Epilogue
Lane
There were few things that I loved more than Chicago in spring time.
With mud season finally over, the biting slushy wind was replaced with a soft, lilac-scented breeze and clear night skies with visible stars. Late May brought with it a predictable lushness that I found so cathartic after the chaos of winter.
And tonight, we were making the most of the best this new season had to offer.
My small, newly-landscaped backyard was a glowing oasis, packed with fresh green turf that I was surprised to find I had quite the knack for maintaining. Hydrangeas were in full bloom and Dax had rigged up crisscrossing fairy lights that cast a warm glow over the crowd.
The party was a combined birthday celebration for Nance, and a housewarming for us.
She looked beautiful in her summer dress, deep in conversation with Dax and the cousin I recognized as the one she told me about.
She'd traded an invite to this party with him for the fast-track on my emergency paperwork, and seeing him here only reminded me again about how lucky I was to have her in my life.
And now that she’d gotten accepted into the fellowship program, I was even more proud of her than ever. Vance had taken some chasing down but I’d called in a few favors of my own and he eventually pulled his head out of his ass long enough to give Nance her well-deserved letter of recommendation.
Looking at them now, it seemed as though she and Dax had got into another debate again, which seemed to be something they enjoyed doing. Sy walked past me and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before joining his brothers around the barbeque.
Docket followed him, bounding between our guests’ legs and attracting the adoration of every partygoer.
I sighed in contentment, just soaking in the soft music playing, and the conversations and laughter flowing around me. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this happy.
When I didn’t find Bear in the crowd, I decided to look for him in the kitchen. And there he was, grabbing more beer for the cooler outside.
“Hey sexy,” I said, leaning against the doorframe and tilting my head.
Bear turned around with a grin on his face and put the beers down on the counter. “That sounds like an invitation.”
“More of an observation,” I countered, moving towards him and putting my arms around his neck. He lowered his head and pressed his mouth to mine. The kiss was chaste and sweet but filled with a domestic warmth that was just as exciting as his less restrained kisses.
“If having people over puts you in this mood, then we’ll have to do it more often,” he said, drawing me closer at the waist until my body was flush against his.
“I’m affectionate all the time!” I said indignantly and he just raised an eyebrow. I pushed back a bit, determined to make a point. “Besides, it does help that I feel so much more relaxed now that our resident troll has left the building.”
“Ah, that explains it,” Bear said. “Any news on buyers for the upstairs unit?”
“Not yet.” I slid my hands down his chest and let them rest there. “There’s a viewing booked in a few weeks’ time. I can’t believe the prick actually left me his key. I would’ve expected him to make me jump through hoops out of pure spite.”
“Might be guilt. After he pushed you down the stairs…” Bear trailed off and I felt the tension cord his muscles.
He was still furious about what happened that day, and the fact that he hadn’t been here to protect me.
It took me using every method in the book to convince the guys to leave Sandy alone while he sorted out his affairs.
And funnily enough, up until the day he left, no one saw so much as a glimpse of him.
He clearly knew better than to show himself again.
“Hey, I’m okay,” I said, taking his hands and placing them on my cheeks. “I’m completely healed and he’s gone.”
Bear exhaled, relaxing slightly. Then a slow, dangerous smile spread across his face. “Did he leave anything behind?”
“Nope. Not that I’m aware of. Why?” I asked.
“Want to go check it out for ourselves?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
Now I smirked. “You mean we get to see the monster’s lair up close? Of course.”
He hooked his fingers in my belt loops and pulled me even closer. “Let’s get the boys.”
*
Seeing the inside of Sandy’s apartment was incredibly anticlimactic.
It was eerily pristine and smelled vaguely of citrus bleach and paint. There was no clutter, just stark white walls that made it look as though Sandy Manning had never even existed.
“This feels weirdly suspicious,” I said, folding my arms as I assessed an open cabinet in the kitchen. “It’s just…like he scrubbed away every bit of proof that he even lived here.”
“What were you expecting to find, Red? Bodies buried under the bed or something?” Dax snorted.
“Maybe,” I pushed back. “With all the bullshit he caught on, it wouldn’t have been surprising.”
I recognized Sy’s embrace as he came from behind and wrapped his arms around my waist, resting his chin on top of my head. “You’re just bored. Domestic bliss will do that to you.”
I clicked my tongue and ran my hands over his forearms. “Who says I’m bored? You don’t think juggling three men is enough to keep me entertained?”
“You do love to multitask,” Bear said absentmindedly, peering into a random drawer. “Nah. It’s all clear.”
“Pity,” I replied.
“All that I see is a waste of good square footage,” said Dax. Then he smiled that smile at me. He hopped off the counter he’d been perching on. “But I know exactly how to break it in.”
Bear was interested now. He leaned against the counter, crossing his arms. “Do tell, Miller.”
He stepped forward and I felt Sy’s deep, rumbling chuckle against my back as he handed me over to Dax. He grabbed me and lifted me effortlessly onto the kitchen table. “We leave him a parting gift that he’d absolutely hate.”
I laughed, wrapping my legs around his hips and drawing him closer. Music from the party below was still filtering up through the floorboards but I had other plans in mind. “Show me.”
Dax immediately leaned down and claimed my mouth with his. Our hands started exploring each other, tugging at clothes and feeling up bare skin.
I felt a tongue at my ear and another on the back of my neck and I closed my eyes.
I focused on the blind pleasure of not knowing where the next touch was coming from, with the exception of Dax as the anchor between my legs.
Someone caressed my right breast, while another put their mouth over the other.
I was getting wetter by the second, a fact Dax appreciated when he slipped a hand under my dress and moved my panties to the side.
He dragged a hand through my slit and groaned in approval.
The three of them managed to hike my dress up and pull it over my head.
I’d opted to go braless, and Sy immediately took advantage, diving straight for my bare breasts.
I gripped the back of his head, pressing him as close to me as possible as his mouth ravished my chest. Bear turned my head and kissed me again, mumbling something I couldn’t quite make out against my lips. Then Dax grabbed my hips and tugged me down. His eyes burned with hunger.
“Lane, look at me,” he said, forcing my attention away from the other two for a moment. He locked his gaze on mine, instructing me to keep eye contact as he slowly lowered his mouth onto my pussy.
I let out a long, sustained moan and tipped my head back. Bear caught my throat, squeezing lightly. “Keep looking at him, baby. Watch him eat you out.”
I swallowed hard but obeyed, forcing myself to look at Dax. His eyes were half-lidded, and he was moaning into me, his hands gripping my thighs with such strength that I knew I would bruise tomorrow. But I didn’t care. I’d always liked momentos, anyway.
Streaks of white-hot pleasure lapped at my sanity, made worse by Bear’s mouth in my neck and Sy’s mouth on my breasts.
But Dax’s eyes kept me present. I looked at him the entire ride it took for me to climax against his mouth, and only then did he close his own eyes, his tongue still licking even as I shuddered, my body sensitive.
He stood up straight and undid his pants, his erection springing free against his stomach.
He raised the front of his shirt to his mouth and bit down on the material, showcasing the mouth-watering muscled torso I would’ve loved to explore if these guys would just give me a chance to do anything except come. What a strange predicament to be in.
Dax grinned down at me, knowing exactly what the sight of his body did to my common sense.
He lined up his cock to my entrance and I was so wet that he slid in easily.
He groaned around the material in his mouth, his head tilting off to the side.
I squeezed my internal muscles around him, determined to have some sort of control.
He moaned louder this time, then slapped my hip.
“I don’t think he wants you doing that,” Bear whispered, pinching one of my nipples. I yelped and he leaned down to soothe it with his tongue. “Be a good girl for us and behave, yeah?”
“Fuck all of you,” I growled and Bear laughed throatily, moving up again to lick a line up my neck.
“Oh, you will,” he murmured.
Then Dax began to move and all of the sarcasm I could muster just disappeared.
He was deliberately moving to torment me, his hips driving deep and twisting up at the right angle to force stars in my vision.
And then, right when I thought I’d reached my limit, Sy’s damn hand decided to move South.
He started circling my clit, waiting for Dax to thrust up and increase the pressure so every stroke hit home.
I started to cry out, and Bear put a large hand over my mouth. “We have guests, sweetheart,” he said, clicking his tongue.
I moaned and whined against his palm, my tongue snaking out and when he felt that, his eyes darkened.
“Just can't get enough, can you?” he asked harshly.
As Dax and Sy continued to make a mess of me below, Bear started marking up my torso.
He bit and sucked and licked the entire area of my breasts and neck and I squirmed, my body lighting up like a damn Christmas tree.
I was being pushed to beyond my limits, and when I started mumbling Bear’s name against his hand, he immediately removed it from my mouth.
“Bear,” I whined desperately, trying to stop myself from making any more noise. “I can’t go downstairs looking like this. Everyone will see.”
Bear stroked my hair. “Sandy has a shower. And you can wear my shirt. The results are just for us to enjoy.”
That broke me. I climaxed so hard my thighs snapped tight around Dax.
Not that he seemed to have any problems with that at all.
When I finally started to fall from the high, he grinned at me.
“Seeing as you're all satisfied, how about you let Bear and Sy have you at the same time? Think you can take them both?”
I didn’t have to think at all. I just said yes over and over again.
I had no comebacks, no smartass comments because Bear and Sy didn’t even give me the chance to recover properly.
They gently lifted me from the table, then positioned my body between theirs.
I was being held aloft, and then Bear entered me first. When it was Sy's turn, he took his time, checking in every now and again to make sure that I was okay.
Was I ever.
The initial pain of the stretch blurred into intense pleasure as both of their cocks inside me. I could feel them trembling around me as they waited for my okay and when I gave it, my mind went blank.
I finished embarrassingly quickly this time, collapsing into their arms. They held me through it even as they broke too. When we were done and I was placed on the counter, waiting for the feeling to return to my legs, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“We’ll miss you, Sandy,” I said.
The three of them echoed the sentiment.