuckled. Sam Sigurson wants to double team a girl with his best friend, despite the fact the girl is their only ticket into heaven. They could run it right next to the Elvis Spotted in Hoboken and Woman Probed By Aliens story.

  We pulled up to the spot where Oz had parked the car in a No Parking Zone, and I was actually a little surprised to see it still there. Money talked apparently.

  The guys threw their suitcases in the back, and Tolliver slid into the driver’s seat.

  “No way am I letting that lunatic drive when you are in the car again. No wonder he died young.”

  Sam laughed, but Oz’s face was contorted into complete devastation. It was gone in seconds, but I saw. I didn’t even factor in that they might have died in terrible ways, I was too worried about their past crimes. But they were all dead. Obviously they must have died somehow, and given how young they were, it probably wasn’t peacefully in their sleep.

  I reached over and wrapped my arms around his torso. “I’m sorry.”

  “Thanks Cady-Lady. It was a long time ago.” He kissed the top of my head. “Let’s go home. I owe you a Call of Duty lesson.” His smile was back, but his eyes still held the bruises of past hurts.

  I slid into the back with Sam, and almost instantly I was in his arms and he was kissing me like a starving man. He pulled me onto his lap, his arms wrapping around my waist to cup my ass.

  “We gotta stop meeting like this or we are going to christen every one of Tolliver’s back seats.”

  “I’m okay with that,” I purred back. God, but he was pretty. It literally knocked the breath out me every time. It should be illegal.

  “Cady needs her own seat, and seatbelt,”

  Sam sighed against my mouth, his perfect cupid’s bow lips brushing over mine one last time. “One day soon, I am going to get you into my bed without interruptions. Then you will sing my name in moans, Baby.”

  With that, he slid me into the seat beside him, buckling me in. As Tolliver finally pulled out into the flow of cars, I snuggled into Sam's side.

  “How was fashion week?”

  Tolliver snorted. “Catty as usual. Pressure is high, stress is high and envy is rampant. Sam was in his element.”

  “The parties were endless. I would much rather have been at home with you. I’m kind of glad that Luc decided to turn up and send everyone into turmoil. Meant I got to skip the black and white ball where rich old socialites with too much plastic surgery, grope me and try to slip me their room numbers. Male model is not synonymous with gigolo,” Sam sighed. “I just want to stay home and binge watch reality television with you. Toddlers and Tiaras. Dance Moms. Rupaul's Drag Race.”

  I rested my head against his shoulder. “Consider it a date.”

  We rolled straight into peak hour traffic and stopped. Oz cleared his throat. “So, Arcadia currently possesses the soul of Lucifer's long lost lover in her body, and she manifests as a discombobulated voice in her head.”

  Huh, so there is an easy way to explain that. Bravo, Oz. If I could just get a peek at his trouser snake I think he might just push Lux out of first place for my favorite Sin, Ace mused.

  I rolled my eyes. No playing favorites. And no looking at their junk! I protested.

  Sure I won’t. She didn’t even try to sound sincere, the crazy pervert.

  “See, that’s what she’s doing when she pulls that face. I thought she was having episodes, but she’s talking to Ace. That’s the demoness’ name.”

  Please tell him that I am a fallen angel. NOT a demoness hussy. They are basically all boobs, no personality. I could kick their asses half way across Elysium before they’d unsheathed those ugly damn claws.

  Touch a nerve, much? I teased. Oh man, it was nice when the shoe was on the other foot.

  “Ace said she is a fallen angel, and would like to ensure that you never refer to her as a demoness. Considering her sugar daddy is the Devil himself, you probably don’t want to piss her off. She’s got permanent PMS naturally.”

  I could see the rapid blinking of Tolliver’s eyes in the rear view mirror and Sam just frowned.

  I punched Oz in the arm. “You could have waited until we got home. It’s lucky we are in traffic or Tolliver would have crashed.” I turned to the guys. “It’s not as crazy as it sounds.” And then I repeated everything that Lucifer had told me.

  Sam knocked on my head. “Fuck. So there's a whole other person in there, just chatting away? Does she like one of us better than the others?”

  Envy, thy name is Sam.

  Better not tell him that he isn’t even in the running for my favourite. Not even in the top three. Way too pretty for me.

  “Nope, she doesn't have a favorite.”

  Lying will get you sent to hell, you know, she chastised gently. I couldn't even tell if she was joking.

  The traffic was moving again, even if it was at a snail’s pace. I turned to Sam. “So I’ve decided that you and Tolliver will be my first redemptions.”

  More silence in the car.

  “Whoa, have
you been taking lessons from Lux in dropping bombs?” Oz asked. “Why them?”

  I leaned forward and ran my hand through his deep brown hair. He’d left it out today, and it fell in messy waves that felt like silk. I don’t know what conditioner he used, but I made a note to raid his bathroom for the brand.

  “Because they are the easiest. Greed and Envy. I’ve got a plan all figured out.”

  Tolliver quirked a brow. “Care to share this master plan?”

  “It’s simple really. We are going to spend all Tolliver's money. And Sam is going to quit being a model to help us do it.”

  The car swerved into the other lane, and the driver behind us leaned on his horn with an angry yell.

  “All of it?”

  “Most of it. Keep enough that the family can live comfortably, but the rest should go in trust to the foundation.”

  “A family? Is that what we are?” Oz laughed.

  Maybe that wasn’t the right word, but I still didn’t know the correct terminology. “Polyamorous partners? Harem? Brother-Husbands? I don’t know.” Heat flooded my cheeks again, and Sam laughed, kissing my head.

  “Lovers. Worshipers at the temple of Arcadia.” His kisses slid from my cheek to the corner of my mouth, then softly to my lips. I sighed against them. No guy should look like that and be able to kiss like this. It was unfair. Against the natural order of things.

  “I’m pretty sure that’s heresy. We’re trying to get you back to heaven, remember?” I chastised gently.

  “You just wait until you are screaming ‘oh god’ in my bed later,” he said against my ear, giving it a light nip and sending wet heat between my thighs.

  “Keep it in your pants, Fabio. We are almost home,” Tolliver said, his frown marring his perfectly ageless face. Maybe he wasn’t such a fan of the plan. But I figured that the personality shifts would have to be pretty major to earn your way back to up top. Giving money to the bum who sat on the stairs of the subway wasn’t going to cut it.

  Sam, however, seemed perfectly at ease. Actually, I rarely saw Sam looking concerned about anything.

  “Aren’t you worried about giving up the modelling? You won’t be plastered across billboards anymore. No Milan or London or New York fashion weeks.”

  “Not really. The whole thing was getting a bit tedious. The high maintenance designers, the psycho heads of fashion houses, the sleazy benefactors. Besides, I’m looking forward to spending Scrooge's money.”

  It was probably a shame. I was definitely going to get hate mail from the women of the world. He was perfection. Maybe this would be too easy for him. Because let's face it, you could walk past him in the street, and women would want to bang him on the sidewalk and men would envy him.

  I was going to have to think on this more.

  We rolled into the garage, and parked the Escalade between the Bugatti and the Range Rover. I knew where we could start.

  But first I wanted to sit in a room with all the guys and just appreciate how fortunate I was.

  Chapter Three

  “Left, no watch the sniper on the roof. Left. No your other left. Why are you looking at the sky?”

  Oz let out an exasperated sigh. I was not going to be competing in the Call of Duty World Championships any time soon.

  Surprisingly, other than Oz, it was Valery who was the best video game player. We all sat around Oz’s living room, which looked exactly how I imagined it. Big comfy couches in front of a massive television, a computer set up that would make grown gamers weep, and a sink that was stacked high with dishes.

  We’d all piled into Oz’s apartment, except Eli who was at work, and Lux and Ri who were training and then heading to Dante’s. Even Valery has the night off. None of them looked askance at the pair of Oz’s jeans that had been flung over the light shade or the balled socks on the couch. Apparently they were used to Oz’s less than stellar cleaning job. Well, I guess he was Sloth.

  We ordered pizza from the nicest pizza place in Soho and just chilled out. It was nice. Like all the slumber parties I missed growing up.

  Tolliver and Sam had only lasted until the last slice of pizza was gone before jet lag caught up with them and they headed off to bed, but not before giving me panty-melting kisses goodnight.

  As my avatar died for the fifteenth time that night, I threw down the controller and huffed.

  “Let's play Mario Kart. I bet I could kick your butt in Mario Kart.”

  Oz looked almost offended. “I do not own Mario Kart!”

  “Dance, Dance Revolution?”

  “That's it, get out of my apartment,” he joked as he pulled me tighter into his arms. I turned in his lap so I could press my face into his chest. I tried to stifle a yawn, but couldn't. It had been a rather messed up day.

  “You're tired mon chere, I shall wish you bon nuit,” Valery said, coming over to lift me from Oz’s lap and into his arms. “I feel like I just can't get enough time with you. You are this ray of light just out of my grasp. But I would like to remedy this, if I could.”

  “I'd like that too.” And I would. Beside Eli, and probably Ri, Valery worked the most of any of my Sins. I was worried about how I would redeem him if I never saw him.

  “Tomorrow, come to my kitchen and cook with me? Around ten?” I could feel the warm press of his solid body, and briefly thought it was unnatural that the Sin of Gluttony wasn't pudgy. While Valery wasn't ripped like Lux, his body was firm and hard.

  “Sounds perfect. It's a date.”

  I tilted my head up for a kiss, and Valery happily supplied the gentlest, most tender kiss I'd ever received. If a kiss could promise you that you were going to be worshipped, it was that one.

  “Sweet dreams, mon chere.”

  He left, stepping over one of Oz’s discarded boots and giving us a little wave as he closed the door.

  “Then there were two,” Oz said, and I sat back down on his lap. Sure there was a couch, but it wasn't warm, hard and full of promise.

  “Cady?”

  “Mm?”

  “Do you want to stay with me tonight?”

  I looked up at him, really looked at him. I looked past the bushy red beard that hadn’t had a trim since my makeover day, and the long straight nose, and even past the pine green colour of his eyes. I looked deep into their depths and saw the vulnerability, his self-consciousness.

  “I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be right now.” He gave me that huge white smile, the one that made my chest feel full. He shifted me from his lap and stood.

  He wrapped an arm under my legs and the other around my shoulders, and carried me towards the bedroom.

  “You guys realise I have two functioning legs right? Everyone seems to want to carry me everywhere,” I mock chastised. In reality, it kind of made me feel like a princess.

  “I like holding you in my arms.” He moved further into the apartment, down a short hallway.

  I’d prepared myself for Oz’s bedroom to be filthy, but I’d been so wrong. His room was immaculate. His bed was made and dozens of candles were burning in coloured glass jars.

  “Wow, Oz. This is beautiful. Have these been burning this whole time?”

  He reached into the jar closest to us and pulled out a flickering LED tea light candle.

  “I wouldn’t jeopardise you safety. I don’t mess around with fire.”

  “I love it.”

  The room glowed with a soft warm light, and I could see elements of Oz in the room. His alarm clock was Mickey Mouse. His lamp was Darth Vader holding a lightsaber. Several signed posters were framed on the walls. On his mahogany drawers sat a framed newspaper article, two photos blurred by the lack of light. I went over to read it, but Oz’s hand stopped me.

  “Not tonight. I’ll explain that tomorrow. But tonight I just want it to be us, not our pasts. Is that okay?” His face was scrunched in a frown, and his voice trembled a little at the end.

  I nodded. Although I was now desperate to know what the newspaper said, I could respect
Oz’s wishes for now.

  We stood slightly apart, and Oz pulled his shirt over his head. His broad chest was covered in soft, dark hair that trailed tantalising down in a thin line until where his jeans hung low on his hips.

  I pulled my tank over my head and stood in front of him, topless. I had forgone a bra for the night. Yay for small breasts.

  Oz’s eyes dropped to my breasts. And stayed there. “Fuck.”

  And that was all the warning I got before he slammed me to him, his arms going around my body, and mashing our chests together as his lips covered mine with a hunger that was like a red hot fever.

  I stood on my tiptoes, kissing him back with just as much passion. He groaned, putting his large hands under my ass and lifting me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, twining my fingers in his hair so I could plunder his mouth. His groans rumbled against my nipples and he walked me back towards the bed. He placed me down gently, and just stood there looking, his eyes full of hunger. He removed his jeans slowly, popping the button and then slowly sliding down the zip of his Levi’s. He pushed them down his hips, his thumbs catching under his boxer briefs on the way down.

  They fell past his knees to the floor, but my eyes were glued on his cock.

  Holy fuck.

  Holy fuck is right. Someone call the zoo. There's been an escape from the python enclosure. Did he roll that bad boy up to fit it in his Levi’s? Move over Lux, we have a new reigning champion, Ace crowed.

  Out of my head. Now. I could feel her amusement but she was blissfully quiet.

  I realized Oz was giving me a strange look.

  “Uh, Ace says hi. And wow. I mean I’m saying wow. Well she said wow too. I’m just going to be quiet now.”

  Oz’s cheeks turned the most adorable shade of pink. I didn’t know big strong lumberjack looking guys could blush, but it was cute as hell. He gave me a lopsided grin.

  “Will she be joining us?”

  “No!” Well not really. I wasn’t completely confident she was voyeuristically watching in there. She probably had a scorecard system.