20. Rory
CHAPTER 20
RORY
“I don’t want to wake him up, but he can’t sleep there all night. He’ll end up with a crick in his neck.” Shane was barely whispering, trying not to disturb Ellis.
Except I doubted a freight train would disturb him at this point. He’d obviously sat down on the couch—and it was an extremely comfortable couch—and leaned his head back before closing his eyes. Now his head was lolled to one side, his mouth was gaping open, and he was snoring.
Something must’ve been wrong with me, because I found him adorable. I dearly wanted to hug him and curl up beside him to cuddle.
But we were supposed to be bonding. With sex. And we only had eleven hours until Manny’s deadline of 10am tomorrow morning when he was bringing Pia back.
I sighed. Ellis was in no shape for sex right now, much less something as significant as bonding. “Will you be okay magic-wise if we wait until morning for the bonding? We can set an alarm.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” But Shane rubbed his chest. Before I could say anything, though, he turned to me and put his hand on my arm. The heat of his touch went right to my balls. “Why don’t we get ready for bed and then we can just tuck Ellis under the covers with us?”
“Good plan.” I followed him back into the bedroom. We’d put all of Ellis’ clothes away, leaving only a duffel bag Ellis had placed on Shane’s chest of drawers. It didn’t feel like clothes, so we weren’t sure if we should open it or not. Shane had also moved a bunch of sweaters and other items he didn’t wear often into the attic so there’d be room for my stuff when I was ready. Given that we’d be almost literally joined at the hip starting tomorrow, I was sure I’d be ready sooner rather than later.
We undressed down to our boxers. I’d kind of planned to leave my t-shirt on, but Shane took his off, so I followed suit. Shane, for all that he was over a decade older than me, was in fantastic shape. The physical labor required by his job had given him some amazing muscles. His back was a work of art that I couldn’t wait to map with my tongue.
I went to the gym fairly regularly, but my frame wasn’t designed to carry much muscle. My brain automatically tried to feel self-conscious about my physique, but when Shane turned and blatantly eyeballed me, the lust came through our connection loud and clear.
Damn. I couldn’t wait to experience that feeling during sex.
But that reminded me. “Shane. Last night when I was putting everyone’s clothes away. Um, you were in the bathroom, and I got the feeling you were upset about something? It didn’t seem like just Ellis getting kidnapped. I got distracted so I didn’t get to ask you today, but are you okay?”
He turned ruddy under his tan. The blush went all the way down his neck to his sternum, creating a V between his pecs. “ It was nothing.” He busied himself putting toothpaste on his toothbrush.
My eyebrows met my hairline. “Really? Because you looked like you’d been crying. I want to respect your privacy, but if all that stuff in the compendium about bonding is true, we’ll be all up in each other’s business whether we want to be or not. Do you want to tell me now, or should I just find out through the bond tomorrow?”
He glared at me in the mirror as he brushed his teeth. I leaned my hip on the counter and crossed my arms as I waited for him.
He spat and rinsed, then he dried his hands and face on a towel.
I waited.
His posture changed when he decided. He straightened his spine and threw back his shoulders before spinning around to face me. His expression was defiant. “I was going to do it for Ellis. Let him have a relationship with you at the same time he had one with me.” My eyebrows flew back up. “Especially after he was... taken.” His voice broke on that last word. “I knew he wanted you, and I wanted him to have whatever made him happy.”
He crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders. “But then you were nesting. Putting Ellis’ things away in the closet and making sure he was comfortable. It’s something magic carriers only do with mates.” He looked away. “I was jealous. I knew Ellis and I were mates, and the nesting meant you and he were mates. I’d been ready to just have a platonic relationship between you and me, but I... I wanted you to want me the same way you wanted Ellis. Like a mate.”
I’d been trying not to touch Shane, not wanting to risk starting something that Ellis wouldn’t be here to participate in, but I couldn’t stand to see him in pain, even if the pain was only a memory. I closed the few steps between us and circled my arms around him.
He hugged me back. “And then you were asking me about ironing my shorts. Mine, not Ellis’. And I was so happy.”
Fuck. I couldn’t not kiss him after that. Ellis would feel the same way in my place.
I ducked down and caught Shane’s lips in mine. He hesitated for half a second before responding, opening his mouth to take my tongue inside.
I couldn’t see the connection between us, but I tried to push my feelings toward him—all the affection, admiration, fascination, and lust I’d been feeling since we’d met.
He gasped, and our kiss faltered before he pulled me closer with renewed hunger. I ran my hands over his back, which felt as incredible as it looked. His furry chest teased my nipples, so I brought my hand around and gently pulled on one of his nubs. He sucked in a breath, and a bolt of lust went from my own nipple down to my dick. Fuck, the compendium hadn’t been kidding about that feedback loop.
Shane’s rock-hard dick ground against mine, and I barely stifled my groan. Shit. We needed to stop before I blew.
I grasped Shane’s upper arms and pushed against him, separating our mouths and our bodies enough so I could step back. Reluctantly—and I felt his reluctance very clearly through our connection—he moved away as well. We were both panting, and in the mirror above the sink I could see our matching lips, swollen and shiny with saliva, and our chins red with beard burn.
I wiped my mouth and stared ruefully down at the erection straining against the front of my briefs. “Probably a mistake to do that before getting into bed with both of you when I can’t do anything about this.”
Shane reached out a hand and hovered it over my sternum. “Our connection is even stronger, though. It’ll make bonding that much easier.”
“Oh, yeah? Shit, I can’t wait til I can see connections.”
“Maybe the bonding will help with that.” He blew out a breath. “Let’s go get Ellis off the couch.”
I forgot to set the alarm.
In my defense, Ellis was almost completely out of it, and Shane and I had our hands full wrestling his shoes, shorts, and shirt off. We didn’t bother making him brush his teeth.
By the time we had him stretched out under the covers, all Shane and I wanted to do was to join him in slumber.
“Guys?”
I blinked at the sunlight coming in the window. Oh, fuck.
Ellis had realized the same thing. “It’s late, and we don’t have much time if we’re going to bond.”
Shit. I whipped the sheet off and sat up. Ellis, also sitting, held up his phone. 8:47am. Fuck. On Ellis’ other side, Shane cursed.
“Dammit, I’m sorry.” I ran my hand over my face. “I was supposed to set an alarm.”
“It’s okay.” Ellis patted my leg. “We can bond without sex. Cal and Greg did it, so we know how. ”
I... had questions, but they weren’t important. “Fuck that. Give me five minutes and we’re doing this.” I didn’t wait for an answer, just slid out of bed and rushed into the bathroom.
When I came out, Ellis was waiting for his turn. “Shane went to use the guest bathroom.”
One day we might be comfortable enough with each other to share, but not today. I did delay him for ten seconds so I could steal a kiss. His neck looked better, the scars not as noticeable under my hand.
It was 8:58am when we all got back in bed, Ellis and I flanking Shane. We didn’t bother with the top sheet.
“Uh, maybe we should be naked.” Shane went red as he plucked at the waistband of his boxers.
“Shit, yes.” I hurriedly peeled off my briefs and tossed them aside. My dick was mostly hard. Maybe it had started as morning wood, but my brain was beginning to understand what was about to happen. It wouldn’t take much to get me there.
Ellis did the same with his boxer briefs. I took a second to mutter an admiring, “Nice,” before turning to Shane. “You need help with those?”
He glanced at the nightstand, where our phones were laying, then he seemed to steel himself and tucked his thumbs under his waistband. I could feel the stress coming through our connection.
“Wait.” I put my hand up. “No. Uh uh. What’s the matter?”
He turned even redder. “It’s nothing.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. Ellis scooted closer and ran a hand down Shane’s back. “It’s something. Tell us. ”
He looked down at his hands. “I’m sorry. The time.... I’m just tense. I’m not... ready.” He waved a hand in the direction of his crotch.
“You’re not hard?” I slid my hand along his shoulders until I was giving him a half-hug.
He shook his head. “I just... It’s too much pressure.”
I squeezed his shoulders, but he wouldn’t look up. Should I kiss him? I tried to keep my expression cheerful in case he saw it, but I was at a loss.
Ellis nudged my arm, then he said, “Well, whether or not we do anything right now, we do want to bond at some point. And to do that, Rory needs to be able to visualize his magic.”
Where was he going with this?
Shane lifted his head. “Okay?”
Ellis beamed. “I was thinking it’d be fun if we had a hands-on lesson.”
Oh. He was making me the focus to take the pressure off Shane. Smart. Very smart. And my dick was very interested. I held my breath until Shane agreed. “Okay.”
“Great!” Ellis grinned like he’d won a carnival prize. “Rory, you stretch out on your back here in the middle, and Shane, you get on his other side.”
We arranged ourselves to Ellis’ satisfaction. I let my hands rest next to my thighs. I had two sexy men hovering over my naked body. Damn, I was fucking lucky.
But I needed to pretend to be interested in visualizing my magic or whatever we were supposed to be doing. “Okay, what now?” Hopefully Shane wouldn’t notice the precum oozing out of my slit .
Ellis put his hand on the right side of my chest. “Close your eyes.” Another hand, Shane’s I was sure, rested on my left pec. If he moved it half an inch more, it would be on my nipple. I willed myself not to wiggle.
“Rory, can you feel our connections? We’re touching you where they emerge from your magic wheel.”
I scrunched up my face in faux concentration. “What kind of wheel? Do all of our wheels join together to make a tricycle?”
Ellis, I was absolutely certain, was silently cursing me.
But Shane chuckled. “He means your magical core. The well of magic inside you, but it spins and looks like a wheel for those of us who can see it.”
“Ohh. Got it.” My dick was rapidly losing interest in this conversation, but Shane wasn’t tense anymore.
Shane’s other hand landed on my thigh. Oh, hell, yeah! Now we were talking.
But I was supposed to be visualizing the magic. Right. I scrunched my forehead again so they’d know I was trying. “Okay. So if your hands are where the connections are coming out of my chest—hey, does it look like the creature from Aliens ?” I lifted my hands and curled them into little alien heads.
“Rory!” Ellis sounded scandalized. “This is serious!” He grabbed my right hand and held it. Well, I was okay with that too.
“Fine.” I let my left hand fall onto Shane’s knee. He was sitting cross-legged facing me. “Your hands are on our connections, so the magic wheel is right beneath them?”
“Yes,” Ellis gritted out. “Try to relax and let your mind follow the path from our hands into your body. ”
Shane patted my thigh. My dick twitched and I wished he would move his hand a little higher. “Think of it like an electrical connection. You’ve got the power source in your chest, and the electrical current is moving in and out through where our hands are.”
“Huh.” I wasn’t sure electricity went in both directions, but the description itself sounded logical. I focused on how warm their hands were on my skin, then I followed that warmth down—“Holy fuck!” I grabbed Ellis and Shane’s hands on my chest, and I pulled my knees up in an instinctive need to... protect the magic? Who knew.
It was beautiful. A spinning wheel of bright sparks. I might not be able to see the connections when they were outside my body, but I could damn sure see them here. I had several, including two super huge ones I knew were Shane and Ellis. I even knew which was which.
“Wow. This is amazing. Um, when we bond, then do the connections just get stronger? No, wait. The compendium said something about pooling our magic?” Even now my magic looked like it was trying to climb the connections to Shane and Ellis like Tarzan on a couple of vines. I guessed the consent part was taken care of.
I’d dislodged Shane’s hand from my thigh when I’d curled my body up, but now he put it back on my knee. “Yes. We’ll each see our magic wheels exactly where they are now, but they’ll look bigger and brighter, with all of our connections shared among the three of us. We won’t see the connections between the three of us anymore, because our magic is already combined.”
“Got it.” I straightened my legs. Shane let his hand slide back up to my thigh. Yes! Reluctantly—because I could’ve stared at my magic wheel for a couple more hours—I opened my eyes .
Shane and Ellis smiled down at me. I felt their affection—love? It was getting close—through our joined hands on my chest. Through our connections.
It wasn’t enough. I wanted, needed to be bonded. To share our magic, our souls. I pushed my want/need/lust out toward their magical wheels.
I lifted their hands to my mouth, but I needed more. “Kiss me.”
I had to let go of their hands so they could move, so I spread my arms out, waiting for Shane and Ellis to fill them.
Ellis pulled his glasses off and tossed them toward the nightstand. “Anytime.” He leaned down and took my mouth. My eyes closed, but I reached out for Shane—we needed him too.
This time there was no hesitation. He slid down to lie beside me, pressing his body against mine. He was still wearing his boxers, but they were damp with precum and he was hard, so hard. I moaned and tore my mouth from Ellis’ so I could see Shane’s hot gaze.
But he was doing more than just looking. He’d put his hand on Ellis’ back and was urging him to press into me. I gasped when Ellis’ dick slid along mine.
“There you go” Shane stroked Ellis’ flank and drew his fingers through his crease. Ellis shuddered against me, And I could swear I felt Shane’s fingers on me. I was a big fan of this feedback loop.
Shane leaned away again and once more I had to break off from Ellis’ kiss to see what he was doing. This time he was reaching over to open the drawer in the nightstand.
“I've been tested recently.” I didn't want anything between us, and I didn't want to risk condoms impacting the success of our bonding .
Ellis smiled down at me. “Shane and I are good to go as well.”
Shane tossed the bottle of lube next to my hip. I lifted my head toward him, hoping for a kiss, but he dodged me.
“Hold on, I need to do this first.” He nudged Ellis slightly to the side and, gripping our cocks together in one hand, he bent down.
I wanted so, so badly to thrust into his grip and feel Ellis’ cock moving against mine while being held by Shane. But instead all I did was watch, frozen in anticipation as Shane stretched out his tongue and licked our weeping slits with one long stroke.
“Shit!” Ellis wriggled in Shane’s grip. Spikes of lust were arrowing through our connections, and they bounced back and forth so much I couldn’t tell who was originating them.
My balls were swollen and aching. “Fuck, we need to get to the main event, or I won't last.”
“Are you sure?” Shane opened his mouth wide and hovered over our dicks, trapped in his fist.
Holy shit. Three lightning strikes of arousal ricocheted through us. These were so strong and sharp, I could feel who’d sparked each of them. I half sat up to stop my orgasm.
Ellis sucked in a breath and pulled out of Shane’s hold, clamping his fingers around his dick. Shane released me and rolled onto his side. He lifted his hand, soaked with our precum, and brought it to his mouth.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” This was the hottest sex I'd ever had, and Shane was still wearing his boxers.
“Anybody object to a train? ”
I opened my eyes to see Shane had picked up the bottle of lube. For someone who'd been so hesitant a few minutes ago, and who I was pretty sure had never had a three-way before, he was spectacularly confident.
“Ellis, you get Rory ready, and I’ll prep you.”
I couldn’t help the jolt of lust I sent out to the others. “You are so fucking sexy.”
Shane smiled shyly. I wanted to hug him and fuck him at the same time. “Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah.” I pulled him down into a dirty kiss, tasting the tang of precum on his lips and tongue. “Fuck,” I panted as he pulled away.
He rolled me onto my side and slapped my ass. “Stay there. Let Ellis play with you.” I heard the cap on the lube bottle open as he gave Ellis a messy kiss of his own.
Fuck, I didn’t know how I was going to last. “Not much prep,” I told Ellis over my shoulder. “I can’t take it.”
“I gotchu.” He grunted, which, based on the phantom fingers in my ass, meant Shane had already gotten to work.
I cried out when Shane hit Ellis’ prostate. “No! Dammit, I’m right on the edge!”
Ellis panted hard as two of his shaking fingers pressed into my hole. I forced myself to relax, breathing out and bearing down. In front of me, all three of our phones lit up on the nightstand. I closed my eyes and hoped the others didn’t see that.
I forgot the phones when Ellis added a third finger. He was... how was he doing that? “Ellis, Jesus, fuck.” It was like his fingers were everywhere—everywhere—except on my prostate .
He snickered. “It’s the Yo-Yo practice.”
“The what? Fuck, never mind. Get your dick in me right now.” I tried to squirm away to get his fingers out of me, but he clamped a hand on my hip to keep me still.
Through the connection I felt more than his fingers as he gasped out, “Just... as soon as Shane is in... me.” He gave a grunt, and after a few seconds I felt Ellis’ real cock replacing his fingers. Fucking finally.
I groaned as he pushed inside, gritting my teeth as he grazed my prostate. I didn’t dare touch my dick. I looped my ankle around Ellis’ leg to make sure I stayed on my side and didn’t fall forward. One thrust of my dick against the sheet and I’d be a goner.
Oh, fuck. “Guys, we can’t forget— hnngh —to bond.” Ellis froze. “What are we supposed to be doing again?”
I reached back and found Shane’s forearm. I remembered we all had to be touching.
“Fuck.” Ellis panted in my ear. “Intent and consent. Visualize our magic combining.”
Shit. Visualizing would be difficult right now. “Okay. I intend to bond with you, Shane and Ellis. And I consent to the bonding and combining our magic.” As Ellis and Shane repeated what I’d said, I closed my eyes and looked for the magic wheel. The sparks were consuming the connections to Ellis and Shane.
I felt an odd pressure in my chest, and then I was coming, and I felt Ellis and Shane coming too. Wrapped around me, in my head and in my heart. The magic wheel threw off a shower of sparks, and then it was huge—much more than three times its original size. The filaments of hundreds of connections extended out, away from us. I could see Pia’s, and Manny’s , and Arch’s, and all of the Wonders in Shane and Ellis’ Districts.
Ellis gathered me close, and Shane’s arm cradled both of us. I put my hand over theirs on my chest and closed my eyes, smiling.
This is so much better than last time.
“Fuck!” I scrambled to sit up, wincing as Ellis’ dick was unpleasantly yanked from my hole.
Shane and Ellis wore identical chagrined expressions. Ellis chuckled. “I guess we forgot to ease you into being able to speak mind-to-mind after bonding.”