ACHE

by M. Never

  Yes, yes, yes, I internally chant as he drives inside me. For a split second, I black out from the bliss. There’s no feeling remotely close to those first few moments of overwhelming fullness or the several split seconds of euphoric force that’s like a semiconductor frying my brain.

  The urge to come is catastrophic. Each of us contributing to a chorus of animalistic sounds. Alec kisses me as he thrusts inside me, the taste of my arousal is potent on his lips.

  The embrace doesn’t last as Tage yanks on my hair, breaking our embrace, savagely burying himself to the hilt.

  “You’re so tight.” Tage clenches jaw. “And wet.” Alec punches again, and I scream from the ungodly pressure and compulsion to come.

  “I’m so close,” I cry, panting like crazy person. My back is as slick with sweat as my pussy is with desire.

  “Ride us.” Tage stops moving. “Ride us both until you come.” It’s quiet in my head for a fraction of a second as they ease up on me, both slowing to almost a halt.

  I am finally able to open my eyes, and when I do, I find Alec staring back at me, irises more electric than a current.

  “Come. Come all over me,” he heaves, expression untamed.

  I have no other choice than to give in to his request. I want to come more than anything. And I want them both inside me when I do.

  I move awkwardly at first, searching for the right rhythm, but when I finally find it, it’s a powerhouse of pleasure.

  I fuck them both in a seesaw-like motion until my body is splitting. Until my heart is pounding, my tendons are tearing, and my inner walls are constricting so tightly I cut off the blood supply to Tage’s and Alec’s cocks.

  I crack, coming so hard tears actually escape down my cheeks. The altitude combined with the bodily rush thins my intake of air right before I lose control of all bodily functions, climaxing at the peak of our crowning point. A mishmash of hands, lips, and tongues accompany our climatic journey. I lose track of what happens next as the white noise takes over. Stealing my sight and every sound.

  Gradually, I recover from the bombing as the man above me and the man below me rebound from their own release.

  A domino effect ensues, I collapse on Alec and Tage collapses on me. The three of us exhausted, physically taxed, and completely spent.

  I still don’t know how this became my life, but I wouldn’t change it, sell it, or trade it for anything in the entire world.

  It’s late by the time we get to the hotel. My mother has called Alec six times, and he has ignored each call under Tage’s direction. My de-stressor has worn off, and I am back to being high-strung. I have no idea how I’m going to sleep tonight. Just the thought of seeing Gunner in the morning . . . . My stomach flip-flops. I was never a huge fan of him, even as a child. He was just creepy. Always looking at me with those dark, shifty eyes. When he decided to rip away my freedom, my dislike grew by leaps and bounds, morphing straight into hatred. I still get hives just thinking about that room, the locked door, the loneliness, the despair. I was dying. Wasting away until the day I met Tage.

  He saved me in so many ways.

  I stare at the lights of downtown Chicago from the luxurious hotel room. The Riverwalk below is bustling with people and twinkling with life. It’s strange being back here. I never thought I’d return. Yet, here I am, with the past hot on my heels.

  “Whatcha lookin’ at out there?” Alec leans on the window next to me.

  “I’m looking at a lifetime’s worth of pain and suffering.”

  “I’m sorry for that.” He inches closer and cups my chin, swiping his thumb back and forth across my cheek.

  “I thought it was all behind me.”

  “It will be.”

  “Alec, I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “Dragging you into my shit. Into all my problems.”

  “You didn't drag me into anything. You didn’t know.”

  “I didn’t. And if I did, I would have stayed away.”

  “I wouldn’t have let you. Shit or not, I want to be with you. In a short amount of time, you have given me so much. Changed so much. We’ll get through this. And it’ll be you and me on the other side.” He pauses, considering something. “You, me, and Tage,” he corrects.

  I look at Alec with so much love and admiration in my heart. He is so strong. So confident. Totally cocky. And he loves me unconditionally even though there is another man in my life. How did I get so fucking lucky? How did this happen? I’m still trying to figure it out. I just know every second that ticks by, I’m bonded to these two men in inexplicable ways. They are quickly

  becoming the foundation of my lifeforce.

  “I love you,” I declare softly.

  “I love you more.” Alec kisses me gently, sweetly, wholeheartedly, earnestly.

  I sigh against his mouth.

  I can do this. As long as he’s here, I can do anything.

  23

  Tage

  The sound of running water wakes me up.

  Alec is knocked out on his side of the king-sized bed and Everly is missing.

  I find her standing under the spray, hair soaked, arms crossed. Her gaze is distant and the look of her breaks me apart.

  “It’s a little late for a shower.” I open the glass door and she jumps from surprise.

  “I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Want some company?”

  Everly shrugs.

  I drop my drawers and step into the steaming shower. Christ Almighty, the water’s hot. So much so her skin is scalding red.

  “Jesus, baby,” I turn the temperature of the water down slightly. “You’re going to give yourself third degree burns.” I touch her chest lightly.

  “Huh?” She looks down at herself. “I didn’t even feel it.”

  “So I noticed.”

  “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “I don’t mind. I don’t sleep much anyway.” I run my fingers through her hair, loving the softness of the strands.

  I never really got to touch her. To just explore in a slow, appreciative way.

  “What are you looking at, Tage?” She notices the way I trap the ends of her dark hair between my fingers.

  “You should stop dying your hair.”

  I have always thought that. Since the first time she did it. “Your natural color is so much prettier.”

  “It’s red.” She curls her lip. She was never a fan.

  “It’s auburn, and it’s beautiful. Complements your freckles.” I follow the pattern of dots across her nose with one fingertip. “You’re a rare beauty. Embrace it.”

  She stares up at me silently, the echo of the water pouring down around us.

  “Did you always think that?” she asks meekly.

  “That you’re a rare beauty? Yes. From the moment I saw you. I never stopped thinking it. I never stopped thinking about you.”

  “I never stopped thinking about you either.” She traces the face of my ferocious dragon tattoo. It wasn’t there when we were together. I got it a few years later. To cover the scar Gunner left when he shot me and as a symbol of strength. Of survival. Of endurance.

  A reminder, I’m not so easy to kill. That mindset takes you a long way in my line of work.

  “I know you didn’t.” I cover her hand with mine. Everything has been so crazy over the last few days. Moving so fast there has barely been time to breathe. To take it all in. We needed a chance to reconnect, just the two of us, and we’re finally getting it.

  Everly explores my body with her hands, dragging her fingertips slowly over my torso and stopping at the angry blue koi tattoo on my hip bone. That was there when we were together. She drinks me in, and for the first time in what feels like forever there’s

  no barrier between us.

  I’ve been watching her through glass for eight long years, we could always see each other, but I was on the outside looking in and she was on the inside looking out. Total separation and complete awareness all at the same time. />
  Sheer torture.

  Her fingers move a little lower and I quiver. “Keep touching me like that and something dirty is bound to happen.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” Her words are soft, seductive, not laced with lust, but filled with emotion.

  “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong with that.” I take her face and kiss her emotively. “But that’s not why I came in here.”

  “Maybe that’s exactly what I need. Just you. Right here, right now.”

  “Love, you can have me any time, any way you want me. I’m here for whatever you need. Always.”

  It’s a pledge. One I took long ago when I fell in love with a young, innocent girl who burrowed her way right under my skin and straight into my heart.

  Everly kisses me, and it’s the most honest embrace of my life. It’s pure, and unspoiled and belongs solely to us.

  I lift her off the ground and pin her to the wall, just so I can get closer. So every part of us can connect. We do nothing but kiss. Do nothing but stroke our tongues and set our inhibitions free.

  I don’t know how long it goes on for, the heady kissing and the outpour of love, but both our bodies react to the connection. Succumb to the inevitable. The constant rub of my erection against her pussy puts us on a one-way path.

  “Tage.” My name falls from Everly’s lips, and the innocent word destroys me.

  With one tiny lift of her hips I’m sinking inside her, taking everything she’s offering me.

  “Fuck, I love you.” I move slowly, gluttonously, absorbing each generous inch of her body.

  “I love you, too,” she huffs as that’s what we partake in, a head-on collision of love.

  Everly jerks up the wall with each of my powerful thrusts. The punches of pleasure evident on her gorgeous face.

  “Tage,” she moans freely, and I eat it fucking up. How long have I waited for this? For us?

  I continue with my measured strokes, bracing for impact. It’s coming — we both are.

  “Oh, fuck,” Everly pants with her eyes squeezed shut. She’s strangling the shit out of my cock, forcing my hips to move faster.

  “Damn,” I choke as she comes. She’s so free, so alive, and it’s all because of me. I watch her for as long as I can, body plastered against the shower wall, riding a tidal wave of ecstasy.

  Finally, I implode, throbbing harder and roaring louder than I could even anticipate. This wasn’t a hard, fast fuck, that drummed up my adrenaline faster than the speed of sound. It was a passionate, painstaking affair that employed every part of us. The physical, the mental, the spiritual.

  I crush her against the wall with my body, heaving for air. Everly buries her face in my neck and we just are.

  We are just there. Just together. Just satisfied. Just content. Just ready to face whatever the future has in store.

  24

  Alec

  I don’t know if Everly is up for this.

  I’m wracked with indecision just looking at her. She may be calm on the outside but she’s a freaking mess on the inside.

  I prepare witnesses for trial for a living, I know the signs. I can see when they are going to crack. And I think this pressure might just be Ever’s undoing.

  She wrings her hands in the back seat of the SUV as we drive out to Chicago Statesville Penitentiary. It’s where Gunner is serving twenty-five to life for aggravated assault, child endangerment, drug trafficking, and attempted murder. Bad dude pretty much sums him up. It’s no wonder Ever is wound tighter than a guitar string.

  “Here.” I hand her my vape from the front seat. “It will take the edge off.”

  Without missing a beat, she grabs the pen and takes a hard drag. She chokes right after, coughing her head off. Everly has never been interested in smoking or doing any kind of drug that I’m aware of. Ramifications of a drug-addict mother, I’m sure. Every time I puffed, she just let me do my thing. Because it was just that, my thing. She takes another lungful, and this time she manages to handle it better. The car smells like blueberries now, thanks to my new choice in oil. Everly hands the pen back, and I take a pull myself, expelling a thick cloud of smoke out the cracked window. I offer it to Tage next. We can just make it a puff-puff party.

  He grabs the pen and mimics my actions, his cloud of smoke rivaling mine.

  The car becomes quiet after that. Each of us lost in our own unique high.

  Which is, I think, what we all needed. Calm and quiet before the storm.

  Tage pulled some strings to get us in to see Gunner. Whatever organization he works for, it has deep pockets and a hell of a far reach. Since we left New York, the dime has been on them. The hotel room, the car, the food, and now this. A private escort straight to a notorious criminal. And I thought I worked for high rollers.

  We are met at the gate by two corrections officers and the warden himself. Damn.

  We all exchange the necessary niceties. Introductions, handshakes, and all that, then we are walking. Through maximum security hallways that are a dusty yellow and direly depressing.

  Remind me never to commit any felonies.

  Ever is a spooked cat. Both Tage and I remain close, flanking each side of her like bodyguards. That’s what we’ll both become, too, if it comes down to it.

  We are shown into a medium-sized room with a table and several chairs. The windows overhead are grimy, and there is a faint smell of bleach and piss.

  Yum.

  “He’s being escorted now,” the warden informs us. He’s a well-dressed man in a blue suit with calluses on his hands and weathered lines around his eyes.

  “I appreciate the assistance.” Tage shakes his hand once again.

  “Officer Shipman and Officer Foreman will assist you with anything further. Don’t hesitate to contact me.”

  “Will do,” Tage agrees. He’s been different since we stepped out of the car. Overly serious, professional, and quite frankly, a bit fucking intimidating. I’m impressed.

  He’s showing me he’s more than just a lone cowboy.

  The warden leaves, Officers Shipman and Foreman adopt a position in each corner of the room. Everly nearly expires in her seat, and Tage paces. It’s tension fucking city in the twelve-by-twelve enclosure.

  I sit next to Everly and take her hand, passing her an encouraging smile. She looks like she wants to puke.

  There’s a knock on the steel door, and the roller coaster begins. A moment later, a man shackled in irons with tattoos all over his neck and one teardrop by his eye dressed in dark grey scrubs is escorted in by two corrections officers who look like they compete in bodybuilding competitions as a side job. I have been to plenty of jails, visited numerous kinds of inmates, but this is a whole new level even for me.

  The guards sit Gunner down and attach his handcuffs to the link on the tabletop. I muster my most stoic face as Gunner runs his black eyes over each of us. He clearly has no idea what he’s here for.

  When they land on Tage, he smirks darkly. “You’re still walking around, groundhog?”

  Groundhog?

  “Loud and proud.” Tage doesn’t cower.

  “How many of those nine lives you got left?” It almost sounds like a threat.

  “Enough.” Tage’s response mirrors Gunners. It’s clear they have history. I did a little research on Gunner and the raid that went down at his compound eight years ago. Of all the agencies mentioned, Endeavor was not one of them, and there was no mention of an operative named Tage, not even in the court files I could access.

  It was quite the takedown, though. Millions of dollars in cash and drugs were seized, along with militarized assault weapons. Gunner had his hands in a little bit of everything. Including child abuse and neglect.

  Everly is so eerily quiet I almost forget she’s in the room. She has somehow managed to shrink away to nothing, to near invisibility.

  Gunner sees her, though. I have a feeling she was never invisible to him.

  “You are so grown up.” He almost sounds nostalgic. She remains
silent. “Why you here, pretty? Never thought I’d see you again.”

  “I didn’t want to come.” Everly’s voice is gravelly.

  “But here you are, with . . .?” He finally notices me. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Legal counsel,” is my snarky reply.

  “Legal counsel? Right.” Gunner knows there’s more to me than that. Five minutes in his presence and I can already tell he’s shrewd, intelligent, and greasier than motor oil.

  He looks around the room, at me, at Tage, at Everly. “What exactly is going on here? What’s this all about?”

  “Mom,” Everly provides him with the answer.

  “Aww, Christ. Is she dead?”

  “I wish.”

  Ouch.

  “What’s she up to now?”

  “Trying to ruin my life. Again.”

  “This time I have nothin’ to do with it. I’m vacationing here.” He lifts his bound wrists and the metal clinks.

  “You know the funny thing about the past, Gunner?” Tage plants his hands on the tabletop and leans over. “It has a shitty way of coming back to haunt you.”

  Gunner’s eyes sharpen. “Don’t get too close, groundhog. I still bite.”

  “So do I,” Tage hisses.

  “Stop.” Everly slams her palms on the table. “Please just fucking stop.” Everyone’s attention lands on her. She looks up at Tage, nearly ready to crack. “He almost killed you once.”

  “Almost being the operative word. He can’t do shit now.” Tage has balls of steel. I’m forming a new kind of respect for him.

  “Can’t I?” Gunner grunts.

  “You threatening me in the presence of a high-powered lawyer and a room full of officers?”

  “I’m not threatening shit. Just protecting my ego.” Gunner stays calm, but we all know how much malice is behind his words.

  “Gunner,” Everly huffs. “I heard you and my mom fighting over some key. I think she’s after it now. Where is it, and what’s it for?” Everly’s done playing. She wants answers, and she wants to get the hell out of here. I stealthily place my hand on her thigh for support. No one but Tage can see.