Wilhelm emerged like a rat from his hole. “How? Are they—are they here?”
“They’re all waiting for you, limpdick.” Jericho grabbed the back of Wilhelm’s shirt and began frog-marching him down the corridor. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner he and Dante could join Suri in their bed.
* * * *
Dante watched Seth Overton and Joshua Breckenridge with more than polite interest. Overton still stood near the windows, though his partner had joined him once Jericho left to retrieve Wilhelm from holding.
“You keep staring like that, and we’re going to start thinking you’re interested.” Breckenridge braced his shoulder casually against the window frame. “And honestly, we don’t swing that direction.”
The last thing Dante wanted was to see this whole deal go south because of one misplaced comment. Yet, his curiosity was burning. “You don’t swing in that direction, yet you must since the two of you share a woman.”
Overton stirred from his silent contemplation. “Our sex lives are not part of this negotiation.”
Breckenridge nudged his partner. “I don’t think this has anything to do with the negotiation.”
Dante wondered what Leslie had shared with them. He’d not discussed it with Suri, but he had the feeling there had been no understanding from that quarter. As Leslie should have been the first one to accept Suri’s lifestyle choice, Dante wondered what her lovers thought.
The two men were polar opposites. Breckenridge was fair, Overton dark, and their personalities matched their coloring. Though they were handsome men, Dante felt no interest toward either of them.
“Leslie thinks you’re taking advantage of her friend.” Overton’s quiet voice let Dante know he was simply stating what he’d been told.
Dante tried to read into their expressions, but both men were adept at keeping a poker face. “I think Suri would take issue with the idea that any mere man could take advantage of her.”
“You’re not what we expected,” Breckenridge finally admitted. “Your reputation is on the harsh side.”
“Consider it an occupational necessity.”
“And Jericho?” Overton seamlessly picked up his partner’s thought. “Is he also an occupational necessity?”
Having candid conversations with men he could not predict or influence to his advantage was uncomfortable. But this wasn’t a typical situation. “Jericho is a necessity period, regardless of the situation. Our history is so convoluted it’s best left alone.”
Understanding touched Overton’s dark eyes. “And Jen—Suri—is the tie that binds.”
Dante nodded, trying to decide where to go with this conversation.
“Communication,” Breckenridge interjected. “And honesty.”
Being blindsided by someone else’s intuition was a new experience.
Blue eyes dancing, Breckenridge offered a grin that had probably broken hearts all over Boston. “You were going to ask how we make it work.”
“When he says honesty, he means full disclosure,” Overton added. “That was the hardest in the beginning. Three people bring three sets of baggage to the relationship.”
“Although it means three to carry the load too.” Breckenridge gazed affectionately at his partner. “Which is why it works so well.”
Dante thought about their viewpoint. They were right that having three different perspectives could strengthen. He still had to wonder what the end result would be. It seemed so simple, until you looked at the daunting possibility of finding yourself left so vulnerable.
* * * *
Suri rolled over in the massive bed. She was so tired, but something kept nagging her awake. The three-note trill sounded again, and she realized it was the phone tucked into the side pocket of her bag that was making the racket. Her belly tightened with fear. If her mother had gotten worse, she needed to know. It was her job to know, even if she was secretly afraid the knowledge would break her.
She scrambled out of the bed. Her legs tangled in the soft Egyptian cotton sheets, and she nearly tumbled to the floor. Reaching for the bag, Suri dug frantically for her phone.
“Hello?”
“Jen?” Kim’s watery voice could mean only one thing.
“Where are you?”
“Atlanta.”
Stretching out on Dante’s plush floor, Suri wished once again that she hadn’t been right about Kim’s choice in men. “Where’s Frankie?”
“He won his division.” Kim paused and Suri waited, not even bothering to offer congratulations for Frankie’s surprising success. “But some circuit bimbo started coming on to him, you know? And now he’s shacking up with her down here, and I got no place to stay.”
Anyone else would have seen the obvious solution. “Do you still have your ticket?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I guess you can come home.”
There was sniffling on the other end of the line. “But he lied to me, Jen. Why would he do that? He said he loved me, and he lied.”
Shame slammed Suri like an anvil dropped on her heart. Lying wasn’t an act of love. Lying was what the asshole-of-the-month club did to her sister. “Just come home, Kim.”
“You don’t even care.” As always, Kim’s fallback emotion was anger. “You’re probably living high and mighty with your big important dad.”
Suri didn’t even bother responding to that ridiculous accusation. “The landlord will let you stay a couple of days in the apartment, but the lease is up at the end of the month, so you have to be gone.”
“What? Where are you staying?”
She was drowning in a sea of guilt. “With friends.”
“Well, where are you? I’ll just come there.”
The instinct to rattle off Asylum’s address and tell her sister to go ahead and show up was strong, but Suri had already worn out that welcome. Dante and Jericho just didn’t know it yet. She had no right to invite her mooch of a sister to stay too. Not to mention it was time for Kim to stand on her own two feet.
“Stay in the apartment until the end of the month. Get a job, and maybe the landlord will let you renew the lease in your name.”
“A job?”
“Yeah, a job. So you can pay your own bills. I can’t take care of you anymore.” Suri struggled to keep her voice from cracking. “Sometimes I don’t even do a good job of taking care of myself.”
“Fuck you, Jen!” Kim launched into a string of epithets, and Suri ended the call to stem the tide.
She lay on the floor and stared up at Dante’s artwork on the ceiling. It was so beautiful, the colors ebbing and flowing as they formed fanciful renditions of Scheherazade’s tales. Startling beauty from a man who seemed so harsh and yet wasn’t at all what he appeared to be.
Her phone trilled again. She really, really didn’t want to talk to Kim again. But it wasn’t in her to ignore a call from her sister, even when it promised to go nowhere. “Hello?”
“Suri O’Callaghan?”
Suri sat bolt upright, her chest tightly constricted with apprehension. “This is she.”
“I got the business card you gave to my associate.” The oily voice could belong to only one man. “I’d like to make you an offer.”
Kim’s tearful ramblings about love and lies tied Suri’s heart in a knot. How could she have ever thought Flaherty would provide a long-term solution to her problems? A deal with him would never be worth the loss of what was blossoming between her, Jericho, and Dante. Her lovers had already found another solution to her financial issues. Now she could tell Flaherty to shove it. Her throat was so dry she had to swallow in order to speak. “I’ve changed my mind.”
“Come again?”
She gathered her courage, feeling empowered that she was free to make the right choice. All she had to do was wiggle out of this awkward phone call without making a powerful enemy, and no one would ever even know she’d considered this last-ditch effort to solve her financial problem. “Sorry, but my schedule is booked.” That excuse was bet
ter than the truth. She’d been the one to approach him, after all.
“You know, I’ve been meaning to get in touch with you since we were so rudely interrupted the other night.” The congressman continued as though she hadn’t turned him down. “See, I’m almost certain you’ll find an opening in your schedule if I provide some…motivation.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You’re quite fond of your boss.” Flaherty’s voice grew harsh. “Inappropriately fond, I might add, though I suppose what you do on your own time is your own business.”
“Exactly. So I think I’d better go.” Suri could feel the conversation slipping down a dark path.
“By all means, go fuck Dante. After the next phone call I make, it’ll be the last time you do.”
“Threatening Dante is ridiculous with Jericho at his back.”
Flaherty’s laugh made her cringe. “Oh, I don’t have to tangle with either of them on my own. One phone call and Dante’s—or should I say Darios’s—political enemies will pick them both off in one night.”
Terror for her lovers sent a shot of pure adrenaline straight into Suri’s blood. “You’re bluffing.”
“You want to take a chance I’m not?”
She closed her eyes, feeling trapped and foolish. If she’d never contacted him, this might have never happened. It was all her fault. Now it was up to her to fix it, no matter the cost. Losing Dante and Jericho was better than having them dead. “What do you want?”
He’d stopped the maniacal laughing. The congressman’s menacing silence was worse. “You. Tomorrow night. Club Triptych. You know the place?”
Suri’s mind was spinning. Tomorrow? When she’d been stupid enough to consider this plan, she had pictured herself going to some upscale hotel suite. There was a chance that Flaherty would behave in a public place. Now she realized how naive she’d really been. She was so used to feeling safe within the confines of Dante’s rules and within Jericho’s reach. What was she thinking?
“It’s in Southie, near the harbor.”
She took a deep breath. Dante had a right to keep his identity hidden, to stay safe. And Jericho could not be drawn into a fight they’d both lose. There was no choice but to go forward with this. “I’ll find it.”
“Ask for Malachi. He’ll take you where you need to go.”
“What time?”
The congressman’s chuckle was anything but confidence inspiring. “Whenever you want, sweet thing. I’ll be there all night.”
Suri ended the call and threw her phone back into her bag. She was in trouble. In fact, she was in way over her head. She’d always taken care of the ones she loved, no questions asked. But now she was beginning to wonder if the price was climbing too high.
Chapter Twenty
Suri was still on the floor when her lovers quietly entered the suite. She’d drifted in and out several times, her dreams filled with flying carpets, dancing slave girls, camels, and genies. She couldn’t have sunk into a deep slumber if she’d crawled back into bed and glued her eyes shut. Her brain was too busy. She focused on everything all at once until she wondered if her mind wasn’t stuck on an infinite loop to nowhere.
“Princess, why are you still awake?” Dante looked so good her mouth ran dry.
Right then and there, she realized why she’d been unable to sleep. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Have you?” Jericho bent down and scooped her into his arms.
He smelled so good, like the promise of sex, of fulfillment, of forgetting. She didn’t want to remember mothers, sisters, or financial obligations. She wanted to fuck until not even the lies she’d told mattered anymore.
She laid her palm against Jericho’s cheek. It was rough with the shadow of his dark beard. “I need you inside me.”
His eyes glinted with lust and longing. “There’s nothing I want more.”
“Both of you.” She beckoned to Dante. “I want both of you at once.”
She didn’t just want it. She craved it, needed it unlike anything else. Her body ached from a void only they could fill.
Jericho’s lips sought hers, blocking out all rational thought until she existed in a world comprised of his taste and the rhythm of their kiss. She moaned, letting his tongue slip inside her mouth. It was warm and wet, demanding and passionate.
Dante’s hands tugged at her loose clothing. Languid from Jericho’s kiss, she let him pull her pajama bottoms down. He shimmied the straps of her camisole down her arms and peeled it off. It hit the floor beside her pants. Cool air brushed her heated skin, and she burned with the desire to be touched.
Jericho laid her in the center of their bed. The sheets were soft against her skin. She missed the tangy taste of his kiss, but there was something else she wanted more.
“I want you both naked.” She felt powerful, reckless even. She was going to lose everything. Now was all she had. “I want to see how beautiful you are.”
They began to strip. Dante bold and quick, Jericho unhurried. She drank them in. Dante unfastened his top three buttons and pulled his shirt over his head. The caramel warmth of his skin was enticing. Suri ran her gaze over every inch of Dante’s sculpted abdominal muscles while Jericho finished unbuttoning his black dress shirt.
“More,” she coaxed.
Dante undid his pants, letting them hang open for just a moment. Suri licked her lips, dying for the first glimpse of what would peek out of the opening. When he finally slid his slacks over his hips and to the floor, she gave a little whimper of appreciation.
His cock was iron hard. It bounced against his stomach, the tip shining with a drop of precum. His narrow hips and tight ass begged to be touched. Glancing at their third, Suri knew Jericho agreed. Still in the process of getting rid of his own pants, Jericho was fixated on Dante’s erection.
Suri rocked forward onto her knees, focused on her two men. “Would you, Jericho?”
The sight of him kneeling before Dante held her captive. Jericho glanced up at her. “Will it turn you on?”
Already slippery with arousal, her pussy began to clench with desire. “I’m so hot I could come just from watching.”
Jericho held Suri’s gaze as he took the head of Dante’s cock into his mouth. Dante hissed, stabbing his fingers through Jericho’s short dark hair. His hips bucked, thrusting himself deeper into Jericho’s mouth.
Jericho moaned, sucking as he let Dante slide into his throat. Suri was breathing hard, desperately aroused. She tried to look everywhere at once. She wanted to watch Jericho blow Dante, his head bobbing up and down as he tongued the shaft. She wanted to see Dante’s face as he experienced the ecstasy. And she wanted to be right in the middle.
“Touch yourself, Suri.” Dante’s husky voice rasped over her self-control. “Let us see how turned on you are.”
Rolling to her side, Suri propped one leg up and spread herself. Using two fingers, she opened her pussy. The cool air was delicious against her damp flesh. She was slick and wet, her opening quivering when she brushed her fingers through her slit.
“You have a pretty pussy.” Dante’s words sent her over the edge of lust. “I want to watch you come. Then we’re going to put our cocks inside your cunt and make you come again.”
Jericho rumbled, sucking hard on Dante’s cock. Dante’s eyes closed. His muscles shuddered reflexively. Suri rubbed her clit before letting her fingers slip down to tease her opening. It wasn’t enough. She needed something inside her. She needed her lovers.
She whimpered, the sound ricocheting off the walls like a desperate cry for help. When her eyes fluttered open, her lovers were there.
Jericho had stripped off his pants, and both men were naked in the bed with her. Dante dipped his head and took one nipple between his teeth. She gasped at the sensation before pushing her breast into his face to beg for more.
“So beautiful,” Jericho murmured. “Kiss me, Suri.”
Molding her mouth to his, she tasted his familiar spice mixed with Dante’s tangy
male essence. It was heaven. She devoured him, hungrily moaning as Dante sucked her breasts.
She needed more. She needed them both. All at once, until she was full to bursting with the two men who made her forget everything else.
Dante spread her legs, his fingers holding her plump pussy apart. “Lick her, Jericho. We need her hotter, until she’s so ready we can both have her.”
She squirmed, the sensation of being held open and vulnerable making her needy. Then Jericho’s tongue slipped through her folds. He licked and sucked, pulling her lips into his mouth and working her clit until she was crying out.
So close. She was so close to coming. But when she would have climaxed, Jericho pulled back, and Dante massaged her mound. Again, they spread her wide, licking and sucking until she was ready to tumble into orgasm but denying her that release she so desperately needed. Suri cried out, her body strung tight.
Dante brushed a soft kiss across her swollen nipple. “Together, princess. We’re all going to come together.”
Jericho took her in his arms and placed her facedown on his belly with his cock pinned beneath her. Suri was languid, her pussy begging to be fucked, her body willing to move anywhere as long as they promised release.
“Let me inside you, Suri.” Jericho cupped her face in his big hands.
She shifted her hips, Dante helping Jericho’s long cock slide into her slick channel. It felt good to be penetrated, to have him inside her, but it wasn’t enough. Not after being denied her climax so many times. She arched her back, searching for friction.
Dante’s hand smoothed over her ass. She moaned, wriggling on top of Jericho and drawing an answering moan from him.
“Fuck, Dante. She’s so ready. I want to feel you with us.”
The head of Dante’s cock probed her opening, and Suri stilled as she realized what they intended. Both of their thick, delicious cocks lodged inside her needy pussy at the same time, the three of them fucking together until they reached bliss.
Boston Avant-Garde 4: Encore Page 17