by Sariah Skye
If I didn’t have four of these… boyfriends?... I seriously don’t know how I could wake up in the morning and not climb the walls. A few weeks ago the magic drove me crazy, because I couldn’t control it and it came out in strange ways; like, I felt like I was going to hurt them. It turned out I just was afraid to be left again, and the magic was inherently protecting me, much like it always had before I knew it was a real thing.
Now? It was out of control in other ways. I thought I was aroused all the time before—ha! That’s nothing compared to how I felt now, nearly all the time.
I felt like a teenager again, only the more I acted upon my impulses…the worse it got. I was thankful Xander was there tonight to solve the problem, again so I could finally fall back asleep. Again.
Chapter Five
“Hey, Ava?” A voice whispered in the dark.
“Hmm?” My eyes slowly opened, finding myself and Xander tangled together amidst the blankets. It was dark, and I realized he must have turned the light off at some point. I looked over him, his breath was steady and calm, eyes fluttering underneath the lids; he was out like a light. I lifted my upper body slowly, taking care not to disturb Xander and blinked into the dark. It took a few seconds for my vision to focus in the low light, and a tall, blond, broad silhouette stood in the shadows. “Bash?” I asked uncertainly. I hoped it was, at least. Rhys so far had avoided teleporting into my room, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t start.
“Yeah,” Bash said, closing the door behind him, and stepping into a section where the moonlight streamed in through a separation in the curtains. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t—” his eyes widened in surprised, when he noticed my bedtime companion. “Oh, shit. I shouldn’t have come in here. I—”
“It’s okay. It’s my damn room,” I said with a chuckle, untangling myself reluctantly from the comfort of Xander’s body, and sitting upward, careful not to pull the blanket from him or drop it from my chest. Not that Bash hadn’t seen my boobs already, but it felt funny because Xander was here.
“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t sleep,” he said, reaching an arm backward and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. His blond hair was mussed slightly, indicating that he probably tossed and turned for a good long while, and he was dressed in a white t-shirt and a pair of blue sleep pants. “I thought, with the club opening tomorrow, you were probably as restless as I was, but I see…” he trailed off, motioning to Xander next to me. I grinned sheepishly.
“Sorry,” I said, with a shrug. I didn’t know quite what to say; no one but Rhys had ever caught me with another one of the guys before, even though we were only sleeping. Now, anyway…
Bash lingered silently for a moment, before he walked towards the bed. “Is he feeling better, at least?” he asked, with a salacious smirk.
I snorted quietly. “Yeah…I think so. You don’t seem bothered by this at all?”
He shrugged. “Eh, I accepted everything a long time ago. Our arrangement is only logical. I could go another one-thousand years and never encounter another cambion, and be completely alone, while a friend or two of mine had wonderful relationships with a beautiful girl,” he said. In the moonlight his blue eyes reminded me of sparkling snow; so peaceful and calm.
I felt my cheeks blush under his words. “Bash… but, what if you meet another? Just—what if? I mean, since you’ve met me, you’ve encountered two other cambions. How do you know there won’t be another; maybe a beautiful redhead with even bigger boobs?”
Bash snickered. Winking at me, he said, “I don’t usually go for redheads. Besides, what if, like Rhys it’s a guy? No thanks. Besides, women are complicated. At least I’m not alone in trying to figure you out.”
“Ha, ha.”
“And plus, you know…I think you care about me, so…” he trailed off shyly.
“I, a lot more than care about you, silly,” I said with a grin. I patted the empty side of the bed. “You can sit if you want, I feel weird with you standing there.”
Bash glanced hesitantly at Xander. “Yeah, he’s pissed at me. I better not.”
I sighed. “I don’t think he’s pissed so much as…”
“He’s not pissed,” Xander announced suddenly, in a groggy voice. “Just get the fuck in the bed, asshole, and go to sleep. Just don’t punch me in the face like you did the last time I tried to help you when you had nightmares.”
Bash and I stifled laughs, and he cautiously sat on the edge of the bed, as far away from Xander as possible.
He groaned beside me. “Ugh, seriously. I don’t care that you’re here, I just want to sleep. Just don’t lift the blanket too high or you’ll get a show.”
Bash snorted, and I lifted up his end of the blanket and he slid under. “Not like I ain’t seen it all before.”
Xander just grumbled, lifting up a lazy hand to flip him the bird.
I glanced between the two of them; Bash sitting up in the bed, my purple blanket over his lap, and Xander, half wrapped around my waist, face shoved into my side-boob. “Seriously, you need to fill me in on this story! Did you two ever—” I motioned between the two of them, and made a rude gesture with my hands, “—like… swordfight.”
“Oh god…” Xander griped. He shoved a hand under the pillow he was sleeping on and flipped it over his head.
Glancing expectantly at Bash, I nudged him. “Well? Did ya?” My mind wandered, thinking about the two of them together in a compromising position. At first I cringed, but then…
“—No,” Bash said, finally. “Well, not really. We kinda sorta tried once, but didn’t get past first base, so to speak.”
Xander growled from under the pillow. “He’s a lousy fucking kisser.”
I snorted, slapping him playfully on the arm. “He is not!” I cleared my throat, picturing Xander and Bash, hands roving over each other’s muscled bodies, stuck in a lip lock, and—
“Don’t even think about it,” Xander said, emerging from the pillow just long enough to smirk at me while I was thinking dirty thoughts. He poked me in the thigh gently, shaking his head; and I knew I was caught.
“Oh, I’m gonna think about it,” I kidded, flashing him a flirty wink.
He groaned again and buried himself under the pillow once more. “Just tell her, Bash.”
I looked at the blond witch—or whatever he was—expectantly.
“It’s complicated,” he said, with a long sigh. “Basically, when I met Jian—Xander—he was still fairly young; both as a man and as incubus. Even after being helped out by Thomas Alexander, and getting him away from Morgaine’s clutches—”
“—I didn’t know her as Morgaine, obviously. She was just ‘Madame’,” Xander interjected, peeking his head out from hiding; his tone disgruntled and sour. “She ran a brothel and expected me to seduce the wives of the gold diggers, or their family or whoever. Let me tell you, being the only Asian guy at the turn of the century that most of them had ever seen it was…challenging. Some people weren’t all that nice about it.”
I frowned, and comfortingly patted his arm.
“But it wasn’t impossible. I just had to be extra confident,” he said, giving me his sexy half smile.
“So that’s where the cocky bastard attitude came from,” I said, chuckling. “I know now it’s all an act.”
“Ha, ha. Yup.” He re-hid under the pillow. “Now I’ll let Bash finish.”
“Anyhow, when I met him, he was having issue taking control. One of the things I did to help him was to let him watch when I would seduce a woman, and how far to take it so she wasn’t injured,” Bash said.
My brow flew up. “Oh?”
“Yeah. And eventually, he would join in and we quickly learned that we could share one woman’s energy if we were both…” Bash smirked uncomfortably.
“So…you two would…” I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry at the prospect. I was both horrified at hearing about their sexual escapades, and severely turned on at the idea of being tag-teamed by the both of them.
&n
bsp; “We could both bed her,” Bash said, and I flinched at the words, trying to quell the territorial envy raging inside at the idea of anyone else having sex with my boys. My. Boys.
Bash continued. “But as long as the other was… helping when she got off, we’d both get an energy surge. Only a little weaker than it would be if we were alone. It was a great way to minimize the risk of permanent madness or death, so even after he gained control, we continued.” He shrugged. “Running a club was a good way to meet women looking for a good time, rather than exploiting someone’s wife or something. Morgaine had the right idea,” he added, frowning severely.
“So, you kept on doing that until…”
“Well, the older we get, the less we need the extra energy. But if you’re asking when the last time he and I—” he cut himself off when I cringed. “I’m sorry, I should stop.”
I shook my head quickly. “No... I should know about how you lived.” I forced a smile, trying to pretend that was true.
He sighed gently. “Well, it was roughly around three weeks before we met you.”
“Oh.” I suddenly felt very vulnerable, sitting here in bed, naked, next to one naked man and another I had slept with only a day ago.
“It’s a good thing, too. If we hadn’t, Xander might not have had enough energy to make the magic he used to fight Deano—”
“—Swarthy,” I interrupted.
“Yeah, him.” He chuckled.
I nodded uneasily. “I…understand,” I said in a quiet voice.
Xander’s hand brushed over the top of my thigh and squeezed gently. “We weren’t doing it because we enjoyed it. We did it to survive. It wasn’t fun, it’s not fulfilling.”
“Yeah, it’s like, eating liver for dinner when you haven’t eaten in days. It’s horrible, you hate it, but you choke it down because it’s only mildly better than death,” Bash said dryly.
I sighed. “I understand. I don’t like it…but I get it.”
Bash reached over and placed his hand over mine as I held the comforter over my chest. “Look, babe, we get it. We don’t like thinking about you… before either.”
I snorted derisively. “Yeah, I slept with two guys. And a vibrator. A lot. Not much to write home about.”
Xander peeked his head from under the pillow again. “This vibrator… you still have it?”
I grabbed my pillow and whacked him over the head with it. “You leave Buzz out of this!”
Bash laughed loudly. “You named it?”
“Seemed more personal that way,” I said with a dismissive shrug.
Xander let out a raucous laugh from under the pillow, so loud I’d be surprised if everyone in the house didn’t hear it.
“Fucker! That was the best relationship I ever had!” I protested, hitting him with the pillow again, while Bash sat next to me and snickered into his fist at his mouth. I puffed out my lower lip and pretended to pout. “Besides, he perished during the so-called break in, along with a good chunk of my underwear. And, between you,” I said, pointing forcibly at Bash, “and you,” I said, stabbing a finger at the pillow Xander was hiding under, “I have like, five pairs of panties left!”
Bash bit his lip. “Panties? I thought you hated that word.”
Grumbling, I balled up a fist and slugged him in the shoulder. “Ow!” He shouted, wincing through his smirk.
“I changed my mind!”
Xander finally emerged fully from the pillow to sit up, the blanket falling into his lap. He rolled his eyes, noticing his package was now exposed. Grimacing, he kicked his legs over the side of the bed, and leaned over, searching for something on the floor.
I cocked a brow, admiring Xander’s bare ass as he leaned over, and it was Bash’s turn to nudge me.
“So, before the club tomorrow, stop off at one of the fifty thousand malls in the Cities and get some more.” Xander tossed me his t-shirt, and my stretched-out underwear, slightly torn on the leg, smiling wryly. “Okay… I’ll buy you some too.”
Chuckling, I slipped the shirt over my head, and wriggled out of the blanket just long enough to put my underwear back on, Bash pretending to ignore me as I tipped my hips up to slip them on.
Xander crawled back into bed, wearing his pajama pants. “Now, can we go to sleep?” He asked.
“Yeah, yeah.” Bash grumbled good naturedly. Xander reclaimed his “spot” by tossing an arm over my chest, shoving his face back in my neck, and Bash gently rested his head on my stomach, curling himself around my legs so he didn’t fall off the bed.
I breathed in a satisfied breath, grinning to myself in the dark. Gently fingering their respective mops of hair as they drifted off to sleep, I felt a tug at my heartstrings that was so overwhelming, I nearly panicked.
Two months ago, if anyone would have ever asked me I’d be sharing a bed with two—not just one—but two boyfriends, feeling safe and sound, I would have said they were fucking insane.
I truly am so fucking lucky to have these guys. All of them.
Look at them, so adorably peaceful curled over me while they fall asleep…so close to each other they could practically be making out. With me in the middle.
Wait—where the hell did that come from?
My brow raised, as my thoughts began to wander again to Xander and Bash getting “kinky” with each other. I grinned to myself in the dark.
“Stop thinking about it.” Xander demanded, not even bothering to open his eyes. “Not gonna happen.”
“It might though…” Bash uttered in a sing-song voice.
Xander grumbled. He grabbed a chunk of my hair and draped it over his head, trying to hide again. “Shut up and go to bed. And stop thinking about it.”
I stifled a guilty laugh, trailing a finger over the shell of his ear. I didn’t listen though, I kept thinking about it, over and over again, smiling like an idiot until I finally drifted off.
Chapter Six
“The fuck are you doing?”
The light was streaming in through my sheer purple curtains, indicating that it was probably morning. I found myself flung, somehow, halfway over the top of Bash, and partly falling off the bed. Bash was the one swearing, as he was jerked awake when the sheets were being tugged off the bed.
Groggily I lifted my head; Xander was already up, tearing the pillowcases off the pillows and trying to yank the flat sheet off the bed… and pulling Bash and I along with it.
“Um…what is this?” I asked.
Xander glanced up only momentarily. “These sheets need to get washed. Sorry, I tried to be slick with it so you didn’t notice but apparently I’m not so coordinated in the morning.”
“So much for flowers and love notes,” I muttered. That honeymoon period was obviously over. Face still buried in the bed, I retorted, “Actually, I think the problem is you were too slick, if you catch my drift.” I dared to glance up at him, flashing an innocent smile.
He glowered down at us, but the right side of his lips twitched into a smirk. “Ha. Ha. Ha.”
Bash threw him a dirty look. “Could you at least wait until we were awake to start this shit?”
Xander grimaced. “I’m sorry, I can’t take knowing that they…” he shuddered mildly, and I snorted.
“Well, it’s probably your fault, dickhead!” Bash tossed a pillow at him.
“I know,” he said flatly, but lifted his head briefly to flash me a grin. “Hey, I was going to leave the other part on until you got up, but these other things will take forever to dry.”
I rolled my eyes, finally sitting up. “I can do my own sheets, ya know.”
“Actually, that’s my job. You don’t use enough detergent, and too much fabric softener, and—” Bash started.
“I am washing these fucking sheets, so get over it!”
Bash and I exchanged defeated and somewhat amused looks. “Well. Okay then.”
“I’ll be back for the rest.” With a huff, Xander collected the purple comforter and the pillow cases, gathered them in his arms, the load so
big he could hardly see around them, and left the room with them, assumedly for the laundry downstairs.
“I think I preferred him when he was sneaking in flowers and stuff as I was sleeping,” I groused.
“Yeah, guys change when they start getting laid regularly,” Bash said, with a snicker. He flinched with a grin when I raised my hand to slug him one. “Next time, fuck him a little harder so he’s not such a bitch in the morning.”
I dropped my mouth open in shock, balling up a fist and slugging him in the shoulder for real this time. “Knock that shit off or there’s one person in this room not getting fucked at all!”
Bash cringed, and held up his hands in surrender, but not before lightly rubbing his shoulder. “Sorry, sorry,” he said, with a snort and a giggle.
“Hmph,” I said, crossing my arms petulantly over my chest.
He sighed, raking his hands through his messy blond hair. “Eh, I should have known better than to stick around. He’s still pissed at the world.”
I gently patted his leg. “He’ll be all right. I’ll work something out with him. I promised him a certain day a week for just us. He seemed to feel a bit better after that.”
“That’s a good idea.” Bash was thoughtfully silent for a moment. “Maybe I should request my own day, too.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well fine, just let him have a week or so under his belt so he feels special. Damn kids…”
Bash chuckled loudly. “Right? When they hit that two-hundred-year mark they’re just ornery as hell.”
“Is that what I have to look forward to?” I asked, half joking and half partially serious, suddenly taken aback with that realization that I very well could see the double century mark in age or more.
He sensed my seriousness and leaned over, draping an arm around my shoulders, his steely blue eyes searching mine as he tipped his forehead against my temple. “Nah, we’ll keep you in line,” he said.
I chortled. “Gee, thanks.” But I gave him an affectionate smile, especially when he cupped a hand under my chin, lifting my gaze up to match his.