by Kit Rocha
"No," Mad agreed, tugging at the laces on one of his boots. "But what about the leader who follows him? Or the one after that? What about when there's no one left alive who remembers that my grandfather was a man with flaws and selfishness in his heart?"
"Then you'll have a true religion. Congratulations." Dylan dropped to the mattress and reclined on one of the countless pillows. "There are two naked women in your bathtub. But you knew that already, didn't you?"
"It's a suite, Dylan." Without looking up, Mad tossed his boot aside and started on the other one. "There's room for about ten of them in the tub, if I remember right. And the bed's big enough for half the O'Kanes to sleep in without bumping into each other."
"So this is a space issue?"
"It's—" Mad growled and threw his other boot so hard it thumped against the wall. "Do you want your own room, Dylan?"
"No." He leaned forward. "I want you to tell me why they're here. No bullshit."
"Because I wanted them here." Mad settled on the bed. "I assumed you would too."
And for good reason—but all the wrong ones. "A twisted fucking game," Dylan murmured. "That's what you called it. You sure you want to drag them into it for real?"
"Maybe it's only twisted if they don't get a chance to play it."
It made a fucked-up sort of sense. Maybe it was twisted for him and Mad to tease one another with the idea of Scarlet's arousal or Jade's lust every time they crashed together. If so, the only way to put things on the level again, make them right, would be to open those fantasies up to the ladies in question.
"You're sure about this?" he asked.
"We're O'Kanes. If they want a little comfort, I'll give it. If they don't, that's okay too." Mad caught Dylan's wrist and rubbed his thumb over the naked, unmarked skin there. "It's simpler for us, I think. We can cling to each other just because we don't want to sleep alone."
"Is that all it is?"
"Sometimes." He moved his thumb in lazy, soothing circles. "Besides, when we're outside the sector, we stick together."
As if any of them needed the physical protection of safety in numbers while they were hidden away behind the well-guarded, palatial walls of Gideon's estate. Though Mad seemed to be talking about a different kind of protection. Comfort, not defense. "Is it so terrible coming here because you hate it, or because you don't?"
"Oh, is he giving you a hard time now?" Scarlet closed the bathroom door behind her and walked into the room. Her hair dripped onto her white satin robe, soaking the fabric until Dylan could see not only the outline but the shadow of her nipples beneath it.
Mad gave Dylan's wrist one last caress before releasing him. "I wouldn't know what to do with him if he wasn't."
"Liar." She knelt on the end of the bed and smiled wickedly. "You'd know exactly what to do with him."
"Maybe." Mad relaxed against the headboard and stretched out his legs with a smile, as if Scarlet's teasing soothed him. "Jade still in the tub?"
"Nah." Scarlet winked. "But she has four or five different oils and creams she has to rub on her skin after a bath. She'll be along."
The words did exactly what she'd meant them to—painted a mental picture of Jade's hands, slick and soft, running over her naked curves. Dylan swallowed a groan.
Mad made it worse by laughing, low and full of lust and secrets. "And you didn't stay to help?"
"Sometimes I do. But not tonight."
"How is she?"
"A little wound up. On edge." Scarlet shifted on the bed, her leg brushing Mad's as she moved. "It's not every day the guy who's been teasing you forever decides he might come through."
Mad shifted his leg as well, and managed to nudge her robe higher. "Come on now, Scarlet. There's been a lot of teasing going around."
"I'll own it." She moved again, only this time she straddled his knees and planted her hands on his thighs. The edges of her robe slithered apart, white satin baring one pale hip. "Can you?"
Dylan held his breath as Mad stroked his fingers up her arm and over her shoulder before sliding back down the inside edge of the satin, almost—almost—touching her skin. "Should we wait for Jade before we start owning things?"
"Scarlet knows what I want."
Jade stood in the open doorway, completely naked, her hair spilling down around her shoulders. Her eyes locked with Dylan's, and she smiled.
Slow, soft challenge.
"Told you," Scarlet whispered, then jerked Mad's shirt free of his pants.
He lifted his arms to let her strip the shirt free, then gripped her hips. Even with Jade approaching the bed, gorgeous and naked, his gaze never left Scarlet's face. "No more teasing. Whatever you need, you can have."
She turned her head and held out her hand. Jade climbed onto the bed, close against Scarlet's back. Her slender fingers skated over the silk covering her lover's body before settling on the knot that held her robe closed. "No more teasing, Scarlet."
Her hips arched, and Mad hissed as she ground against his leg. "Do I look like I'm teasing?"
"No." Jade kissed her ear as she loosened the knot. The fabric fell open, baring the top of one of Scarlet's breasts. "But Mad still is."
"Savoring," he corrected, tugging at the sleeve of Scarlet's robe until it slipped off her arm. "You may be used to admiring her, but we're not."
From afar, perhaps. You couldn't be in the same room and not look at Scarlet—at the soft hair that seemed so at odds with the steel ring piercing her brow, at the leather and lace she wore like a shield and an invitation, all rolled into one. Jade was beautiful, sweet-faced and classically gorgeous. Scarlet was…
Compelling. The inescapable pull grew stronger as she dropped her head back and let Jade draw the satin away from her body. Mad's hands replaced it, his fingers tracing a path from the hollow of her throat, down between her breasts, all the way to her navel. "She's impatient, isn't she?"
"I wouldn't know," Jade replied, the words muffled as she kissed Scarlet's shoulder. "I can never bring myself to make her wait for anything."
"Fuck waiting." She sank her hand into Jade's hair. "Fuck me."
Mad grinned and stroked his knuckles back up to her breast. "Is this all you can take, Scarlet? Really?"
"I can—" The words cut off when Mad bent to her breast, and she gripped the back of his head with her free hand. "Yes."
Jade cupped her other breast, her thumb moving in soothing swoops even as she brought two fingers together to pinch Scarlet's nipple. "Not so gentle."
In response, Mad switched sides, driving a groan from Scarlet as he licked Jade's fingers, and a gasp from Jade as he continued to the delicate back of her hand. He caught her wrist, lifted it, and Dylan knew the slow way he drew two of her fingers into his mouth was as much a show for him as anything else.
Jade's ragged breaths filled the silence as Mad glided his tongue over her fingertips one last time. Then he guided her hand down Scarlet's body. "Slow," he commanded.
Scarlet sucked in a sharp breath when Jade touched her. Dylan watched Jade's fingers closely, watched them part Scarlet's wet pussy lips before flicking the tiny ring above her clit. Watched them glide and tease, but only for a moment before delving deeper. Thrusting inside.
Scarlet released her indrawn breath on a low, harsh moan. His gaze snapped to her face—and she was staring at him. He stared back, mesmerized by the elegant, torturous simplicity of the invitation burning there.
Watch, it said. Want. But don't touch.
Another twisted game, one he knew well.
"Jade." Mad's voice was low, chiding.
She laughed. "I didn't promise you obedience."
Her voice held a defiant lilt that made Dylan's dick hard. She hadn't promised obedience—but she would give it to the right person.
Scarlet rocked her hips, fucking Jade's fingers, and yanked at Mad's belt. His chest heaved and his muscles flexed under all that beautiful ink, and he turned to Dylan, his eyes blazing.
A different sort of invitation bur
ned there. Stay, it whispered. Be one of us.
He reached out and cupped his hand around the back of Mad's neck. "I'm not going anywhere."
"You better not," Mad growled, then kissed him.
Dylan closed his eyes as heat invaded his mouth and his senses. Mad's tongue slicked over his, and his tormented groan vibrated through the room, evocative enough to paint a picture of exactly what was happening—Scarlet had his pants open, was dragging her red-tipped nails over his hip, wrapping one strong, graceful hand around his cock…
Dylan opened his eyes as Mad broke away with a hiss and slammed his head back against the headboard.
Jade was the one touching him, her fingers still slick from being inside Scarlet. She stroked him from base to tip and laughed softly when he tried to thrust up into her retreating hand. She nuzzled Scarlet's cheek and worked her fingers back inside her, sinking them deep while the other woman shuddered. "He's impatient, isn't he?"
Scarlet twisted her hand tight, pulling Jade's hair with a growl. Jade moaned in response, her fingers moving faster as she pressed the heel of her hand to Scarlet's piercing.
She jerked—hard—and Mad had to steady her. He kept one hand on her hip and curled the other carefully around the base of her neck, not quite gripping, but that could change at any second.
His thumb swept over the pulse throbbing in the hollow of her throat, and he waited until she stopped swaying before smoothing his other hand up to cup her breast. "Come on, Scarlet. Sing for us."
She choked on a laugh and froze when her gaze clashed with Dylan's. For an eternity, she stared at him, through him, as if she could see not just his soul but everything he'd ever tried to hide.
Then she reached for him. Her fingers brushed his cheek, cool and calming, like the blessings people begged from Mad on the street, then slipped into his hair. She tugged, drawing him closer, closer, until her mouth was only inches from his.
He held his breath, but she didn't kiss him. Instead, she smiled slowly and pushed his head down until his lips grazed Mad's fingers—and her nipple.
Mad moved his hand, giving him space to swirl his tongue around the taut peak. His fingers splayed across Dylan's back, caressing and possessive, all at once. "This is what it means to be an O'Kane. No fantasy off-limits if it gets everyone off."
It was the same dream Dallas O'Kane had been trying to lure him with for years, but nothing sold it as hard as the sound Scarlet made in the back of her throat when Dylan sucked her nipple deep into his mouth. It was heady, that desperate noise, just like Mad's hand on his back, like Jade's whispers of encouragement.
It was enough to bring a man to God, and it only got better when Scarlet pulled his head up with a sharp jerk and another low moan. "Your fingers. I want them inside me."
Words as rough as Jade's were soft. "Help me, Dylan."
Pulling away, losing this warmth, wasn't an option. Scarlet was wet, but with Jade's fingers already buried deep in her pussy, he almost winced as he thrust two of his inside her, as well. But Scarlet only nodded, a barely perceptible but utterly certain movement of consent.
Jade looked at him, her eyes huge and dark, as she flexed her fingers and shivered at Scarlet's moan. Dylan stared back at her, ensnared by the way Jade's hunger flared when he moved his fingers, sliding them against hers.
The moment shattered when Mad surged between them and dragged Scarlet to meet his open-mouthed kiss. She went rigid and slapped his shoulder, but a moment later melted into his embrace with a helpless shudder.
"That's it," Mad rasped, stroking her shaking body as she rocked her hips faster and faster. "Feel it all. All of us."
Scarlet's breath seized in her chest. She ground down against their hands, clenching so tight that it almost hurt. It did hurt to watch her come apart, because never in Dylan's wildest dreams had he imagined she would do it so freely, with nothing hidden. And he understood why Jade would come crawling back to this if she had to, anything for a chance to touch this sort of wild abandon, even from the outside.
Jade was no stranger to pleasure. She'd learned her own body long before she ever let another use it, and that knowledge had been as potent a weapon as anything else in her arsenal.
But sometimes, when she watched Scarlet shudder apart, she wondered if she really understood pleasure at all.
It wasn't as if the reason was a mystery. It was the armor, that impenetrable layer of steel and shattered hope that kept her trapped in her head. She savored release, adored the way Scarlet touched and stroked her, but the wild abandon that transported Scarlet as she came apart in Mad's arms was something Jade had only ever found in pain.
Not that she enjoyed pain. Not like sweet, eager Noelle, who came alive at the kiss of a whip. Not like Bren, who embraced it like a lover. No, for Jade, pain was a tool. A way of restoring her equilibrium when her armor grew so constricting that it threatened to crush her. She knew the biology of physiological responses. She recognized the role endorphins played. Those precious, rare moments of peace were hard won, because pain was a clumsy tool for someone like her.
But it was all she'd ever had.
As soon as Scarlet's shaking subsided, Jade slipped her fingers free. Mad was already gathering Scarlet tight to his chest, his hands strong and soothing, sliding all over her body as he murmured low words Jade couldn't even understand.
She didn't need to. His voice was warm and approving, because if the O'Kanes prized anything, it was the courage of sexual abandon. Scarlet had earned his petting and his stroking.
Jade likely wouldn't.
Dylan was still watching her. Worse, watching like he could hear each thought as it flitted through her head. As if her armor wasn't there at all, though the pressure of it had grown unbearable over the past few days.
Her skin prickled all over. Warm arousal buzzed along her nerves, heightened by Scarlet's release and sharpened by her own jealousy at how easily it had been achieved.
Breathing unsteadily, Jade licked her lips. "You're overdressed."
Dylan's fingers were still glistening and wet when he lifted them to the buttons on his shirt. "How long?"
A question with so many layers. She could take the easy way out and tell him that Scarlet had given her two toe-curling orgasms the night before the bombs dropped, pleasure so hot and sweet that even the memory raised goose bumps.
But Scarlet was still lying boneless in Mad's arms, her eyes glazed with an emotional release that had nothing to do with her body, and Jade knew what he was really asking.
She knew the answer, too, with telling precision. "Almost three months."
He nodded. Jade knew what to expect from a man like him—she'd dealt with enough of them over the years. He'd hold out his hand, make her come to him while he decided when and how to touch her.
But he didn't. He crawled across the bed with his shirt hanging open, pausing only to stroke one hand across Scarlet's calf and Mad's ankle before kneeling in front of Jade. "Help me figure out how."
He was so close. His knees brushing hers, his entire body within reach. She traced the edge of his shirt and let her fingers drift past to the warmth of his flesh, all the way up to his collarbone. "I think Scarlet knows better than I do."
"Does she?" He laid his hand over hers, trapping her fingers against his skin. He guided her hand, not down to his belt, but to rest over his heart.
It beat strong beneath her fingers. It beat fast. She shivered and closed her eyes. "I don't know if it belongs here. Tonight. It's never been about pleasure for me."
"What is it about?"
She didn't know how to answer. She didn't have the words for it. But Mad did. "Catharsis," he murmured.
Jade glanced at him. He was still sprawled against the headboard, stroking Scarlet's hair, but there was nothing lazy about him now. He was wound tight with arousal or intensity or something else, something that stared out of his beautiful brown eyes with a dangerous edge she recognized all too well.
Being in Sector One chang
ed him. It made him aware of the power he held, and of the heavy responsibility that came with not abusing it. Her power came from training in manipulation that had become habit. His was effortless, inborn—and inescapable.
Oh, yes. Mad understood the need to break free.
"Catharsis," she agreed softly, then looked at Dylan. "But I don't need it tonight. I want pleasure. I want to feel good."
"And those things don't go together." A tiny, knowing smile played at one corner of his mouth. "Do you trust me, Jade?"
Her hesitation might insult him, but any swift response would have been a pleasing lie. Trust had more layers than an onion, and most people who asked for it never clarified how much they wanted.
But Dylan wasn't most people. He wouldn't ask for what he couldn't give. Body, mind. Those were what he had to offer, and hers were safe in his keeping. "Yes."
He touched her chin with just enough pressure to tilt her head back. "I need you."
It took her a moment to realize he wasn't talking to her, but to Mad and Scarlet. The mattress shifted beneath her, mirroring the way her equilibrium tilted when Mad's voice washed over her. "Come on, Scarlet. Time to play."
She reached Jade first, gripping her upper thighs with familiar ease. She scraped her teeth over the curve of Jade's hip, then tumbled her back to land on the bed. "I've been waiting for this," Scarlet whispered, hot words against the inside of her knee.
"Me too." Mad settled at her side, his hand as warm and strong as she'd imagined as it trailed up the inside of her calf. "But you know that, don't you?"
"No," Jade retorted, sinking her fingers into his hair. Scarlet would have jerked roughly, but Jade twisted just enough to produce a warning tingle across his scalp. "I know you want me. But I never imagined you'd let yourself touch me."
Mad paused with his hand curled around the knee Scarlet wasn't kissing. "I trust Dylan, too."
"See?" Dylan unbuckled his belt, moving so slowly and carefully that the metal made no noise as he worked it free. "Catharsis, love."
Maybe she could have it. She was wet enough, achy enough, and the race of her pulse wasn't all simple desire. Adrenaline surged as she let herself feel the size and weight of Mad's hand, the roughness of calloused fingers, the difference between his grip and Scarlet's.