Chapter 12
12
Nathan
I was already on my way to the office when Cassius called.
The Hawthorne cybersecurity system alerted me to an unauthorized protocol running from one of our executive offices. I was already annoyed with Christa even before my brother told me what had happened.
“What’s going on here?” I ask as I storm into Christa’s office.
I find her standing by the window, the city’s nightscape unraveling beyond with its twinkling lights against a black sky while Cassius sits on the edge of her desk, looking glum and quiet. River paces the room, his gaze darting from Cassius to Christa. The air is so thick with tension, I could slice it with a knife.
“It’s hard to explain,” she says and sighs deeply, sounding downright defeated.
My guess is she’s already gotten an earful from my brothers. I’m angry and confused as hell, but I don’t want to pile my anger on top of theirs, so I take a deep breath and calibrate my responses as I would in any crisis.
“She was running her Wiper program when I came in,” Cassius says.
“Why?” I ask her.
“Because I need to leave, and I can’t have anyone picking up my trail from here,” she replies. “I can’t tell you much, and I am deeply sorry for all this, but it’s safer for everyone if I just disappear.”
River scoffs and shakes his head. “Bullshit.”
“No bullshit, I swear,” she insists. “You don’t know everything about my past, okay?”
“So then tell us so we can help you,” I urge.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbles and lowers her gaze.
Cassius clears his throat, arms crossed over his chest. “Yeah, sorry isn’t going to cut it this time, I’m afraid. This is a serious breach of trust, not to mention company protocols and regulations. We need an explanation.”
“I can’t give you one.”
My blood boils. She is making it really hard to remain civil under these circumstances. Nevertheless, I promised myself I would be the kind of man Christa needs and deserves, fully aware she is still carrying shadows from her past, which could reach into the future, too, if we’re not careful.
This is what our VA therapist would call a relationship milestone.
“Christa, whatever happened in the past, whatever you did, we can talk about it,” I say. “You know damn well we’re the last to judge.”
“You say that, but it’s not that simple. My mistakes cost me; they cost innocent lives.” She chokes up and swallows tears as she shakes her head at me. “Please. It’s not safe.”
“We killed people,” I reply, “in action. I think I have the highest body count among the three of us. It was my duty. What you say you did… was it worse than that?”
She shakes her head again, slowly, her gaze stuck on mine. “It was bad.”
“Talk to us,” River says.
“I need to leave. That’s all you need to know. It’s all I can tell you. I was running Wiper to disappear, to make sure no one from the outside could ever link me back to you,” Christa says. “To keep you safe.”
“Who are you running away from?” Cassius asks.
“They’re bad people, Cass. Horrible people. Powerful, rich people.”
“Perry-Sage?” he replies.
“All the execs from Perry-Sage are in prison or dead,” I mutter. “No, it’s someone worse.”
She nods. “I swear on my life the only reason I’m keeping quiet is to protect you and not because I don’t think you can’t protect yourselves. Lord knows I’ve never felt safer anywhere than when I’m with you three, but these people will stop at nothing to destroy me and everyone I ever cared about. They will do the same to you, if you get in their way. It’s safer if I leave. Please, let me leave.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Cassius decrees.
He reaches her before she can move away from the window, and I feel the tension shifting in the room. The anger dissolves into a most furious wanting. The confusion lingers, but it’s quickly overwhelmed by insatiable lust. My feelings for this woman intensify.
Cassius and River are responding the same way. The idea of Christa disappearing from our lives is untenable.
“What are you doing?” she whispers, wide-eyed, as she looks up at him.
“I said, you’re not going anywhere,” he replies, pinning her against the window. “You’re mine, Christa. Ours. Whatever you’re dealing with, we’ll face it together.”
“No, I just told you, I can’t be here anymore—”
He shuts her up with an angry, ravenous kiss. A moan escapes her throat, and I can see her softening in his embrace. She doesn’t really want to do this. Good. We might be able to buy some time if we form a united front.
As if reading my mind, River flanks Christa and kisses her, too. My brothers’ arms wrap tightly around her, and they take turns claiming her lips until she melts into them.
It’s my turn as I approach them. “Don’t leave,” I say. “Whatever this is, if you keep running from it, it will only get worse.”
“It already is,” Christa manages, but I kiss her, too.
“Not while the four of us are still here,” I insist when I break the kiss.
“I have to go.”
“You can’t, and we can’t let you,” I say. “Baby, look at me. Look into my eyes.”
She does, and I see the pain, the guilt, the fear. It’s all there, swirling in those caramel-colored gems, glazed with tears and twinkling at me. I feel her soft curves molded against my body, my cock hard and aching for her. If reason doesn’t keep her here, maybe desire will seal the deal.
“Oh, Nathan,” she whispers as I trail wet kisses down the side of her neck.
In the meantime, Cassius and River get to work undressing her. Her breath falters as she looks down while I unbuckle my belt.
“You’re not going anywhere,” River says, then kisses her.
“You’ll all be in danger,” she manages, but Cassius won’t give her a rest either, as he slips a hand under the waistband of her panties. The guttural groan coming out of him tells me precisely what I already suspected. She’s hot and wet and ready. “Fuck…”
“Turn around,” I command her.
Her gaze lingers on my body as I lose my shirt and sweatpants. The system alert caught me at home, just as I was about to hit the gym—somewhat frustrated that I wouldn’t get to see her tonight.
“I think we need to try something a little different tonight,” Cassius says, then he and River go over to the sofa. Christa and I follow.
“Stand here,” I gently guide her while River peels off her bra and panties.
“What are we doing?” she asks, already succumbing to the sweetest haze of arousal, her nipples firm and perky, begging for his attention.
I run my fingers between her slick folds from behind, drunk on her excited gasps, and she leans into River for support. He fondles her breasts and pinches her nipples, tighter and tighter until I feel her clenching around my fingers.
“Oh, fuck,” she cries out when Cassius brings his hand to the front and strokes her clit into a swollen frenzy.
I finger-fuck her hard and fast until I feel her orgasm gushing, her legs shaking as I squeeze every drop and bite into her shoulder for the ultimate roller coaster of sensations. I feed on her moans and inhale her deeply as River sits on the couch, and Cassius climbs on the backrest, positioning himself above him.
Christa is still somewhere up in heaven, staring at them, while I wedge my hard cock between her buttocks and slowly push her forward.
No words are needed as I help her climb on top of River.
“You’re not going anywhere, honey,” he tells her again.
This time, she’s more compliant as she slides onto his cock, and I join him inside her from behind. Everything stops for the longest, sweetest second, as I get used to this extraordinary feeling. Her pussy stretches to welcome us both.
“Oh, God,” Christa is overwhelmed, but she is taking it like a champ. “Take me,” she cries out and wraps her hands around the base of Cassius’s throbbing erection just as I plunge deep inside her. She takes him in her mouth, and for the first time, the three of us have her in perfect, exhilarating sync.
I feel her wet and tight and burning up, stretched beyond her wildest dreams. I hold her tight, one hand on the back of her neck, while the other comes down with a light spank on her right buttock. River groans as he plants his heels into the floor and tilts his hips upward to go even deeper.
“Promise me, promise us,” I grunt as I thrust hard, sliding into her. “That you won’t try to run away from us again.”
“I… Oh, fuck…” Christa can barely think, let alone speak.
I smack her ass again, and I feel her clenching. It only makes me drive even deeper, my own release mere moments away.
“Say it,” River growls, fingers digging into her hips.
“I promise!” she howls and takes Cassius back in her mouth, stroking the base of his cock with mind-blowing eagerness.
This is the purest, wildest side of her.
River and I work in exquisite tandem, a rhythm building up as Cassius deep-throats her until she’s out of breath.
“Fucking hell, here she comes,” I manage as I feel her rippling, releasing her hot juices all over River and me.
I come fast and deep, filling her with my seed. River follows, while Cassius shoots down her throat. I love the sound of her ragged breaths as she drinks every drop, as she grinds against River and milks us both for everything we’ve got.
Minutes pass in heavy, sweet silence.
The tension turns to faint tendrils at the corners of my eyes as I feel her surrender.
We bought some time. That’s all this is. We managed to turn her away from the door, but sooner or later, Christa will try again. We just have to convince her to let us help.
“Are you going to tell us what this was all about?” Cassius asks.
We sit on the sofa, tangled with her, naked and covered in sweat and blissful afterglow. I smell her arousal, her fear, but I also taste her surrender on my lips. Christa exhales sharply and rests her head on his shoulder.
“Please don’t make me,” she says, the fear returning to her voice.
“It’s okay,” he concedes. “I’ll take whatever this is, if that’s all you can give us right now. But, Christa, we will have to talk about it eventually.”
“Not tonight,” she replies. “You kind of knocked the wind out of me.”
River chuckles lightly. “We couldn’t really see a better way to stop you.”
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
“It will be okay, eventually,” I tell her. “One way or another.”
She gives me a weak smile. “I didn’t peg you for an optimist.”
“More of a realist with confidence in our own strength, resources, and ability to protect you. Because that’s what this is all about,” I say. “You’ve been shouldering something heavy for a long time, and running away might’ve worked before, but you’re not alone anymore.”
Christa takes a deep breath as I absent-mindedly draw an invisible circle around her nipple with my index finger.
“I’m used to battling demons on my own.”
“You’re a strong woman. It’s one of the things that always drew us to you,” Cassius replies.
“Always? Even when we were younger?” She sounds surprised.
“Absolutely,” he says. “You went through something awful, something no child should ever have to deal with. Yet here you are, a successful woman, a brilliant creature with all this resilience, all this raw talent just itching to be unleashed.”
“And your character is equally admirable,” River reminds her.
She shrugs, lowering her gaze. “I’m a coward. Tonight proves it.”
“You’re scared. Everyone gets scared once in a while,” I say.
“Even you?”
“Even me,” I reply. “But we face these fears; otherwise they destroy us.”
I’m about to tell her a story about my time in Kandahar, staring down the barrel of an assault rifle, but the door opens, and Teagan’s voice makes my blood run cold while every muscle in my body is instantly paralyzed.
“What the fuck?” Teagan whispers and runs back out of the office.
“Shit,” River grumbles.
“No, no, no, no, no,” Christa says, quickly rising from the couch to go after our sister.
It’s not the first time Teagan accidentally walked in on us like this. But it’s the first time she accidentally walked in on us with Christa. The cat is naked and out of the bag, and it really is the very last thing Christa needed tonight.
“Double shit,” I say.
“Get dressed, babe. We’ll try to smooth this out for you.”
“Oh, God,” she breaks down in tears, utterly hopeless.
River stays with her, while Cassius and I quickly get dressed and run out to catch Teagan before she gets to her car. Hopefully, there’s something left of their friendship for us to salvage.