Chapter 21 #2
I do the same, grabbing a towel.
“I am pretty sure you came knocking on my door, not the other way around,” Cyrus retorts.
“Yeah, to tell you to stay away,” Eli deadpans.
I find their relationship fascinating; even now, they seem so carefree with each other.
“I opened the door, and you practically jumped me.”
“Your scent overwhelmed me. A moment of weakness,” Eli taunts him.
Cyrus steps toward him with a smile on his lips, and Eli steps back into the room.
“Not how I remember it. Care to replay it?” Cyrus asks him.
Eli huffs, but Cyrus grips his shirt, ripping him toward him and crashing his lips against Eli’s.
Eli’s hand moves over Cyrus’s hard chest. Arousal hits me at watching them together; there is something erotic about watching them, the way they devour each other’s lips, their hands touching and grabbing each other.
Cyrus pulls back, pecking his lips once more.
“Enjoy the show, love. You smell divine. Care to join us?” Cyrus asks, looking over at my blushing face.
I press my lips in a line, wondering how being with both of them would work. The thoughts running through my head cause a delightful shiver to run up my spine.
Eli growls low, making my eyes dart to his. “I would love to know what you are thinking that has you so turned on right now,” he says, his eyes flickering to his beast.
I shake my head, too embarrassed to ask; I have watched porn before but never of three people.
Cyrus turns to face me, his towel low on his hips, his V-line disappearing into the towel, covering him from my watchful eyes. He reaches forward, pulling me to him before gripping my face, his hypnotic eyes dazzling me.
“What are you thinking?” he asks, and I can’t help but answer him. His scent is overwhelming, the feel of his hands soothing as they run down the sides of my arms. I can get lost in the feel of his hands roaming over my body.
“I was wondering how it would work being with both of you.”
Cyrus’s lips tug up, his lips moving below my ear, making me shiver as he kisses my skin, nipping and sucking on it. “We can always show you, my love, show you all kinds of things.”
The thought arouses and scares me at the same time.
“You would like it, Addie. You were made for us in every way,” Eli says, stepping closer, his warm chest pressing against my arm, making me look up at him.
Cyrus’s lips on my skin send sparks all over my body with his gentle caresses.
Eli grips my chin before kissing me, his tongue moving between my parted lips as he tastes every inch of my mouth.
Cyrus’s hands trail up my side as he cups my breast through the towel, squeezing, his lip sucking on my skin when I feel his fangs graze my neck. I feel warm blood trickle down my skin before feeling his tongue running over my skin.
“Let Cyrus mark you, Addie,” Eli whispers between kissing me.
Cyrus’s lips move lower to my collar bone. Eli’s hand moves to my towel, tugging it down, exposing me to them. Cyrus dips his head, his lips latching onto my nipple, making me moan into Eli’s mouth.
Suddenly an alarm goes off, ringing loudly from the kitchen. Eli pulls back, and I hear Cyrus make a noise of annoyance. The sound snaps me out of agreeing to what Eli has asked as I come back to my senses.
Cyrus lifts his head before pulling me to him while Eli ducks out of the room to turn off the alarm.
“You will agree, Addie. I don’t want to force you. But you need to let me mark you soon,” Cyrus says, pressing me closer against his chest.
“What if I don’t want you to mark me? I like my freedom,” I tell him.
“You lost that the moment you met us. You are ours. We won’t share you with anyone else. I know you think you love Sam, but you don’t. You can’t.”
“I don’t love Sam. Well, I do, but things have changed now,” I whisper more to myself than to him.
Eli walks back into the room, stopping at the door. “Tea is ready,” he says, watching us, his eyes turning onyx as they trail down my naked body.
“Just think about it, Addie. I will wait. But the urge to mark you gets stronger, and I am not sure how much longer I can hold out,” Cyrus says, kissing my forehead and stepping away.
He walks into the walk-in and comes out in a pair of shorts and with a shirt in his hand. He hands it to me.
“I have my bag somewhere here?” I tell him, knowing my pajamas are in it.
“It’s in the car still,” Eli says, and I slip the shirt on; it sits mid-thigh like a dress.
“Come drink some tea, and then we can chat,” Eli says, his eyes roaming over me.
He holds out his hand to me, and I take it, letting him pull me through the house and back to the kitchen.
* * *
After dinner, they leave me alone. I just watch TV while they go off to do something. When they return, though, Eli seems a little tense. I can tell he has just showered because his hair is still wet, and he is no longer dressed in his suit but in cotton pants.
Looking over the back of the lounge when they walk out, I can see Cyrus looking annoyed at him for some reason, making me nervous. Eli sits down on the lounge next to me, taking the remote from me and flicking the TV off. Cyrus, however, remains standing, his arms folded across his chest.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, wondering how they have gone from almost playful to serious.
“Nothing. Cyrus and I have been talking…”
“No, you have been talking. Don’t make this out to be my decision. I was happy to wait a little longer,” Cyrus says.
Eli glares at him, and Cyrus looks away. My mouth is losing all moisture from the tension that has suddenly filled the room.
“What decision?” I ask, hoping Cyrus hasn’t changed his mind about marking me. I am so not ready for that.
“We are leaving for Soya tomorrow. You will be coming with us. You need to say goodbye to your family,” Eli says.
My face whips toward Cyrus, who looks away, unable to meet my gaze.
“But you said soon, not tomorrow,” I tell them, looking back at Eli.
Eli reaches for my hand, but I pull it back.
“We are leaving tomorrow, and that’s final. I am done waiting. We don’t need to be here, and I want you as far away from Sam as possible,” Eli says.
“You can’t just throw that on me at such short notice. What about my sister and Maya?”
“Your sister is fine. Your family will be fine.”
“You don’t know that. My sister could relapse. My mom can’t raise Maya on her own,” I tell him, becoming frustrated.
“Your sister won’t relapse, Addie,” Cyrus says, and I shake my head.
“You can’t possibly know that,” I tell him.
“I do know that because I compelled her. Compulsion can only be broken if I break it or die, and neither will happen.”
“What about my mother? She won’t like me leaving so quickly.”
“She already knows you were going to leave, and Eli paid off her mortgage and has taken care of everything else. You no longer have custody of Maya. Taylor does.”
“Wait, what?” I ask, standing up.
“I told you she would be pissed off when you tell her,” Cyrus says to Eli.
“You haven’t had legal custody of her for nearly a week. It was always going to be this way. I had Cyrus compel a judge to sign the documents. You are no longer responsible for Maya.”
“And you thought I was just going to be okay with you giving my niece back to a drug addict?”
“Reformed drug addict. She isn’t a drug addict anymore, and she is not your daughter. She never was, Addie. This is a good thing,” Eli says.
But I am outraged that they’ve meddled so much in my life, in my family’s life.
“I want to go home. Take me home,” I tell them, standing up.
“No, you are staying here. You belong with us, and that is where you will remain. You don’t have to like what we have done, but you will deal with it, Addie. You don’t have a choice,” Eli says, getting up and walking off.
“If it’s about Sam, I won’t talk to him anymore, I promise.”
“Regardless, we leave tomorrow, Adeline,” Eli calls out over his shoulder as he walks off toward the bedroom.
“Why is he doing this?” I ask Cyrus, who seems indifferent to the entire thing.
“Because I haven’t marked you, because of Sam, and because he wants to go home,” he says before sighing.
“And you agree with him?”
“I don’t agree with him forcing you, but yes, I am sick of being here. You need to come home with us.”
“I have to leave everything behind because he is insecure and homesick?” I ask incredulously. This is unfair.
“I’m sorry, Addie, but he is right. We have stayed long enough. It’s time to go home,” Cyrus says, walking off. “Are you coming to bed?”
I scoff. Is this fucker for real? The last place I want to be is in a bed with them. I flop back down on the lounge, and I hear him sigh before turning all the lights off.
I am leaving tomorrow, leaving everything behind.