43. Declan
43
DECLAN
I rolled over in bed and smiled.
Life was good.
Fucking amazing.
Or as our girl said, stupendously spectacular.
Hayden lay facing me, an arm folded under the pillow his head rested upon. The hand of the other arm curved over Marcie’s ass, and if the lump under the bedclothes were anything to go by, it dipped into the darkness between her thighs.
The man took my breath away with how sexual he was—all the damn time. Oh, the joys of having two partners ten years younger. I’m sure at some point they’d make me feel old, but for the time being, I enjoyed getting my dick sucked and my ass fucked regularly. Add in Marcie’s pussy and, holy hell, I was a lucky fucking man.
My eyes moved from one partner to the other. Marcie lay on her belly, her hands and arms tucked under her body. I couldn’t see for sure, but I was certain she had wrapped her hands around the Squirt we bought for her. The OG Squirt, the one her father bought her years ago, now had a spot of honor on the dresser after Hayden refused to sleep with it.
I still fucking chuckled at the look on his face when Marcie climbed into bed with that stuffed toy the first night we slept together.
“Oh, fuck no. Absolutely not,” he said.
He stood next to the bed, naked, his hand stretched out doing gimme fingers.
Marcie’s eyes teared up as she clutched the toy and stared up at him. Naked, sitting crossed legged in the center of the bed the toy tucked protectively between her glorious tits, she encapsulated both innocence and sex. Like night and day, they blended into the perfect woman. And she was all ours.
Unless the fucker I married scared her off by being a goddamn asshole. I glared at him like he’d grown fucking horns and turned into a monster.
“Hayden…”
He turned and grabbed the turtle we’d gotten her before turning back to her. “Switch with me.”
“What’s the big deal? It’s the same damn toy,” I said.
“No. It’s not. Not at all. That one,” he pointed at the one Marcie held, “was purchased by her father . Read the room, goddammit. She’s naked. I’m naked. You’re naked. There will be fucking. And I, for one, refuse to sleep or fuck in a bed with a toy her dad bought her.”
Marcie’s gaze widened, and she clocked Hayden with the turtle when she threw it at him while simultaneously snatching the newer model from his hand. That had been the last time she carried the OG Squirt around. He had a home, but it wasn’t in our damn bed, and I appreciated Hayden pointing that out before I realized it and got the ick.
A hand found my hip, and my eyes moved from Marcie’s face back to Hayden’s. His eyes were still closed, but they wouldn’t be for much longer, as I knew from experience. The man still got up at a godawful hour every morning to work out.
With so many former service members in the house, the days started early around here because they all worked out as the sun rose. While most of us were up for morning PT, Foster’s boys and I were typically late-nighters and night owls. As were Katie, Jackson, and Marcie. Heidi, while she’d never served, had adopted the practice of rising early when Celeste came home from the military. With Priest and Cameron providing night watch, everyone made sure PT was early enough that those two got their workouts in before crashing for the day.
Despite how well everyone in the house got along, the atmosphere was bittersweet as it had been all the days and weeks that followed our arrival here. The stalker and his accomplices were in the wind while Cato busily searched for them without much luck. Which put us all on edge, but it wasn’t that.
The turmoil came from Jackson and Katie. They were together but not. They slept next to each other every night and from the sounds coming from that part of the house they were fucking again, but they weren’t talking.
The boy was a Holt through and through, though. Determination, grit, and perseverance wove through our bodies like it was part of our very essence, and he had all three in spades. Somehow, he’d tapped into the minuscule amount of patience we each had hidden deep within. I didn’t know how he did it. I’d never found mine, but I assumed it was there since all the Holt men were similar in so many other ways, and they all had a modicum of the trait.
So, yeah, while the atmosphere in the house as a whole was in the crapper, I’d never been happier. Marcie, Hayden, and I were all doing well. Better than good. We were figuring things out and fucking ourselves silly, but fully immersed in this relationship we were forging with each other.
We filled our days with heated glances and shy smiles. Needless to say it wasn’t Hayden and I with the shy smiles. Marcie was still adamant that we keep things on the downlow, and I agreed, to a certain extent.
I didn’t know how the fuck Katie and Jackson hadn’t figured out what was going on. Yeah, they had their head’s up their asses or in the sand depending on the day and the topic, but Hayden and I were physical men. Our girl’s love languages were touch and praise, so keeping our hands to ourselves or even reserved to each other… yeah, we fucking sucked at that shit.
Katie and Jackson were adults. I didn’t see them having a problem with us. None of the security team had an issue with it. At least not after Hayden and I sat our friends and family members down and had a very blunt conversation about Marcie’s position in our relationship.
It had been awkward as fuck, but needed. Marcie knew about the conversation. Now. She hadn’t been aware when we had it because, well… we didn’t think she needed to know until after we slayed those dragons for her, so to speak. Once we told her that the family knew, and had agreed not to tell Jackson or Katie, Marcie relaxed.
The last month has been the best of my life. Hayden and I were in a good place. The demons and ghosts of our past were fading away. Some days, I woke up wanting a drink, but once I got on my feet and started the day’s routine, it drifted away from my mind. Other days, I didn’t think about it at all, not even when the guys around us had a drink with dinner.
The therapist I did my counseling with and Cato explained that it was part of the disorder. Did it suck? Absolutely. But I worked my program, and I didn’t let the fact that I had triggers bother me overly much. I dealt with them as they cropped up and went about living my life. It sounded easy. It wasn’t, but what in life was?
Not a goddamn thing.
“It’s cold,” Marcie whined, and I pulled the blankets up around her shoulders before pulling her into my arms.
We all slept naked, but we did so with the A/C turned down low and extra blankets on the bed. Sleeping with two people would sweat you to death. Especially when they both put off heat like a damn radiator in the middle of winter north of the fucking Arctic Circle.
And while Marcie could run you outta bed with how much heat she put off, she fucking froze. So, it was a constant fight to keep her warm and us cool.
“Hmm, Daddy, that’s so much better.”
“I think so, too, sweet girl.”
“The two of you are fucking adorable,” Hayden murmured, scooting across the bed wrapping himself around Marcie’s back, cocooning her between us.
“Papi, it’s daylight. You’re not sick, are you?”
I chuckled at her morning brattiness veiled in sweetness. The happiness at this moment, and all the ones like it, soothed my weary soul.
“No. I’m not sick, colibrí. Why?”
She hummed under her breath and said, “So, you’re just being a lazy bones then, huh?”
He tickled her until she wiggled with laughter. “No, gigglebox. We’re flying back to Seattle today, so we put PT off until later since we have an early morning.”
“So, you can cuddle me for a bit?”
“Absolutely,” he said, pulling her into his arms, and she went willingly.
I lifted up to rest on my elbow so I could watch them. I’d never tire of it. Marcie softened Hayden’s rough edges. He’d always be the badass Marine with a walking hard on I met years ago, but he was different, too. He’d committed himself to us, to our relationships. Every day, I witnessed how he was with Marcie and also with me, made me love him more than the day before. The cocky bastard I fell in love with, who fucked me until I saw stars, was still there, but another Hayden Marin lived underneath that thick skin. One I’d only caught glimpses of before Marcie. With her, he embraced the Daddy in him, and blossomed, which allowed him to love me more.
If someone else heard my thoughts it probably wouldn’t make fucking sense to them, but screw them. It made sense to me and them, and we were all that mattered.
I dropped kisses on Marcie’s temple and Hayden’s lips before moving to get out of bed.
“Daddy, where are you going? It’s a lazy, sleeping-in day.”
“I thought I’d spoil you guys with breakfast in bed,” I said as I pulled on some lounge pants and a t-shirt.
That got her attention, and she flew up out of Hayden’s arms, kneeling on the bed excitedly. Her eyes lit up like the skies on the Fourth of July.
“Oh! Yes, please. Pancakes with berries and whipped cream?”
I laughed delightedly. “And blueberry syrup? What about bacon and sausage?”
“No, thanks.”
“Yes, sweet girl. You need some protein.”
She scowled, then giggled when Hayden tossed the covers off and said, “I have her protein right here.”
He fisted his hand in her hair, guiding her mouth to his dick. She giggled around him but the noises soon turned to sexy slurps and gags that had my own dick perking up.
Marcie didn’t regress a lot. Mostly, it was just the stuffie she couldn’t be without, cuddles, and ice cream, but first thing in the morning, the little she denied came out.
And whenever there was food.
I loved cooking for her and watching her dance in her chair as she ate. And breakfast in bed was a surefire way to keep her in that headspace a little longer. As soon as she dressed for the day, she slipped into personal assistant to a rising music sensation role, and Hayden and I wouldn’t see this side of her again unless something went seriously sideways.
Walking to the bed, I squatted and pressed my lips to Marcie’s cheek, sneaking a taste of our Papi’s cock. Rising, I leaned over and kissed Hayden, sipping and nipping at his mouth. He pulled me toward him. Fuck, he was strong. Locking my elbows was the only thing that kept me from toppling into the bed.
“Come back to bed, carino. I’ll make our girl share the high-protein shake she’s about to get.”
Laughter erupted from me, and I snorted, kissing him again, because… well, I loved the ridiculous asshole beyond all imagining and he was my husband, after all. I could kiss him whenever I fucking wanted.
“What if I don’t wanna share?”
“Ooo, I like it when you get a little selfish. It always goes well for me.”
A pop sounded behind me moments before Marcie said, “Me, too!”
Hayden pushed her head back down on his dick, saying, “Back to work, pequena. Papi needs to come.”
I laughed, kissed Hayden a yet again time, and said, “I’ll get mine after I feed you both.”
Walking into the kitchen, I got the coffee brewing, then pulled out all the fixings for scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and pancakes. Oh, and toast, I remembered, turning for the bread. Mama would be proud, but I still wished I could manage biscuits and gravy.
I sucked at both.
I tried numerous times over the last twenty years to master them, and they were an art form I couldn’t manage, unless you wanted to use them for building a retaining wall. They’d be perfect for that, since you could use my gravy for the mortar, and my biscuits always came out like mini bricks.
“Ooh, are you making what I think you’re making?” Heidi asked as she came into the kitchen.
A smirk pulled at my mouth. The Holts in the house would be descending as soon as the sausage and bacon got going and the smells wafted through the rooms.
“I am, if you make…”
“The biscuits and gravy. On it.”
The morning couldn’t get any fucking better.
The coffee was brewing, scratch that, brewed as Celeste, who was the first Holt to appear, handed me a cup. She poured herself and Heidi cups before turning to the island and cutting up all the veggies for Spanish omelets. The loves of my life were in bed waiting for me to feed them. Then, there would be sex with the sexiest two people on earth.
Taking a sip of coffee, I turned, and sure enough, everyone whose last name was Holt gathered in the room, except Jackson. Moments later, Priest and Cameron wandered in along with Hayden and Marcie.
I scowled at him.
The day just took a turn for shitty.
Hayden cuddled against my back, pressing a kiss to my temple. “I’ll make it up to you. Foster texted wanting to go over the schedule for the day since everyone was up and moving.”
“I’ll make that asshole pay. I’m thinking Mentholatum in his bodywash.”
“I heard that, Deckie, and remember, turnabout is fair play.”
Hayden took his coffee mug from Marcie, looking at me over the rim as he took a drink.
“Don’t do it, vato. You don’t wanna know what sorta pranks a bunch of military types can come up with while being forced to hurry up and wait in the middle of a desert with bombs going off around you.”
Screw them both. Foster fucked with… well, the fucking. So, he had it coming. Pulling a well-timed prank was one place where I could exercise a little patience. Not much. But some.
When the first batch of food got done, Hayden handed me some plates and said, “Grab you and Marcie some food, vato, I’ll finish up.”
We sat around the table hashing out who would stay in Nashville and who would go to Seattle. It wasn’t much of a discussion. Asher and Bauer were staying, as were Priest and Cameron.
Marcie asked the latter two to check in on her dad. The hospital transferred him back to the nursing facility a couple of weeks ago. Priest and Cameron agreed, saying they’d take off once we left. The guys visited with Marcie’s dad regularly to check in on him for her. The heart attack had some neurological side effects that showed themselves once he no longer needed sedation. It broke our girl’s heart, but her pop got easily agitated when Marcie visited. He confused her with her mother every damn time, and because we’d accompanied her once, Hayden and I doing the visits were outta the question since we triggered his agitation. But the two Marines who called on him were just friendly faces who played poker and chess with him.
Jackson joined us and thanked whoever cooked before coming to the table with a plate of food piled high. Eyes darted around the room at the absence of Katie, but we had time before the flight, so we let it go.
Close to an hour later, Katie joined us. She sat down her backpack and gig bag before thanking Hayden for cooking.
“You’re welcome. Are you actually going to eat this time?” he asked as he passed her a plate.
We’d all noticed Katie had lost weight over the last few weeks, but we’d all held our tongues, assuming Jackson was dealing with it. Why we thought that, I don’t know. We all knew their relationship was on the rocks. Jackson looked at Hayden and nodded.
“Whether or not I eat isn’t really any of your concern, Hayden,” Katie said as she pushed the plate away.
Foster stood up, walked to the island where Katie sat, and pushed the plate back in front of her.
“It is, actually. It’s all of our concern because it will be that much harder to protect you if you’re not at the top of your game,” Foster said as he handed Katie a fork. “So, get to eating.”
Jackson took his plate to the sink and moved to leave, but Foster cleared his throat, giving us all a look. Everyone took the hint and cleared out, relocating the breakfast get-together to the patio where we could eavesdrop. Hopefully, Foster could browbeat some sense into the two of them.
When Foster joined us, he sat down, staring in the windows toward the kitchen. “We’ll see.”