Before the End (Beyond Series Ultimate Glom Edition)

by Kit Rocha

True words, reassuring ones, and Rachel clung to them, even as she spoke without meaning to. "Back in Eden, on nights like this, my mother always made sure there was something going on. A big project to keep all my aunts and cousins busy. I never wanted to be there, canning vegetables or making wedding quilts. I wanted to be out there, too."

  Six's other foot stilled on its own as she studied Rachel. "Your family brewed beer, right?"

  "They still do." Rachel dragged the broom idly across the floor. "Monday night collection runs, Wednesday night deliveries. Those two are the dangerous ones."

  "Because it's illegal?" Six twisted to lean behind the bar and surfaced with a bottle of rum. "I still think that's crazy. Eden has slums. And crime. Aren't they supposed to be shiny and perfect?"

  Eden had a lot of things it professed to condemn. Men were men, whether they lived in the city or the sectors or out in the goddamn wilderness. They had desires, and forbidding those desires didn't diminish them. It just turned them into vice.

  There was good money to be made in catering to those vices--liquor and women, chief among them. Rachel's father had been content to let sector leaders supply what he considered the harder markets. He'd only allied himself with Dallas because his own products, the beer and other malts, sold to the same customers, and it made sense to work together.

  Beer. Against her mother's wishes, Rachel had been making it since she was ten years old. In the grand scheme of things, it seemed so harmless, and yet Six's words held truth. It was against the law, and that made it dangerous.

  She shook herself and set aside the useless broom. "That's how I wound up here," she told Six. "Special Tasks busted a joint shipment--Riley brew and O'Kane liquor. My father couldn't risk admitting to the partnership, because our whole damn family would have been exiled."

  "Hypocrites," Zan grumbled, folding his beefy arms over his chest. "Like those stiffs in Eden thought you were the damn ringleader. They just wanted to hit your dad hard enough to scare him into line, but not so hard he stopped making all that beer they pretend to hate."

  "Pretty much. Not that it matters." Only a fool would overlook how lucky she'd been. "I never fit in there, anyway. I'm happier here."

  "Who wouldn't be?" Six asked, passing the rum to Zan. "Eden's like living in jail, and all the other Sectors are pits. Except One, I guess. Don't meet many people who ran away from One."

  "Just Mad," Zan said, his rough face twisted into a thoughtful look. "Not that it matters to the people who live there. People in One stop him on the street and ask him to bless their fucking babies and shit."

  "To them, he's royalty," Rachel mused. "Here, he can just be--"

  "Mad." Trix rose as he walked in through the door behind the stage, Bren at his heels. "How did it go?"

  "About as expected." Mad slapped Bren on the shoulder and propelled him toward the bar--and Six. "We're all in one piece, more or less. Jas has a split lip and a few bruises for Noelle to fuss over, and Cruz got winged, but he just needed some med-gel to be good as new."

  "Winged?" With Cruz, it could mean anything from a flesh wound to a fucking amputation. "He got shot?"

  Mad winced. "A graze, sweetheart. Barely shot at all."

  The sudden burst of adrenaline began to subside, leaving Rachel's hands shaking. "Right. Barely."

  "He'll be just fine," Mad assured her. "Ace was looking for you. I think they're in Cruz's room."

  "Thanks." She paused long enough to peer down at a nasty scrape on Mad's hand. "Get Trix to look after that, okay?"

  He kissed the top of Rachel's head with a rumbling laugh. "Go make yourself feel better."

  She couldn't settle down until she'd checked Cruz out herself, until she saw his injuries were really as minor as Mad claimed. That goal held her attention so completely that she was out the door, through the back, and hurrying past the garage before the import of the rest of Mad's words hit her.

  Ace was looking for her. And they were in Cruz's room.

  A fresh wave of nervousness assailed her. She'd given them an implicit promise, but she'd been too wrapped up in worry for their safety to really consider what would happen if--when--they took her up on it. And there was no time now to center herself. To think.

  By the time she raised her hand to knock on Cruz's door, she was shaking again.

  Ace dragged open the door and hauled her inside without so much as a greeting. "Thank God you're here. He was about to stomp over me to go find you, and I can't talk any sense into the bastard."

  Cruz stood in the middle of the room, his T-shirt bloody and torn over a six-inch span on his side. He looked irritated more than anything, annoyed and frowning.

  "Mad said..." But the words died on her tongue as she reached for him, pulling his shirt up his rib cage until she could see the already-healed skin beneath. "Does anything hurt? Did you crack any ribs?"

  "No." He caught both of her hands and glared at Ace over her shoulder. "He wasted time slapping med-gel all over me."

  "That doesn't sound like a waste to me," she argued.

  "We get it, brother. You're tough." Ace's voice came from just behind her, only a moment before his hands slid around her waist. "I'm sure she's impressed."

  She turned to face him. He seemed unscathed, though a little disheveled and a lot exasperated. "Are you all right?"

  "I'm fine, angel." He smiled and tugged at her hips, forcing her to rock against him. "Unlike some people, I don't charge armed men. I shoot them in the face, like God intended."

  Cruz made a choked noise of amusement, so Rachel tilted her head back against his chest. "It's not funny," she whispered. "If Mad hadn't told me you were fine and that Ace was with you..."

  His smile was different than Ace's. Quieter. Rarer. He cupped a hand under her chin, his thumb sliding up the side of her jaw. "I'll always come back to you. And I'll always bring him with me."

  Always. The word soothed her nerves, but with the two of them standing so close, another kind of tension twisted up to take its place, delicious and hot. Low in her belly for now, but ready to unfurl at the slightest touch.

  With Cruz's fingers still on her face, she raised her head. Her gaze locked with Ace's, and he edged a thumb under her shirt to stroke her skin. "I was horny as hell before I got pumped full of adrenaline, so someone else better make some decisions here. I can't think past your mouth and all the things I want to do to it."

  "Decisions?" They both had their hands on her now. Rachel's mind stumbled over that fact, only to circle around and hit it again. They were touching her. It wasn't an accident, and they weren't going to stop.

  Cruz lowered his mouth to Rachel's ear. "Only one decision. We owe Ace an orgasm. Do you want to be the one to give it to him?"

  Until Cruz had come into her life, she'd wanted nothing else, so it only made sense that he was behind her now, offering her the chance to savor the hot desire sparking in Ace's eyes.

  She answered by lowering her hands to his belt and holding on to the warm leather as she sank to her knees.

  "Wait." Ace folded his fingers over hers, trapping them against the leather. "Just...let me savor this sight. You're a vision."

  Two years of waiting. One more minute was torture, so she flexed her hands beneath his. "Please."

  His eyes darkened as he released her and stripped his shirt over his head, letting it fall away. "Who could resist you on your knees, begging to suck him off?"

  He was beautiful, leanly muscled and covered with ink. She worked his belt buckle as Cruz knelt behind her, so close his body was half-wrapped around hers. Between his heat at her back and the anticipation of the moment, her fingers fumbled, and she jerked at Ace's pants with a hiss. The zipper slid down, and she looked up at him as she eased down his jeans and the cotton beneath to free his cock.

  She'd seen him like this before--you couldn't be an O'Kane and not know what everyone looked like, naked and aroused--but never hot and hard and waiting for her. She wrapped her hand around him and shivered when he bit off a
sharp moan.

  Cruz leaned in until his breath tickled her temple. "Let go, just for a second." Warm fingers slipped under the edge of her shirt, stroking her bare skin. "No shirts in my room. It's my new rule."

  She lifted her arms. "Is that for your benefit or mine?"

  He didn't answer until her tank top had joined the growing pile of discarded clothing. Gripping her wrists, he guided both of her hands to the small of her back, where her fingers brushed the hard planes of his abdomen. "Wrap your hands around my belt. Don't move them."

  Ace's breath hitched, and he fixed a blistering look above her head. Enraptured, she watched him stare at Cruz as she obeyed the harsh command.

  Cruz stroked her arms, following them up to her shoulders. "So obedient. Did you know she'd be like this?"

  "I knew she'd be perfect." Ace cupped her chin and pressed his thumb to her lips. "How much of my cock can you take without choking, angel?"

  Another prickle of heat washed over her, tightening her nipples until they ached. "I don't know." The whispered confession moved her lips under his thumb like a kiss, so she opened her mouth wider and licked him.

  Cruz reached past her to grip the base of Ace's shaft, dragging another of those hissed breaths from Ace. "Let's find out," Cruz murmured against her ear.

  Rachel leaned in. The tip of Ace's cock glistened with the evidence of his intense arousal, and she caught a tiny drop with her tongue before teasing him with a soft kiss.

  "Christ." Shuddering, he sank both hands into her hair, twisting the strands around his fingers. "Lick me. I want to see that tongue again. I want it all over me."

  Intoxicated by his words as much as his taste, Rachel gave in. She started at Cruz's hand and drew her tongue up Ace's shaft, a slow glide that ended with a gentle flick at the underside of his crown. His fingers tightened as his breathing hitched again, and his gaze followed her tongue as if he'd never seen anything half so riveting.

  This was pleasure. This was power, bringing Ace to his knees while she was on hers.

  "He's had enough teasing," Cruz said, and something in his voice had changed since the last time she'd been with him. He'd always been strong, but there was an edge of command now, the kind of steely dominance Dallas wore with ease.

  Cruz expected to be obeyed--by both of them. And judging from the hot look in Ace's eyes, he had no problem with it, especially when Cruz lowered his mouth to her ear. "Open your mouth for him, Rachel. He's dying to see your mouth around him."

  She whimpered, too desperately turned on to be nervous. She licked her lips, parted them, and strained forward.

  Ace held her head with his grip in her hair. "Look at me."

  The way he stared down at her was more painfully intimate than her tongue on his flesh. Rachel shuddered, and he rocked forward, pushing the head of his cock between her lips with a groan.

  Yes.

  Cruz lifted his free hand to cup her breast, toying with her nipple. The sparks of sensation echoed through her to center on her clit, and she squirmed against him as she took Ace deeper, gliding her tongue along his shaft.

  "Faster," Cruz rasped, his hand moving ever-so-slightly, in time with her mouth. "See, sweetheart? He's already shaking, because you feel so good."

  "Sweet and hot and perfect..." Ace tugged at her hair, bringing her head forward until her lips brushed Cruz's hand. "You'd take it all if you could, wouldn't you?"

  She whimpered again before drawing back, and her cheeks heated as she confessed, "But I can't."

  "He'll teach you." Cruz guided her mouth back to Ace's cock, then tugged at her jeans, popping open the buttons until the denim was loose enough for him to slide his hand inside, under her panties.

  She jerked at the first graze of his fingertip over her clit, and the flames roared up as Ace muffled her moan with a slow thrust.

  Cruz was touching her, touching Ace, but connecting them in ways that went beyond mere contact. Separately, the two men drove her crazy, twisted her into knots of longing and thwarted desire. But together--

  Together, they'd give her everything.

  "Fucking hell, Rae." Ace guided her head, forced her to bob up and down. "I'll teach you later. Tonight I just need you to suck."

  "Hard," Cruz whispered, another of those commands she couldn't help but obey. It made a dizzy sort of sense now, why the two of them had been fucking women together. Cruz was letting go of the last of his inhibitions, and Ace was teaching him, too.

  It would have been so easy to believe this was one more lesson, that she was just another woman between them. But Cruz's hands held a fine tremor now, and Ace's face as she stared up at him--

  Pure, naked need.

  Ace shuddered, his fingers pressing tight to her scalp. "Is this what you want, angel? For me to come on your tongue?"

  To answer, she'd have to stop--and she couldn't, not when he grew more rigid in her mouth with each passing heartbeat. Not when he'd gone so rough, from his breaths to his movements, his caresses to his words.

  She sucked him harder, her cheeks hollowing out as she drew him in as far as she could before bumping into Cruz's hand. Suddenly, he pulled his hand away. Rachel pitched forward, then gagged as the head of Ace's cock hit the back of her throat.

  "Fuck." Ace jerked back, sliding free of her mouth. "Not like this, not the first time. I'm not coming on your tongue until you've come on mine. Cruz--"

  Cruz slipped his hand free of her pants. "I want both of you in my bed. Naked."

  She almost whimpered at the loss of his touch, then climbed to her feet and kicked off her shoes instead. Ace stripped even faster, his boots smacking against the wall as his socks followed.

  By the time she'd wiggled her pants and underwear down her legs, he was naked except for the tattoos etched into his brown skin. So much ink--his O'Kane cuffs bleeding into colorful dragons and fanciful flames, and that giving way to the designs on his chest. A pair of guns. Flowers and vines. Five playing cards spread to show a royal flush, with the ace of hearts on top.

  Words written in Spanish crawled up his left side, wrapping around an intricate skull, and she knew what they said because she'd gone digging to find the answer. Strength in pride. Weakness in oblivion. Not the exact translation, Mad had said, but that was what it meant.

  For the first time in what seemed like forever, she didn't have to look away. She was free to stare, so she did, her gaze roving over his body until he caught her face between his hands.

  Then he kissed her, hard and deep, fusing his lips to hers like he'd been waiting ten thousand years to do it. A million. His body bumped hers, flesh against flesh, and he eased her backwards until her legs hit the edge of the bed.

  He didn't stop kissing her. His mouth shifted to her lower lip. Her chin. He nipped the underside before licking and kissing his way down her throat, lingering on the hollow at its base as his hands swept up her sides.

  She shuddered and slid her fingers into his hair. So illicit, tipping her head to meet Cruz's gaze as Ace kissed his way across her collarbone and teased his tongue over the curve of her breast.

  Cruz smiled and wrapped a hand around his erection, drawing his fingers up in one lazy stroke. "He can't keep his mouth off you."

  The same arousal that had lit his eyes in the warehouse was burning again. Her skin prickled with awareness, and her nipples hardened. A split second later, Ace circled one in a slow lick that fanned heat into fire.

  She bit back a moan and closed her eyes, but that only brought the sounds into focus. The whisper of skin on skin. Ace's heavy breaths. The rasp of his tongue over her nipple and his groan when she pulled his hair in response.

  She heard the rustle of sheets, the quiet groan of the mattress. Ace's mouth vanished a second before he gripped her shoulders, and he turned her to face the bed.

  Cruz had gotten naked, too. He lay stretched out, miles of muscle and luscious skin just a shade lighter than Ace's. His ink was sparse but perfect, from his cuffs to the piece on his shoulder--dragons
, like Ace's, but done in black and gray instead of color and winding down toward his elbow. The utmost care had been taken with each and every intricate line, a mark not only of skill but of attention.

  "You've always wanted him," she whispered.

  Ace gathered her hair off her neck and kissed his way to her ear. "Michelangelo couldn't have built him finer."

  No, and he was theirs.

  His eyes had always been expressive, but now they were something else entirely, commanding her without a word to come closer. Close enough to touch.

  Rachel slid to her hands and knees on the end of the mattress. Ace released her hair only to run his hands down her spine and over her hips, and he groaned before slapping her ass teasingly. "Get over there, sweet girl, before I do something about how good this view is."

  Cruz held out a hand. She crawled over to kiss his wrist, following the strong line of his inner arm to his elbow before sinking to the bed next to him. "Tell me," she urged softly. "All those things you were thinking backstage earlier."

  The bed dipped as Ace knelt behind her, but Cruz held her captivated as he traced his fingers over the curve of her breast. So gentle, but the shock of it had her trembling long before he circled the tight tip. "I was trying to decide where I'd touch you first."

  "Where did you--?" Ace's nimble fingers skipped down her spine again, cutting off the question along with her breath.

  Cruz closed a finger and thumb on her nipple, pinching just hard enough to arch her back. "I don't have to decide. Because he'll touch you anywhere I tell him to. Won't you, Ace?"

  "Mmm." Ace squeezed her hip. "Especially if you promise to use all the dirty words."

  Every single syllable shivered through her like a filthy, secret caress. "Please."

  Cruz caught her chin and leaned so close that all she could see was him, his intense expression and his dark eyes and the tiny spattering of silver hair mixed in with his beard. "Work your fingers into her pussy. Slow and easy, one at a time, until she can't take any more. And then you can suck her clit until she comes on your face."

  Anticipation pulsed between her thighs. Every coherent thought drained out of her head, and she stared at him as Ace slid his hand across her trembling abdomen.