Chapter 71
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
Lunch is silent. Both men sit at the other end of the table, right next to each other.
Both eat while watching me with unnerving intensity.
I would have a hard time telling them apart, but I’ve been around them for long enough to recognize the slightly withdrawn look in Axel’s eyes.
Despite that, they look like twin images of each other, and something has changed.
I’m not sure what, but something during their hushed conversation in the kitchen.
It sends a thrill through my body. I’m not sure if I should run or stay as still as fucking possible.
I don’t eat much, which Gage notices. He demands I have another serving. It goes down like dust.
Finally, when Gage thinks I’ve had enough, he wipes his mouth with a napkin, meeting my gaze behind his glasses. “I hear you’re thinking of running.”
Oh shit. I shoot an accusatory look at Axel. And that’s when I realize what the difference is. The animosity between them is lower. They’re sitting on the same side, and neither of them has fought the entire meal. They’ve both been focused on me.
That sends an unexpected mix of dread and anticipation through me.
Axel just shrugs his shoulders. “Whoops.”
I snap my gaze back to Gage. “It’s not running. I’ve done what we agreed I’d do.”
A look flashes across Gage’s face before he shutters it. “I want you to stay.”
I swallow, the declaration hanging heavy over the table.
“I, uh…” A rush of thoughts runs through my head. My plan to run to Alaska and open a bookstore. Max. The feelings I’ve started to have for Gage. This push and pull Axel and I have.
My fingertips get cold.
“She’s scared,” Axel volunteers.
I cut him a harsh glance, which he pretends not to see.
“Of what?” Gage asks.
I frown. “I’m not scared. I just… can’t. I’m going to start over.”
Gage’s gaze shutters even more.
“I’m a free woman. I can do what I want.” Why the hell do I feel defensive right now?
“Poe is free, but she comes back.” Axel’s look is positively evil. He knows he’s poking me where it hurts.
I stand. “Thanks for lunch. We need groceries. I’ll get them.”
Axel and Gage stand with me. Axel has a slight smirk on his lips. “Awww, don’t go flying off now.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“I won’t.” Axel points at Gage. “I want you to tell him what to do.”
I glance between them. Gage looks confused.
“I want you to tell him to sit his ass back down.” Axel raises an eyebrow at me. Like he expects me to obey like a good little girl.
“What if I want you to sit your ass back down?” I fire back.
Axel raises his hands and sits on the table. He looks at me expectantly. “Now tell him to do it.”
Gage frowns more. “I’m not gonna—”
“Shut the hell up and listen to your woman.” Axel turns his gaze to me, and this time, he looks innocent.
What is he doing?
I mirror Axel’s look, deciding to play along with whatever this is. Then I say sweetly, “Gage, would you please sit down?”
Axel makes a disgusted sound.
But Gage does sit. He looks at me with a furrow between his brows. “What are–”
“Now tell him what a good boy he’s being.” Axel locks eyes with me.
The room goes still. My heart is racing. I glance between Gage and Axel, but Gage looks just as confused. Not upset, just confused. Then he adjusts himself in his chair, pulling his pants.
Is he… turned on?
I glance behind me.
“What?” Axel taunts. “Wanna tell Gage why you’re scared?”
“Shut the fuck up,” I say. Axel’s smile doesn’t falter, but he does shut up.
I take a few steps until I’m in front of Gage with Axel sitting beside us. “Good boy,” I say, eyes locked on Axel’s.
His eyes flash with lust. Then, from one of the other chairs, he pulls out a few bundles of rope.
My blood sings. Rope?
“You like to be in control. My brother is too scared to ask for it. So I want you to tie him to the chair and fuck him while I watch.”
My brain takes a second to catch up, and I see Gage’s mouth tighten. I glance down at him, and his pupils are so big that his eyes are almost black. I wonder if mine are the same because the idea of putting Gage fully at my mercy is lighting my entire body up.
Then, it hits me that these two are usually fighting over me. Now… that’s not happening. Why?
I narrow my eyes at Axel. “You got something with watching?”
“Yes,” Axel answers without hesitation. “And listening.”
So that’s it. He gets something out of throwing his brother at me. I shift. “Watching your brother?” I ask, hesitation entering my tone.
“No, little bird.” Axel’s voice lowers, and his gaze burns into mine. “You.”
“Don’t call me that,” I whisper almost automatically.
Axel holds my gaze. “Then what should I call you?”
A bunch of thoughts rush through my head at the same time. I could ask him to call me Celeste. Or Raven. Or any number of things. The power Axel is offering me rolls through my veins, making me feel heady, and I want to test him. See how far he’ll go.
“Nothing. Just leave me alone.” The words feel wrong coming out of my mouth.
“Not gonna happen.”
I glance down at Gage, and he licks his lips, eyes level with my tits, which he tries not to look at. Suddenly, I want to push them in his face. Order him not to touch me and rub my tits all over him. Watch him squirm to obey.
Axel hands me the rope. “What’ll it hurt? One more before you fly off with those pretty, broken wings.”
There’s a moment between us. One where Axel unshutters the typical blank look on his face, and I see the same fear reflected back at me. Axel is afraid, too. Maybe just as much as I am.
Gage speaks up, “You don’t have to-”
“Shhh.” I hold my finger to Gage’s mouth, glancing down at him and shuddering when his lips feather across my skin. Gage stops talking, and it’s the most intoxicating feeling. He’s listening to me. Obeying.
“That’s a good boy.”
Gage’s lashes flutter. The fine lashes that look like they’re frosted over, hooding over his light eyes. He’s into it. He loves it. There’s one final moment of hesitation before I grab the rope. “Put your hands behind your back.”
Gage looks up at me, not doing what I asked. I grab him under the chin, forcing him to look up at me, feeling the strong beat of his heart. I wait for him to tell me no. To tell me to stop.
“Do it. Now.”
Gage swallows against my grip but does as I ask. The chair has no armrests and a wooden back, but Gage is big enough that he has no problem.
“Good.” I step over him so I’m straddling him.
Axel steps behind the chair with rope, grabbing Gage’s wrists. Beneath me, Gage tenses a little.
I arch an eyebrow at him, and immediately, Gage loosens. The power he’s giving me is intoxicating. I suck in a breath, feeling a shiver run down my spine. Then, I wrap my own rope around Gage’s torso. I want him fully under my control, unable to even lean forward.
His broad chest heaves with breath, but he just watches me. “Fuck, Raven…”
“Yes?”
Gage squirms, but Axel is done securing his hands.
“What?”
“God, you’re so…” He struggles for words.
I wait for him, unbuttoning my shirt. His eyes go wide, staring at me as I strip down to my bra.
“Gage?” I say, leaning into him.
“Huh?” he asks, eyes locked on my tits in my bra.
I lean into him, whispering into his ear. “You can touch me.”
I feel his body respond, pulling against the ropes, but he can only move the smallest bit. He makes a sound of distress. A whimper, really. And it shoots straight down to my clit.
Then, Gage’s lips are on my neck, kissing and nipping until I pull away. He tries to clear the stricken look from his face when a sound pulls my focus away.
“Damn, you’re cold.” Axel nods at me with an approving look in his eye. And suddenly, I feel awkward again. I’m sitting on his brother with my shirt off for both of them to see. Are they going to get mad? Jealous?
I glance back at Gage, but he’s only focused on me, and his eyes look hungry. I’m too scared to look at Axel, although I can feel his smoldering gaze all over my skin.
“Come here,” Gage says in a low voice.
“I’m right here,” I say, reaching around to unclip my bra. When it falls away, both men pull in a breath. Then my tits are there in Gage’s face, but not quite close enough for him to lean his head forward to touch.
He tries though.
“Raven,” he strains at the ropes.
“Hmmm?”
Gage fights the restraints, his large body twisting and bucking. For a second, I worry he’ll get out, and that just makes me get even wetter. But the ties hold, and he remains where he is, chest heaving.
“Raven, please.” There’s a note of desperation in his tone. A pretty sound. One I’ve been aching to hear this whole time.
“I want your pants off.” I start to try to take them down, but it’s difficult with him secured in the chair. He can get some clearance off the seat, but not enough to clear the thick band.
Axel moves beside me, leaving the room and coming back with a pair of scissors. I eye the sweatpants sadly. I like these. Gage will have to get more.
I move to the band, and Gage stills, eyes on mine.
“I won’t cut you,” I promise.
“Booo,” Axel says. I glare at him. He just winks. “You can cut me anytime you want.”
“Not happening,” I mutter, slicing through Gage’s pants after some considerable sawing.
As soon as I’m done, I clear his underwear too.
Gage’s dick pops out, hard and bobbing. My mouth waters at the sight of it, remembering how it felt, throbbing in my throat last night.
I slide my own pants down, pointedly ignoring Axel right beside us.
My cheeks heat, and I try to focus just on Gage. I shimmy out of my pants.
“Damn,” Axel says, all traces of joking gone from his voice. I risk a look at him, and he swallows hard, the mask he usually wears gone. Instead, he’s looking at me with unfiltered lust.
I sit on Gage’s lap, feeling his warmth against my now naked body.
“Condom,” he gasps.
I glance down at him. I’m clean, but I’m not on birth control. I haven’t needed it since I left Max.
“I’m clean.” He bucks his hips as much as he can. “Axel, top drawer in my bedroom.”
As Axel leaves, I lean into Gage while he’s gone, embarrassment curling up my spine.
“God, Raven, you make me so fucking hot.” There’s a throaty sound in Gage’s voice. “Fuck, Axel, hurry up!”
“Easy.” Axel returns, laughing. He drops a packet between our chests, the packaging scratching as it falls between us.
I glance over at Axel while unwrapping the condom. He just lifts an eyebrow.
I get back to the man in front of me, grabbing his dick and rolling the condom over it. Gage swallows audibly. “I want to be inside you. Please.”
“Please?” I taunt, but having Gage’s dick in my hand makes me want it too. I want to feel him grind against my G-spot until it’s all I can think about.
“Please, oh fuck.” His dick jerks in my hand. He grinds his hips up as much as he can. “Oh fuck, I can’t–” He gasps for breath. “I can’t think; I need it so bad. Please, just–”
I pull him to my entrance and press just the tip inside. Then, slowly, inch by inch, I sink down.
Gage throws his head back and moans, the veins in his neck sticking out. The stretch is delicious, sending pleasurable thrills through me. I shake with the effort to hold myself up, and Gage strains at his ropes.
Finally, I sit all the way down, settling onto his lap, pleasure racing through me.
Gage pants, his breath heavy. I start to move, wanting to grind up on him.
“Wait,” Gage tenses, “Wait, fuck! Just wait.”
I freeze, then start slowly rolling my hips. “I didn’t hear a please.”
“Please,” Gage whimpers. “I’m going to come.”
I stop. Gage swallows heavily, squeezing his eyes shut. I glance over at Axel, expecting to see him stroking his dick. Only, he’s fully clothed, staring at me with hooded eyes. There’s an expression there that I can’t quite make out.
Then Gage shifts, making my pussy clench, and I moan. I slip my hand between us, playing with my clit. I’m already so wound up that immediately, my pussy flutters. Gage sucks in a breath and holds it, his body still.
“Do you want to feel me come on your dick?” I ask, feeling close already.
Gage nods, then quickly answers, “Yes, yes, please.”
Since he answered so sweetly. I rub myself in tight circles, my body already on the edge.
I build and build until I come, body exploding with pleasure.
I curl into Gage, pussy pulsing around him.
I feel his arms try to move, and then he stops.
The pleasure holds me captive for a few beats, and I start to relax around him, breathing heavily.
After a few beats, I start to grind on Gage, but Axel says, sounding bored, “Just one?”
My eyebrows shoot up, and I glance over at him.
“You can do more. Come around him until he can’t hold out any longer.”
I look at Gage, who has a hungry look on his face.
“See how many it takes him.” Axel leans back in his chair, getting a mocking tone. “How many can you last, big bro?”
I take him up on the dare, rubbing myself again, already on the edge from the last orgasm. This one tips me over even more powerfully, and I can’t help but groan into Gage’s neck.
Then, I do it again and again until it becomes painful.
The more sound I make, the more Gage’s breathing picks up and his body tenses.
Finally, when I’m circling my clit, not sure if it’s hurting more than it feels good, Gage grunts, body tensing, and I can tell he’s about to come.
I rise up and down, riding his dick until Gage grunts in a stuttered way, dick jerking, coming so hard I can feel the spurts of cum through the condom.
It pushes me over the edge one last time, and we both come together, locked in pleasure.
Even once the pulsing pleasure stops, I find myself locked in a haze of pleasure, everything looking fuzzy.
Closing my eyes, I lay my head on Gage’s shoulder, just breathing.
He nuzzles his head into mine. For a second, I freak out and feel for the monster that’s usually around the corner.
I stiffen, waiting for it to pounce when I’ve let my guard down.
But there’s nothing. For some odd reason, I feel nothing but safety.
And I can’t get up the energy to freak out about that.