42. Chapter 42
Mason
“Get off your back, it’s bad for the baby.” Lucian planted a palm on either side of my face, wrapping his hands around the arm of the couch.
My lips parted as I slipped my purple leather bookmark between the pages before closing my book and looking toward my husband. The ceiling light caused him to cast a shadow on me as his long, curly hair hid us from the world.
“Are you going to punish me if I don’t?” My whisper was a hopeful one.
Lucian closed his eyes and exhaled deep, his cinnamon scented breath cascaded over my face. “I can’t.”
My brow furrowed. “Why?”
I was tired of the fifteen minutes of missionary with Sebastian. After Rosie was born, I wasn’t allowed to have sex for a full six weeks, and that was almost worse than death. It wasn’t a crime that I wanted a few last minutes of fun, but everyone had been avoiding me like the plague.
“I’m sick,” he reminded me. “I’ve had a fever and shit.”
“You’re literally breathing on me!” I whined. “If I’m going to get sick, it’s going to happen.”
“ Kitten .” His tone rested half way between a warning and a hum. “Isn’t it enough that I love you unconditionally? I’m good at more than sex, you know. ”
If anyone else in the house had said that, I might have taken it seriously.
But, more often than not, Lucian was the one who woke me up with head.
He’d interrupt my showers just to fuck me in them.
I’d get up in the middle of the night for a snack, and he’d bend me over the kitchen counter and take me for his own.
He couldn’t keep his hands off me and that’s the way life should have been.
I spent long enough with my ex-fiance to learn the ins and outs of bad sex, and I now deserved the good stuff morning, noon, and night.
But, the second Lucian screamed at me, all that stopped.
Come to think of it, he and I hadn’t even been alone for more than ten minutes since then.
Something in my soul told me I was running out of time in this life, and I had come to terms with it.
Sure, I wanted longer, but if my time was coming, I had no choice but to accept it, even if no one else would.
To prevent the house from freaking out like Sebastian did, I kept those feelings to myself.
Still, holding my emotions in didn’t stop me from wanting to make the most of however long I had left.
“Why are you avoiding me?”
My question caused his forehead to crease.
“I’m not avoiding you,” he said softly, almost defensively. “I’ve been busy with trying to write songs, plus I’ve been painting Rosie’s room like you asked.”
“Thanks for painting her room… even if she’s not yours .” I picked my book up and opened it once more.
I was willing to forgive him for earlier if he just fucked me, but no, Lucian couldn’t just take the easy way out.
“Mason, don’t be like that,” he pleaded, but I was done.
I kept my attention on the pages, refusing to look at my husband . “Like what? Honest? ”
I patiently waited for him to at least insult me. If Sophia had mouthed off to Lucian, he’d have called her a bitch, and while I preferred physical punishment, I could live with name calling.
Instead, he sighed and kissed my forehead before forcing me to sit up just long enough to slip pillows under my back.
“There,” he mused as he helped me resettle. “More comfortable? ”
I looked up just long enough to glare. Was this more comfortable? Absolutely. But, I wasn’t telling him that.
“No,” I muttered, trying to sound as angry as possible.
Lucian’s silence told me more than his expression ever could.
He didn’t like how I was acting, but I didn’t like his behavior either.
His presence lingered for just long enough to make the lack of conversation awkward, and part of me debated giving him a less than genuine apology because I really didn’t like arguing with my lovers. Especially Lucian and Cameron.
“I love you.” His voice was soft, almost pleading, and it was enough to make me look up from my book.
“I love you more,” I conceded.
“And, I hope you know I love both of you.” He walked over before lowering himself to kiss the swell of my stomach.
His gesture was sweet, but it felt like a consolation prize. And, while it helped take away the sting of my rejected advances, it didn’t erase how undesirable it made me feel.
He straightened up, weaving his fingers together and stretching. I tried to focus on my signature on his hip rather than the way his lean muscles twitched under his sea of dark tattoos.
“I’m getting some rest.” He yawned. “Whose bed are you planning on sleeping in tonight?”
“Sophia’s.” Her bed was the biggest, and the sea of downy pillows made it easier for me to get comfortable.
“I’ll see you there,” he promised. “Don’t stay up too late.”
I didn’t respond, instead I watched as he walked away. Sebastian came down the steps as Lucian walked up, but neither of them acknowledged the other’s presence.
My gaze stayed transfixed on Lucian as he vanished from my line of sight, when I looked back down, Sebastian was inches away from joining me on the couch.
Missionary here I come .
The piercings in his nipples and belly button glinted in the light as he lifted my feet and settled under them.
“What are you reading, Princess?”
I was so distracted by Sebastian’s lack of shirt that I’d almost forgotten I had a book on my chest. Heat flooded my cheeks as Sebastian pointed to what was essentially seven hundred pages of glorious vampire alien smut.
“ Beneath Alien Shadows ,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t ask for more information than that.
He smirked and extended a hand. “Why don’t you relax and let me read it to you?”
My eyes practically bugged out of my head as I tightened my grip on the novel.
If I told him no, he’d ask why. Either way was going to end in him knowing I was sitting in the living room with literary pornography , so instead of forcing myself to verbally explain why I’d prefer he didn’t, I handed him the book.
Sebastian took my bookmark out and rested it on the end table as he pushed up his glasses and spread the pages.
“Gloria’s back met the wall as D- Draukox?
” Sebastian looked to me for approval of his pronunciation, and I nodded.
“ Draukox stalked toward her. The blue marbling under his alabaster skin illuminated, causing him to glow with an otherworldly radiance that was both terrifying and arousing. For weeks, Gloria had been a prisoner on his ship. She was a lone soul on an alien vessel. She was starved and filthy, but determined to remain unbroken. ”
As strange as this situation was, it was kinda hot .
Sebastian’s voice was impossibly deep, and if he didn’t already have a successful career, he could be a fantastic voice actor.
He turned the page before slipping a hand onto my thigh and tracing patterns into my skin. A warm shiver ran up my spine.
“ To Draukox, she was an enigma. Human women often feared his kind, but Gloria remained defiant. As he stood before her, a primal hunger to the likes that he’d never experienced consumed him.
He was used to sustaining his life by dining on the blood of human virgins, but for the first time, he wanted to taste more than her life’s essence.
‘Why do you resist me?’ He murmured before resting his lips to her neck. Her pulse drummed against his lips. ”
My pulse quickened as I closed my eyes and prepared to fully enjoy my own personal audiobook.
Sebastian’s touch trailed higher, his fingers slipped under the elastic on my thighs.
“ Her scent seeped through her pores, and Draukox’s fangs scraped against her skin. Blood bubbled to the surface before he ran a scratchy tongue over her skin. Gloria’s breath hitched. ‘You know you belong to me human’, Draukox promised, his voice soft as silk. ”
Sebastian’s voice mixed with the story was enough to make me sweat. A stifled moan exited my lips as Sebastian slipped my underwear to the side, his fingers meeting my incredibly needy clit.
“What are you two doing?” Sophia called.
Her sudden appearance almost made me jump out of my skin.
Sebastian’s fingers stilled as he turned to face her. Instantly, I tried to shift around and save some of my decency, but Seb held me in place. My skin prickled as I finally realized what was going to happen.
“Reading to Mason. It’s like a bedtime story.” Sebastian explained. “Would you care to join us?”
Her full lips curved into a knowing smile as she closed the distance between us before sitting on the ground beside me.
“Oh, I would love to.”
Once Sophia was fully settled in, Sebastian resumed toying with my clit.
“Now, where were we?” He sounded completely nonchalant.
Like he wasn’t fingering me in the living room.
“ You know you belong to me, human’, Draukox promised, his voice soft as silk.
Heat pooled low in Gloria’s belly as his breath washed over her face, causing all her thoughts to vanish into a cloud of gray fuzz. ”
Sophia leaned in closer, her sapphire eyes laser focused on mine. “Are you enjoying the story, Honeybee?”
I feverishly nodded like my enthusiasm alone would be enough to prevent this moment from slipping away.
“The world’s most beloved pop star is laying on my couch, getting fingered while listening to alien porn–It’s kind of pathetic, don’t you think?” Sophia’s tone was oddly cheerful as her comment caused embarrassment to mix with my arousal.
It was a powerful combination, one Sophia was more than experienced at doling out.
My cheeks burned with the type of heat that slowly inched down my neck.
Sebastian continued his advances and despite my embarrassment, or perhaps because of it, my body reacted stronger than it had before. My toes curled slightly as I whimpered.
Sophia snuck her hand under the hem of my shirt before slithering her way to my breast as Sebastian continued to read.