by Sienna Blake
It’s not a warning. I’m not stupid enough to issue him a warning. I might be bigger than X, but he’s always been smarter, more strategic, and his coldness makes him more willing to cross lines that I would steer clear of. This makes him more dangerous than any gun. Than any fist or blade.
Besides, I could never hurt X. I’d rather die than lay a hand on him.
No, it’s not a warning, but a reminder. A reminder that despite the frost that clings to his soul, he is human. And he has the power to let go.
For a tense moment, the three of us just stand there.
X’s eyes soften, the tension leaving his jaw.
I breathe the largest inward sigh of relief.
The second X lets go of Liam, Liam shoves him back. “Touch me again and it’ll be the last thing you do.”
X lets out a hiss and a flash of steel tells me his blade is in his hand again.
“That is enough,” I bellow, stepping in between them. “You’ve crossed the fucking line, brother,” I say to Liam. “The only reason you’re even still breathing right now is because you are Caitlin’s blood.”
But Liam obviously has a death wish. “You should have stamped down this fucking threat from Keegan years ago. You had him at your fucking feet, but you didn’t end him there.”
Liam, X and Jace are the only four people who know why I didn’t pull that trigger on Keegan that day. I thought they understood. “I should have, but I was not going to turn into a monster doing it.”
“Don’t do this to our men,” Liam says, his voice pleading. “We’ve worked hard for peace. War profits no one.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“I have no other choice.”
Liam narrows his eyes at me. “There is always another choice.” He spins on his heel and storms out of the warehouse.
My body sags, responsibility weighing heavily on my shoulders. The lives of my men. For Waylyn. It isn’t even a choice for me. But the guilt is still thick.
“You wouldn’t do that to Waylyn? Force her…?” X says, but there’s a question in his voice.
“Of course not.”
X nods, his shoulders lowering in relief, and his usually stone-faced mask slips.
Oh. I see.
“I’ve never seen you like this over a woman,” I say. The usually unfeeling and strategic X would have been on Liam’s side.
X flinches. “She is…different.”
“Yes,” I agree, recognising the unrequited ache inside of him. It mirrors my own. I let out a soft, humourless laugh.
Both of us. In love with the same woman.
Both situations impossible.
“But what can either of us offer her?” I say. “Mere pieces of our broken souls? Shards of a life?”
X falls silent and deathly still.
“I’m sorry to say it, but Waylyn deserves more than you or me, my friend.” I clasp his shoulder and for once, X doesn’t shy away from my touch. “Much more.”
X
My hands are shaking as I unlock the door to the safe house. I’m fucking nervous.
Nervous. Me.
Magnar’s words from yesterday echo in my head.
“What can either of us offer her? Mere pieces of our broken souls? Shards of a life? Waylyn deserves more than you or me, my friend.”
Magnar is right.
And now I need to return to Waylyn and explain why we could never be anything more than the one night.
I’d never forget that night.
I felt almost whole that night.
I push open the door to the safe house to laughter. I step in quietly and enter the house. Jace and Waylyn are tangled all over each other on the carpet of the living room, furniture pushed aside to create a clear space.
Underneath them is a mat with coloured circles in rows: red, blue, yellow and green.
I know this game.
Twister.
“Right hand red,” Waylyn calls.
Jace smirks, lifting his right hand up from a yellow circle near her waist. He slips his hand between her legs. “Like, here?”
Waylyn giggles, but it’s low and throaty. “That’s not red.”
“Mmm, more like…pink.”
Jace leans in to kiss her but tips off balance, falling partly over her, his hand between her legs shooting out to brace himself on the floor. Right over a red circle.
Jace lets out a phew of relief when he sees where his hand landed. “Red. That was lucky.”
“My turn,” Waylyn cries, somehow managing to flick a spinner with her hand without toppling over. “Left foot green.” With a glint in her eyes, Waylyn lifts up her foot and strokes Jace between the thighs. He can do nothing but squirm as the tables are turned on him.
Jace lets out a groan. “You keep doing that and it’ll be right foot blue.”
I see the intimacy between them, their ease around each other with an added sexual layer, and instantly I know they’ve…connected while I’ve been away.
For some strange reason I don’t feel jealousy.
I feel relief. Like maybe Waylyn will find a happily ever after with someone else. With Jason King.
Of the three of us—Magnar, Jace and me—Jace is the least fucked up. He has the best chance of making her happy.
Before I can back away, leave them to their intimacy, Waylyn spots me and her face brightens up. “X!”
Jace looks up as Waylyn tries to jump to her feet. The two of them go crashing into a laughing heap.
It’s too late to turn away now. I’m going to have to learn how to be around Jace and Waylyn anyway, so I might as well start now.
Waylyn untangles herself from Jace and runs up to me. For a second, it looks like she’s going to hug me.
For a second, I almost let her.
Then she stops just short and scans my face, my eyes.
Her beautiful face so open and warm that I almost feel like she is embracing me.
“I’m glad you’re back safe and sound.”
I nod. I’m glad too.
“I missed you,” she says, so quietly the words barely reach my ears, so quietly I know Jace couldn’t hear them.
Those words are mine. Just for me. Fuck, I missed her too. It was only a day apart but it felt longer than the years before I knew her.
I want to say those words back. But they stick in my throat.
“S’up, X,” says Jace, picking himself up off the floor and brushing his clothes down. Even in casual wear, chinos and a polo shirt, he manages to look so put together, like he just stepped out of a Brown Thomas catalogue.
“Where’s Magnar?” Waylyn asks, peering around me.
“He’s coming,” I explain. “He just had to stop at a few places on the way.”
He is rousing up the local chapters of our organisation. We are going to war for you, I want to say but don’t.
I should go dump my stuff in one of the spare rooms, leave them to it.
“Do you want to play?” Waylyn asks before I can turn away. She looks so damn hopeful.
“X doesn’t play games that don’t involve knives,” Jace says with a chuckle.
His words, albeit meant as a joke, hit me hard. “I’ll play,” I say, my voice firm like I’m issuing a challenge.
Waylyn’s eyes widen and she looks between Jace and me.
I can see what she’s thinking—that she’s sorry she asked me to play without thinking that it might trouble me to do so. But she hopes so badly that I will join in.
“You know, X,” Jace says, slowly, “that you’ll have to get up close with us…right?” Maybe even touch us, his words imply.
I nod, swallowing down the knot in my throat. “I’ll play.”
Waylyn
Minutes later, with each spin, Jace, X and I become more and more tangled.
The air is getting hotter in this living room. Droplets of sweat are starting to collect at the base of my spine.
I thought this might be difficult fo
r X. I didn’t think it might be so damn…uncomfortable for me. Being this close to both X and Jace is making my body flush with heat and a steady ache to grow between my legs. I get wetter and wetter with every accidental brush, with every press of male flesh against me.
“Left foot yellow.” I move my foot across X’s body so I’m practically back-bending over him. My ass rubs against his groin and I can feel him harden, sending a jolt of need through me.
“Right hand green.” Jace moves his hand around my waist.
His arm is brushing against my breast and my skin where my shirt has ridden up, sending tingles across my body. His face is practically in mine, his lips inches from me, his breath swirling around my cheeks.
“Right foot blue.” X shifts underneath me.
My entire body is aware of his as he moves. His knee comes up between my legs, pressing lightly against where it’s aching. It takes every bit of willpower not to grind my pussy into his thigh.
I hear X curse under his breath. He knows. He can feel that I’m soaking.
Suddenly, X is shuffling out from underneath me.
The loss of him feels like he’s tearing away one of my limbs.
“I should go,” he says, standing.
“What?” I cry. Jace and I tumble to the floor. “Why?”
“You two should…” He trails off, his eyes darting between Jace and me as we scramble to our feet. “I’ll leave you two alone so you can—”
“I want both of you,” I blurt out.
Jace and X blink at me. “What?” they both ask.
There, I said it. I can’t take it back. Might as well go for it. I shuffle my feet, their stares heavy on me. “What if…what if you both share me? Like, like those two men and that woman back at your clubhouse?”
My suggestion lands between us like a grenade with its pin pulled out.
I hope to God this doesn’t blow up in my face.
“I could share,” X says slowly.
Oh my God. He…would?
Jace stares between X and me. Before running a hand through his hair.
For once, I can’t read him. Is he pissed? Confused? Considering it? “I like both of you,” I explain. “You both give me such different things… I need both of you. Don’t make me choose, please,” I beg with a whisper.
Jace drops his hand and looks right at me. “If this is what you want, doll…”
I nod.
I want X so bad it hurts. I want the roughness of his hands, the viciousness of his touch. But I want Jace too, want the tenderness in his kiss, the care with which he handles me.
X breaks me open.
Jace soothes me.
I need them both.
“How…” I swallow to unstick my throat, “…how does this work?”
Jace winks at X before sending me a soothing smile. “Just let us take care of you, okay?”
“Trust us?” X asks.
I nod.
Jace steps up to me, kissing me deeply, one hand cupping around my neck, the other kneading my breast. A second set of hands, X’s hands, rougher and firmer, grip me around my waist, while he’s kissing the back of my neck, sending tingles down through my body, grinding his erection along my ass.
I moan into Jace’s mouth and rock my ass back to meet X.
Jace breaks the kiss long enough to tug his shirt and pants off. X pushes up my top before removing his own. Jace tugs down my shorts and X pulls at my panties in a synchronized movement. Every single item of clothing falls to the floor.
Jace and X press back into me, this time it’s skin on glorious skin. I groan at the warm, hard pressure of two bodies pressing in from either side. How can this get any better?
Turns out we’re just getting started.
Four hands explore my body, front and back, cupping my ass, pinching my nipples, running along my inner thighs before sliding along my soaking pussy. Two mouths taking turns to kiss me, suck my nipples, lick along my collarbone and shoulders.
Hard and soft.
Darkness and light.
Somehow, it feels complete…
Almost.
Both of them are rock hard as they grind against me. I rock my hips back and forth, feeling X’s cock along my ass and Jace’s along my clit.
I get an image of being filled like this, from both sides, by the both of them at the same time.
God, I want it so much. But I’m afraid to ask.
Jace lets out a groan as he dips a finger into my entrance. “Jesus, doll, you’re soaking.”
“I want you both so bad.”
Jace nods at X over my shoulder and something unspoken passes between them.
Jace picks me up by the waist, carries me down the hallway and into the nearest bedroom, X following him. He lays me sideways across the mattress on my back.
My head spins as I lie there, staring up at the beautiful man holding my thighs open wide for him, rubbing the head of his cock all over my wet slit, causing me to whimper, my pussy feeling the phantom ache of his absence.
He smiles at me, that gorgeous dimple on display as he slides his cock into my pussy, letting out a groan when he reaches the hilt. He holds my thighs down so I can barely move as he moves in and out, the pleasure building with each rocking motion.
X appears near my head and I reach up to grab his hips and slide my hands greedily over the curve of his muscled ass. X smacks my lips with his hard cock. I open up and tip back my head to let him in. X places his fingers along my jaw to guide himself down my throat.
I am filled from both ends. My pussy clenches around him, the pleasure ricocheting through my body.
Is this really happening?
Jace chuckles. “She likes this.”
I groan around X in agreeance, earning a moan of pleasure from him. His hands run from my jaw down to my breasts and he uses them as leverage to fuck my mouth.
Yes, more! I want to cry.
“Settle down, X, we’re just getting started,” Jace says.
I can feel X’s corded muscles in his arms straining to slow down to a pace he is not accustomed to.
Jace places his hand on my lower belly and uses his thumb to flick at my clit, which has me moaning and bucking, wanting more. They fuck me from both ends, their thrusting syncing into a steady rhythm. The pleasure builds and I drown in it.
“I need… Can’t,” X says, his voice coming out strained.
“Swap,” Jace says.
Swap?
X withdraws from my mouth at the same time as Jace pulls out, causing an ebb of loss from both ends. I let out a moan and pout.
Jace chuckles, holding out his hands.
I grab them and he pulls me up to kneel before him.
“Don’t pout, dollface,” he says, kissing my lips. “I promise you’ll like this.” He moves me back on the mattress until I’m on all fours with my head at his cock height.
Oh. I see.
I lick around the head of Jace’s dick, tasting my arousal on him.
X pushes into me from behind.
I moan around Jace’s cock, taking him all in, causing him to growl with pleasure. “That feels so fucking good, doll.”
I suck hard as X thrusts into me, my pussy tightening with every firm stroke. Jace’s fingers tangle in my hair as he swells in my mouth.
I rock my hips back, begging with my body for X to use me. But he’s still withholding himself. His movements are measured and calculated. I don’t want calculating X, I want raw, unfiltered, real X.
I pull back from Jace’s cock, giving the tip an “I’ll be back” lick before turning my head to look over my shoulder at X.
Our eyes meet.
“Don’t hold back,” I tell him.
He nods, understanding connecting us.
I turn back to Jace and flash him a smile before licking around the head of his cock. X slams into me from behind, a sharp flash of pleasure lighting up my body, and I’m impaled deep onto Jace’s cock. He curses before coming into my mouth, filling it with sal
ty liquid. I drink him all down before he pulls away and sinks down onto the bed next to me, entwining the fingers of his hand with one of mine.
X is brutal. Relentless, and I fucking love it. I need it. His fingers grip into my hips as he takes out every piece of injustice delivered to him on me. He lays his soul bare and strips me to mine, and I join him in this communion.
I come hard, X inside me, my eyes fixed on Jace, joined in two very different ways to these two very different men.
Needing them both just as much.
Waylyn
Jace and X take turns fucking me again before the three of us collapse side by side on the bed, me in the middle.
Part way through the night, I feel the mattress sink as X climbs out of bed. I whimper and reach for him, my lids still half closed. I know he’s going to leave again. I don’t want him to go. I need him.
I feel his hand close around mine. “I’m not going far,” he whispers to me in the dark. “Promise.” He seals that promise with a squeeze of my fingers before letting go. He grabs a spare blanket and pillow, then drops them on the floor at the foot of the bed.
I sit up as he lowers himself down onto the floor.
Is he…?
He can’t be.
X punches the pillow before he lowers his head onto it.
He is.
X is going to sleep on the floor.
I look over to see that Jace is still asleep. I crawl down the mattress until I’m at the end of the bed.
X looks up at me as I step out of bed. “What are you doing?”
I say nothing. I just lower myself down beside him and push my way into the nook of his neck.
“Go back to bed, little elm.”
“Not until you tell me why you’re sleeping on the floor.”
He lets out a sigh.
There’s a long pause, where the only sound is the noise of Jace’s breathing.
“I lied before,” he says. “When I said I don’t remember what happened to me before…before…” He trails off.
I slide an arm around his waist and squeeze. It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.
To my surprise, I feel his lips brush on my forehead.