Chapter 28
This investigation is a shit show. Yeah, we’re winning because of hard evidence and the pilot’s admittance, but we don’t have the money or the lawyers to throw at a long and drawn-out case. My brother, a lawyer, called to offer help with the case. Didn’t even ask how I was or if I was okay after everything. Zahn said no before I even got the chance to, but I would have said the same thing. He just saved me from having to.
Honestly, I just want it all to end. I want the case over with, the insurance dealt with, a new plane to replace the one I lost, and to put the rest of it behind me. I wish there was a way to help Genevieve through all this, but she’s struggling even though she’s angry. Bless her fucking heart for being more concerned about me than herself.
“And then!” Gen drunkenly shouts in the middle of the living room at the Dare house. “And then he told me he could get me fired from the hospital here! Like he heckin’ knows anything, right?”
Zahn smirks, but Four has his full attention on his woman. He jokingly reminded her that a lady does not raise her voice, but as soon as he said it, he smacked her ass and handed her a paper towel roll to use as a megaphone. She couldn’t bring herself to use it. The giggles that manifested from it were goddamn perfect, though.
“I won’t let that happen, Genevieve,” Four says, having no idea how he’s going to keep that promise, but I know he will.
“Forsyth,” Gen says in a calmer tone, smiling at him. “Will you still want me if I’m poor and ratty?”
He barks out a laugh. “Fuck yeah I will, sweetheart. We can be poor and happy together.” He pulls her onto his lap and she laughs like she hasn’t in a few days. How the hell she has the strength to get through the blackmail from her family is beyond me. We all knew she was a warrior when she took control of her life, but fuck, she keeps proving her strength and determination day in and day out.
But Zahn isn’t picking up on the lighthearted mood of the room. He’s all pissy when he says, “If he threatens another person I love, I’ll knock him the fuck out. I know he’s your dad, but fuck that guy.”
My heart bleeds. He’s always loved me, I know that, but this is something new and deeper. I look at him, and our eyes meet for a few seconds of silent acceptance before Gen cuts in.
“Zahnder,” she says, climbing off Four. “I’m so sorry.”
“Not your fault, hun. Just keep on smiling.” He softens for her. According to Four, Gen and Nina were the ones who kept Zahn calm while I was missing. He wasn’t lying when he said Zahn went a bit nuts, and as much as that sucks, it reminds me how important what we have is.
“If I never ran away, never came here, and never met a rude pilot on the docks, none of this would have ever happened,” Gen says sadly.
“I’ll take it a million times over for you to keep my brother… soft.”
“I am not soft, you prick!” A pillow flies across the room.
It breezes right by Gen’s head, but her eyes are on me. “Remington.” She plops right down on my lap like she’s sidesaddle riding. I look at Four with a grin, and he gives me one back. Her fingers brush my cheek and her eyes meet mine. She’s literally just trying to comfort me, and it makes my chest crack again. “I am so sorry for the part my father played in your accident.”
“Gen.”
She presses a hand to my mouth, and my eyes widen in shock. What does wine turn this Southern Belle into? This isn’t polite Genevieve, and I love it. “If anything worse would have happened to you…” A tear falls down her rosy cheek.
Four lets out a long breath, hurting for his girl. Zahn squeezes Gen’s thigh, smiling at her, so I palm her cheeks and wipe those tears away.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, okay? Nothing. But thank you.” I kiss her cheek. “Now cheer up and tell us more stories.” I laugh.
Kade pulls her off my lap and hands her a new glass of wine. “Will a group fuck make ya feel better, Genny?” He gives her that demonic Dare grin. The sinister version of it.
“Kade Dare! It is a heckin’ work night!” She gets right in his face, no longer intimidated by him. Her finger presses to his chest as she scolds him from a foot below his face. “There will be no group sex on a work night, but I might be able to pencil you in on my next day off.”
Kade grips her jaw and bends down. “Pencil me in, Genny.”
“Alright.” Four grabs her around the hips and brings her back to his lap. “Forgot red wine turns you into a floozy.”
When I look at Zahn, he’s not even grinning at everything that he’d usually find funny. I nudge him with my knee, and he snaps out of it.
“You okay?”
He nods, sighing. “I’m… yeah.” And then he does the most unexpected thing. He leans over and rests his cheek on my shoulder. “I’m just tired, Rem.”
Four, Kade, and Gen look at us with surprise, but Zahn’s eyes are closed and Kade keeps his mouth shut about it. Instead, the youngest Dare looks at me, and honestly, it’s a bit threatening. It’s a look that tells me to take care of his brother or else…
I upnod him. I want to wrap my arm around Zahn’s shoulders but don’t want to push my luck too soon. I rest my temple against his hair instead, closing my eyes to just feel him.
Later that night, I’m awkwardly standing by his bedroom door, rubbing the back of my neck. Not sure if I should leave or stay, Zahn fumbles around, all tired and cute, and then he sighs at me.
“You’re staying,” he tells me, grabbing my wrist and dragging me to his bed. “And I’m done being moody.”
I strip down to my sweats and he goes down to his boxers, and we’re just lying in his bed on our backs, sides of our bodies pressed together, staring at the shifting light from the moon on the ceiling. Half-ass listening to Laken, Jed, and Kade get busy in the room next to his.
“I kind of want to watch you in action,” Zahn says out of nowhere. “To see you work your game and pick someone up. You’re hot as fuck when you flirt, Rem.”
I smirk into the darkness. “You’ve watched that a hundred times.”
“Yeah, but now I get to join in on the fun. Show me your moves, Remy.”
Our arms brush and our elbows knock together, and there’s nothing sexual about it, but it still sends a tingle through my skin. “How long have you known you were open to anyone? Like… have you done anything with a guy before?”
“I dunno. Forever, maybe. I’ve never really thought about it too hard.” He shifts, and his hair tickles my shoulder. “I’ve never outright done anything with a guy until you. Like some heavy groping and random touching, but not much else. Never sucked a dick. Never given a handie. Never even kissed a guy. Till you.”
I don’t know if I’m curious or insecure, but I keep asking things. “Do you want to do all that? With other guys?”
He groans. “Shit just happens when it happens, so no, I don’t premeditate that bullshit. But now my head’s all full of very premeditated fantasies with you.” He knees me in the thigh. “Fuck you for that.” He laughs.
“What fantasies?” I ask. “Wait. Why me?” Okay, brain. Slow down.
“I don’t know! Why me?” he throws the question back at me. “You’ve never even looked at a guy before, have you? And now we’re fucking around and getting filthy, and I’m afraid I’m corrupting you.”
I scoff. “Please. You do not have that much influence over me.” He totally does, but I’m not overly ready to admit that I looked up demisexuality and really resonated with it. I think that’s part of the reason it’s him. I have that connection with him. “You wanna know something fucked up, though?”
“Always.”
“That first night when Cara and Cody came over and they were explaining their shit to us about the person who is a constant? Remember?”
“Yep.”
“It’s you, man. I don’t know why or how it happened, but you just fell into that role for me. You’re the one I always want to…”
“Be with? Have there?”
“Yeah.” But maybe more than that. “Even focus on.”
“You asking me out, Rem?” he teases. “Because I’m totally saying yes.”
I smack his abs and he groans. “Why you always gotta be a dick about everything?”
He laughs through his pain. “You know that’s who I am.” He looks at me, but I keep my eyes on the ceiling. “You wanna do more with me?”
Like, fuck? Jesus. “What’s more?”
Laken moans through the wall, adding a level of heat to this chat that’s already heating up on its own. “Hands and mouths?”
I bite my lip. “Yeah.”
“More?”
“Like fucking?” I turn my face to call his bluff.
“Yeah, like fucking,” he says, smirking.
I’ve thought about it in the vastness of my mind, but I’m not sure it’s a thought that should ever see the light of day or the darkness of night. It’s probably better to remain a fantasy that I jerk off to and pretend never happened as soon as my cum cools.
“You ever had anything up your ass?” I ask.
He nods. Fucking knew it. “Like small toys and a plug once. Nothing as big as your dick.”
“That a compliment?”
“Fuck yes it is.” He leans back and puts his arm behind his head. “I have a limit. Like a boundary line. A sexual one.”
“About your ass?”
“No.”
“Tell me, Mr. No Limits.”
He smiles, covering his face a second later. “It fucking fucked me up something fierce that night the guy almost touched your dick! I swooped in and took over because… no. He doesn”t get to touch you. At first I thought it was just another guy touching you, but that night, it was her… and him, and… oh my god.”
I bark out a real laugh. “Holy fuck! Did you, Zahnder fucking Dare, who never gets attached to anything, get possessive of me?”
“No. Fuck off.” He groans.
“You did!” I knew it. I saw a flash of it that night and mocked him for it a bit, but I didn’t think it could be true. I definitely didn’t think it’d be a limit for him. “You possessive fuck!”
“Get bent!” he snaps at me with a laugh. “It just happened! I couldn’t help it.” He’s smiling, a little put off, but more humored about it.
“This does not vibe with what you just said about wanting to watch me pick up.” I smirk at him.
“Okay, enough,” he groans. “I just want you to be… for me. All mine.”
“You’re jealous.” I laugh.
“I don’t do jealous!” He smacks me, and I grab his wrists, straddling him to press them to the pillow.
“Admit it. Say you’re possessive of me.” I grin down at him.
“Never!”
“Say it!”
“I hate you right now.”
I laugh. “Say it anyway.”
His green eyes meet mine in the dim light, and he goes from smiling to jaw clenching to eye rolling. Then he flips the script and pins me down, his thighs squeezing my hips. “Fine. I’m fucking possessive of you, Remy. Happy?”
I smile up at him. “So happy.” I lift my hips to show him just how happy that makes me. “Make me a new deal?”
“What deal?”
“Do you want to try shit with another guy?” I ask.
“Not really, no.”
“Then let’s agree to keep the gay shit between us for now. You and me, fucking it all up and experimenting as we go. Because it…”
His smirk is fucking sinister. “Puts you into a jealous rage to think of another guy touching me?”
Yeah, it does. But I don’t admit that yet. “You’ve always been open and wanting to get lost in the vibe of sex, though. I don’t want to hold you back from that.”
“Remy?” he asks, leaning forward until his lips brush mine. “You are my vibe.”