by KT Strange
I tried not to face palm, but the guys obliged her for a few more minutes before I gently suggested we needed to get going.
“Oh, right,” the girl said before shooting me a look that bordered on evil. “Thanks... so much, it was amazing to meet you.”
“Great to meet you too,” Finn said, giving her a little salute before taking my hand in his. “C'mon, Darce.””
The girl seemed to mouth my name in confusion as we left her standing there. Even when we'd gotten halfway across the main floor, she was still there. I shook my head. Some people really bordered on inappropriate.
“Looks like we still got it,” Cash said. I pushed him gently.
“You've only been dark for, what, less than a month? Your fans aren't going to go anywhere,” I replied.
“Yeah, all we need to do is some live videos, which we can do from the murder-room,” Finn said (the guys had started calling it that after I'd let it slip on the ride down to Seattle, mostly making fun of me). “It'll look sweet. Make them all fall in love with us again.” He gave me his best lady-killing grin and I felt my knees go a little weak. No, that wouldn’t be an issue at all. “Hey, new idea, let's go get our girl some underwear?"
“What? I can shop for that on my own,” I said. Ace snickered.
“Yeah but, c'mon. I think it'd be way better if we did it by committee.”
“Mmhmm,” Cash agreed, “The itty bitty panty committee.”
I groaned.
“You guys are so —"
“Perfect,” Finn cut me off, lifting the back of my hand to his mouth and kissing it with a playful wink. “I nearly died, doll, you gonna deny me this? I can play high-roller.”
“Yeah with your pre-paid VISA,” I rolled my eyes. He ignored me, talking right over me like I hadn't taken a jab at him..“We are not playing rich businessman and down-on-her-luck prostitute.” I pulled away from him as he laughed and pulled me back.
“Uh guys?” Ace's voice was quiet. “We got company.”
I glanced up, Finn's arms looping around my waist. Cash took a step back toward us. What looked like fifty girls were flooding into Macy's, their heads high as they looked around. One of them spotted us by the escalator, and shrieked.
“It's Phoenixcry!” her voice carried across the whole store.
“Oh fuck,” Cash said, turning on his heel. “C'mon,” he said, jumping onto the escalator and taking the steps two at a time. Ace was a second after him, and Finn grabbed me around the waist, hauling me along.
“Hey, wait,” I protested.
“A herd of deer can trample a wolf, and we're not stupid enough to get trampled,” Finn's voice was a burr in my ear as he started scaling the escalator. I squirmed in his grip, my feet dangling uselessly. We got to the top in seconds. Cash had already sourced out an escape for us, and whistled sharp for Finn's attention, over by a set of staff-only doors. He was in the middle of sweet talking a middle-aged clerk who was nodding furiously.
“Of course, right through here. I'll call security, but there's a service elevator that'll take you down to an outside exit,” she said as we caught up to them.
“That's great, thank you so much,” Ace said as we breezed through the swinging doors, just as two of the girls appeared at the top of the escalator. My heart was thudding in my chest.
“Holy,” I breathed. “Okay, that was intense? Um, things were not that crazy before we went on our uh, retreat in the mountains,” I said, mindful of my words as a stock worker navigated a pallet jack stacked with boxes nearby. Cash peered out the small square window in the door and then pulled away.
“Yeah I'm not sure what's up,” he said. “Maybe something we did went viral or something? A video?” He shrugged.
“Holy shit!” We jumped as an employee, barely out of her teens, dropped an armful of boxes. “Oh my god it's you,” she said, staring at us.
My eyes skipped from her to the guys and back again.
Alright.
Something had definitely happened while we were gone.
Thirteen
Darcy
Two selfies and a trembling hug from the clerk-turned-fan-girl later, we were out on the sidewalk, wide-eyed and a little shellshocked.
“It's Eli,” Ace said as his new phone rang. “Hello? Yeah. Uh, okay? Yeah. Um, I'll call an Uber. Right now. Sure. We didn't get — okay, okay, we'll be there! Calm down.” He rolled his eyes and hung up. “So, shit’s crazy, and we need to get home. Things are blowing up with the label. In a good and bad way."
“Why am I not surprised,” Cash said flatly. I ordered up an Uber and in minutes we were on our way back to the apartment, Finn's leg jiggling with nerves. Cash had his face buried in his phone, doing a good impression of Charlie, scrolling through the band's social media. He finally came up for air as we entered the elevator. “Well it's a good thing we got this crazy place to crash, with a doorman and everything,” he said.
The doors opened and we were immediately ambushed by Charlie, whose eyes were wild.
“So our shit went viral,” he said. “While we were off trying not to die in the woods, the Youtube algorithm gods were nice to us and all of the sudden our streams are picking up on Spotify, we're moving more physical units than we ever have. The online store sold out of our merch yesterday. The label are having to do new orders of everything."
We stopped in our tracks.
“How viral is viral,” Finn asked, cautiously.
“Five million views in two days on one of our acoustic videos, viral,” Eli said, and when I glanced at him, he shrugged one shoulder. “Just because I hate technology doesn't mean I don't read about it."
“So uh, this is good, I bet Willa is going nuts."
“Yeah and Rory, the producer. Apparently he's freaking out and wants to go back into studio with us right away,” Charlie said. “We're like, one more day away from recouping our record costs on the first album, so we're all but green-lighted to go again."
We all stood there for a moment, breathing quietly, before Finn scooped me up in his arms and let out a whoop of excitement. The rest of the guys crowded in, and in a second the mood shifted from overjoyed to something else. A hand wound in my hair, tightening there, and someone else wrapped their hands firmly around my hips. I shivered, adrenaline coursing through my body.
It was like in twenty-four hours the world had turned from horrible to amazing. Ace kissed me as Finn let me down onto my feet, his mouth urgent on mine. I kissed him back, just as much adrenaline running through me as I figured was running through him.
“Oh yeah,” Charlie said, casually, like it was no big deal, “We also moved one of the extra beds into the master, so —”
“You should have led with that,” Cash muttered. His hands came around my waist and I yelped when he lifted me up off the ground. “Excuse me, gentlemen.” He shoved through, shouldering Charlie out of the way. Eli took a step back, eyes meeting mine. A flicker of something crossed his face and he glanced away.
I shivered in Cash’s grip, feeling willful and proud of the way Cash was manhandling me with the obvious intention of getting me into the bedroom. If Eli had a problem with that, well, he was the only idiot not giving in to his baser feelings like the rest of us.
“No hogging,” Finn growled as Cash laughed, and tossed me over his shoulder, bolting for the master. I pressed my hands against the waistband of his jeans, lifting my head to watch the rest of the guys follow, except for Eli. Of course.
“Hey, hey, I’m not a sack of corn.” I pounded on Cash’s back with my fist as the apartment hallway flashed by. He spun, pulling me down. My socked feet hit the floor and I skidded on the shiny wood.
“Oh sweetheart, you’re not a sack of corn, no. You’re a cool drink on a hot day, and I just… can’t…” He feel to his knees, eyes glowing in the afternoon sun that pierced through the windows. “Get enough of you.” His hands spanned my waist, making me feel so small in comparison. Behind me I heard the other guys’ loud footsteps.
<
br /> “Selfish,” Finn said.
“Genius,” Charlie countered. “Bed’s all made, ready to be broke in. He’s got the right idea.”
A broad grin stretched across Cash’s face.
“Whatcha think, sweetheart?” he asked, as if my answer would be anything other than yes.
“Eli’s sulking,” Ace said.
“Fuck’m,” Cash said and then laughed at his own words. “I mean don’t. Let him be moody. C’mon sweetheart, come to bed. Let’s show him what he’s missing, huh?”
Warmth was spreading across my body, tingles of electricity everywhere as he pushed up my shirt. His hot mouth found a sensitive spot right above my hip bone, and my fingers went to his hair, fisting in the silky, thick strands.
“What’re we gonna do when you guys get a number one hit?” I asked, shivering when Charlie and Ace pressed in close on either side of me, holding me there for Cash.
“Oh doll,” Finn said as he walked around my front, eyes raking over my body. “Might have to fuck you in the green room of one of them late night shows. Real rockstar style. Whaddaya think?”
I moaned and bit my lip. Finn’s words and Cash’s tongue, which was swirling along the curve of my belly, were both doing their damned best to make me melt right there.
“The bed,” I said. Charlie tsk’d.
“Can’t go to bed with clothes on. What do you think we are, animals?” He laughed when I swatted at him and missed. Instead he caught my fingers with his. Ace’s hands slipped up under my shirt, pulling it up my belly and over my breasts. Finn's eyes were intense as he watched me, his hands slung in his pockets. If it weren't for the bulge of his erection, clearly visible through his new jeans, I would've thought he wasn't all that affected by the show in front of him.
“You like this, don't you, sweetheart?” Finn's gaze flicked down to where Cash was dragging his fingers along the waistband of my jeans. “Me watching, them touching. It lights you on fire, being ours."
My lips parted, to protest maybe. But it was true.
“You gonna watch all afternoon?” I asked. He glanced at the ground and then shot me a wicked grin.
“You think I could keep my hands off of you for more than a few minutes, you don't know me that well, little witch."
There was something about the way he said it. Little witch... like it wasn't clouded with anything heavy, like it was something good, like he loved that about me.
“Don't sweet talk her so much and make the rest of us look bad,” Cash groused, thumbing open the button of my jeans.
“Well try harder then,” Finn said with a half-laugh. “Step up. You're the one down on your knees, make it up to her."
“Let's get this off of you,” Ace whispered in my ear, tugging at my shirt. I let him pull it off.
“You guys too, this isn't a naked party of one,” I demanded, my words fading out as I gasped. Cash had yanked down my jeans a few inches as one of Charlie's hands crept down into my underwear, his other one wrapping around my breast.
Finn took a step forward, shoving one hand into his jeans, working them down. When had he undone his button and zipper? I was too distracted. So many hands, all over me, was making critical thinking difficult.
The first graze of Charlie's fingers over the curve of my pussy through my panties had my hips jerking forward, and pushed a sigh from lungs.
“That,” I said, “that's what I want.” Ace kissed my ear, mouthing down to my neck. I shuddered as his teeth grazed one of my bond marks, the skin always extra sensitive every damn time.
“Darcy,” Finn's voice cut through the growing haze of arousal.. “Look at me."
I took a shaking breath and met his eyes. His jeans were slack around his hips, his hand wrapped around his cock where he'd pulled it out from his boxers.
“I-"
“You see what you do to me?” he cut me off. “I can guarantee you, sweetheart, you do this to each of us. You think today was good? Every night that we come back to bed and you're in it feels even better. There's nothing more important to us than this, than you."
My breathing stopped, Ace murmuring his agreement with Finn in my ear, Cash whispering into my hip as he planted hot, wet kisses there. Charlie tugged at the cup of my bra, pinching my nipple through the fabric. I couldn't take my eyes off of Finn as he stroked himself, the circle of his finger and thumb running up the full length of his cock. Staring at him in full daylight like that was intimidating, and I shivered when the guys started peeling my jeans and panties down my body. They were so built and I was so, well, not.
Ace seemed to read that I wasn't feeling all that confident, because he kissed me softly, his eyes gentle when he pulled away.
“Let us see you Darcy. You're so beautiful, you don't even know how much.”
Warmth pooled in my belly at his words, and I nodded. My bra went slack and slipped down my arms. Cash groaned down below, and I had to steady myself, my hand braced on the back of his head as his hot tongue licked into my folds.
“Oh shit.” My head fell back onto Charlie's shoulder as I scrunched my eyes shut. Cash's tongue again, insistent, licked one long, hot stripe, swirling over my clit as Charlie held me tight, rough fingers wrapping around my bare breast.
“Darcy,” Finn's voice pulled me back and I lifted my head with a whine and met his gaze. He looked breathless, even as his hand moved up and down his cock in slow, even strokes. “Look at me while they make you feel good, Darcy."
“That's rude to them,” I managed to say, my fingers tightening in Cash's hair as his tongue sparked pleasure hard inside me.
“Then I can tell them exactly how wide your pupils go when you're about to come. Cash doesn't have the line of sight anyway,” Finn said, then laughed when Cash flipped him the middle finger, never stopping those slow, maddening licks that were making my toes curl against the floor.
“I can't like this, not standing up,” I gulped for air after a few more moments, feeling precarious despite the several hundred pounds of werewolf muscle holding me up. Finn kicked his jeans to the side and sauntered to the bed, flopping down on it.
“C'mon over here then,” he said. I felt the ghost of Cash's tongue on me as he pulled away, a wicked smirk on his face.
“Yeah, come to bed, sweetheart,” Cash teased as he got to his feet. My legs felt shaky already and if Ace hadn't put a firm arm around my waist as we stumbled over to the bed, I don't think I would have made it. I hit the covers, hands and knees, scrambling up onto it, my eyes locked on Finn.
“Right here,” he whispered, reaching for me. I settled over him, my knees slipping on either side of his hips as he lay there. He was so beautiful, barely a hint of the scar tissue anywhere on him, and I closed my eyes for a second and remembered that he'd survived, that we'd survived. All of us together? We could do anything.
Cash rubbed up against my back a moment, his bare skin and hot.
“You gonna fuck him first? All he does is mouth off and sass everyone. Lead singers act like they're the hottest shit in town,” Cash said, even as his hands braced on my hips and he began pushing me down onto Finn.
“Slick teamwork,” Charlie commented, and I glanced over at him. He was lifting his legs out of his jeans, kicking them off into a puddle of fabric. He wasn't wearing any underwear and he winked at me.
I shook my head at his brazenness and then gasped when Finn dragged a hand down my front, teasing his fingers between the soft lips of pussy.
“My dick's down here,” he said, smile playing on his lips as he stroked his fingers up and down along my slit. “You should probably look where you're fucking, sweetheart.” I growled at him for the crappy jokes and reached down to wrap my hand around his cock. His eyes widened slightly and then fluttered shut as I guided him into me. The first stretch inside me was always the best and he moaned as I sank onto him, as I softly echoed him.
“He feel good in you?” Cash's voice was dark and edged with arousal in my ear. He rocked his hips into me and his hard cock
rubbed up against the small of my back. I shivered back into him, taking as much of Finn as I possibly could, my thighs straining around his hips. I wasn't exactly going to win any gymnastic awards any time soon, but from the look on Finn's face, as far as he was concerned I was scoring 10's across the board.
He reached for me, his hands grabbing onto my thighs and he held me there for a moment.
“Don't move sweetheart, please, just, gimme...” His breath caught in his throat and he swallowed hard.
“Got him all undone,” Cash said. “Lookit him, Darce, he's barely able to string two words together. That's what you do to me, too. Each of us. Nothing feels better than when we're inside of you.” My cheeks were burning hot, and when I opened my mouth to protest because his words were making me feel shy, Ace slipped two fingers along my lower lip before sliding them inside my mouth. It was unexpected and so hot. I glanced over at him and saw his rapt attention on my lips as I sucked on his fingers.
“Good girl,” he whispered, “you're so good for us, Darcy.” My eyelashes fluttered shut as the praise sent a thrill of excitement through me. I bore down harder on Finn, wanting more of him in me, as much as I could handle. Finn growled, his fingers biting hard into the skin of my thighs, holding me still.
“You're gonna have to let her move eventually,” Charlie drawled, “I'm not waiting all damn day. Been hard since I watched her walk into the kitchen this morning."
I looked at him, struggling to find the words to tell him that he was crazy, but all I could do was groan as Finn liftedg his hips up off the bed.
“That's right.” Cash's hands were steady on my waist. “Make her feel good, Finn.” Finn growled at him, eyes flickering open ever so slightly, and he propped himself up on his elbows, back off the bed. His hands fisted in the covers, slipping off my thighs, and he jerked. Every stomach muscle in his body tensed, bunching as he pushed up into me, making me gasp.