17. Arlo
To be the one to shatter Hota’s control makes me feel twenty feet tall. Like nothing and no one can hurt me. I moan against the stranglehold he has on my hair and blink back the tears it brings to my eyes. They’re the best tears of my life. So worth it.
My siren has my back. It makes everything better. She makes all this possible.
My heart is about to shoot right out of my chest, explode into a thousand different colors, and make this Christmas look like Independence Day.
“Fuck, Arlo!” Hota pummels my throat, and I fucking love it. “You make me lose my fucking mind.”
You haven’t seen anything yet, love.
“Oh fuck, Hailey!” This pump is ferocious, and I know I have him careening over the cliff. “Arlo, I’m going to come.”
I moan and suck and swallow hot spurt after hot spurt.
Give it to me.
I growl and clean him off slowly, reveling in the feel of his silky skin against my tongue. His piercings clank against my teeth every now and again, driving me wild. I swear the one on his tip dented my esophagus.
My jaw aches and my throat burns from the beating it took. It’s amazing. I lay my head on his hip and rejoice in the heat against my cheek and the pressure of his hand holding me close.
Guilt seeps in like an icy chill from the ocean. It curls down my neck and coils around my spine.
Year upon year I’ve wasted on fear.
In Hota’s hold, I feel safe and protected. It’s the way he’s always made me feel. Having his dick down my throat didn’t change that. I didn’t flash back to that dark and unholy place because those experiences are nothing alike.
They’re as incomparable as birth and death.
I wonder if having him up my ass will?
“Arlo?” Hota’s deep voice rumbles through his body.
When I look up, the desire that flows from him makes it seem like I didn’t just suck him off, like he hadn’t already fucked Hailey, like he’s never gotten off a day in his life.
The gulp that lodges in my used throat nearly suffocates me. “Yeah?” I barely manage.
“Who’s a good boy now?” he purrs.
I feel the reverb in my ass. My teeth snag my lip. “Me?”
His thumb traces my temple, across my cheek, and then over my jaw. “Yes, you.” I press into the touch like a cat. “Do you know what good boys get?”
The chuckle that hits me is unexpected. “I thought I just got my reward.” I lick my lips and then flick his still-hard cock with the tip of my tongue.
He hisses, drags me up into his lap, and then turns me around as though I weigh nothing. My back meets his chest. His thighs heat the outside of mine. And his huge cock is nestled in the crack of my ass.
We both groan and melt into the touch, two metals fusing.
I grip his knees and lay my head on his shoulder while his face nestles against mine.
“You feel so fucking good.” Hota wraps an arm across my abdomen and chest, locking me to him. “I could die tonight and be happy.”
“You’re not allowed to die,” I snarl. “If you do, I’ll drag you out of hell myself.”
His lips brush my temple. “You’d be there with me.” He sits forward, pushing me up with him. “The question is, do you think sunshine will be there with us?”
Hailey’s legs shift slowly back and forth, swaying her hips. Her whole body is stained red from Hota’s hands. She loves it; therefore, so do I. Every mark is a feeling she’s open to receive and experience. She astounds me daily with her openness and inhibition because it was hard-earned.
“There’s only one way to find out.” I slip off the couch and maneuver to Hailey’s restless legs.
“Mmm,” Hota rumbles, moving to her side. “Are you ready for Arlo’s cock, sunshine?”
“Yes.” My siren reaches for us both, including Hota as though he’s always been there. Her delicate fingers trace the lines of his tattoos, and I’m harder than I’ve ever been in my life as our fingers twine, and I watch the two of them adore each other.
I kiss her knuckles and then release her hand. Hooking the backs of her knees, I pull her legs wide, and she lets me, spreading eagerly.
“This pussy looks swollen and used.” My cock pulses between us.
A needy moan leaves her throat. “It is.” Her fingers slide down her body, and she spreads her puffy lips, revealing the wetness from her orgasms, Hota’s release, and my tongue. The end of the toy cuddles close to her ass.
“Yes, siren.” I angle her legs up higher. “Show me.”
Her cunt pulses. “Do you want to feel Hota’s cum inside me?”
“Fuck.” In answer, I pull her ass off the end of the table and slide all the way home in one long thrust.
Three people’s curses collide in the small fort, all dripping with want.
I hold still as Hailey’s perfect heat wraps me tight, and Hota’s never-ending gaze drinks us in. I need this moment to last as long as possible. Tomorrow doesn’t exist inside these soft walls. Not yesterday, either. Only today.
“Hota?”
He stops manipulating Hailey’s nipples and looks at me, a hint of terror in his gaze. As if he thinks I’m going to send him away.
Never.
How did I ever push him away? Demons that seemed flesh and blood and teeth and claws only months ago have been shoved in a cage. They’re still alive and too well, but they won’t snap my spine if I let him in. Hailey helped me slay a few and cage the rest.
For Hota, I’m ready to destroy every last one. I need him.
I’ve always needed him.
Now, because of Hailey’s love, I know I can have him if I do the work.
I pull Hailey to my chest. “Get behind her.” I want her to feel what it’s like to be crowded by us, two men desperate to please her.
“Oh.” The word slips from him before he can bite it back. He swings a leg over the table and slides in close, pressing his wide chest to her back.
His lips drag along her jaw and his hand latches onto my nape.
“Fucking perfection.” I grip Hailey’s hip in one hand and snatch Hota’s in the other. My heart thuds, and my cock pulses.
Hailey steals my mouth for a kiss while Hota’s tongue glides along her throat. She leans back just a little. Her eyes spark, and her lips twitch. “Perfection would be Hota’s cock in my ass and yours in my pussy, but this is pretty close.”
Hota’s movements stutter. “You want that?”
My siren reaches for his face and pulls his lips to hers, kissing the belief into him, and then pulls back. “Haven’t you figured it out? We want everything, Hota. All three of us together in every way. The only question is, do you want everything?”
He stares at her, stunned into silence.
I pull from her heat and ram home, gripping them both as fiercely as I need them in my life until I draw my last breath.
A part of me, the old brittle part that was abused and broken, breaks away from the whole. It drifts away on a current of love and devotion pouring from these two people in my arms, in my fucking heart.
Like the day I met Hotaru and the day I saw Hailey, my world flips once more, finally righting itself.
I grasp onto them and slowly rock back and forth. I let my fear go along with that old part of me. I let myself open. I let myself dream of the life to come. Our life together.
My hips grow impatient with every stroke, with every hope for things to come. They hold tight to me too. Fingers and lips all over my arms, my chest, my neck.
Soon, I’m frantic, breathing them in, drinking their gasps and moans.
I’m shaking the whole table, pummeling into Hailey and rocking her into Hota. No one spares a moment for dirty talk or worries. We move as one perfect unit.
Hailey’s thighs shake.
“Fuck.” Hota whimpers into Hailey’s neck.
“Arlo.” My siren’s breaths hitch, telling me she’s close to detonation. Her face is buried in my hair.
“Arlo.” I barely hear the cry. His eyes are intent on me, though.
The familiar pressure gathers in my belly, but there’s a new weight in my chest. Only it doesn’t hold me down. It doesn’t hold me back. It makes me fucking invincible.
I slip my hand from their hips, grab their faces, and continue to fuck them into oblivion.
“I love you.” My words come out thin and broken from my tattered voice. I swallow and say it again. “I love you, Hotaru.”
Maybe it’s too soon, but by my calculations, it’s too fucking late. I’ve loved him forever. I can’t hold it inside anymore. I have to show him. I have to tell him.
Something passes in his eyes I don’t recognize, and that’s unusual. I’ve known him for so long that I can usually read him with ease.
“I love you.” I pound, staring at him, letting him see the truth in me. Then I pull Hailey from my hair. I hold her face next to Hota’s. “I love you, Hailey.”
“Arlo.” She sobs and screams, “Yes! I love you. Fuck me. Yes.”
The three of us fall over the precipice together and tumble into the unknown.
It takes several minutes to come down from the high. Hota’s punishing grip on my nape yanks me back to earth.
“What is it?” I whisper. I want him to tell me anything, everything. I want to know what’s in his head and his heart.
His brain tabulates things faster than most people can comprehend. Normally the answer is just there. In this moment, I see his struggle to compute everything in his crinkled brow, flexed jaw, and pursed lips. I need him to let me in on the outcome. Hell, even show me his work. His teeth grind, and I know he won’t. Not now, anyway.
“We need a shower.” He slides from behind Hailey and rubs his cum up his abdomen to keep it from dripping onto the already questionable comforter. With his clean-ish hand, he reaches for Hailey and helps her stand.
When she gets upright, a wince pulls her features.
“Here.” Hota scoops her into his arms, bridal style, and heads for the exit to our little world. “Come on,” he says over his shoulder.
While it’s nothing close to what I want from him, I follow like a good boy because at least he’s not kicking me out.
Did I really expect him to profess his love when I haven’t been able to express my own for decades? I hoped for it, which isn’t fair to him. So much I’ve done hasn’t been fair to him. I think about all this from his perspective while he corrals us into the bathroom.
I try, at least.
Of course, he doesn’t trust what’s happening now. Of course, he expects me to freak and fall back into my old habits. It’s how we’ve been for decades.
Can he see the changes I’ve made with Hailey’s help? Clearly, my sore throat or the toy in my ass isn’t enough to convince him.
The man is great with logistics. He has us in, our toys out and cleaned, and our bodies cleaned and dried before we even start to prune.
Hailey leans heavily against me as he finishes drying her feet. My arms are tight around her, holding her up.
Hota stands and studies Hailey’s face. He brushes a kiss over her forehead and straightens. “Bring her to bed.” He points toward his room and his king-sized bed and then turns away.
“What about you?” I ask lamely.
“I’ll be there shortly.” He leans down, grabs the pile of discarded towels, then heads for the laundry room. I guess.
After I can no longer see him, I scoop Hailey up and pull her against my chest. Her eyes are half-lidded, but the open part is on me. “Give him time,” she breathes. “It’s a lot to process.”
I press my lips to hers and then bring her to the bed.
It’s odd that Hota and I are so close and spent so much time in bed together in boarding school, yet I haven’t even seen his bed since we left Willoughby Ridge.
Though I feel like an interloper, I pull back the decadent covers and slide Hailey inside. She scoots to the middle and gives me grabby fingers. I pick the side I assume isn’t Hota’s and slide in behind her.
The vantage point gives me a great view of the door. As Hailey nestles close, I watch it and wait for him to return when I really should be checking on my siren. My gaze flicks to her in the dying light of day.
“I’m perfect,” she assures me before I even ask.
“I’m that transparent?”
“You’re that loving, and I’m that in tune with you. I’m…” She yawns. “I’m also a noodle in human form.” Her arms and legs dance in demonstration.
“The most delicious noodle.” I kiss her forehead and rub her arm, then watch her eyes grow heavier and heavier. She jerks a few times but settles into a deep sleep.
I oscillate between watching the clock and the door.
Forty fucking minutes pass before a svelte form stands in the shadows peering in. I hold still, as not to scare him off, and silently beckon him forward.
He stays there for several minutes before he walks his gloriously naked body into the room and slides into the bed on the other side of Hailey. He draws a deep breath and relaxes against the pillow.
“Hota?” I whisper.
He turns toward me with a snap, his eyes narrow. “You could have moved or something to let me know you were awake,” he gruffs quietly.
“And scare you away? No, thanks.”
An exorbitant huff rushes from his lungs. Hailey rolls onto her belly between us.
I open my mouth to speak.
“Not tonight.” He interrupts me before I’ve even begun.
“Okay.” I nod, drawing a deep, calming breath.
He gives another hiss as though my quick agreement irritates him too. His arm snakes out and latches around Hailey’s waist. Like an anaconda, he pulls her into his clutches. The look on his face dares me to say anything.
It’s like he’s taunting me. Prodding me to anger.
What he doesn’t get is that seeing them together fills me up. I give him a smile and snuggle into his bed like old times, only this is so very different. “Good night, Hotaru. I love you.”
He says nothing in return. It’s a kick to the gut. I’ve taken plenty of those and lived to fight another day, so I’ll give him time.
Will morning be long enough?