83. Seth
Seth
“BITS AND PIECES OF YOU. THEY’RE EVERYWHERE.”
Citizen Soldier Playlist
“Invisible”
“Reason to Live”
“Sit in the Shadows:
SIX WEEKS LATER
My muscles have never ached more.
It’s good work. Meaningful work.
As much as I hated leaving the cabins behind and all the work I did there, I admit I love the place Briella chose.
Perfect for us. Not so much segregation.
The rooms are decent-sized, and I may have knocked down a couple of walls to turn one room into two.
Built a damn fine sizable bed-frame, sturdy enough for us all to share for Kinship nights.
Luckily, the barn didn’t need too much work. It had good bones. Just some patching up here and there. The house has kept me busy.
And the greenhouse.
And Rory’s butcher shed. He specifically ordered me to build it next to the greenhouse. Guess he got used to Briella’s singing. I just shook my head with a laugh and told him he’d better step up to help.
Jude helps some, but the guy is better at fixing a thumb whacked by a hammer than he is at swinging one. Vincent isn’t helpful, but he can’t be. Too busy with the animals. Raphael? Eh, he’s Raphael. Comes and goes like a ghost, as always. He’s spent the month scoping out his new hunting grounds.
And I don’t blame him for needing more solitude. Got more on his mind ever since…
Only Jude, he, and I know about the surprise we’re giving her. Rory’s a blabbermouth. And Vincent’s shit at lying. Jude and I are the best at distracting her. But I’ve had too many distractions of my own.
I know she’ll like the gift.
Hell, she will love it. She loves everything. Cause that’s just who she is.
But I won’t deny how tight my chest has been the past month, my body taut from the millions of questions burning in my brain, all the racing thoughts. Some sleepless nights.
And plenty of migraines.
Except for the nights she sleeps with me. On those nights, I sleep like a log. Her log.
On the weekends, we all sleep together. She set the rule.
And then…we trade shifts on who gets to hold her down and who makes her happy-crazy scream in the morning.
This gift? I’ve put more work into it than I did with her cane.
I run my hands along the smooth lines and curves, the polished finish catching the dim light just right. A brown walnut grain streaked with the kind of caramel undertone that glows when it’s oiled just right. A regal, old-soul kind of wood. Strong. Warm. Just like her.
I chose it on purpose. It felt like her. Not flashy. Not loud. But solid. Alive. Something that holds stories in its rings.
Every notch, every joint, every curve, I carved with my own hands. No power tools. Just hours of shaping and sanding, again and again, until it felt right. Until it felt like…love.
Because I do love her. And I want her to know more than ever.
It’s simple, but it’s beautiful. A quiet kind of beautiful.
And I swear, when I imagine her face the moment she sees it…my chest squeezes like it’s too small for all the feelings packed inside.
Feelings I bury under joking too much, playing it so light and cool. But I’m the biggest hypocrite of them all. Bet they’ve all said it to her. I just get on my knees and propose twice a week.
After tonight? I hope she knows.
Drenched in sweat and sawdust, I head into the house at three am. It’s quiet. Of course, it is. I’m up later than everyone these days.
“You finished?”
“Shitfuck! God, Raph,” I groan and knead my brow. “How long have you been waiting there?” I gesture to the wooden pillar to the left of the double ranch doors. The moonlight spills through the big windows, but it does nothing for the creepy bastard in the shadows.
“An hour or so.” He comes off the pillar and crosses past the leather couch to me, his eyes sharp. “Are you finished?”
“Yeah.” I scrub a hand down my face.
“Good. We’ll tell her tomorrow.”
“Valentine’s Day.” I nod because I gave myself the deadline. And I barely made it.
“She’s yours tonight.”
He doesn’t need to mention it twice. I turn to the steps and start to jog up them.
“Seth?”
I pause in the middle and glance down at Raphael. He tips his hat to me. “Good work.”
“Thanks.”
It’s all I need. Hell, I don’t even need credit. Briella and I are very similar in some ways. We spent our lives searching for belonging. To know we’re wanted and needed.
As far as I was concerned, growing up in that hellhouse, I belonged to Rory the second he started bullying me. I smirk when I think about all those times. But when I showed up bloodied on his doorstep? And when he came back an hour later, even bloodier? Yeah, he belonged to me then.
And when Briella climbed out of that bone pit, I was hers. By tomorrow, she’ll know it.
I open the door to the bedroom. Quietly.
There she is. Fuck.
The moonlight casts silvery beams on her. She’s sprawled on her stomach, one leg kicked out, her cheek pressed into my pillow like she owns it—and she does.
I don’t move. Just stand there for a second, drinking her in.
All that strength and fire—and yet she sleeps like she knows the world won’t touch her when I’m near. It does things to a man.
And her laugh. Her smile with me. It’s the brightest she has.
That’s what guts me the most. The way she lets go around me. Utter trust. I don’t deserve her. But I’ll build a thousand more things with my bare hands just to try.
My heart thumps hard once, and I exhale slowly, grounding myself before I quietly shut the door and head for the bathroom.
I turn the water to hot, strip, and climb into the shower, gritting my teeth from the hot water as it washes away the woodshed smell. Feels like I’m trying to shed a weight off my shoulders, but it won’t budge—
—until soft fingers touch me.
My body locks up, startled. “God!” I exclaim, then chuff a laugh, shaking my head. “Is it National Freak Seth Out Day?”
Briella giggles and presses her naked chest to my back while winding her arms around me. Love that little giggle.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I say, my shaft twitching from her pierced tits softly rubbing my back.
“Are you okay?”
“Just dandy.”
“Seth…”
Ugh, scolding tone. I battle a groan and turn to her. Can’t help how hard I get. Her curls are slightly damp from the shower mist and the water transferred from my back. But she’s not soaked yet. With her purple hair…she kind of reminds me of a mermaid.
Despite the scolding tone, one corner of her mouth tugs softly to the side. A half smirk. She reaches to my side, and I flinch, brows furrowing until I see the body wash she’s holding.
She uncaps it, and I don’t fight her or so much as pull back when she lathers her hands and touches them to my chest.
“Come here.” The smile grows as she curves her finger. “I promise it’s not poison ivy oil.”
Chuffing a laugh, I come out of the spray so she can do her thing.
And God, does she do her thing! My head tips back from her steadfast hands washing my skin.
She takes her time, exploring every ridge of muscle, every throbbing vein, every mark and scar I’ve earned from hard work.
She washes the calluses on my rugged hands and kisses my palms.
I’m damn near ready to explode by the time she reaches my length. The second she touches me, takes me in her hand, I lose it. I move in, cornering her against the back wall of the shower, hands on either side of her.
“Fuck, Briella Darling. Guy can only stand so much!”
Especially with how she’s blushing and those pretty nipples getting hard for me.
“Well, you don’t have to stand. You could bend,” She teases. “Or kneel. Or just sit, and I’ll straddle. There’s many different positions we could—”
I cut her off, spinning her around, and flattening her hands against the tiles. Tiles I replaced. Tiles she didn’t care if they were a little mismatched.
I wrap one arm around her front and slide two fingers inside her, grinding my dick against her ample ass.
“How long have you been wet, Darling?” I ask, rubbing my lips along her neck.
“Um…long?”
“Hmm.” I kiss one corner of her mouth. “Guess I should put you out of your suffering.”
“If you wouldn’t mind. No pressure.”
“Oh.” I chuckle, bending her a little and lining myself up. “There will be plenty of pressure.”
I normally don’t do this. But things haven’t been normal.
So, I thrust deep, slamming every pierced inch of my cock inside her pussy.
She yelps right before she wiggles that cute little ass, pushing back and sucking me in.
I pause here. Just feeling the tight clasp of her cunt.
Like I’m straddling the line between heaven and hell.
Then, I feel her slender, soft fingers touching the base.
“Goddamn,” I groan at her rubbing where we’re joined, then my balls. I lower my hand, covering hers with my palm.
“I’ve missed you, Seth.”
“Likewise.”
“You’ve missed you?”
I roll my eyes and give her ass a sharp smack, loving that little squeal. Love how her cheeks look with the mark, the one Raphael had me forge for the middle of our chains.
The Queen chess piece. Perfect for her. And for us.
Now, I fuck her like she wants. We keep our hands together. Except, I rub her fingers along her clit, circling and circling until she shudders and squeezes so damn tight around me. I lean in and say dark and low in her ear, “Come, Briella Darling.”
Her body clamps around me, squeezing and spasming, pulling me into a consuming, wicked pleasure. The orgasm hits me from all sides, and I suddenly grip her jaw and claim her mouth, kissing her as we ride the wave together.
And as she’s panting, I turn her around, lift her so her legs straddle me, and I bury myself inside her again.
She cries softly, her nails raking my shoulders, but she stares right at me.
Now, she’s soaked from the shower, soaked in our releases.
Tonight, I swear she’s looking at me like I’m more than just hers. Like…I’m home.
One day early.
There’s something there that guts me wide open. That soft reverence, the way her gaze roams over my face like she’s memorizing every scar, every shadow, every part of me that lost hope we’d find a woman like her.
She holds my face like it’s something precious, like I’m something precious.
I’m holding something more precious.
And for a second, I can’t move. I just let her look. Let her love me with those soft, sweet eyes that tell me she knows exactly how much I give, and she’d take it all, and give it back double.
I press my forehead to hers, soaking her in.
“I missed you, too,” I whisper it like a confession. And gaze at her like she’s my entire damn goddess temple. “I love you.”
“I know.”
“Sorry, I never said it until tonight.”
“It was worth the wait.”
I kiss her again, but she pulls back and touches her lips to my forehead. Then, my cheeks. My nose. My mouth. My jaw. Like she’s…damn, like she’s worshiping me.
Her palms smooth over my chest. “God, you’re so ripped.”
“Thanks?”
“You work so hard.” She presses her fingers into my muscles. “You’ve been at it nonstop since we got here. I know you miss your old home—”
“You’re my home,” I growl. “Period.”
“You’re in everything.” She gestures all around us. “Bits and pieces of you. They’re everywhere.”
I close in, kissing her neck while pinning her hands on each side of her. “Less talking. More fucking.” I need this. Need her.
“Seth, mmm…wait, just a second.”
It’s the first time I brandish my fiercest glare. The one I get when I’m about to raise some hell.
Then, I deadpan. “One.”
Her eyes widen. “Oh. My. Go—”
I slam into her, and she lurches with a long moan, nails digging into my hands.
I fuck her and watch every micro-expression.
I should be exhausted. But she makes me feel like I’m on a high. Every. Damn. Time. She makes me feel something good. Something real. A million beautiful, brilliant kinds of fucked-up real.
I drive into the tight, hot fist of her pussy, so hard, so close, it’s like we’re fused. Seeing her melt as her muscles pulse around my hardness, her heartbeat pounding against mine, I almost lose it.
Instead, I get her up against the corner and lift her leg, her bad one, until it’s over my shoulder, giving me more access. I don’t treat her any differently. I won’t change. None of us will. If anything, we’ll get worse now. Just different.
Freed now, her hands drop to my neck as I hammer into her, bow my head to hers, and say, “Fuck, Briella, do you know what you do just by walking into a room?” I dart my eyes between her hazel ones, shimmering in the dim light.
“It’s like the world forgets to breathe, its heart stops, then you smile?
And it jumpstarts. A trillion-volt shock. ”
“Seth.” It’s the sweetest, most beautiful time she’s said my name. Her lips part slightly, then she presses them together. And in her expression—the purest adoration a man could ever want. “Seth…“ God, she cups my face, rubbing her thumbs over my five-day-old stubble. “Seth…I see you.”
Until this moment, I never thought anything would be better than ‘I love you’.
Taking her mouth again, I fuck her in the shower until we come again. I get her on the floor, prop her legs on my shoulders, and lick her until she’s screaming loud enough to wake all the others.
But they don’t come in. Not when we all know the difference between her screams of pleasure vs. fear.
I fuck her against the bathroom counter, the wall, and even the sink. I don’t stop until the fog from the shower disappears from the mirrors.
Finally, I bring her to bed.
With her back to my chest, my arms around my only home, I bury my face in her hair and confess, “Love you, Briella.”
“See you, Seth.”
I’m out in seconds.