15. Carter
15
Carter
I t was like we picked up right where we left off. Except now, we were two years older, and we knew the agony of being separated. I took every opportunity to put my hands on Ivy. In the shower, her face pressed up against the tile. On the couch, buried under throw pillows and blankets. When I caught her alone in her office, bent over her desk with her paperwork crunching under our bodies. Reconnecting with her had made me the happiest and horniest I’d been in a long time.
It wasn’t just her.
Like me, Lex was an early riser. Or perhaps a light sleeper. He usually got up when I did. I liked to work out first thing in the morning, so I hit their gym and put in at least five miles on the treadmill before he made his way down to find me.
I had my headphones in while I was doing pull-ups, pushing my body to stay in shape for the next season. My eyes were closed when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up like someone was watching me. When I opened them, I focused on the mirror in front of me where my gaze connected with the reflection of Lex Fairfax leaning against the doorjamb. Shirtless. Smoking a cigarette. All those tattoos on glorious display. The way he looked at me screamed filthy things…perverse things…things I’d been dreaming about for two long years.
I froze and slowly lowered my feet to the ground.
My heart pounded, and not because of the way I’d pushed myself in the workout. Sweat dripped down my torso and the side of my face, and I wiped it off on a towel before I turned to face him. Grabbing a water bottle, I squirted a mouthful and swallowed, yanking my headphones out of my ears.
“Morning, DC,” I said.
“Good morning, Chicago.” He tilted his head to the other side, eyes running over the length of me. “Or is it good night? The sun’s not up yet either way.”
I’d long ago drenched my shirt. It lay in a crumpled ball on the ground. So I stood there, naked chest heaving, my gym shorts hanging low on my hips, the waistband of my Calvin Kleins peeking out.
“What’s up?” I asked.
He frowned and shook his head, shrugging. “Can’t a guy hang out in his own house?”
“The way you’ve been smoking, I know you’re not down here for cardio.”
He let out a low chuckle and pushed off the wall, stabbing the cigarette out in the crystal ashtray he’d brought with him before setting it on the water cooler next to the door. Such a contrast, Lex and this gym. They’d built it for Ivy. She liked to exercise to keep her mental health in check. But I scoffed to look at this hedonist in such a place—covered in tattoos, reeking of cigarettes and last night’s sex and eternal damnation.
I shifted my shoulders and ignored the strain in my cock.
“Do you remember the last time it was just me and you, Chicago?” he said. “That time in Ireland when you made me swear to take care of your Weeds as long as you promised to come home to us.”
I cleared my throat and took another gulp of water, nodding. “I remember.”
“How would you say I’ve held up my end of the bargain?” He took a slow, lazy step forward.
I understood the heady look in his hazel eyes and the predator’s gate in his step. Lex wanted to play.
“She seems like she’s in one piece,” I said.
He hummed, circling me, his hands linked behind his back. “Pretty damn good, if I say so myself. I take care of her. She takes care of me.”
“I noticed.” I thought of his hand on her wrist in a soothing gesture that meant so much.
He came to stand in front of me. We’d always been almost equal in stature, Lex only an inch taller. He was long and lithe, and I was bigger through the chest, but together, we were formidable.
“And what about you?” he asked.
This was a game. Lex wanted to bat me around for a bit like a toy mouse, and I, ever the slut for him, could never resist playing along.
“What about me?” I asked, sinking into temptation. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
Ohhh, what a thing to say. I’d only come because of the lust and the sickness. If that hadn’t happened, I’d be sipping scotch in Eastern Europe somewhere, daydreaming about what my three spouses were doing on the other side of the world.
He shook his head, tsked, and moved so our broad chests touched all the way down to our pelvises. His cock pressed next to mine, half erect, begging for someone to pay it attention.
“You’re here.” Disapproval dripped from every word. “Is that supposed to satisfy me? Two years, Chicago. Two years. You don’t call. You don’t write.”
I cleared my throat. “We’ve already established that I tried?—”
“Yes, but you’re the one that promised me. You should have tried harder. ” He leaned in so his bright teeth snarled inches from my face. “You left me hanging for a long, long time. Instead, I have to watch you dry hump some B-rate actress on premium cable.”
I twisted my lips into a smirk.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me.” Heat radiated off him in thick, suffocating waves.
Good Lord. It reminded me of the first time, when he’d looked up at me from between my legs before stuffing my cock down his throat. Or that time in the woods, when I told him I could have him any time I wanted, and he’d fucked me to prove my point.
“How was it?” he snarled. “When you fucked my princess like you had any right?”
I snapped my gaze to his.
Maybe this is getting too personal?
But if he wanted to play rough, fine. I could swing it.
“Fucking fantastic,” I said. “She sucks amazing cock. You show her that, or did she learn it on her own?”
He licked his lips, trying not to break character. “And what about my fiancée? You enjoy her last night?”
“No.” I steeled my gaze and gritted my teeth. “You don’t get to claim Ivy. You didn’t want her until I had her, and even then, you treated each other like shit. She’s mine, and she always will be.”
He squared his jaw, now so close, I was breathing his exhales.
“And what about me, Chicago?” he murmured. “Am I yours? Will I always be yours?”
“You were mine first, DC,” I said. “Nothing can change that.”
We didn’t kiss so much as crash like two meteors that had been swinging around each other since the dawn of time. His lips were demanding, and he forced his tongue inside my mouth, claiming me, seeking all the attention I’d denied him for nearly two years.
God, how I wanted him. How I’d always want him. This eagerness. This urgency. Like we couldn’t contain it if we tried.
Done with pretense, I dropped to my knees in front of him and clawed at his shorts, freeing his cock and sucking the tip into my mouth. His velvet skin was exactly as I remembered and tasted even better for the absence. I worked him the way I knew how, swallowing him down and moaning when he dug his nails into my head, twisting my hair, guiding me to his own pleasure.
Lex and I could be harsh with each other in a way we couldn’t with the girls, so when he yanked my head back by my hair, it nearly brought tears to my eyes. I hissed in a breath and grimaced, but looked up at him to await his next demand.
“That’s right, Chicago.” He leaned down so he could claim my mouth again. “And you’re mine.”
I’d just pushed my body to the limit with an hour and a half workout. My legs trembled, my arms shook, and I needed something to eat before I crashed. But when he brought me to the ground so he could flip me over and yank down my shorts, I did nothing to protest. The waistband dug into the middle of my thighs while I held myself on all fours, my shoulders screaming, my quads burning.
The cap of the lube popped open before the cool liquid hit my ass and slid down to my balls, making me snicker.
“What are you laughing at?” He slapped my ass with one hand and played with my entrance.
“You have random bottles of lube lying around?”
“No, Chicago.” One finger probed inside, testing me, and I groaned before almost falling over. “I came down here to fuck you.” He pulled out and eased two fingers in this time. The fronts of his thighs hit the back of mine, and I ducked my head down between my arms, the fulfilling sensation too fucking much. He wrapped his other hand around me to grab my cock, stroking me as precum leaked out of the tip. “I brought lube because I’m a fucking gentleman.”
I laughed at the audacity that he assumed he’d get to fuck me again. To be fair, I’d wilted with barely any argument.
I hadn’t been screwed since the last time with Lex, and now that I was prone and exposed to him, I thought I might blow my load in seconds. I suspected, even if I did, Lex would keep pumping into me until he’d had his fun.
He leaned over my back, bringing his teeth to my ear so he could nip at the curve. A shiver erupted down that side of my body, making my skin prickle, and I couldn’t hide my shaking then.
“So can I?” he said, seemingly asking for permission to take what he already owned. “Can I fuck you?”
“Hell,” I hissed. “I might die if you don’t.”
He nudged the tip of his cock against me, and I pushed back on him, bearing down so he could easily slip inside. He took it slowly, letting me enjoy the contact, letting me enjoy the burn of his branding.
And once he was in, he twisted his hips and immediately found that spot that made my arms go weak. I sagged under my own weight and euphoria, pressing my face down on the cool rubber floor and stretching my arms over my head, unable to support myself.
“That’s fucking it.” He laughed a sick, dark sound and put one palm on the side of my face, the other on the back of my shoulder blades, holding me in place while he took what he wanted. He pulled out only to surge back in. Deeper. Harder. Rocking my whole world and my body with it.
“You like that, don’t you, Chicago?” he said. “You’re so fucking good at your job because you already live that life. You know what it is to give your soul to someone else. To several someones.”
“Fuck,” I groaned, the sound coming from a deep, secret place inside of me. My cock wept with the fury of his taking. All I could do was lie there and receive it.
“This ass,” he said, squeezing my fleshy muscle so hard I’d have nail imprints for hours. “This cock.” He wrapped his fist around my dick, pumping me, squeezing the tip in just the right way to make me gasp. He made me feel so good, taking me like I belonged to him. “This mouth.”
He grabbed my chin so he could twist my head toward him, claiming my lips again with his own, biting and devouring me. I played along because I knew, deep down, that as much as Lex said I was his, he was equally mine. We had belonged to each other since that night in London, despite the years and heartache in between. Nothing about that would ever change.
“All fucking mine, right?” He growled, clawing at whatever skin he could find, fucking my ass like he could permanently imprint himself inside me. It ached and it throbbed and I loved every filthy thing about it.
“Yours, DC,” I said.
“You’re coming home to us, right?” He slowed his pace, more gentle now, as if to coax me into agreeing.
“I will,” I said, jolts of ecstasy ricocheting through my body, curling my toes against the floor. “I promise. I will when I can.”
I didn’t know if that pleased him or incensed him more because he snarled, gripped my hips, and fucked me deeper, maybe to remind me of the sincerity in my vows to him.
A few pumps later, I came like a firehose—hard and fast, spurting over the place and embarrassing myself. Lex laughed, the sound of his degradation making my cheeks burn, but that only spurred him on.
“Oh, such a quick trigger. Glad some things haven’t changed.” He kept going, picking up his pace, sinking his nails into my skin to hold me down, to mark me as his the way he’d marked Ivy and Miri.
Perhaps that made the most sense. We all belonged to Lex and he was our king. No matter what we did or where we went, our loyalty to him was written in our hands, as was his to us.
With a loud grunt and a hard shove, Lex came inside me. His groans of euphoria sent a fresh shock of arousal down to my half-hearted erection, and if he willed it, I would have lain there to force that moan out of him for the rest of the day. Instead, he eased himself out and smacked my ass hard enough to sting.
“Woo! And you thought I didn’t come down here for cardio.” Another slap on the other side. “Let’s see if we can go another round in the shower before the girls wake up, huh?” He leaned down to plant a rough, demanding kiss on my lips before trailing his lips to bite my earlobe. “I love you, Chicago.”
Then he was gone—up and out of the gym, heading for the shower while I tried to pry myself off the goddamn floor, blissed out and wrecked and put back together.