Chapter 19
RYDER
Ryder took one look at Spencer’s stricken face as they left Eli’s house and grabbed the keys from him. “I’ll drive. You take care of Ash.”
Ryder shoved Ash into the back seat as best he could with Ash still attached to him. He tried to untangle Ash’s arms and legs as gently as possible. Ash protested fiercely.
“Shh,” Ryder soothed. “I’m giving you Spencer, okay? I’m taking us home.”
When that did the trick, Ryder withdrew from the back seat, quickly shoving a docile Spencer in next to Ash and slamming the door before rounding to the driver’s side.
Ryder was more than aware they were leaving a certain amount of devastation behind them. He should have gotten Ash out of there sooner—he’d known the omega was on the verge of heat. But then again, who was he kidding? Ash did what Ash wanted to do, and Ash had wanted to lay claim to Spencer first.
Ryder had thought that might entail kidnapping Spencer and forcing a sleepover, but instead Ash had done it all in a spectacular fashion he would no doubt kick himself over later.
Ryder didn’t envy either Spencer or Ash their conversation with Noah when this was over.
He started the car before glancing in the rearview mirror. Ash was huddled on Spencer’s lap, clearly suffering through another cramp. The sweet scent of his slick was thick in the air, as was the bitter char of his distress. “Get him on your dick.”
Ash craned his neck to scowl at Ryder through the mirror. “No. I want a nest.”
“Bright eyes, you’re hurting.”
Ash bared his teeth. “I want. My. Nest.”
Jesus fucking Christ. Stubborn until the bitter end. But it was the most coherent Ash had been since jumping in the pool, so Ryder put the car in gear and drove. Trust Ash to change his tune completely from one heat to the next.
Ryder didn’t quite match the snail’s pace of Spencer’s grandma speeds, but he wasn’t far off.
It was bad enough those two goons weren’t buckled behind him, but his own head was hazy, muddled by Ash’s heat pheromones filling up the back seat.
Agitation simmered under his skin, urging Ryder to unbuckle, muscle his way back there, and tend to his omega.
But he fought it. Whatever his hormones were saying, Ryder’s path was clear: Get Ash home, keep Spencer at their side, and give them both whatever the hell they needed.
The grunts and soft groans coming from the back seat were distracting as hell though. Especially considering Ash had refused their offer of alpha cock.
Ryder turned back to look at them when they reached a stoplight. “What’s he doing back there?”
Spencer was wide-eyed with panic, his hands set gingerly on Ash’s moving back. “Um, just, like humping a lot. He snarls if I try to touch his dick. But fuck, we’re only wearing trunks. I might—I might nut before we get there.”
“You won’t,” Ryder ordered. He turned back to the front just as the light changed. “Save it. Use your fingers on him.”
Ryder jerked forward as Ash kicked the hell out of the back of his seat. “No. Fingers! Nest.”
“I’m getting you there. Fuck. Huff some of Spencer’s pheromones.”
Ash didn’t argue on that one. He jammed his face into Spencer’s neck, by all appearances—at least from what Ryder could see in the rearview—still gyrating away, his overheated body trying to get a taste of everything he was denying himself.
Ryder caught Spencer’s gaze as he made the last turn. Spencer was still wide-eyed and looking way too out of it. Ryder shook his head. “Your freak-out needs to end now.”
“He was so mad, Ryder.” Spencer sounded just as lost and sad as he looked.
Ryder sighed. “I know, baby. But you need to save it. Ash needs you, okay? He wanted you. He asked for you. We want you. Do you get that?”
Spencer made a vague sound of acknowledgment. “The heats …”
“No,” Ryder said clearly. “We want you. Always.”
There was only a moment to see the light enter Spencer’s eyes, and then they were there, with no more time for talking. Ryder threw the car into park and jumped out, racing to the back. He hauled Ash out, only realizing as Ash hissed at the hot asphalt that Ash wasn’t wearing any shoes.
Ryder put his hands under Ash’s ass and hauled him up. Ash didn’t fight it, wrapping his arms and legs around Ryder eagerly. He was hard and wet at the same time, and Ryder was practically vibrating with the need to get him inside to safety.
Ryder tossed his house key at Spencer. “Let us in.”
Somehow they made it to the apartment like that. They were lucky no one called security—they probably looked like lunatics, all three of them shirtless and in swim trunks and reeking of frustrated sex pheromones.
As soon as they were inside, Ash clambered down from Ryder’s hold and headed to the bedroom. He ripped off their sheets and blankets and dug into their laundry, sniffing and discarding different items.
Spencer gave Ryder a hesitant grin. “He’s doing it on his own.”
“Stay with him,” Ryder said. “I’m gonna get things settled out here.”
He didn’t wait for confirmation. Ryder went out and double-checked the lock on the door and latched the dead bolt.
Then he ordered the necessities for grocery delivery, letting them know to leave it on the doorstep without knocking.
Ryder had a feeling this heat would last longer than the others, that it might even be the heat—the last one before things settled.
There was something about the way Ash smelled—the richness to his marshmallow scent—and the way he’d gone mindless in the pool, lost to his heat starting in a way he hadn’t quite ever been before.
Ryder grabbed three water bottles out of the fridge and headed back to the room.
He wouldn’t have been able to stay away any longer even if he’d wanted to.
The pheromones coming out of there were calling to him, thick and heavy, all marshmallow and spice, a decadent dessert just begging to be eaten.
And no wonder. Spencer and Ash hadn’t wasted any time.
They were naked now, Ash on his hands and knees in the nest and Spencer behind him, both hands braced on Ash’s hips, a torn condom wrapper beside them.
There was no playful teasing or flirting from the other alpha today, just a frown of concentration on his brow as he pounded into Ash again and again, trying to give him a knot as quickly as possible.
Ash looked like he needed it, all sweaty and glassy-eyed, his mouth hanging open as he arched into Spencer’s thrusts.
Ryder set the water bottles by the door and shucked off his shoes and shorts without a word. He took a seat at the edge of the nest. His own cock was full and aching, ready to be of service, but he’d wait to be invited by his omega. Ash needed this, and he needed it now.
The air filled with grunts and groans and the filthy sounds of squelching slick and skin slapping skin. And then Spencer was shuddering, curling over Ash as his hips stuttered. And Ash was keening, his cock spilling onto the nest untouched.
Ryder could barely breathe watching them. It was just as beautiful as it had been the other way around. Ash was just as fierce, Spencer just as lost to pleasure.
Finally, Ash bowed his head between his shoulders with a sigh. Ryder could see as each muscle in Ash’s body relaxed, finally knotted in the way his burgeoning heat had been demanding.
For his part, Spencer seemed to have taken Ryder’s advice to heart. He looked like he was back on this planet, at least, rubbing a hand over Ash’s spine while he murmured something about beautiful nests and perfect omegas.
Ryder kept one hand on his own cock, but he didn’t move a muscle. He watched. He waited.
And then Ash finally lifted his head, his bright amber eyes seared directly into Ryder, calling to him the way they always had. “Alpha. Come here.”
Ryder crawled into the nest.
SPENCER
Spencer felt something shift around him. He opened bleary eyes. The room was dark, but he could dimly make out the two forms beside him, sprawled together inside the nest.
Ash was the one moving. He’d fallen asleep between Spencer and Ryder, his chest pressed against Spencer’s as he dozed happily on Ryder’s knot. Apparently Ash didn’t mind so much being the meat in their sleep sandwich when he was in heat.
But he was clearly awake now, or getting there. He was squirming against Spencer, searching for something.
Spencer licked dry lips. “You need me, spitfire?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
Ash whimpered in answer. His eyes were closed even as he moved against Spencer. He’d been pretty far gone this time around, talking mostly in the form of brief commands or grunts or weirdly hot omega growls.
Spencer reached down between Ash’s legs with careful fingers. It was slick and slippery, and there was no Ryder knot to be found.
Well, then. Duty called.
Spencer grabbed a condom from the pile and lifted Ash’s leg up and over his hip.
He may have been drained—he didn’t know how many hours it had been, or how many knots he’d given Ash already, even with Ryder taking his turns—but his cock was already hard and ready, an alpha reacting to his omega’s needs.
It was easy to slip inside, and heaven once he got there. Ash was so warm and so fucking wet Spencer could hardly take it. He rocked slowly, and Ash sighed in relief, nuzzling at Spencer’s neck.
He could be sweet when he wasn’t vicious as all hell. Spencer wondered if Ash knew what a wet dream he was during heat, or if he even cared. He didn’t seem to give much of a fuck about anyone but his chosen people.
And he’d chosen Spencer. That was what Ryder had said, right? That the two of them wanted Spencer, even outside of heats. That he wasn’t the only one imagining this connection between them, the way they took better care of him than anyone had ever tried to before.