Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
LIAM
It doesn’t take me long to make two very different but equally distinct observations. Matty is calm. He’s far closer to the man I brought to Dark Island over two and a half years ago than he was when I was last here. He smiles, laughs, and talks excitedly at times.
The dead are still there. That’s not difficult to see at all. I catch him stepping aside to avoid one. He often pulls one of us out of the way when necessary, too. Matty once told me that the dead hate when the living walk right through them. They find it unsettling and rude.
Matty refuses to speak to them directly, but I’ve tried to explain that we can’t see or hear them. We don’t know when we’re walking through them. I’m not sure if an understanding was reached, but Matty stopped talking about it.
The dead haven’t left Matty. I’m confident that they’re still very present. They’re everywhere. All the time. He’s often glaring and sometimes frustrated with whatever they’re saying.
I’ve been here for eight days, and one thing is adamantly clear—they’re not harassing him. Matty hasn’t had a breakdown since I’ve been here. I’d like to ask Darwin or Zephyr about it, but it’s clear that they don’t like me.
Which brings me to observation number two. Darwin and Zephyr adore Matty, but they are not my biggest fans. Like, at all. I’d go so far as to say that they hate my presence. They’d much rather I left again so they can keep Matty to themselves.
Interestingly, I’m not threatened because I don’t think they’re necessarily attracted to him. I think they’ve become possessive of him all the same. Protective.
I know Matty. I know the chances that he’s said something negative in regard to me to either of them are very slim. Yet, I’m confident that their dislike of me has everything to do with Matty.
Which means I’ve spent the last couple days trying to let them know I agree with them. I hate myself too for putting Matty in this position. For turning his life into a prison sentence. It’s my fault. I take full responsibility for it.
There hasn’t been an opportunity to say this out loud. I’m never alone with either of them. I don’t want to bring it up with Matty present because he seems to be finding peace. Reminding him of his circumstances isn’t how you keep that peace.
Matty enjoys their company and wants to be in their presence almost all the time. He likes to cook with them. He cleans up after meals with them. He’ll go outside and clean up the yard or break down the intruder’s boats with them.
Which has been a wild ride listening to them talk about the Chokecherry assholes who’re ballsy enough to trespass on our private property. Matty told me he even helped them clean up the bodies in the execution room.
Needless to say, I was fucking speechless. He went on to tell me he didn’t actually touch the bodies, but he cleaned up the ropes and blood bag and whatever.
The single topic that has Zephyr and Darwin dropping their barely concealed animosity toward me is when we’re talking about the two incidents and three men who belong to the Chokecherry boat club who have shown up in the middle of the night, uninvited, and snooping around.
The one who watched his buddy die insisted that the only reason they came was to look for Kennedy, whom they’ve determined is the first guy who dropped in on them.
The one they drowned in one of the wells.
He remained adamant that he didn’t know why Kennedy had come to the island.
It didn’t appear that Zephyr or Darwin believed him.
Matty says their dead spirits haven’t joined the ranks on the island.
They’re not welcome in life nor in death.
They’ve also determined that it won’t be the last time someone breaks onto our island.
Zephyr says that they’re going to need to extend the perimeter of security so Matty doesn’t have to be responsible for sounding the alarm all the time.
“What’re you thinking about?” Matty asks. He’s lounging in my arms as we sit in the window seat of his new room and watch the chilly world outside. Winter has taken hold in the north. There’s only a hint of snow here and there, but the trees are barren, and the coast is dark and devoid of life.
“Chokecherry,” I answer. “I’m wondering what they’re looking for.”
“You don’t believe that they were looking for their friend, either?” Matty asks.
“I don’t. You said one was around the dilapidated shed by the tower and the other two were at the tower. Correct?” Matty nods. “They’re looking for something specific.”
“They say that the men didn’t speak at all.”
In this case, ‘they’ refers to the dead.
“I can’t imagine what they’re looking for in the tower,” I say. “Maybe they just want something on us, but even if they make their way to the center of the tower, all they’re going to find is books. There’s nothing there to find.”
“Maybe they’ve heard the stories about people disappearing in the trees and think that they’re hanging from the walls inside the tower.”
I shift so I can see his face. Matty grins and shrugs. “Lester suggested that.”
Lester is one of the ghosts. One of the ghosts that doesn’t stop telling long, rambling stories. Oftentimes, he’s just repeating stories that he’s already told Matty.
I used to take all the stories that Matty would repeat from the ghosts with a grain of salt.
But the more I think about it, the more I come to realize that there’s likely some truth in what they say.
They’ve been here a lot longer than we have, after all.
They’re everywhere. They see things that others do in silence. In solitude.
Maybe in the past, that’s what had been in the tower. Maybe that’s why the tower was built, and later it became the massive library of old tomes that it is today. There are still secrets there. We’re sure. We just can’t find them.
I bet Matty’s dead could tell us. But then, they never mentioned the wall that Conner was pushed into this summer, nor the execution chamber to Matty. Intentionally? Who knows?
Matty sits up. “Hey. Want to watch my new favorite show with me?”
There’s a glint in his eyes that I can’t identify. There’s something… sexy about it. I lick my lips and nod.
He gets to his feet and pulls me behind him by my hand. I’m surprised when he drags me into the hall. I glance at the television in his new room before I can no longer see it. Does that television not work? We can fix it.
Matty stops in front of Darwin’s door. It’s slightly ajar. I catch a hint of movement in the crack. Just as Matty places his hand on the door, I hear what is unmistakably a moan. I don’t manage to gather myself in time to stop him from shoving the door open, though.
I’m not at all surprised by what we find. Though maybe a little by the position.
There’s a couch that’s been moved away from the wall, slid practically to the middle of the room.
Zephyr is sitting on it. He has Darwin on top of him, Darwin’s back to his chest. But Darwin isn’t doing any of the work.
The muscles in Zephyr’s arms bulge as he lifts Darwin up by his arms, hooked under Darwin’s thighs, and then slides him back down his dick.
Darwin’s head is thrown back. His hands clutch his knees as he pretty much just hangs on for the ride. Now that the door is open, their sounds are so loud that I don’t know how we only heard just one quiet moan through the cracked door.
I’m also wondering how many times my Matty has watched them fuck. My favorite show. That’s what he said.
Matty licks his lips and moves into the room. Zephyr is watching him approach, his hazel eyes filled with lust, trained dead on Matty. I look at my fiancé and wonder if there’s something he’s not telling me. There has to be.
My favorite show.
“Liam,” Matty breathes as we stop just out of reach of Zephyr and Darwin. “Look. They’re so hot, aren’t they?”
I glance at his face with his pupils dilated and staring straight at them.
I’m not sure if he’s trained on Zephyr’s intense gaze, Darwin’s pleasure-filled expression, or where Zephyr’s dick disappears into Darwin’s body.
Maybe he’s watching Darwin’s cock bounce and splatter beads of precum as it sways and slaps all over.
Not going to lie here. I’ve never been particularly attracted to either man, but Matty isn’t wrong. They’re definitely hot.
“Can we join them, Liam? Please?” Matty asks.
My breath catches as I stare at his face. He’s still looking at them, but he turns to face me.
“Please, Liam? Can we? It’s so hot. I want to be a part of it, too. Please?”
I look at Zephyr, and this time, he’s looking at me. He’s stopped driving Darwin down the full length of his cock, so Darwin is staring as well. Chest heaving. Gaze glassy. I swallow.
“How do you want to do that?” I ask Matty.
Matty looks excitedly at Zephyr and Darwin. I can practically see a whole array of scenarios playing out in his head.
“Want to get inside Darwin with me, Matty?” Zephyr asks, voice low and husky and… it’s weird that I can practically feel it all along my spine. “Would you like that, Dar? Want Matty to fuck your pretty, tight hole with me?”
Darwin groans, a long, almost whiny sound as he drops his head back onto Zephyr’s shoulder. “Yes. Fuck, yes, I do.”
I lick my lips and… god, am I going to do this? Am I going to agree to this?
Matty looks at me with lusty enthusiasm, his hand wrapped around his hard cock inside his pants. “Please? Can we join them? I’ll fuck Darwin with Zeph, and you fuck me at the same time. Okay? Please?”
There’s a chance I might regret this decision, but I nod. He beams at me. I’m a little startled when he suddenly throws his arms around my neck and kisses me hard. “Love you,” he whispers. “It’s going to be so hot. Are you excited?”
Excited to watch the love of my life fuck another man? Not the word I think I’d choose, but interestingly, I’m not entirely horrified by the idea.
“Yeah,” I tell him because it’s been so damn long since I’ve seen him this happy about anything. To be this excited. All that life drained from him the night of his failed initiation.
Matty turns and strips. He tugs at my clothes on the way to find another condom. Naked and gorgeous, Matty’s already rolling the condom down his length as he comes back. “Hurry up, Liam. I’m so horny.” He pushes a condom into my hand and stands over Zephyr’s legs, between Darwin’s.
“Ready?” he asks.
I’m not entirely sure which one he’s asking, but I watch intently as he loads more lube all over the place in his enthusiasm and begins gently pushing his cock inside Darwin.
It’d be a fucking lie if I said that I wasn’t absolutely transfixed by Darwin’s writhing and moans, his face contorting into a rainbow of different emotions. It feels like I’m reading him like a book.
An interactive book because I feel his heat, his arousal, his discomfort, his pleasure play across my skin like it’s my own. My own heat floods through me as if I walked through a door at a shopping center, and I’m being blasted by a heater.
But this is fire. It’s fucking hot. Darwin is… gorgeous.
I sidle up behind Matty and grip his hips so I can peer over his shoulder. I’m impressed with how mindful and gentle he’s being. I’m surprised he’s managed this much control since he’s so damn ready to be a part of what they’re doing.
It takes Matty quite a few minutes to settle his full length inside Darwin.
I’m not sure which of them is whining louder: the one gasping about how full he feels, how hot the burn of the stretch is, or Matty as he worships the tight hole and the hard pole that is Zephyr against the underside of his cock.
“Lean forward,” I tell Matty, gently pushing him toward Darwin.
“Can I kiss them, Liam?” he asks. “Please?”
“Yeah,” I answer as I get his hole ready for me. I watch, almost equally transfixed as he kisses Zephyr, as I had been watching him sink his dick into Darwin’s ass. It’s filthy, lusty, and sloppy. It makes my heart race as I line my cock up to shove inside my man.
Matty hisses and then drops his head. “Oh my fuck, Liam,” he whines. “Hurry up. Fuck me like this.”
I do. I will always do as he wants. My eyes meet Zephyr’s, and I slowly roll my hips so my dick slides rhythmically in and out of Matty. I’m trying to contain my excitement because I know my movements are going to travel through Matty, and that’s how he’s going to fuck Darwin.
“Harder,” Zephyr demands.
I glance at Darwin. He’s gripping Matty now. One hand firmly in Matty’s hair as he sucks Darwin’s nipple, and the other tangled with Matty’s. Like lovers.
Leaning over Matty, I use my body weight and position to fuck him for real. Once again, I’m not sure if I’m hearing Matty or Darwin more clearly. I’m unsure which of them is louder right now, or who is feeling more pleasure. There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s what I’m hearing.
I stare at the faces I can see, still surprised that Zephyr is watching me. Then again, I’m the only one he can see like this. Matty’s face is pressed to Darwin’s chest. Darwin’s head is thrown back as he faces the ceiling.
“Fuck me,” Matty demands. “Oh my god.”
Eyes still locked, I use Zephyr as the gauge and fuck my lover as I normally would.
Zephyr’s lips part. I wonder how close he is?
No doubt that he feels something close to what my Matty feels.
Darwin’s extra-tight hole. The friction of Matty’s cock against his.
This position and my rhythm assure that he’s moving inside Darwin to some degree as well.
His expression is almost hypnotic. I can’t look away as arousal fills him. More and more. I watch as it slowly reaches a peak, like I’m pouring it into a glass and noting that we’re nearly at the rim. It’s ready to flow over.
I know when he comes because his eyes roll back and his groan is low, deep, guttural. His body shudders, and I know, as I drive the other two men closer to orgasm, that I’m never going to forget this moment for the rest of my fucking life.