Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
BELLAMY
“Oh, my god,” I groaned as I pushed another bite of brownie into my mouth. “This has to be the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”
“Not the best thing I’ve eaten.” Mercer smirked from where he sat in the corner.
“Eww,” Hannah huffed. “Gross.”
So much for a girl’s evening, I guess. These men are always right there, always close by, and I didn’t mind. But sometimes I’d like to moan over a brownie my best friend brought over without a lewd reminder of Mercer’s tongue between my thighs.
I fixed a stern look on Mercer. “This is a girl’s night, remember?”
He held his hands up in surrender. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Besides,” I beamed, “this brownie trumps the best thing you’ve ever eaten hands down.”
His eyes darkened, “Challenge?”
Hannah cleared her throat. “I’m here, guys.”
“Me too,” Drew chimed in from where he leaned against the door. “Unfortunately.”
“No one asked you to speak, damn it. It’s girl’s night!” Hannah was nearly stomping her feet.
“What did Drew do to you?” Mercer questioned.
“Exist,” she growled.
“Ouch.” Mercer looked at Drew. “That’s rough.”
Drew shrugged. “The roughest.”
Brushing the brownie crumbs off my palms, I pushed to my feet. I took Hannah’s hand, pulling her up too.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“The garden. It’s really coming together since everything we planted has started growing.” I walked toward the back door, knowing damn well that Drew would follow us. Probably Mercer too. Plus however many other guards that Mercer forced upon me. He liked me safe; I appreciated that. But was there such a thing as too safe? “Lady, come.”
The pup jumped around excitedly, chasing her tail before she bolted out the door. We followed, walking toward the garden. I turned to Hannah. “How are you liking the setup?”
“It’s fucking amazing,” she gushed. “Want to come see my place?”
I turned to Mercer, who shook his head. I mocked him as I said, “Dad says I can’t play at your house today.”
“More like daddy.” She laughed.
“Oh god, don’t feed any of their egos. They’re already huge.” My feet hit the soft grass, the slight moisture under my soles causing me to sigh contentedly. “I’m sure I’ll be able to go soon. It’s on their property, after all. The sun is just setting. Plus, I think they believe if you take me, they’ll never get me back.”
“We’re obsessed,” Mercer added from a few yards behind us.
I pushed open the garden door, and she stepped in. Drew went to enter, and I stopped him. “No boys allowed.”
He turned to Mercer. “Sir?”
“If I would have known this was a girls' clubhouse, I would have installed cameras.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please, Merc?”
“Fine. But don’t leave the garden without us. We’ll be playing ball with Lady.” He pulled a ball out of his pocket and threw it, watching as the dog raced to retrieve it.
I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek. “Thanks. You’re the best.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Go before I change my mind,” he ordered.
I skipped inside, smiling at my small win. When I was sure they were out of earshot of the garden, I gave my best friend my attention as we walked around, looking for the perfect spot. “So, what’s the deal with Max and Drew?”
We sat on a cement bench under an overgrown tree. The sweet scent of roses surrounded us. She looked down at her hand, picking at her nails. “There is no deal.”
“Really?” I raised a brow. “Because it sure feels like there is some?—“
“There isn’t,” she cut me off.
I bit back my amusement. “Oh. Okay. Phew. So that stifling sexual tension y’all suffocated us with was all made up.”
Hannah let out a frustrated laugh. “Okay. I think they are cute. But they are so fucking infuriating. One, if not both, is always in the way, always hovering, always has some sort of bullshit to say. I can’t stand it.”
“Mhm.”
“Stop. I’m serious. They are too much. I don’t know why your guys assigned me a guard. I don’t need one,” she huffed out. My smile grew, and that annoyed her more. “What?”
“They didn’t.”
“They didn’t what?” She crossed her arms in front of her.
“Assign you a guard. Those are my guards. If they are around you, that’s on their own time.”
She blinked a few times, slowly. “What?”
“They are mine.”
She cursed under her breath. “Those motherfuckers.”
I’d spent a lot of time around those guys. Mostly they were quiet and minded their business. But I’d never seen them so riled up as they got when Hannah was around. I could say the same about her. The dynamic was interesting. And by interesting, I meant sex starved tension meets denial.
“Something wrong?” I tried to hide my smirk, but I was failing miserably.
“Yes. The bastards lied,” she spat out, before kicking at the ground.
“About?” I bit my lip, knowing damn well what Max and Drew had lied about.
“I thought they were hovering on Adam’s orders. I lost so much fucking tips because of those jackasses. Just last night, I was about to get a fifty and fucking Max interfered because the customer wrote his number on it, claiming ‘our staff can’t accept customers' numbers,’ then he showed the guy to the door like the mere thought I could be attracted to the guy was reason to get him expelled from the building.”
“Babe.” I patted her back, still trying to hide my amusement. “I don’t think that’s it.”
“As soon as we're done here, I’m going to have a word with those fuckers. I swear to God, Bellie. I could have used that fifty.”
“Have you forgotten that you were staying here?” She rested her head on my shoulder, and I placed my chin on the crown of her head. “You don’t need that fifty bucks.”
She sighed. “Just like old times, eh? Always taking care of each other?”
I closed my eyes, relaxing into the comfort of my friend. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Some time later, Mercer wandered into the garden, insisting we come inside before we got eaten alive by mosquitos. I knew it wasn’t mosquitos he feared. It was the dark, and the things seen and unseen that lurked in the shadows. Something happened, though none of my men would tell me what. Instead, they walked around the house, looking intense as they got lost deep in thought, unaware of my eyes on them. But I knew, pieced together slivers of things I’d overheard, and concluded that they were working on something. And it was something big, dangerous, risky, and reckless.
We parted ways with Hannah, with the promise of donuts for breakfast tomorrow, courtesy of Mimi. When Hannah and Drew were out of sight, Mercer took my hand, leading me inside. “You can come with me, if you want.”
“Come with you?”
“Yeah.“ He looked almost shy. “To Mimi’s. She’s heard of you. In fact, she keeps asking when you’ll come.”
“Will Adam and Ace allow it?” I was trying not to get my hopes up, trying to contain the excitement that bubbled up inside of me, but it was nearly impossible. I wanted this. I wanted to escape for a few minutes and meet someone from Mercer’s past who clearly was important to him. But ever since the gala nearly two weeks ago, these guys had been even more tight with what I could and couldn’t do.
“It will be early. We’ll take them with.”
I couldn’t stop bouncing on my toes. I stopped him mid-stride just so I could lean up and kiss him on the cheek. His skin heated under my attention, the cutest of blushes taking over. Was Mercer shy? You’d never know with the things he said and the way he carried himself. Yet right now, I had no question about it. “You’re blushing.”
“I am not,” he argued, which only made his cheeks a little redder.
“You are.” I squeezed his arm, holding it close to my chest as I kissed his bicep.
“It’s just…” He held open the door for me. “Sometimes it hits me all over again that you’re ours. And mine. And damn… it’s a beautiful thing.”
My heart melted at his words, the glacier surrounding it instantly thawing. “It is.”
“Hey.” He smiled wide, his brows dancing up and down wildly. “We have a surprise for you.”
I giggled, the goofy expression on his face hard not to laugh at. “I’m almost afraid to ask.”
“Then don’t.” His voice softened. “Just feel.”
His fingers grasped my wrist, and he tugged, dragging me toward the front door, then up the stairs. I didn’t say a word, even when a million questions formed. When we reached the top of the stairs, he raised his free hand, rapping his knuckles against the wood of the closed door. “You ready?”
“No,” Ace grumbled.
“It’s fine. Ignore him. It’s ready.” Adam’s voice was muffled.
“What’s ready?” I hugged Mercer tighter to me.
“What’s ready?” He laughed. “Only the project we’ve worked on for weeks and the whole reason Hannah and I have been distracting you all day.”
It wasn’t until he mentioned it that I realized they had been distracting me. It was subtle, and maybe that’s why it took so long to register. But they had hovered close by all day, keeping me distracted and not allowing me time to wonder about Ace and Adam.
“Go ahead, little one, open the door and see what’s inside.”
Subconsciously, I knew what was inside. Adam had shown me the door before and told me, if I wanted, he’d make it into a master suite. But the door was always closed and locked and I was never up here in the library when work was being done. I never asked questions.
My hands shook as I reached for the knob. It turned easily enough, the glass knob cool under my palm. When I pushed it open, a gasp escaped my lips. In front of me was the lushest sitting room I’d ever seen, with half circle shaped couches that faced each other around a round coffee table. I walked over, letting my fingers run over the expensive material of the furniture.
“Is this?—“
“There’s more,” Adam cut me off from a doorway to the left. I wasn’t sure how I missed him standing there when his body consumed the entire frame. Even knowing he was in here the whole time, the grandeur of the space had captured all my attention. He stepped forward, his fingers grasping mine as he pulled me toward the door. “If there is anything you don’t like, we can change it. Anything at all.”
“I can’t imagine not liking anything you three gift me.” I laughed as he arched a brow and squeezed my hand. Then his big body moved, and I was speechless. I wanted to say so many damn things, but I couldn’t get a single word out when all I could do was choke on sobs.
The room was perfect, the absolutely perfect size for my — no, our — little girl, decorated with grey walls, white furniture, and splashed with accents of roses. The crib bedding was a deep rose pink, with sheets that had the tiniest roses scattered over the surfaces. Right in the middle was a stuffed elephant.
I walked over, picking up the elephant and hugging it to my chest. Adam was at my side. “I know that doesn’t match, but Ace insisted.”
I found Ace against the wall and smiled. “She’s going to love it.” I looked at them all. “All of it.”
Ace pushed open the pink curtains. “She has a view of the rose garden.”
I peered out the window for a minute before Mercer stepped into the room. “And her closet has custom organization. It should go perfectly with her wardrobe.”
I stepped forward into the closet that Mercer had opened. Little outfits hung up already, along with a few little pairs of shoes on the shelf. “You guys… shopped for her?”
“We got a few things we liked, but honestly, we’d no clue what a baby needed besides the furniture the sales associate told us about. We figured you could order what was needed and maybe we could go into a boutique or two when we can.”
That they took it upon themselves to create this space for a child that didn’t even share their blood was touching. That they claimed her as their own and never once veered from the fact that she was theirs made the tears fall faster. They did this, all of this, for us, and they didn’t have to. They didn’t have to do anything at all for us, and yet from the day I was slung over Mercer’s shoulder and shoved into Adam’s car, all they’d ever done was give me the best that they could.
“We can return it if you don’t like it.” Ace seemed panicked at my tears and honestly, Mercer and Adam were no better, judging by their expressions.
“It’s not that.” I sniffed. “It’s just… you’ve done too much for me.”
Adam’s hand gripped my hip, and he pulled me toward him, kissing my forehead. His palm instantly went to the round bubble of my stomach. “Not close to enough. We’ve got something else.”
I couldn’t imagine what else they could have left to show me. They already created an extravagant sitting room and the most beautiful nursery. There was nothing more I could think of to add to such a gift like that. But when Ace stepped forward and took my hand, I let him lead me out of the nursery and into the sitting room.
Adam and Mercer led the way, a smile toying on Mercer’s face the whole time. Adam approached the bookshelf. “I figured we’ll probably leave this open mostly, but we’ll get a baby monitor either way.”
“Leave what open?”
Adam didn’t answer with words, only fiddled with the bookcase until it swung open, revealing another room. When Ace pulled me forward, I silently followed, completely in awe of these men that I could call all mine. I stepped through an opening, revealing a bed that was the largest one I’d ever seen.
“It’s a struggle to fit on my bed downstairs.” Adam’s fingers brushed some of his hair back. “We’d hoped that this was okay.”
Was this okay? How could it not be? A space where all three of my men could worship me? It was absolutely perfect. Everything I could dream of was inside the walls of this sacred space they created. Absolutely everything I’d ever wanted, I could find right here, with these three men who the world viewed as dangerous misfits, and I viewed as salvation.
I reached for Adam, my fingers twisting inside the cotton of his dress shirt before I yanked him toward me, pulling him close. He was so fucking tall — all of them were — that even standing on my toes, he still had to lean down to meet my lips. My hand still attached to Ace yanked, pulling him closer as Adam’s lips met mine. The kiss was slow, demanding, and he may not have meant it, but just the simple action of kissing them built a fire inside of me.
Pulling away from Adam’s lips, I reached for Ace’s neck, pulling him down to offer him a kiss too, while Mercer’s heat warmed my back, his lips locking onto the skin of my throat, tearing a moan from me. How could something so perfect be wrong? How could the world view the three of them with me as taboo when it felt so fucking right? I may be Adam’s wife, but I’d give everything inside of me to make all three of them happy, and I was determined to spend the rest of the evening showing them just that.