by Katee Robert
I honestly hadn’t considered the war when I objected. “The world would be a dimmer place without you in it.” I’m kicking myself before I finish the sentence, but there’s no taking it back now.
She blinks those big green eyes at me. “Um, okay.”
Shiloh takes pity on me and cuts in. “Broderick’s not wrong. With how crowded it can get in Old Town during peak hours, it would be simple to slip a knife between your ribs and be gone before we had a chance to react. It’s what I would do in their position.”
“How murderous of you.” Monroe waves that away. “I’ll be with you and Broderick. Between the three of us, I’m safe enough.”
Shiloh and I exchange a look. She smiles a little. “I’ll ask Cohen for a few people to tag along. I’m sure Iris could use some shopping after dealing with that Mystic so much lately.”
That Mystic being Matteo, the son of the ruler of the Mystics. I haven’t interacted with him much, but Finnegan seems to like him just fine as a Bride. Or at least the sounds coming from their room the other night seem to indicate he does. I wonder what Iris thinks about that. She’s always been something of a closed book. She and Shiloh are close enough, but if she’s bothered by her boyfriend fucking his Bride, she hasn’t shown any indication of it. She’s been sleeping in Finnegan’s room, after all.
“Good. Since we’re on the same page for the time being, we might as well prove to the public that I’m a docile little Bride.”
I snort. “No one would ever use the word docile’ to describe you.”
“You’re right.” She snaps her fingers. “Guess we’ll have to convince them you gave me such a good dicking down that I’ve temporarily lost my mind.”
Heat flashes through my body, and I have to concentrate not to respond physically at the memories that surge forth. “No one is going to believe that, either.”
“Give me a little credit.” She grins. “They’ll believe it enough to get our respective leaders off our backs. That’s all that matters—negating the current threat.”
Shiloh gets a strange look on her face but nods. “That’s the wisest course of action.”
“It is.” Monroe gives a little wiggle, and I lose my battle to keep my attention on her eyes. She’s not even flaunting her nakedness right now; she’s just that comfortable in her own skin. She laughs. “Also, we’re going to have some fun.”
“Fun.” I raise my brows. “I don’t know how much more fun I can take from you two.”
“Lies.” She turns and starts for the bathroom. “I’m sure you’ll rise to the occasion should we find the opportunity.” She disappears through the door and, a few moments later, the shower starts.
I look at Shiloh. “Are you okay?”
“Of course. I’m always okay.” She shoves the coffee mug onto the nightstand and stands.
I don’t mean to react. My body just does it on its own, my hand snapping out and closing around her wrist as she goes to move past me. “Shiloh.” I tow her closer slowly, keeping my grip light enough that she could break free easily. Since I’m sitting on the bed, our positions put her breasts right at eye level, but I hold her gaze intentionally. “Talk to me. Is this about what happened last night?”
For a moment, I think she’ll push me away, both physically and emotionally, but she sighs. “I know the overprotective thing is part of who you are, and I am making my peace with the fact that it’s Monroe as well, but I could really do without you egging each other on to go to battle over something that happened a very long time ago.” Her gaze goes shuttered.
It takes me a beat to understand. She’s not upset about the sex. She’s feeling off because her past was brought up and how we reacted. Relief makes me a little light-headed. I don’t know what the fuck I would do if she regretted things.
I tug on her wrist again, and she slides down to straddle me as if we’ve been this comfortable with each other for years instead of a single night. My cock gives a twinge, but I ignore it. “I thought you wanted us to get along.”
“I do, but I didn’t intend have you gang up on me.”
I carefully coast my hands up her arms and across her shoulders, stopping just short of cupping her jaw the way I want to. She might be focusing on one part of things, but I have to know the truth. “Do you regret what happened last night?”
Shiloh hesitates but finally sighs. “No. I wouldn’t be sitting here naked in your lap if I regretted it.”
“I could do without the reminder.” I give her a look when she laughs. Some of the heaviness she seemed to be carrying dissipates with that happy sound. “This conversation is too important to get distracted in the middle.”
“Every conversation is important with you.”
I don’t know if I can look into that comment even a little, so I ignore it. “You have been my friend since we met. You are important to me. I don’t regret anything that’s happened between us, but you are my friend first, and I don’t want to do anything to endanger that. I can’t stand the thought of losing you.” Now it’s my turn to hesitate. “But last night was pretty damn perfect. If you’re on the same page, if you’re willing to try for more, I would really like to.”
“Oh, Broderick.” She feathers her fingers through my hair. “What about Monroe?”
“What about Monroe?” The question feels wrong, as if I’m doing her a disservice. Monroe and I have been working together beautifully since we decided to seduce Shiloh together, but that’s only a small percentage of the time she’s been my Bride. We haven’t talked about the future, haven’t talked about anything but Shiloh, and plans to keep Monroe alive.
“I don’t know if we work without her.”
I open my mouth to argue but have to stop. I don’t want to lie to Shiloh, and I’m not certain it would be the truth to say we definitively do work without Monroe in the picture, egging us on. “There’s only one way to find out.”
“I suppose.” She shifts against me a little, but her expression is contemplative, not seductive. “What if Monroe stayed?”
“Shiloh.” I take her face in my hands. “She’s an Amazon. She’s not for either of us. Not permanently.”
She wraps her hands around my wrists and lowers my hands from her face. “Her being an Amazon makes her not for you.”
I don’t miss the way she puts distance between us with both words and actions. “Not just an Amazon, Shiloh. She’s the Amazon heir. She’s going to be queen. Even if this were some fairy tale where we all fall happily in love, she won’t stay.”
“And you won’t go.”
Again, she’s excluding herself from this theoretical future. I don’t want to ask the question, but I need to know the answer. “Would you? If she asked you to, would you go with her?”
“I don’t know.”
It’s not the clear rejection of the idea that I want, and fuck, that hurts. “You really care about her that much?” More than me?
“I don’t know,” she repeats. Shiloh eases off my lap and turns for the bathroom. “Being in Sabine Valley has been more challenging than I expected. I just… I don’t know, Broderick. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”
“I won’t ask you for anything but the truth,” I manage.
She gives me a bittersweet smile. “Liar. You want everything.”
“Of course I want everything. I love you.” The words are out before I can call them back, but suddenly I don’t want to call them back. We’ve danced around each other for so fucking long. Maybe it’s time to just clear the air properly. It’s not like we can do more damage to our friendship after having sex last night. “I’ve loved you for years, Shiloh. I respected our friendship too much to endanger it, and you never indicated that you were interested in more than friendship, so I kept my feelings to myself.”
“Maybe I’m not interested in more than friendship.”
I snort. “You were coming all over my cock, my mouth, my hands. That’s not what friends do.”
“You’re right.” Shiloh picks
up her mug and finishes off her coffee. “But I’m still not sure where that leaves us. Just…give me some time to process.”
A lot has changed in a very short time. As much as I want concrete answers—concrete assurances—now, this is something I can’t rush. It has to happen naturally, or I run the risk of fucking things up permanently. “Okay.”
She heads into the bathroom, leaving me staring after her and wondering what the hell we’re doing. I want a future with Shiloh. But what if she’s right? What if we don’t work without Monroe in the mix?
And Monroe…
I sigh. I like the little asshole. I didn’t expect to, but the past week has changed everything. She’s infuriating, but I like how protective of her people she is. I like how she can be playful and fierce by turns. I even like that cunning mind behind her pretty face, though she turns it against me more often than we’re aligned.
But what if we found something to be aligned over? I feel fucking unstoppable when she and I are striving for the same goal. If we could find a common ground beyond Shiloh, is this really a partnership I’m willing to throw away just because it’s not quite comfortable?
Especially if Shiloh and Monroe are a package deal?
Chapter 27
Monroe
Something’s wrong with Shiloh.
It’s subtle, but I’ve been watching this woman too closely for too long not to notice. It’s there in the tightness of her shoulders as we walk down the main street that compromises Old Town. This part of Raider territory is a large reason why no enemy has successfully taken the faction. Removing the Paines, for example, took a whole hell of a lot of effort and both Mystics and Amazons working with Eli Walsh’s traitorous father. But nothing short of a bomb would dig out Old Town and the people who live there.
This open-air market is three city blocks by seven city blocks and has three families who own most of the businesses in the space. Those families have been here since the inception of Sabine Valley. That’s why the first thing Abel Paine did when he staged his coup was to come here and declare his intentions to the Phan, Rodriguez, and Smith families.
A smart move on his part. No one holds power in the Raider faction without Old Town’s blessing.
I lace my fingers through Broderick’s as we stroll down the street. Shiloh catches a glimpse of that and starts to move away, but I grab her hand, too. “Where are you going?”
“You’re sending a message,” she says softly.
Broderick has slowed. He’s not looking at us, but he shifts a little closer to me as if he doesn’t want to miss a single word of this. I drag my thumb over Shiloh’s knuckles. Now isn’t the time or place to tell her what I realized last night, but I’ve always been a little too impulsive for my own good. “I care about you, Shiloh.” A nice, generic statement that won’t send her rabbiting away. “I have no intention of publicly claiming Broderick without you being involved.” When she still hesitates, I can’t help pressing. “Do you care about me?”
“Yes.” The word is almost lost in the sound of people walking and talking and shopping around us.
“Then what’s wrong with letting everyone know?” I speak just as softly as she is, and for once I can’t inject my voice with any bravado. As much as I don’t want to pressure her, a part of me can’t help wanting her to claim this.
To claim me.
For a moment, I think Shiloh is going to keep arguing, but she sighs and slips her hand into mine.
Maybe it should be awkward to walk down the street with the three of us, but it just feels horrifyingly right. I knew I was in over my head after last night, but this just confirms it. I’m entirely gone for Shiloh and half gone for Broderick, stubborn fool that he is. I…like him. Even when he has me climbing the walls—maybe especially when he has me climbing the walls.
We take our time, pausing to explore a few of the trinket shops before we end up in the center space with the handful of food trucks and restaurants. The intersection has picnic tables situated under carefully constructed awnings that keep out the worst of the weather and offer plenty of relief from the late-summer heat.
Shiloh extracts her hand from mine and gives us a sweet smile. “I’ll go grab some food.” She’s gone before I can offer to go with.
It’s just as well. Broderick and I have something to discuss. I sink onto the bench at the nearest table and pat the spot next to me. “Sit, husband.”
“I’m not—” He cuts himself off and sighs. “You know what? Forget it.” He sits next to me, thigh to thigh, and drapes his arm over the table behind me. “This for show, or you have something to say?”
I watch Shiloh weave through the late lunch crowd to the nearest food truck. “Both.” I take a deep breath. “Last night was a lot of fun.”
Broderick’s arm goes tense behind me. “I had fun, too.”
“I’d like to keep it up.” My words try to stick in my throat, something like self-consciousness making my skin heat. “The three of us, I mean. There’s no reason not to keep enjoying ourselves, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we both care a lot about Shiloh.”
“Right. About Shiloh.”
I try to look at him, but the sun is in my eyes, and I can’t read his expression properly. There’s absolutely no reason to look into it. Just because he’s sitting so close, smelling so damn good, and also doesn’t want me dead… None of that means he actually gives a damn about me. After working so hard to get under his skin and torment him for three weeks, I’m lucky he’s not trying to throw me in front of a bus.
He wouldn’t succeed, of course, but it’s the thought that counts.
That uncomfortable feeling beneath my skin gets worse. “Look—”
“Monroe.” He twists his body toward me and catches my chin in a light grip. I still can’t see him with the glare in my eyes, but his voice deepens. “We make one hell of a team. Do you agree?”
“Yes,” I say cautiously.
“We’re in agreement that we both want Shiloh, and we’re both willing to share.”
“Yes,” I say again. It never even occurred to me to keep Shiloh to myself, not once I realized that she returned Broderick’s attraction. We fit well, but I’ll admit that I have a whole lot of fun when Broderick is involved, too. The power dynamics become so fluid, and our interactions just hit me in all the right spots. I’m not one to put labels on things; I’ve enjoyed monogamous relationships and polyamorous ones. Whatever fits everyone’s needs and ensures we’re having a good time is what I’m into.
Shiloh and I have a good time together.
But we have an even better time with Broderick in the mix.
Broderick strokes my bottom lip with his thumb. “That’s not the only thing we’re in alignment with, though. Is it, Monroe?”
“No. I guess not.” I try for a witty comeback, but his tough shorts out my thoughts. “I enjoy provoking you when we’re fucking, but it’s kind of nice having actual conversations sometimes.”
“Yeah, it is kind of nice, isn’t it?” He strokes my lip again. “I don’t like the thought of you dead.”
I swallow hard. It doesn’t mean anything. No matter how I push and provoke him, at his core, Broderick is a good man. Of course he wouldn’t want me dead. But I can’t leave this tiniest of olive branches unanswered. “I don’t want you dead, either.”
“Thought so.” He slowly drops his hand, but he doesn’t lean back. “Look at that. Two things we’re in agreement on. I think that’s more than enough to ensure some peace between us. Don’t you think so?”
I feel like he’s hypnotized me. I sway toward him before I can stop myself. “Yes.”
“Three things.” He leans down and brushes a light kiss to my lips. “We’re off to one hell of a start, Bride.”
My whole body is zinging by the time Shiloh makes it back to us. She got us all tacos, and it’s just as delicious as the smells promised. Or I assume it is. I’m so distracted, I can’t properly enjoy it.
It’s only r
easonable for Broderick and me to officially call a ceasefire. I don’t want him dead, and apparently he doesn’t want that fate for me, either. Even as my rational side tries to convince me that it’s to avoid war, a small part of me can’t help replaying his soft words.
I don’t want you dead.
Maybe this really could be the start of…something.
The next two weeks pass in a strange, happy blur. My days are filled with reassuring my mother that she doesn’t need to take extreme measures against the Paine brothers, and all the millions of tasks that come with helping run a very successful corporation.
My nights are filled with Shiloh and Broderick.
It’s just so fucking easy. Broderick and Shiloh seem to have gotten over that bump from friendship to fucking, and if part of me was a little worried they’d move on without me, it hasn’t happened.
Every single morning, Broderick gets up before us and brings coffee back to the room before we go our separate ways, Shiloh and I to the office, Broderick to oversee most of the day-to-day stuff in the compound. Every single evening, he picks us up and we spend a little time exploring the Raider faction, revisiting places from his childhood, planting new memories of our own.
We make Shiloh come so hard she cries in the park where he and his brothers used to hang out and get up to mischief. He and Shiloh take turns fingering me at the old movie theater that used to be one of his teenage haunts. The three of us nearly get caught fucking in the truck at his old make-out spot near the train tracks that cut through the south part of the faction.
It’s fun.
The only blip is Shiloh.
Sometimes I catch her with a strange look on her face, something almost like fear. It’s usually in the office or on our way back to Raider territory after work. No matter how many ways I approach the topic, she won’t let me in.
I should let it go. Surely there are people in relationships that don’t know every little thing about each other, that don’t dig and dig and dig until they find out what’s wrong with their partners. It’s probably normal to let little things like this go.