Till Death Do Us Part: A Paranormal Why Choose Romance (Vows Duet Book 1)

Chapter 43

Present Day

I beam at Rohan, but I’m too aware of everyone staring at us to climb into his arms the way I want to. Before I can do anything else, a blue light glows, caught from the corner of my eye.

I whirl, gasping, fear causing a metallic tang in my mouth. Strong hands grip my shoulders—Rohan—steadying me as I wobble with relief, my knees knocking together.

“Don’t look so relieved that I’m leaving you,” Andy teases, his arms still crossed over his chest like they were just a minute ago, blue light surrounding him.

I give him a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”

“I’m not,” he replies softly, peacefully. His smile echoes that. “Thank you for letting me help the others and help you.”

“Goddamnit, I wish I could see what is happening,” Tilly mutters.

“Andy is moving on,” I tell her.

“We’re happy about this, right?” she asks, clapping when I nod. “Go, Andy!”

I frown as the light around him stalls, a pretty cobalt blue. He looks unsure, uncrossing his arms to look at the glow emanating from him.

“Do you want to go?” I ask, recalling Henry’s choice.

“Yes,” he answers emphatically. But he takes a step back, his demeanor changing, becoming serious. Heavy. “I don’t think I’m done,” he murmurs.

I step forward, and Rohan moves with me. “What do you need? How can I help?”

Tilly chews on her nails anxiously. “I take it Andy isn’t moving on?”

We don’t respond to her. Reaching out, Andy takes my hands with a kind smile.

“Oh, thank fuck,” Tilly sighs. “Now I can watch.”

“I think I still need to tell you something,” he answers.

“I swear to God, if he wants to bone you too, Nova…”

Andy rolls his eyes at Tilly, finally giving her some attention. “If I had wanted to bone anyone, you are more my type.”

I grin as Tilly blushes, the red staining the perfectly smooth, pale skin of her cheeks and neck.

“Don’t waste it,” he says, turning back to me, the flirty grin he had for Tilly turning solemn. “Don’t waste your life, Nova. Don’t let people control you, or manipulate you into thinking you’re less than. I think it’s pretty damn obvious that you are a hell of a lot more powerful than most people in this world. Own it.”

“I’ll try,” I reply, timid.

His jaw works back and forth for a second. “Your dad is an abuser.”

I fight to blink back the instant tears at the direct acknowledgment. “Yes,” I choke out. Tilly hisses out a breath.

“The bruises he gave you—those weren’t okay.”

“I know.” I nod, tears brimming in my eyes, fed by shame. Rohan’s grip grows tighter and the other three draw closer to me. “I know.”

“You were never at fault for anything he did.”

Those salty tears track down my cheeks. “Okay.” My voice cracks.

“And Rhea—” Andy shoots Theodore a look of warning as he makes a noise of protest, starting to interrupt. “And Rhea is no better,” he finishes. “Be careful of Rhea.”

I blink a few times, dropping his hands as I jerk back and run into Rohan. “Rhea’s never hurt me.”

Andy’s expression is so sad when he replies, “People don’t always need fists to hurt you, Nova.”

The surrounding light brightens, becoming a little softer in color, distracting me from the warning he just gave.

“Just keep it in mind,” he whispers, his eyes closing.

The light turns radiant, blinding me as he utters that last bit of advice. When I blink away the brightness, he’s gone.

Nobody moves, everyone seems to be reveling in the knowledge that every ghost but the ones that belong to me have found peace. Well, everyone but me. I’m turning over his words in my mind, a headache forming.

“Is he still here? Did he go? What’s happening?” Tilly demands, exasperated.

I breathe out a laugh at her frustration, tucking away his advice about Rhea for now. “He’s gone.”

“What did he mean about Rhea?” she asks casually. But the way she asks is anything but casual—anything but innocent. I find myself studying her, trying to figure out what she is getting at. “I mean, she is kind of controlling.”

Theodore steps forward, placing a hand on the side of my neck, his gaze aimed at Tilly. “We’re working on that,” he says to her, a clear message in his tone telling her to drop it.

She looks like she’s about to argue, but then she sighs, giving him a stern look. “I expect you to take care of her. I don’t like this.”

“Understood,” Theodore replies, and I just stare between them, stupefied.

Her eyes dart around the room. “The other two are here still? All the boy toys are present?”

I groan. “They’re not—”

Koda smirks. “I’ll be your boy toy, little Nova.”

“You are all terrible,” I sigh, hyperaware of how Rohan’s hands slide down my arms from my shoulders.

“And on that note,” Tilly announces, “I’m out of here. Professor Desai over there looks two seconds away from ripping your clothes off.”

I flush red, shooting a look over my shoulder, only to find she’s not wrong. The way he’s eyeing me is absolutely feral. Nervous butterflies accompany a thrill as it shoots through my gut.

“Hot, by the way,” she adds, gathering up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. “The whole professor-student trope.”

“Tilly?” Rohan murmurs, before I can cross the room and strangle her, so mortified that my jaw aches from the too wide, awkward smile. His nose grazes the side of my neck as he leans into me. “Office hours are over.”

Letting out a high-pitched girlish giggle, Tilly bounds to the door. “Sorry, professor!” she calls, slamming the door behind her as she leaves.

I feel four pairs of eyes land on me and I lower mine. We’re alone. For the first time since I came here, there are no other souls lurking about. It’s just me and…these four—whatever they are to me.

The door swings back open, making me jump.

“Forgot my phone!” Tilly calls, her hands planted over her eyes. “Don’t mind me! I’m just going to—shit! Ouch!”

I laugh with a shake of my head as she kicks the coffee table. “Tilly. Uncover your eyes.”

She peeks through her fingers, then lowers her hands. “Phew. I really thought I was going to walk in on an orgy!”

“You’ve been gone for, like, ten seconds!” I exclaim.

“Ten seconds you wasted not being in a ghost orgy,” Tilly shoots back, snatching up her phone off the couch and half-running back out the door. “Okay, bye, love you!”

“I’m not opposed to an orgy,” Koda muses, breaking the silence that follows of her departure.

Theodore smacks him on the back of the head, stepping close to me. Leaning forward, he presses a gentle kiss to my lips. “I’m going to give you and Rohan some time, baby girl.” He blinks out of the room before I can answer, the loving stroke of his fingers pushing back strands of hair that have gotten free of my ponytail distracting me.

“So no orgy?” Koda asks wryly.

“Not tonight,” I say, then regret it when his eyes light up.

“Not tonight isn’t a no,” he sings, bounding forward. He grabs me like he always does, his hand gripping my throat and kisses me thoroughly enough that I moan softly. “Think about my cock down your throat,” he whispers into my ear, “when he’s inside you, and you’re halfway to an orgy.”

My mouth drops open as he, too, disappears, leaving only Jimmy and Rohan. I swipe a hand down my face, trying to remove the mental picture he planted of me with Rohan and Koda at the same time. Did I think it would be too much to handle more than one of them at a time? He may have just changed my mind.

“I—I will give you privacy too,” Jimmy says, hesitant. “But I really want to talk to you, Nova. Soon.”

“Why are you waiting to talk to her?”

I glance at Rohan, surprised by his words. I figured he’d want to be alone as soon as possible, to devour me the way I want to devour him. But as I watch him, his eyes on Jimmy, I notice that ravenous look he was giving me hasn’t changed as he waits for an answer.

Fire burns deep in my belly, forcing my legs to press together.

Jimmy fidgets. “You haven’t had any time with her…”

“Stay,” Rohan requests—a true request, even though it’s not a question. It’s more of a pleading. Jimmy’s attention stays on him, a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Recognition of what, I’m not sure.

I’m not sure at all about what is happening here, but something in my chest eases that it is.

He hesitates for another moment, but then Jimmy strides forward, straight for me. I lift my chin as he reaches me, gathering me against him. Rohan doesn’t let me go, keeping a hand on my hip. The position strikes hot in my memory, reminding me of when it was Jimmy at my back and Koda at my front.

“I am so sorry for sleeping with you when you didn’t know what—who I was,” Jimmy asserts, gazing deeply into my eyes. “I am so sorry for it seeming like I tricked you. I can promise that was not my intention. I just—I wanted you and I thought if you knew I was dead, it would change everything. I couldn’t stand the thought. From that very first conversation we had in the front yard, your first day here, I knew there was something about you that I needed. Even before I knew I could touch you, I needed you, sweet girl.”

“Jimmy, I—”

He puts fingers to my lips. “You don’t need to decide now. I just wanted you to know. Every part of me recognizes every part of you, Nova, and I’ll do whatever it takes to know I can pull you into my arms anytime I’d like.”

I push his hand away, giving him a mock glare. “If you’d let me finish,” I say, sternly, then soften my voice. “I was going to say that I forgive you. I knew I had forgiven you when I started worrying about whether you’d move on after I completed the task for you.”

Jimmy’s smile is megawatt. “Really?”

I grin back at him. “Really.”

He dips down, about to kiss me, and then stops. His eyes dart behind me and he straightens. “We’ll have our time later,” he murmurs. “I think it’s only fair that Rohan gets you to himself for a little bit.”

“No,” Rohan and I reply at the same time, glancing at one another.

“No, you don’t want her to yourself?” Jimmy asks, confused.

Again, he and Rohan lock eyes. So much is being said in that look—so much heat in that look that I burn. I burn between them, the feel of their bodies holding me captive. My head tips back, my breathing turning shallow, pressing into Rohan’s shoulder as I clutch at Jimmy’s white button-down shirt he’s always wearing.

They both groan at whatever they see on my face—probably desperate, passionate desire.

It’s taking too long. I need them, need them now.

I yank at Jimmy’s shirt, tugging him so close that he and Rohan are practically smashed together, flattening me between them. I can barely breathe as Jimmy hungrily takes my mouth, with all the same fervor that he kissed me the night we first made love. His hands grip at me, massaging, drifting, teasing the sides of my breasts.

No.Not Jimmy. Rohan is the one exploring my body, I realize, as Jimmy kisses me, his hands trying to worm their way between our bodies to reach more, touch all of me.

“Please,” I moan between kisses. “More.”

Jimmy pauses, looking behind me again. “Together?”

“All together,” Rohan confirms, his voice close to my ear.

Stepping away, Jimmy motions his head toward the hall. Rohan doesn’t miss a beat, swinging me up into his arms, bridal style. My lips find his neck, pressing against it as he moves, nipping at him with my teeth as he kicks the bedroom door closed behind all three of us. Vaguely, I’m aware of Jimmy struggling to move my desk chair and angle it under the door to block it from being opened. He moves it in spurts, and then finally locks it into place.

I’m set on my feet and then two sets of hands are all over me, stripping me bare, touching and feeling, sliding between my legs and over my breasts. I grip each of their shoulders, trembling at the wicked sensations they’re causing.

They meet each other’s eyes at the same time their hands meet between my thighs, two hands prodding at my entrance, their fingers dipping in together.

And then, as if answering whether this could be any hotter, they kiss.