by Jenika Snow
“Yeah, well, at least I know bad news when I see it, and Christa Martine is bad fucking news, Rys.”
Rys growled like some kind of wild animal, and then she heard a loud bang followed by shuffling around. Dammit, they were fighting. She didn’t bother knocking, just pulled the door open and walked quickly toward the scuffle. When she rounded the corner and came into the living room, she saw Rys and William throwing punches at each other. A lamp fell and broke on the floor, and their curses and grunts filled the room. The testosterone and rage in the room was thick as sin, and she took a hesitant step forward.
She didn’t want to see them fight, not over this, not when there were so many other things they could be focused on. Rys slammed his fist into Will’s side, and William reciprocated by throwing a punch into Rys’s abdomen. They both grunted and crashed into one of the end tables, sending the wood crumbling beneath their weight.
“Stop.” They didn’t hear her and instead threw more punches. “Stop!” Both of them immediately did just that. Their gazes landed on her, and they heaved from the force of their breathing. Nothing was said for several long, tense moments, and then she licked her lips and said, “Please, stop fighting. It’s not worth it.” They broke apart and looked at each other.
“You’re here? Like really here?” Rys panted as he took a step toward her. His expression appeared disbelieving. “She’s here, William.” He took another step toward her. “Baby….” In the next instant, he had his arms wrapped her, and the pressure he used to hold her to him was almost suffocating. Head on his chest, Jane closed her eyes and inhaled the scent that was all Rys.
“I have been so lost without you, Jane,” Rys muttered into her hair, his voice low. Her fingers curled into the shirt at his abdomen, bringing him closer as she let the last three weeks melt away.
“I’m so sorry. I’ve been an idiot shutting you two out. Neither you nor William has ever done that to me. I let you down.”
“Shhh.” William was behind her, his hand moving her hair off her shoulder. “Don’t say that, sweetheart. We love you, no matter what. We are the ones who let you down.”
Rys pulled back, and she lifted her head to look at him. Tears formed in her eyes, and she was angry at herself over it. Why was she even crying? The pads of Rys’s thumbs brushed beneath her eyes and wiped her tears away.
“I’m so sorry about everything. I don’t know what the future holds with… well, with all of that, but I want you so damn much, baby.”
“We both do,” William said from behind her, his mouth at the nape of her neck.
“I—”
“Rys, please. Stop.” Instantly, he closed his mouth and looked down at her with mixed emotions. Worry was at the forefront, and she wished she could wipe it away. “I want to talk to you both.” Rys shared a look with William over her head and then nodded down at her.
“Okay, Jane.” The uncertainty in his voice was clear. Hopefully after she told him what Missy revealed, the tension that wound itself tightly around the three of them would ease. She needed that, needed to get back to where they were.
They walked over to the couch, and William pushed aside the broken remnants of the turned-over lamp. He looked sheepish when she watched him move the debris away with his booted foot. Jane sat on the couch while the guys took the two leather recliners across from her. The deep breath she inhaled did nothing to calm her down, but then she looked into both their faces and smiled. It would be okay, because she would make sure it ended that way.
After everything was out in the open, Rys and William looked at each other then back at her.
“I’m going to fucking kill him.” Rys stood so forcefully the chair he was sitting in was pushed back and skittered across the wooden floor.
“Calm down.” William was standing now as well, trying to get a clearly furious Rys to stay calm. “There is nothing we can do.”
“Like hell there isn’t anything we can do.” Rys started pacing the length of the living room, his hands running through his hair over and over again. “I’m going to beat his fucking ass until they have to take him away on a damn stretcher.”
Shit, this is so not good. “Rys, please, calm down.” At her words, he stopped and stared at her. “I didn’t tell you this to piss you off, although I should have known it would upset you. I’m sorry for that, but I’m glad it’s out in the open. Now we can move on without this hanging over our heads.”
“Baby, this has nothing to do with you. I am the one who got pulled into this, which in turn had you and Will catching the backdraft of it all.” He moved until he was in front of her and cupped her cheek. “But, baby, I will kick Trevor’s ass, not just for the shit he pulled with Christa, but the shit he pulled with you.”
William came to stand beside Rys and pushed his brother aside so he could embrace her. His face was buried in her hair, and he inhaled deeply. “God, sweetheart, I missed you so damn much.” He pulled away and stared into her eyes. “Rys is right though. Trevor has this ass-beating coming. We weren’t nearly finished with him at Rowdy’s.” He bent and pressed his lips to hers, murmuring his love for her. Rys pulled her away and did the same.
Jane didn’t go home. Instead, she spent the night wrapped in their arms, making up for three weeks lost.
Chapter 28
Jane walked into Rowdy’s. The music and dim lights instantly altered a person’s senses. She was looking for one person, and when she spotted her in the midst of a thick group of college-aged kids, probably still on summer break from the university in the neighboring city, Jane headed straight forward.
She was pissed that Christa thought she could do this to them and get away with it. To screw with people’s lives because the fantasy world she concocted with a douchebag hadn’t panned out was not acceptable. No, Jane wasn’t about to let that happen. She stopped in front of Christa’s table, but no one realized she was there for several long seconds. Christa giggled as she ran her hand along the arm of some fresh young guy.
He looked like he belonged in an ad for Abercrombie & Fitch, not hanging out at Rowdy’s with Lynyrd Skynyrd playing in the background. What kind of person, a soon-to-be mother, hung out at a bar, flirting with random men? It took her a moment, but finally Christa turned her head toward Jane and glowered. The bar was packed with a lot of regulars, but also some newbies crammed inside, taking the night off to relax.
“What the hell do you want?” Christa crossed her arms, pushing her ample breasts up to spill over her barely-there tank top. It was no surprise Christa wasn’t wearing a bra.
A lesser woman might have cowered under the look Christa was directing her way, but Jane cocked her shoulders back and returned the stare. This was her life, and no one, especially Christa Martine, who had no right to judge others, was going to intimidate her.
“I want you to admit you’re a lying bitch.”
Christa’s lip curled up. “What the hell are you talking about?” She stepped around the group of guys to stand a few feet from Jane. “And don’t call me a bitch, bitch.”
Jane refused to back down. “I want you to admit to everyone that you lied about Rys being the father, because you and I know you were lying.” For one tiny moment, Christa looked startled, but that shifted to anger.
“I’m sorry you don’t get to keep your little threesome, but it is what it is. Rys is the father, and you’re just going to have to get used to it. He’ll come around, and when he does, we will be a family. There isn’t anything you can do about that.” She looked smug as hell, and Jane wanted to smack the look off her face.
Obviously, this was going to take a little more coaxing on Jane’s part. “I think, in your best interest, you’ll just admit the truth.” The guys around the table were staring at them intently. Christa took a step forward, and that was when Jane smelled alcohol on her breath. A sadness washed through Jane at the thought that the innocent child growing inside Christa was suffering. “Christa, you have a baby inside you. The life you’ve been leading ha
s to stop. Think about your baby.” She didn’t mention the drinking, because she knew Christa knew exactly what she was referring to. A red hue coated Christa’s face, and she reached out and pushed Jane. The crowd was thick, so Jane didn’t have much room to fall backward.
“Catfight!” some idiot hollered.
As if that one word had the power to stop a freight train, everyone around them stilled, and the noise lowered. Good, this was what Jane needed to get her point across. “Free Bird” played loudly and clearly, and Jane looked over her shoulder at the bar. Brooklyn dried his hands on a white rag slung over his shoulder and nodded at her.
“Christa, please, I’m asking you nicely to just admit the truth.”
“You know what, Jane? Rys and William deserve a lot better than a piece of white trash like you.”
Okay. It was clear Christa wasn’t going to do this of her own accord, so it looked like Jane was going to have to go to Plan B.
Jane looked behind her and nodded at Brooklyn, who in turn pulled out his cell and disappeared in the back room. Nothing was said for several long minutes, as if they expected Jane and Christa to start a full-out brawl right in the middle of Rowdy’s. The front door squeaking open had everyone turning and staring as Rys and William dragged Trevor inside. The twins flanked Trevor, and Jane’s throat clogged when she saw the split lip, swollen eye, and trickle of blood coming from Trevor’s mouth.
They led him over to the makeshift stage that housed karaoke on Wednesday nights and live bands on the weekends. Brooklyn and Jaxx were already standing on the stage, a microphone in Brooklyn’s hand. Rys and William hauled Trevor up and pushed him toward Brooklyn, who held out the microphone. Trevor glanced at the four big men surrounding him and begrudgingly took it. The music ceased, and everyone in the bar was watching the spectacle. Jane glanced at Christa, saw her frantic look, and almost felt a twinge of sympathy for how things were going to play out. Almost.
When Trevor didn’t say anything, Rys nudged him with his shoulder. A fierce look was on William and Rys’s faces, and although she didn’t like that they had beat the shit out of Trevor, deep down inside, she knew that no matter what she said or did, it was bound to happen. Jane saw Trevor glance at Christa and wondered what was going through their minds at that moment.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Christa hissed at Jane between her teeth. “Mortifying me in front of half the town is bad enough, but now you have to bring Trevor up here so he can call me a slut too?” Jane looked at Christa and expected to see sadness, or maybe even remorse, but what she saw was bone-deep hatred.
“All I wanted you to do was tell the truth. You consciously accused another man of fathering your child when you knew it wasn’t his. You had no problem ruining others’ lives, and maybe if I saw a bit of remorse for your actions, I could feel some kind of sympathy toward you, but I don’t.”
Christa muttered a derogatory name, but she had already turned her body toward the stage. For as quiet as it had become, Jane was surprised crickets weren’t chirping in the background.
“I—” Trevor licked his lips and cast a weary glance at Rys and William. Both of her men crossed their thick arms across their equally thick chests and waited for Trevor to continue. He opened his mouth and told the entire bar his dirty little secret.
When he was finished spilling it, everyone was either staring at Trevor with slightly open mouths or casting stares at Christa, who looked embarrassed and furious. A lot of whispers were filtering around the bar, and Jane knew Christa was feeling the ridicule Jane once felt.
“Can you believe she’d do that?
“I can’t believe she would try to trap Rys like that.”
“Wasn’t she just drinking a beer?”
The comments went on and on until Christa pushed her way out of the bar. Trevor followed after her, his head down in shame as he passed everyone. For several long minutes, no one did anything but stare at everyone else. Then, as if the entertainment for the night was over, the music started back up, and everyone resumed talking. Rys and William hopped off the stage. Everyone cleared out of the way until they were standing right in front of her.
She looked from one to the other, and like there was no one else in the room, they each wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in tight. She knew people were watching, but she didn’t care. Standing on her toes, she kissed William on the mouth and then did the same to Rys.
“Thought they might put up more of a fight,” Rys murmured against her mouth, and she nodded.
“Come here, sweetheart.” William claimed her mouth next, and she melted into him. With everything else around them falling into nothingness, Jane finally told the world to fuck off.
Chapter 29
One year later
Jane still couldn’t believe a year had passed since she reconciled with Rys and William. A lot happened in those twelve months, some bad, but most good. Her mother had been seeing a therapist to work through the problems that concerned her father. She had finally realized Charles Silver hadn’t been the man she had initially grown to love.
She had been dependent on him, and he had been like a sponge, sucking up everything that was good about her. After months of speaking to someone and working through her problems, she was starting to make progress, working through her issues to the point that she was able to see the positive side of a life that didn’t include Charles. They hadn’t heard anything from her father in years, and Jane hoped it stayed that way. Their life had changed for the better.
Jane finally told her mother what happened with her father. There had been a lot of tears, a lot of self-blaming on her mother’s part, but they eventually worked through it, were still working through it. It was still a rough road, but Jane and her mother were realizing neither had been to blame.
Missy left Trevor after the whole pregnancy situation, and Jane was glad she had made the decision. After their conversation in Jane’s car, things had been different between them. Missy realized Trevor had just been dragging her down. She was enrolled in school, studying to be a social worker. Christa delivered a healthy baby boy, and for a while there, Jane thought she’d gotten her life on track, but when Christa was caught drunk in the car with an inebriated Trevor driving, Child Welfare had gotten involved. Last Jane heard, the baby was with Christa’s mother and father while she was getting help. Trevor, on the other hand, had been arrested and was spending some much-needed time in a minimum-security prison. Apparently, he had several out-of-state warrants for alcohol related offenses.
Jane dried the last plate and stacked it in the cupboard. Two strong arms wrapped around her, and she leaned back and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of being loved. She knew instantly that Rys held her from the rich, masculine undertones of his cologne. He swept her hair away from her neck and started a slow caress of his lips and tongue on her throat. All she could do was tilt her head to the side and absorb the pleasurable assault.
“Come to the bedroom, baby.” The way he said the words held a note of darkly wicked intent. He had no intention of going to sleep, but that was quite all right with her, because she didn’t want to sleep either.
“You want to go take a nap?” She couldn’t help but smile even though he couldn’t see it. It was just too fun to tease him. He nipped her flesh and growled. Arms tightening around her middle, Rys started walking them backward toward the bedroom. She let the towel slip from her fingers and allowed him to drag her back. His mouth was still on her throat and his hands rubbed small circles on the exposed skin of her belly. Jane started feeling the tendrils of arousal seeping into her and settling in the junction between her thighs.
Rys’s bedroom door opened behind her. A moment later, he spun her around and kicked the door shut. Her breathing becoming labored, Jane closed her eyes and let the sensations wash through her. “Where’s William?” The words were thick as syrup, and she had to force them past her lips.
“Working late.” Muffled words vibrated against the
back of her neck as Rys’s mouth made slow work across her body. “Don’t worry, baby. He’ll be here soon enough, and then we’ll really have some fun.” He made quick work of removing their clothing. “Go on, lie on the bed, and let me see that sweet little cunt.”
Her breath stalled at his words. Climbing onto the bed, she lay on her back, and without taking her eyes off his, she gripped behind her knees and pulled her legs to her chest. They had done this before, and the submissive act was highly arousing. Just seeing him watch her, his eyes trained on her exposed pussy, had everything inside of her tightening. Yes, these were the times she looked forward to.
Chapter 30
Rys’s mouth went dry, and he licked his lips, trying to draw enough air into his lungs. His Jane was on their bed, her body gloriously naked, and her legs drawn up to her chest. The soft pink lips of her cunt were lightly parted, showing the tiny opening into her body and her little clit peeking out from its hood. His cock gave a mighty jerk, growing hard. He was unable to pull his eyes away from her, unable to think clearly when every part of her was exposed to him.
“That’s it, baby. You listen so well, please me so much.” Rys was a dominant man by nature, and although he tried to tame his baser urges to have her submit to him, there were some times seeing her like this had every part of him wanting her to give it all up. He didn’t expect to tie her up, have her call him Sir, and only speak when spoken to.
Well, not all the time at least. They had done some of those, and he had slowly eased her into what he liked. She had given him so much, bared her body and soul to him, and because of it, he would give her the world. Jane Silver was theirs.
“Touch yourself, baby. Reach between your thighs and finger yourself.”
She listened so well, did exactly what he said without any hesitation. Seeing her finger slide through her wet folds and push into her pussy had his shaft growing even harder. Already, he felt like he was going to explode, and he hadn’t even gotten into her yet. Memories of her sweet little pussy gripping his cock, milking him until he came so hard he feared he would pass out, assaulted him. A groan left him, and he crawled into the bed with her. Her pussy was heavenly, but tonight he wouldn’t be fucking her there. He heard the front door opening and closing, and heavy footfalls made their way to the bedroom. William pushed the door open and stood there, his gaze immediately seeking out Jane. Rys and Will looked at each other, and without saying anything, Will started stripping.