Welcome to Nevermore Bookshop

by Steffanie Holmes

  It was on the tip of my tongue to ask what Heathcliff had said about me and Morrie and this, but then Morrie’s lips left mine. I leaned forward, searching, bereft of his touch. He chuckled as he darted away, shuffling behind me. His skin slid against mine – the featherlight touch doing all sorts of exciting things inside me.

  Morrie’s fingers danced over my shoulder, sliding underneath the fabric, pushing my blouse down. His lips grazed my neck. His teeth… oh, oh.

  I moaned as Morrie kissed and caressed my neck, my ears, my collarbone. In the darkness, every touch lit up my body, every inch of skin tingling with the anticipation of his next move. I didn’t even notice that he’d unbuttoned my blouse and tossed it away. His fingers slid under my bra strap, unhooking it with ease.

  Morrie wrapped his arms around me and helped me up onto the bed. “Arms above your head,” he whispered, his authoritative voice strained with desire.

  I raised my hands obediently. How easily I’d slipped into the role, trusting him with my body. It was just like in King’s Copse with Heathcliff. I’d had to trust him, too. But really, it was about trusting myself – that if I fell into the darkness and these guys didn’t catch me, I’d be able to catch myself. I’d never really believed that until I came home to Nevermore Bookshop.

  Morrie slid my wrists into the cuffs and locked them. I gave them a tug. I was held fast. Morrie’s fingers grazed my ankles as he placed my feet shoulder-width apart on the end of the bed.

  “Normally, I’d use a spreader bar on your ankles to keep you like this,” he said, kissing a trail up my leg until I moaned. “But I want to keep things simple for your first time.”

  Spreader bar? My mind whirled. How does Morrie even know about this stuff? There weren’t any spreader bars in The Final Problem.

  Air whistled over my naked skin. Morrie withdrew his hands. I stood naked, waiting for him to touch me. The room came alive with sound. Morrie’s breathing, slow and heavy. The rustle of clothing or fabric or… the clink of a glass… Faint voices from the movie floating upstairs… but where’s Morrie? Why won’t he touch me…

  I jumped as fierce cold traveled down between my breasts, the edges bright with wet heat. An ice cube, I realized. Morrie had an ice cube in his mouth.

  Oh.

  He trailed the ice in a circle on my belly, and my skin danced from the shock of it, chased by the heat of his lips and tongue. I tried to keep my body still, focusing on the sensations as Morrie drew intricate circles on my skin.

  I whimpered as Morrie withdrew the ice. He responded by pressing the cube to my nipple. I gasped as cold, stabbing pain shot through my body. Morrie thrust a finger inside me as he held the ice cube still, and I writhed and gulped and cried out because it hurt but it was so good and why why why.

  If this was what he’d meant by embracing the darkness, then maybe I could get used to it.

  “Careful, gorgeous. Your cries have attracted a little birdie.”

  “Quoth?” I whispered.

  “I didn’t mean—” his husky voice croaked from the doorway. “I only heard the scream and I—”

  “I told you what I was doing in here. Aren’t you supposed to be running surveillance on our murder suspect?”

  “I was just heading out. I thought you were hurting Mina.” Quoth’s voice tightened.

  “Does she look like she’s hurting?” Morrie sounded amused.

  “No.” Quoth whispered. So much emotion poured through that one word, my heart opened for him. I’d have put my arms around him if they weren’t currently tied above my head.

  Why am I not totally mortified right now? Why do I care more about Quoth’s feelings than the fact he’s seeing me naked and strung-up above Morrie’s bed?

  Why does the thought of Quoth seeing me naked and strung-up make my toes curl and my stomach flip like this?

  “Why don’t you come over here and help me, little birdie?” Morrie said. “That is, if it’s okay by Mina.”

  “It’s okay,” I said.

  What? What did I just say?

  My heart pounded as the bed creaked, and another presence stood behind me. “Are you sure about this, Mina?” Quoth’s breath tickled my neck.

  “I’m sure.”

  “Good. Because you look so fucking beautiful.” Quoth sighed as he pressed his lips against my skin.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I moaned as Quoth’s lips touched my skin, my body shivering all over – from nerves, from fear, from desire.

  Quoth’s lips remained against that one spot, heat from his kiss spreading right through my skin. The bed creaked again, and I knew Morrie now stood in front of me. I gasped as he cupped my breasts in his hands, teasing the nipples with his fingers – the tips still cold from handling the ice.

  The only parts of them that touched me were Morrie’s fingers and Quoth’s lips. And yet, my body responded. Every sense kicked into overdrive. Their scents mingled in the air around me – Morrie’s zesty grapefruit and vanilla, Quoth’s crisp air and sunshine and fresh-cut grass. I wet my lips with my tongue, longing to taste one of them, both of them. The air shifted around me as they moved on the bed, their bodies close, so close, but untouchable. Oh, how I itched to touch. Electric currents leapt from their skin and crackled against mine, drawing them closer, closer…

  Quoth moved his lips in feathery kisses along my collarbone. His fingers twined in my hair as he kissed down my spine and over my shoulders, each touch standing my hairs on end. I leaned back into the cuffs, testing my weight against them, trying to press myself against Quoth’s body. But he stayed just out of reach.

  “She’s keen,” Morrie chuckled. His hands skimmed my sides, teasing my thighs, circling between my legs, so close to where all my aches converged, but never touching, never giving me what I wanted.

  “Please…” I murmured.

  “Since you asked so nicely…” Morrie surged forward. One hand cupped my cheek, his tongue plunging between my lips. His other hand dived between my legs, battering against my clit. I reeled under his sudden force, and my back slammed against Quoth. I moaned as he wrapped his body around me, enveloping me in his protective warmth.

  The two of them pinned me in place, exactly where I wanted to be. Four hands caressed my body, exploring every part of me, circling my breasts, rolling and pinching my nipples, stroking and rubbing my clit. I lost myself in the sensations of it, giving up on the need to know who was who and what they were doing, and reveled in the hedonism of being worshipped by the two of them.

  Under their relentless caresses, I was gone. The ache inside me became a roaring fire, an inferno, that swept through my veins and swallowed me whole. I bellowed into Morrie’s lips as I came.

  Blue light exploded across the darkness. My legs collapsed from under me. The handcuffs scraped my wrists as they caught my weight.

  “Oh, no, gorgeous. We’re not done with you yet.” Morrie whispered something to Quoth. I strained to hear what they were planning. But then their hands were on me again, touching and diving and caressing.

  The bed creaked as someone knelt on the edge. Two hands wrapped around my thighs, swinging me forward. A tongue slid down me, parting my lips, lapping at me. Morrie. That has to be Morrie with his cool, controlled rhythm…

  Behind me, a condom wrapper crunched. A finger touched my cheek, light as a feather, turning my head to the side. Quoth’s lips brushed mine, soft, cautious. I parted them with my own, slipping my tongue over his, drawing him closer, deeper.

  “Mina,” he whispered, his voice choked with need. “Do you want me?”

  “I wanted you from the moment I saw you,” I whispered back.

  Quoth moaned, folding his body against my back. His cock pressed between my legs, hard and ready. I spread my thighs wider. He slid in.

  Oh, yes.

  Quoth felt so good, so perfect, filling me completely. He sighed against my lips as he moved slowly, drawing himself out and thrusting in again. And all the while Morrie’s strong hands gr
ipped my legs, his tongue lapping at me.

  This is… I can’t…

  The intensity of it blew me away. I came again, howling against Quoth’s lips as my body lost control. Morrie’s grip and Quoth’s cock held me upright. Quoth’s nails dug into my thighs as he rode through my orgasm, moaning as my walls closed around his cock.

  They didn’t stop. My clit hummed with fire as Morrie continued his relentless rhythm. Quoth thrust inside me, burying himself so deep, and this time I screamed as another orgasm slammed into me. Bright stars of blue and purple light exploded across my eyes.

  Wow. Okay… wow…

  I faded into a wobbling mess of nerve endings, coming again as Quoth buried his teeth into my shoulder. Pain surged from the bite as his muscles tightened and his cock twitched and he came.

  “My turn,” Morrie cried happily.

  “I can’t…” I gasped.

  “Sure you can.” Quoth’s body fell back. Morrie slid behind me and rolled on a condom. Quoth must’ve positioned himself in front of me, because his body pressed against my chest and his lips sought mine.

  Morrie parted my legs again and pushed his way inside me. My body tightened and ached, adjusting to his size. While Morrie thrust with his regular, controlled rhythm, Quoth kissed me, his tongue fluttering against mine, his lips releasing all the things he couldn’t say to me. His soul he did outpour in a kiss that stole my breath and broke my heart at the same time.

  Everything about this moment was so perfect. Quoth released his hopes into me as Morrie released all his desire for control. Morrie’s body tensed, and his teeth scraped along the same spot on my shoulder as he too came, in that one nanosecond where he allowed his own chaos to reign.

  Morrie slumped against me. Sweat clung to my skin, and I could no longer feel my wrists. Quoth pressed his lips to my forehead. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  I tried to say that he was welcome, which was kind of a weird thing to say after one’s first threesome, but my lips had gone numb and I couldn’t make words happen.

  “Lean against me, gorgeous.” Morrie’s strong arms wrapped around me. He reached up and unhooked the cuffs. My body slumped against his. I couldn’t hold myself up.

  He lifted the blindfold off my eyes. The face that stared back at me wasn’t the confident master criminal I usually encountered. Morrie’s icy eyes pooled with concern, his features drawn. Sweat dripped down his forehead. He gave me a lopsided smile. “Are you okay?”

  “I—” I struggled to find the words. “That was amazing.”

  “Good.” Morrie broke out into one of his self-satisfied grins, and just like that, his mask slipped back on. He scooped me up and deposited me in the bed. “Quoth is going to cuddle with you for a bit.”

  “But you—”

  “I need to be elsewhere.” Morrie slunk away into the darkness. I reached out a hand to him, but the door slammed shut. He was gone.

  My lip trembled. What just happened? Morrie had just orchestrated the best sex of my life. He’d just somehow convinced me to have a threesome, and I had absolutely zero regrets. And then he takes one look at me with the blindfold off and runs away?

  My mind swam. There was something going on in Morrie’s head behind all that swagger and bravado. Had I just caught a glimpse of it? Was that why he ran, because he didn’t want to be vulnerable in front of me and Quoth?

  Speaking of vulnerable…

  Quoth lifted the edge of the sheet. I smiled, beckoning him in. He slid in beside me, wrapping his arms around my body and pulling me against him, tangling his legs in mine. I rested my head on his bicep and gazed into his eyes, watching the ring of orange flare around the outside of those deep brown orbs.

  “He should be here,” Quoth said, his fingers trailing over my face and across my shoulders, raising trails of goosepimples.

  “It’s okay. I have you.” I nestled my head into his shoulder, placing my hand on his chest, over his beating heart.

  He sighed. “Mina, how did this happen? How did I get so lucky?”

  “Thank Morrie later. I half wonder if he planned it to be this way. Did you know he told me I had to sleep with you and Heathcliff? He suspected you and I would dance around each other for months unless he thrust us together.”

  “If that’s the case, I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about him.” Quoth’s eyes crinkled, and he smiled. Oh, Isis, that smile…

  “Don’t take back that time you called him the Neapolitan Ice Cream of Crime, because that was hilarious.”

  He laughed, hugging me tighter. “Never.”

  “Quoth,” I whispered into his chest. “I’m sorry if I tried to force you out of your shift at my mum’s house. I really thought you just needed a hard word, but I was wrong. You were so terrified.” My heart broke all over again remembered how his raven body had trembled in my arms.

  “It’s okay.”

  “I’m not sure it is. I thought I was helping, but I don’t understand what it is to be you, what goes on in your body, or in your mind.”

  “I’m a grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore,” Quoth said. “You know everything you need to know.”

  “You shouldn’t talk about yourself like that, even if Poe did. You are so much more to me. Please, don’t let me push you into going outside and doing things if you can’t—”

  “I want to be a human, Mina,” Quoth’s voice quivered with venom. “I want to be able to be in the world with you. I want to be able to help you when—” he stopped.

  “Finish the sentence. You want to help me when I go blind.” I didn’t trip over the word, the way I normally did. “I appreciate that, but I’m starting to realize that’s not your job. It’s mine.”

  “I swore that I’d protect you,” he insisted.

  “You did, and that’s very noble, if a little odd. But if I don’t at least do some of the protecting for myself, then I’ll never be able to look my poster of Sid Vicious in the eye again.” I laughed. “Actually, that might be a real problem soon.”

  “You saw the colored lights again?”

  “Yes.” I gave him a squeeze. “I’m still scared, but I feel like with you and Heathcliff and Morrie by my side, I can conquer the fear. And I want to be there for you while you conquer your fear. But I don’t want to force you, because that’s not how we roll, all right?”

  “You could never force me,” Quoth said, his voice fierce.

  “Good. And you’ll be so kind as to tell me if I’m being a right cow in the future.”

  He laughed again. “Be quiet and close your eyes, Mina Wilde. Or your words shall be our sign of parting.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Quoth and I lay together, fading in and out of consciousness, our lips and hands exploring each other’s bodies in a strange world between waking and sleep. Heavy boots clomped up the stairs, startling me out of my reverie. I sat up just as Heathcliff called my name.

  I slid from under Quoth’s arm and gathered Morrie’s quilt around me like a gown, then swept out into the hall.

  Heathcliff stood in front of the fireplace, his eyes blazing. Tension rose off his body in waves. I stood my ground, unsure if he was about to start yelling and throwing things, or if he was going to throw me against the wall and fuck me. I was hoping for the latter.

  “Morrie’s driving me crazy. I came up to…” Heathcliff’s words died on his lips as he stepped toward me, lowering his eyes to my shoulder. I followed his gaze and noticed a line of purple bruises across my skin. Bite marks.

  “Morrie’s handiwork,” he whispered, pressing his finger into my skin. The hickey turned white, then darkened to pink again.

  “And Quoth’s,” I said.

  Heathcliff raised an eyebrow. “So it’s going to be like that, is it?”

  “I don’t know. I have no idea what I’m doing. All I know is, it felt good. You all feel good.”

  “You feel amazing.” Heathcliff closed the gap between us, brushing his lips against mine, and then
his hands tangled in my hair and I dropped the sheet and pressed my body against his.

  Tension rippled down his arms as his hands explored my body, lifting me and smashing me against him, as though we couldn’t get close enough until we had crawled into each other. My languid senses leapt to life, relishing the possessiveness of his touch.

  Heathcliff spun me around and slammed my back against the wall, devouring my mouth with his. I managed to squeeze my hand between his legs and unzip his fly. As I wrapped my hand around his cock, he moaned against my lips.

  He yanked a condom from his pocket, tearing the wrapper between his teeth. Heathcliff rolled it on and I wrapped my legs around him. Heathcliff held me easily, his huge hands cupping my arse, his cock entering me in one slick motion.

  My back slammed against the wall as he took me, pushing into me again and again, deeper and harder than he’d ever done before. His wild eyes bore into mine, and I drowned in their black depths.

  Heathcliff drove faster. I arched my back, digging my nails into his shoulders as the ache inside me bubbled over and an orgasm slammed into me.

  Wow. Wowowowowow.

  I’d never come just from penetrative sex before. But something about the angle and the way Heathcliff’s smoldering eyes burned into mine had sent me over the edge. Behind his head, two flame-ringed eyes glowed from the darkness. Quoth, sitting on his perch, watching us, always watching, always making sure no one was hurting me.

  Heathcliff cried out as he came, the sound like a release of something ancient and primal. Inside me, his cock twitched and released. He slumped against me, still holding me tight.

  My mind reeled with a million disjointed thoughts. I just had a threesome. I just slept with three guys on the same night.

  And they’re okay with it. And I… I might be okay with it, too.

  We could hash out the details later, when we weren’t trying to solve a murder. But right now, as Heathcliff slumped into his chair and pulled me onto his lap, wrapping his arms around me, and Quoth’s watchful eyes burned through the gloom, right now I wasn’t scared at all.