Chapter 52
Haven
Thud
My eyes fly open, and for a horrible moment, I can’t move. As I frantically scan my surroundings, I realize I’m alone in Bastian’s bed.
Which would have been fine…if I could remember how the hell I got here.
I sit up in a rush, the sheets pooling around my naked waist.
The room is too quiet. The air has an eerie, breathy kind of silence that makes my skin prickle.
“Kai?” My voice sounds odd, like I’m speaking underwater. “Bastian?”
Silence.
I can’t tell if it’s dawn or twilight. There’s too much snow, and the sky looks overcast with thick gray clouds. The pale light falling in through the window glass casts everything in shades of gray and blue.
Bastian’s bedroom looks bigger somehow.
The shadows in the corners seem to breathe.
Thud
I jerk toward the sound. Something just slammed into the window hard enough to rattle the glass.
What the hell?
I pad across the floor, my bare feet silent on the hardwood, and press my palm against the floor-to-ceiling window to peer out into the swirling snow.
There’s something lying on the snow outside, right beside the window.
But it’s not a bird.
It’s…a butterfly.
A massive, iridescent blue butterfly—like the paperweight in Bastian’s study.
And it’s not the only one. Another two butterflies lie in the snow nearby, the wings of one of them fluttering as if it’s clinging to life.
That’s not possible.
This can’t be—
Thud
Another butterfly slams into the window right in front of my face, causing me to scream and fall back. Then another. Another.
They’re coming from everywhere now, dozens of them materializing out of the snow like demons.
They sound like a continuous roll of thunder as they batter the glass, their bodies piling up on the ledge, their beady, compound eyes fixed on me with alarming intensity.
The more they pile up, the darker the room becomes—their blue-black wings and furry bodies blocking every glimmer of light.
My legs hit the bed, halting my escape.
“What is happening!” I yell.
A hand claps over my mouth, muffling my scream. Cruel fingers dig into my arms, yanking me backward—fingers I know all too well. Hands I will never forget the feel of.
“Thought you were safe, bitch?”
No.
No, no, no!
I can’t turn around. But I don’t need to—I’d recognize Uncle Lenny’s voice anywhere.
I thrash against his grip, but he’s always outmatched me.
He laughs—that wet, phlegmy sound that used to make me want to vomit—and drags me onto the bed.
“Been waiting for this,” he breathes against my ear. “Been waiting so long, princess.”
Tears stream down my face as he shoves me onto the mattress.
Face down. Ass up.
His weight settles over me, pinning me on the bed. I can feel him fumbling with his belt, can hear the clink of the buckle, and I squeeze my eyes shut because I can’t let this happen, I can’t, I can’t—
The weight disappears.
There’s a thump of flesh meeting flesh—and Uncle Lenny makes a noise I’ve never heard him make before.
Fear.
I flip onto my back just in time to see Kai drag Lenny off the bed by his throat. My boyfriend’s face is a mask of cold fury, his green eyes blazing in the strange half-light struggling through the windows. The butterflies are gone, but the sky is even darker, like day is turning into night.
“You won’t ever touch her again,” Kai snarls.
Bastian slips out of the shadows like he’d been hiding in them all this time. He’s silent as he grabs Lenny’s arm and twists.
Something snaps with an audible cracking sound.
Lenny screams, and then both of them are dragging him away, into the dark, where nightmares go to die.
When I blink, Kai and Bastian are standing at the foot of the bed, watching me, a dark hunger blazing in their eyes.
“He can’t hurt you anymore,” Kai says.
“But we can,” Bastian adds, a smile ghosting over his mouth.
I should be terrified.
I’m not.
I’m desperate for their touch.
“Yes,” I whisper. “Hurt me.”
They move in unison, climbing onto the bed from opposite sides, bracketing me with their bodies. Kai’s hand curls over my throat. Bastian’s fingers trail down my stomach, lower and lower, until they slip between my thighs.
“Our pretty little slut’s already wet for us,” Bastian murmurs.
Kai’s mouth finds mine, swallowing my moan as Bastian’s fingers slide inside me. The stretch is perfect—two fingers, then three—and I’m already so wet, so fucking ready.
Bastian curls his fingers, effortlessly finding the spot inside me that makes my back arch off the bed. Kai’s teeth sink into my bottom lip sharp enough to sting, and I’m gasping, writhing, so deliciously trapped between them I can’t help a whimper of pleasure.
“That’s it,” Bastian says against my ear. “Let go, girl. We’ve got you.”
I’m close. So close. An aching pleasure building inside my core, coiling tighter and tighter, and Kai’s hand on my throat is the only thing keeping me tethered to reality—
My body jerks as I wake up.
I’m disorientated, confused…and horny as fuck.
The room I’m in is dim, gray light struggling to filter through snow-covered windows. My body is on fire—sweaty skin flushed, pulse racing, an ache between my legs that feels almost painful.
Then I register the warmth surrounding me.
I’m trapped between two bodies, their legs laced through mine, their breath warming my neck and shoulders.
Kai and Bastian.
The dream rushes back in fragments. The butterflies. Uncle Lenny. The hands that saved me, then the hands that broke me.
I’m still trembling, but I can’t tell if it’s fear or arousal or some sick combination of the two.
My brain tries to remind me why I’m here, but the memories are locked behind a door I don’t want to open.
So I stop reaching.
I just lie here, sandwiched between two sleeping bodies, and focus on the here and now.
I’m alive.
I’m warm.
I’m safe.
The rest can wait.
Well…some of it can wait.
The ache between my thighs is insistent. Demanding. My dream left me on the edge of an orgasm, and my body doesn’t give a shit that none of it was real.
I’m desperate to finish what my subconscious started.
I shift slightly, testing my range of motion. Kai’s arm is draped over my waist, heavy and possessive even in sleep. Behind me, Bastian’s chest is pressed against my back, his breath slow and even against my hair.
I’m naked between them.
When did that happen?
Fragments surface—hands stripping away wet clothes, warm water sluicing over my skin, the scratch of a towel. But the memories are hazy and dreamlike.
Doesn’t matter.
What matters is the heat pooling low in my belly. The way my nipples have hardened against the sheets. The slickness between my thighs.
I have to be touched.
I need it.
I slide my hand down Kai’s arm. His skin is warm, muscles firm even in sleep. He doesn’t stir as my fingers trace the contours of his forearm, his wrist, the back of his hand where it rests on my hip.
He’s so beautiful when he sleeps. The tension that usually tightens his jaw is gone, his face soft and almost boyish. I can see the shadow of the kid he used to be—the one who played with me in the woods, who loved me before either of us knew what true love cost.
My hand drifts lower, to where I can feel the heat of him through his thin sweats.
He’s…hard.
Not fully, but enough. A thick ridge pressing against cotton, twitching slightly as my fingers ghost over it.
I bite my lip, glancing up at his face. Still asleep.
Bastian suddenly shifts. His arm tightens around my ribcage, pulling me closer, a semi nudging the curve of my ass.
Holy shit.
How can I feel this in control, this powerful, when I’m literally trapped between these two big men and their hard cocks?
My hand slips beneath the waistband of Kai’s sweatpants. He’s not wearing underwear. My fingers wrap around his shaft before I can talk myself out of it.
He lets out a soft grunt, almost a groan.
I freeze.
His hips roll forward, pushing his cock deeper into my grip, but his breathing stays even. Still asleep. Still dreaming.
I stroke him slowly, giving just enough friction to feel him swell and harden in my palm. The head of his cock is already slick with precum, and I use my thumb to spread it around, savoring the way his breath hitches.
“How long do you think you can keep at it before he wakes up, sweet girl?” Bastian’s amused voice is low and rough with sleep. His hand glides down my stomach, fingers splaying over my lower belly.
I don’t stop stroking Kai. “I need you,” I whisper. “Both of you.”
Bastian’s hand slides lower. His fingers brush through the curls between my thighs, finding me soaked.
“Christ,” he breathes. “You’re dripping.”
“Told you I was impatient.”
He lightly circles my clit with a finger—just enough to make me gasp—and my hand involuntarily clenches around Kai’s cock.
Kai stirs against my front. “The fuck? Heavenly?”
“Morning, sunshine,” I manage, my voice shakier than I’d like. Bastian’s finger is still circling, circling, driving me insane.
Kai’s eyes are open now, hazy with sleep but darkening as he takes in the situation. His gaze drops to where my hand disappears into his sweatpants, then flicks to Bastian behind me.
“The fuck?” he asks again.
“She’s a needy little slut,” Bastian murmurs. “I’m helping.”
“Helping,” Kai repeats flatly.
“Would you rather I stop?”
Kai doesn’t answer. His jaw tightens, and for a moment I think he’s going to pull away—to retreat into the wounded, jealous version of himself I thought we’d left behind at The Railyard.
Then his hand comes up to cup my breast, thumb rolling over my nipple, a loud moan escaping. I clamp my lips shut, embarrassed by how fucking desperate I sound.
“Don’t stop,” he says, but he’s not talking to me. He’s looking over my shoulder at Bastian. “Don’t you dare fucking stop.”
Bastian’s finger slides inside me.
I arch between them, trapped in the most exquisite way.
“Yes,” I gasp. “God, that feels so good.”