Chapter 24
Leo
Can twenty-two-year-olds have heart attacks?
It feels like they can. I’m half tempted to Google it, but I couldn’t pull myself away from Parker and Mia if a gun were to my head.
My lungs and heart have collectively lost all sense of how to work properly.
The three of us are connected in the most intimate, physical way possible, and yet it still doesn’t feel close enough.
The knot in my throat chokes me with an abundance of emotion, my eyes burning with unshed tears.
Sex has been emotionally charged before with Mia and was with Parker as well, but all of us together?
Nothing can compare. My body heats from the inside out, and I feel like I could combust at any moment.
For the first time in my life, I don’t know what to do with the emotion flowing through me.
So, I lean on the two people here with me, knowing they’re both feeling the same way, and we’ll see each other through all of it.
I sweep a rogue strand of hair out of Mia’s face, dropping my lips to her jaw.
She feels incredible. We’ve had anal sex before, but having Parker fill her pussy at the same time unlocks an entirely new level of pleasure. I can feel him next to me.
“Please move, please fuck me,” she begs, her voice that sexy, desperate plea that brings me to my knees every single time.
“Anything for you, baby,” I whisper. I sit back up on my knees, threading my fingers through Parker’s at her hips, and drag my cock out of her tight little ass. She clenches around me, and a wave of pleasure scatters over me.
“Oh, fuuuuck,” Parker moans, gripping her hips tighter. As I start to thrust back in, Parker pulls out, the slow drag of his cock gliding past mine. Together, we find a steady rhythm, alternating filling her ass and her pussy. It feels so fucking good, and I know I won’t last long.
“Yes! Yes! Oh, fuck, this is everything,” Mia chants, her moans filling the room. I run my hand up her spine and back down again, my eyes locked on the erotic display in front of me.
“Look at you, stretched so wide, so full of cock. Is that what you wanted, Mia?”
“Yes! This. You both. God! I’m gonna come!
I’m coming! God!” If I thought Mia was tight before, it’s nothing compared to what happens when her orgasm hits her.
Her entire body locks up, squeezing and contracting around my length.
Parker and I both release guttural moans, and Mia, quite literally, forces our orgasms from us.
I pop off first, falling forward as I’m taken under with her.
Parker is a split second after me, moaning low and deep.
“You’re making us come, rebel. Fuck, you’re so fucking perfect.”
She drags us off that cliff with her, and together, we free-fall into the abyss.
There’s no safety net, no promises of what’s to come after, just the trust that we’ll eventually come up for air.
We give everything up to each other, our arms wrapped tightly around each other, holding on for life, holding on to this love that defies everything, but couldn’t be more perfect and right.
Thunder booms outside the window, the space filling with a quick, blinding flash of lightning. The floors themselves seem to rattle and shake, and as pleasure hits an all-time high, I hear the faint words, “I love you! I love you!” and realize they’re coming from me.
Our combined orgasms seem to go on for an eternity, until the three of us are completely spent, lying in a tangled, sweaty heap on Parker’s bed.
Mia’s head rests against his chest, all our arms twisted and locked together as we focus on steadying our breathing and letting our heart rates find a more reasonable, less concerning rate.
Fingertips trail lightly across my clammy skin, and I’m too out of it to know whose.
“How do you feel?” I ask, not bothering to address either of them, and wanting an answer from both.
“Better than ever, like my heart could burst at any moment,” Mia laughs, her fingers running across Parker’s chest.
“Park?”
“Mmm?”
“How are you feeling?”
“Like everything I’ve ever wanted is right here in my arms.” Peace settles deep into the marrow of my bones at his confession.
I may not have known it or understood it, but he’s right, the three of us were always supposed to be together like this.
There was never going to be another option.
Now, I just need to figure out how to embrace what I’ve found and be open about it.
That’s going to start with getting through these trials with Parker, even if that means the Ashcroft family legacy dies with my dad and Crimson Veil doesn’t initiate me.
No matter what the Veil asks of me, I’ll always put Parker and Mia first.
Our bodies start to chill, so we take turns showering, annoyed that Parker’s is just a single standing cubicle that couldn’t even fit two.
After grabbing a snack and water from the fridge, the three of us change the sheets and crawl into Parker’s queen-sized bed.
Mia to my front, Parker to her back. I’m the last to fall asleep, not wanting to miss a moment of being together like this, when my mind and heart are settled, without fear, without judgement, without anything to hide.
The moment I leave my dorm room, a cold chill starts to creep in, slow and suffocating, settling behind my ribs uncomfortably.
Hushed whispers carry on the wind, eyes meeting mine and then looking away too quickly.
I run my hand nervously through my hair, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand for toothpaste, patting my pants to double-check I put them on.
I’m not a self-important man, but I can’t help but notice they all seem to be looking at me.
That’s when it hits me. I don’t need anyone to tell me what’s happening because I know. I knew it was coming, and yet, it doesn’t change the pain of facing it. Our confessions were released.
I don’t know how I forgot to tell Parker about how that trial would go, and the fear of him thinking I shared his secrets slams into me stronger than anything else right now.
The emotion is so prominent, it nearly brings me to my knees.
My stomach drops so hard it feels like I’m on an elevator that just snapped, plummeting to the bottom floor with no one to stop the crash and burn that will inevitably follow.
The information spreads like wildfire, everything Parker shared with me in the confession trial.
The fact that he’s adopted and is here to find out more about his legacy and connection to the Grimsley family line.
After being known at Corvus for over three years, no one would have expected Parker to be related to one of the founding families, and since that relation is so important to the very foundation of Corvus College, it’s kind of a big fucking deal.
The fact that it was concealed and kept a secret? Also, kind of a big fucking deal.
The kicker? I’m more concerned about Parker thinking I could ever break his trust like this than I am about my own confession about wanting to live my own life and not follow in my dad’s footsteps, spreading around Corvus, the Veil, and getting back to my father.
Fuck knowledge and secrecy. Fuck using other people’s secrets to benefit us. I choose love. I choose him and Mia.
This is why I was supposed to stick to my perfectly curated script, to protect myself, to never give anyone the power that information holds.
But I let Parker hand that over to the Veil and me on a gold platter, and I was so caught up in everything between Mia and us that I forgot the plans for those confessions.
The ambition trial is all about access to information and how you’ll use that information.
My dad expects me to have told them some bullshit that could never affect me, and to use the information I was given to get myself ahead.
“The way to the top is to climb, and if you have to climb on the backs of others to get there, so be it.” That’s not who I am.
That’s not who I want to be. And if Crimson Veil values that, then I won’t be part of Crimson Veil either. My name be damned.
By the time I reach the doors of Crimson Keep, the information is everywhere, spreading faster than I ever could have kept up with, slipping through whispers and half-concealed conversations.
Parker is going to think it was me. The thought alone is like a gut punch, knocking the air straight out of my lungs.
Why wouldn’t he think it was me? No one else knew besides Mia.
And out of the two of us, why would he trust me over her?
I’m the one who was reluctant to be in this trio.
I’m the one who put up a fight. I’m the one who has the most to lose.
My heart nearly shatters as that fear clutches me like a vise grip, it squeezes, poisoning my thoughts like a virus.
We had just found something real, something whole, and now it’s already wilting before it’s even had a chance to bloom.
I stand frozen at the bottom step of Crimson Keep, the world moving around me while my life has paused.
Three ravens sit perched in front of the elaborate, snow-dusted tracery, unafraid of the grotesques and gargoyles keeping them company.
Their beady eyes peer down on me before croaking and flying right over my head.
Two students rush out of Crimson Veil, the heavy doors opening, a gust of warmth hitting my cheeks.
My feet are moving before I realize it, desperate to get to Parker before anyone else does.
If he hasn’t left his room yet, maybe I’ll have the opportunity, maybe luck will be on my side, and I can prepare him.