CHAPTER 14
DOMINIC
After spending the day investigating more warehouses, the only thing I want to do is see Kirby. The only good thing about checking for dubious activity today is that I wasn’t doing it alone. I had Hendrix with me and we were able to cover a lot more ground because of it. Still, though, we didn’t find anything.
“Mikhail is going to go underground a little bit now that we pulled his dealer off the street,” I grumble. “He won’t pop back up right now because he doesn’t know what information his little rat spilled.”
Hendrix chuckles. “I don’t know how he’s been able to make as many waves as he has considering the shit men he has working under him.”
“Fear,” I grunt.
All I get in response is a hum of agreement. Hendrix’s phone ringing breaks the silence around us as we head back to the townhouse. Fuck, I want to see Kirby so damn much.
The memory of chasing her only a few nights ago and then spending as much time as possible with her while getting to know her for the last few days has me feeling settled in a way I’m not used to. Kirby has opened up to us more about what she’s been up to over the last ten years. We’ve traveled to a lot of the same places, at different times, and it was interesting to get a different view of a location but through her eyes.
She’s seen so much of the world while running from her past. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why she ran and I don’t blame her for it. I think it was the best thing for her, but I want her to stop running now.
While we talked a lot about what we like, who we are, and what we’ve done, the one thing we haven’t talked about is the future. Okay, fine, I didn’t talk all that much, but I damn sure listened and shared a little bit about myself. It didn’t feel like Kirby held my lack of sharing and communication against me.
The more time I spent with Kirby, the harder I’ve fallen for her. It might not make sense to anyone else, but it feels right to me. And I’m not alone in that—Hendrix and Wolfe feel the same way. You only have to look at their faces when they’re in the same room with Kirby to know how true that is.
“Wolfe,” Hendrix greets our brother. I can’t hear what Wolfe said, but the tension ramps up in the car and puts me on edge. Since Wolfe is hanging out with Kirby, and following her if needed, I’m about to lose my shit the longer Hendrix stays silent. “I see,” his words are filled with barely restrained rage. “I’ll meet you there.”
I bark, “What?”
“Head to Club Sin.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I seethe. “I thought we had made headway with our woman. She knows she’s ours. We’ve made that clear,” the words spill from me as my heart starts to pound hard inside my chest.
“We’ll find out what’s going on,” Hendrix promises.
“He couldn’t stop her from going there?”
Hendrix barks out a laugh and shakes his head. He doesn’t have to say anything for me to know what he’s thinking. Does anyone stop Kirby from doing what she wants and feels she needs to do? I don’t think so, not anymore. She’s strong as hell, stubborn, and headstrong.
That doesn’t mean I won’t be punching him. He deserves it.
We’re quite, too quiet, as we head over to Club Sin. When we meet up with Wolfe, I clench my fists at my side. When Wolfe notices, he lets out a sigh and nods his head like he knows what will be coming his way eventually. Good.
He leads us upstairs and to the same room where Kirby took her sub that first night. The way I’m glaring at the door should cause it to burst into flames, but it doesn’t happen.
Hendrix growls, “I won’t be the one crawling tonight.”
Wolfe snorts out a laugh, but covers it with a cough as he pounds on the door. I’m a little surprised he doesn’t break in again, but I get why he doesn’t considering we have no idea what is happening on the other side of the door.
The door swings open to reveal Kirby standing there wearing wide legged pants and a corset style top in bright red. It’s not the leather pants she was wearing, but it’s still sexy as hell. When I look over her shoulder, I find Charlie standing not far away, his eyes trained on the ground which doesn’t surprise me considering the amount of anger rolling off myself and my brothers.
Kirby sighs, “What are you doing here?”
Wolfe pushes past her and into the room, his eyes narrowed on Charlie. “You know what we’re doing here, Phoenix.”
Kirby rolls her eyes, which makes me want to put her over my knee and spank her ass like I’m tattooing my handprint on her juicy cheek. Her voice is soft, almost bordering on sweet, as she turns to Charlie, “Thank you for being understanding. You can go, Charlie.”
“Yes, Mistress,” he murmurs before skirting around us and slipping out of the room.
Kirby strides across the room and settles in the chair instead of the bed. The way she arches her eyebrow and looks at us is a challenge. I’m not sure what she’s up to, not really, but her behavior after getting to know her makes me pause.
Hendrix’s voice drips with frustrated anger, “What the fuck are you doing here, Kirby?”
She crosses her arms across her chest and purses her lips. “While I don’t really owe it to you to explain,” Hendrix opens his mouth, a vein throbbing in his forehead, but she holds up a hand to cut him off, “since you’ve stormed up here like cavemen who clearly don’t trust me very much.”
“You were in this room with your submissive,” Hendrix’s voice is strained and thick with emotion.
“I was,” she agrees. She narrows her eyes and glares at Hendrix. “You know I’m under contract to be here. I explained it all to you. It’s not like I could just break that contact. However, I came here today to speak to management about adjusting my contact.”
Hope filled Wolfe’s voice, “What do you mean adjust?”
Kirby’s shoulders fall and her arms fall until her hands are in her lap. “I’m not a cheater. After the last few days with you, and really before then,” she adds in with a pointed look at us, “I knew that I couldn’t have a sub and feel good about it. I also knew that it wouldn’t be right to fulfill my contract as it was originally set up. Not with how I feel about you three.”
“Okay,” Wolfe breathes out as if he’s bracing himself for the bad side of whatever she has to say.
Kirby lifts one shoulder casually, “I’m not going to be doing a demonstration. I won’t have a sub. Instead, I’ll run a class for women who are interested in taking more control in the bedroom. It also means my contact runs for a little longer than it was originally intended to make up the difference in roles.” Her eyes sharpen, “I owed it to Charlie to have a conversation in person.”
Hendrix deflates and looks at our woman sheepishly. I don’t blame him, I feel the same way and reach back to rub the back of my neck. Hendrix rubs a hand over his head and shoots us a look that is full of apology. Yeah, we should have trusted her.
“Shit,” Hendrix hisses and walks over to the bed on wooden legs before sitting down stiffly.
“Yeah,” she sneers, “thank you for trusting me.”
Hendrix rubs his hand over his face. “I’m sorry,” his voice breaks with his words.
She doesn’t acknowledge his apology, not that I blame her for it. “Now, that I’ve effectively changed my job and my purpose here in Seattle, it’s past time to have a difficult conversation.”
Wolfe clears his throat, even more damn hope in his voice as he asks, “About our future and what happens next?”
“Yes,” she gives him a curt nod as the corner of her lip twitches slightly. “It seems only fair. Maybe we aren’t on the same page.”
“We’re on the same page,” I rumble.
“You’re it for us,” Wolfe’s voice is reverent, and I understand the feeling.
Kirby hums a sound of approval before her eyes find Hendrix. He looks surprisingly wrecked. Surprising the fuck out of me, he drops to his knees and I almost bark out a laugh. Isn’t this the same man who said that he wouldn’t be the one crawling this time? Not that I blame him.
He moves toward Kirby whose eyes are wide with surprise. “Kirby,” he breathes out while cupping her face in his hands, “I know there are things we haven’t talked about in our past, but I never want you to worry about our future. We want you. Not for our time in Seattle. Not for just a little while. We, I,” he corrects himself, “want you forever.”
Kirby blinks a few times, clearly trying to get control of her emotions, and swallows hard. “What does forever look like to you?” When Hendrix opens his mouth, she shakes her head. “I’m used to being independent. I’m not going to sit at home somewhere and be some passive little wifey.”
Wolfe barks out a laugh and moves closer to where Hendrix has practically crawled into our woman’s lap. “We would never ask that of you, Kirby,” Wolfe promises.
“No,” I agree, “that’s not who you are.”
“We don’t want to leave you behind when we travel,” Hendrix explains and Kirby’s face shows her surprise. “Though, there might be times when it would be too dangerous for you to join us. We don’t,” an embarrassed blush covers his cheeks, “don’t really have a home though.”
“I don’t either,” she reminds him and shrugs.
“You deserve a home,” Wolfe murmurs as I move closer to our woman as well.
It’s like I can’t help it. I need to be near her. When I’m not it feels like I can’t breathe properly.
“Maybe,” she bites her lip and pauses like she’s thinking about what to say next, “maybe having a home would be good. While I never thought Seattle would be my home again,” her eyes go to Wolfe, “but your brother is here and you have that beautiful land.”
The blush that creeps up or woman’s neck and covers her cheeks is fucking adorable.
“You’re prefect,” Hendrix whispers.
Before she can tell him how wrong he is, or anything else, he takes her mouth in a hard kiss. She melts into him and wraps her arms around his neck to tug him just a little bit closer. Watching them together as my cock hardening behind the fly of my jeans.
“I love you, Kirby,” Hendrix mumbles against her lips.
She pulls back with a gasp and stares at him like she can’t believe he said those words to her. I’m not sure why she’s surprised, but it’s adorable as fuck.
Wolfe drops down to his knees on one side of Hendrix. “I love you, our little Phoenix.”
Her jaw drops before she starts to open and close her mouth like she’s not sure what to say. I chuckle softly before I join my brothers on their knees. With a grip on her chin, I turn her head until she’s looking at me.
“I was made to love you just like you were made to love us,” I rumble.
Her eyes are glassy with unshed tears and then she’s launching herself at us. Catching her is easy, which should come as no surprise.
“I love you too,” she sighs, “all of you. I don’t know how it happened and I certainly wasn’t looking for it, but here you are.” We wrap her up in our arms before she suddenly stiffens. “There is one more thing I should bring up,” she pulls back and looks between us, worry written on her face, “I don’t think I want kids.”
Hendrix smiles and nods slowly. “That’s fine with me. You’re more than enough. I never thought I’d have kids, not with our job.”
“Same,” Wolfe agrees, a soft smile on his face.
When Kirby looks at me, my heart stutters. I kiss her forehead and murmur, “If you wanted kids, I’d be all for it because it’s you, but if it’s not something you want then I’m good with it.”
Kirby lets out a relieved sigh and then snuggles into us, her arms stretched wide to hold us to her. The feeling of being right where we’re supposed to be settles around me. When was the last time I’ve felt this way? I can’t even remember.
It’s as if we move as one, scooping our woman up and moving toward the bed. Yeah, we have the same idea and need—our woman naked and screaming our names.
Kirby gasps, “What are you doing?”
“Showing our woman how much her love means to us,” Hendrix’s voice is a octave lower than it normally is.
As he lays her down, he kisses her lips and his hands move to slowly strip her. Fuck, she’s gorgeous all laid out for us.
“We love you, little Phoenix,” Hendrix tells her as we stand and start to strip.
She smiles at us, showing us that we’ve done more than claim her and show her that she doesn’t need to keep running. We’ve made her happy.
And that is worth everything that has brought us right to this moment.