Chapter 24 #2
Silence fell. Ash didn’t know what to say – didn’t know what to think. Olly took over once more.
‘Agnes—’ They both turned to look at him. Ash couldn’t tell what he had planned, nor read his expression. ‘Why don’t you take that’ – he nodded at the empty jug – ‘and fetch us more wine?’
‘What?’ Agnes said, looking dumbstruck.
‘When you return, we can talk about all this. It is pointless to pretend it did not happen.’
Ash sniffed. That had rather been what he did intend to do – certainly the way to move forward with fewest complications. Yet Olly clearly had other ideas, and Ash supposed that he was right. Agnes swallowed, giving Olly a look of outright suspicion.
‘All right,’ she said. ‘Give me … just a moment.’
‘Oh, and one more thing …’
‘Yes?’
‘Could you return the dogs to the kennels? There’s barely enough room in here as it is.’
Agnes gave him an odd look but did as he asked. She grabbed the jug, summoned the dogs, then with a final look towards them left the room, closing the door behind her. Ash stared at the wood.
‘I cannot believe she saw us,’ he said at last.
Olly pressed closer. ‘Are you angry with her?’
‘I was. But … but briefly. It is not as if she did not already know that we are lovers. My first instinct … it was like we had been invaded. As if she had taken something I had not given her. But …’
Olly nodded. ‘But. A powerful word.’
‘I—’ He glanced at Olly, feeling his skin flush. Of all people, Olly he could trust with this. ‘I keep thinking about it. About her. About her watching us. Why would she do that? Why did she not leave?’
‘I can see no other reason for her to have watched than because she enjoyed watching,’ Olly said.
The heat in Ash’s chest built. ‘Surely not.’
‘There is nothing so unusual in it. I have seen it myself.’
‘You have?’
‘You forget how long I have been living on the edge of the law, Ash. You would shudder to think how many brothels I have worked and lived in. There is always someone who simply wishes to … watch. And …’ he gave a long, languid smile ‘… there are others who enjoy being watched.’
Ash swallowed. His body was alight. ‘Do … do you mean yourself?’ he managed.
Olly gave a half-shrug. ‘I had never really considered it. Not until now.’
‘And now?’
‘I cannot say I dislike the idea. At first I was shocked. I felt invaded, as you said. But after thinking on it …’
Ash swallowed heavily. ‘It feels different.’
Olly looked at him through his lashes. ‘It does.’ He ran a gentle hand across the blankets. ‘I think of it like this: you and Agnes are wed, yes?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what of me?’
‘You will be here. With me. Always.’
‘Exactly. No matter what happens … we are tied together. All of us. Even more so once we begin to navigate, well—’ He ducked his head, muffling a laugh.
‘Navigate what? Navigate what, Olly?’
‘The thing that married folk do.’ Olly laughed, breath tickling Ash’s neck. ‘I do not think you’ll have much luck in the realm of heirs if the only one you are bedding is me.’
Ash swallowed. He kept the truth of it to himself; the way he had planned for any heirs to never truly be of his blood. Olly would not understand, and besides, it was too painful a thought to ruin this moment with.
Olly noticed his hesitance, clearly assuming it was fear of a different kind.
‘It is something we need to traverse together.’ He held Ash’s gaze. ‘All of us.’
‘Are you suggesting we invite her into our bed?’ Ash said, aghast.
‘I am suggesting we propose she … watches. And if she dislikes it, or if we dislike it, or if it is a horrible farce, then we never do it again and we blame the wine.’
Ash wasn’t sure what to say. ‘Oh.’
‘And if it does go well … then we stand a little stronger. Arrangements like ours are more solid when everyone is happy. Perhaps I can watch you when you go about the terribly important business of filling this castle with children.’
Ash laughed. ‘Does that mean you are proposing that I watch you and—’ He found his lips halting. He thought again of finding Agnes and Olly in his bed.
Olly noticed immediately, pressing closer with a sly smirk.
‘You were thinking about it, were you not? When you heard we had kissed. I saw your expression. Agnes does not know you as I do, so she could not tell. But I could.’
Ash’s face heated. Had it been so obvious? It must have been to Olly, who always seemed to know what Ash was thinking – certainly, at least, pertaining to matters of the prick.
‘I was not—’
The image assailed him again. Them, in his bed, under his sheets. The jealousy was nowhere to be found, the blood that should have rushed to his muscles to ready him for a fight rushing elsewhere, instead.
Olly rolled closer, sliding a hand over Ash’s chest with a low laugh.
‘Weren’t you?’
His hand snuck lower, trailing down Ash’s stomach, below his navel, his fingers teasing and twitching and searching until—
Ash hadn’t realised how hard he was until Olly wrapped his fingers around his cock. Ash let out a sharp curse. ‘Olly—’
‘So you were thinking about it,’ he said. ‘Interesting.’
Ash’s eyes fluttered shut, his skin tingling, now unable to think of much else apart from Olly’s hand. ‘Olly …’
‘Hmm?’
‘We should not— Agnes—’
‘Perhaps we should, given all we have found out.’
‘Olly—’ Ash gasped against his lips. ‘No, we must …’
‘Spell it out?’ Olly kissed him again. ‘Sit down, sign a contract, make a binding pact of what we are about to do?’
Ash had not been about to propose anything so formal – but his arguments died in his throat with every kiss Olly placed upon his lips.
‘I thought not,’ Olly said. ‘Let me …’
He slid a hand under Ash’s undershirt, tracing his fingers across the band of his breeches. Ash let out a soft gasp as Olly stroked his skin, a gentle touch – no firmer than a breath – with the promise of more.
Ash wasn’t sure how Olly had done it; one moment they were side by side, then he was on his back at the foot of the bed, Olly above him, pressing his hands down above his head and staring at him with an eager, hungry gaze.
He was caught, willingly. Olly squeezed his wrists, a sure message: I have you.
You are trapped. Ash let out a low, shaky breath as Olly grinned down at him, pinning him in place.
He loved this feeling: he beneath, unguarded and eager.
It had been like this for as long as he could remember, and he had not realised how much he had craved it – how much he had missed it – until Olly had returned.
He gave a cursory wriggle – a test of unflexed strength. Olly pressed harder, gripped tighter. Ash let out a low, hungry noise that rumbled right from his core and out of his mouth.
He was about to speak – to beg for more – when the air in the room changed. He sensed the door opening more than heard it. There was a noise. An intake of breath.
This had been a terrible idea. This had been too much, too soon. Agnes would be horrified. He needed to push Olly off him and apologise and scrub them all clean of this—
‘My Lady,’ Olly drawled, still pinning Ash beneath him. ‘How kind of you to join us.’
Ash could not see Agnes’s face. Was she shocked? Disgusted?
Or had she stumbled into something akin to a dream? Did she feel the same sudden stuttering in her chest that Ash did, that same building feeling in his heart, that same tightness creeping hotter and lower and swirling in his gut?
He wanted to speak, but his lips were dry, his tongue as trapped as the rest of him. Olly glanced down at him, and then away – back towards Agnes, Ash assumed.
‘Do you wish to stay?’
From across the room, Agnes made a soft noise. It was as if that single sound filled the chamber. It struck Ash’s body like the lightning outside, going straight to his prick.
The door shut. Above him, Olly relaxed. Ash had not even realised that Olly was nervous about this, too.
Footsteps. The soft sound of fabric.
‘Please.’ Ash could not quite place where her voice was coming from; but it was enough to know she was there. ‘Continue.’
Olly didn’t need telling twice. He lowered himself down, catching Ash’s mouth in a kiss.
He dragged it out, sucking at Ash’s bottom lip, biting it between his teeth.
Ash arched against him, the little sting of pain enough to bruise but not break, enough to thrill but not harm. Enough to leave him wanting more.
Olly dragged his hands away from Ash’s wrists.
He grabbed the hem of his undershirt and pulled it off, peppering Ash’s lips and cheek and the twisting scar with a hundred tiny kisses.
He tugged his own undershirt away too, and the feeling of Olly’s hot skin against Ash’s was nearly too much.
Ash grabbed at him, wrapping his arms around him, forcing him closer as if heat and sweat could meld them together.
Olly hummed, then shifted his attention. He sucked Ash’s earlobe into his mouth, tugging at it with his teeth, sending a frisson of pain directly down Ash’s spine. Ash let out a low moan, and – there, on the edge of hearing – he heard Agnes softly gasp as well. The sound inflamed him further.
Olly, too, seemed encouraged. He smiled against Ash’s skin as he nuzzled his face into the crook of his neck.
He opened his mouth, the sudden heat making Ash’s prick twitch, then pressed his tongue against Ash’s skin.
Ash hissed, arching against him, pressing his aching cock against Olly’s crotch, desperate for touch.
Olly laughed low and warm, then pressed a final, fluttering kiss to the spot before sinking in his teeth.
The rumbling noise that erupted from Ash was entirely unbidden. Agnes made another noise, but so detached was he from everything but the pleasure and the pain and the heaviness of Olly on him that he couldn’t tell where she even stood.