6. Bishop
The panic that crosses her bruised face has my cock hardening behind the zipper of my pants. I get off on fear. You’d never think it by looking at me, especially not beside the other guys, but it’s my thing, and something I don’t get to enjoy nearly enough.
Kovu likes to dish out pain.
Kaos likes hate fucking.
And my father, his proclivities are a dark combination of the three of us.
We’ve shared before. More times than I can count, if I’m honest, but it’s been a while. After she died, none of us have had much interest in women, and certainly not in sharing one. It brings too much back to the surface, and men like us shouldn’t feel those kinds of emotions.
But I haven’t missed the way Kovu looks at our little guest. There’s more interest in his eyes than there ever was with her, or any other woman we’ve had. And if I’m honest, I share that interest. Like I said, it’s not uncommon for us to be interested in the same women. But not like this. Never so immediately.
In the past, one of us has found a woman we think may be able to handle our unusual tastes and being shared by four men, and we set up a meeting with each of us. But usually, it takes me some time to see it. Even the one woman I brought into the fold, I had reservations about. But the woman laid out in front of us, there’s no hesitation, no questions. Just pure obsession from the moment I saw her. And that’s a problem, especially because my father has already said she needs to go once she’s healed, and I already can’t see Kovu or I getting on board with that.
Her eyes drift closed as the morphine kicks in, and as soon as it’s gone, I miss the soft gray. I should send her away right now. We have plenty of money, I could have a nurse look after her for the next few weeks, leave her enough cash for her to get her life set up, and get her away from whoever hurt her. But that’s not an option, and I think even if I could do it, Kovu would have my fucking head for taking away his new plaything.
Except he’s not looking at her like he has the others. Like she’s an expendable piece of meat. He’s been obsessed with many women over the years, but he’s never looked at them like this, and certainly not after only speaking a few words to them.
No. Kovu would slit my fucking throat for even considering the idea of sending her away. We’ll have to work out a way to get around my father and to broach the subject with Kaos, but we’ll make it work somehow.
“I can stay with her if you have work to do.” He breaks the silence that descended upon us as soon as her eyes drifted closed. I wish we had asked for her name. At least if we knew who she was, we would be able to get some background on her, work out who the fuck beat her, and make them pay for daring to touch something that belongs to us. It’s irrelevant that when she was hurt, I didn’t even know she existed, they still deserve to die for touching her.
I shake my head. “I’m staying.”
He sighs and drags the chair by the window to the edge of the bed before returning his hand to hers. Kovu doesn’t care much for human touch. With every woman we’ve brought home, he’s been obsessed, sure, but he never initiates touch, and if he can avoid it, he always will. Just further proof our houseguest isn’t going anywhere. “I’m not going to hurt her, Bishop.”
“I never said you would.”
“You were thinking it, though.”
I open my mouth to respond, but snap it closed again a moment later. Okay, so maybe the thought had crossed my mind, but it’s not like I think he’s going to do anything she doesn’t want. I’m just conscious that the last time we had a woman here, she had a new bruise after every session he had with her, and right now, the woman sleeping beside us has enough bruises to last her the rest of her fucking life.
“I don’t have any work to do.” It’s not entirely a lie. Things are slow right now, and I don’t have anything sitting on my desk that can’t stay there for a day or two.
“You always have work to do,” he points out.
I sigh and drop into the seat on the opposite side of the bed from him. It’s best I not touch her too much, because I have a feeling it won’t be long until I’m addicted to her, and I can’t allow that to happen until we work out a way for her to stay here with us. “You should go tell Kaos she’s here,” I say.
The two of them are far closer than I am to my own cousin. They’re the ones that go out on jobs together, who get to have all the fun while my father and I are cooped up here doing the talking side of our business. And they’ve gotten closer since my uncle died. Kovu understands loss more than the rest of us, and during that time, Kaos needed someone who understood.
“He’s going to flip.”
“Yep.”
Kovu looks down at the woman in front of us as she lets out a gentle snore, the corner of his lips tugging up into a small smile. “Do you think he’ll hurt her?” he asks.
I blow out a breath and lean both elbows on the edge of the bed. “I don’t know. You know how he was after her. She broke him just the same way she broke the rest of us, he hasn’t figured out that not all women are the same.”
He hesitates for a few more seconds before standing. “You won’t leave her?”
I shake my head. “No, I won’t leave her.”
He watches the gentle rise and fall of her chest for another moment before starting toward the door. I don’t envy him or the conversation he’s about to have with my cousin, but I am glad I don’t have to be the one to have it. Dealing with my father was one thing, but dealing with Kaos when it comes to women…no thank you.