Chapter 16
ASHLEY
Sir Carter: I need to confess something. I stole your panties out of the laundry and brought them with me tonight.
Sir Carter: I’m going for a walk to get some privacy, then I’m going to use these to jerk off while I picture how you looked between us in your mother’s kitchen the other day.
Sir Carter: **video message**
Sir Carter: Fuck. There’s no reception out here. Don’t open that video in public
“ Y ou’re not sleeping in that dress, are you?
” Royce asked when I took a step toward the bed, and I paused to look down at myself.
It was a damn good point—the garment was barely tolerable to wear as it was.
Sleeping in it would be some kind of special torture.
“Nate, help my girl out with that zipper, would you?”
My breathing hitched as I locked eyes with Royce. “What are you doing?”
He smiled, pure innocence. “Me? Nothing. Nate, bro, it’s just a zipper. It won’t hurt you.”
Nate shifted forward in his chair, the cabin small enough that he could reach me without needing to get up. Except he didn’t just tug my zipper down—he grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to him until I was standing between his spread knees.
“You’re being an asshole, that’s what you’re doing,” he growled. “And it won’t work.”
Royce didn’t seem put off, though, just holding my eyes with a lazy smile as Nate slowly lowered the zipper of my ball gown.
Panic shot through me as the garment loosened, and I held it to my chest even as Nate’s fingertips brushed down my spine.
A shiver ran across my skin, and there was no way he could miss it.
Neither one of them spoke, but shit, I couldn’t just stand there all night holding on to the stiffly boned corset of my uncomfortable dress. So I let it go.
The fabric took its sweet-ass time puddling around my feet, leaving me in nothing but a pair of black Brazilian panties and no bra. It was a strapless, corseted gown…bras were redundant.
Royce’s lips curved in a wider grin as he eyed me with appreciation.
“Excellent choice of panties, Squirrel. You’ve got such good taste.
” Because they were black. I wasn’t going to point out that most of my underwear was black because it was just practical.
He already knew that—he was just gloating.
When Nate said nothing, didn’t try to touch me again, I stepped out of the dress and kicked my shoes off.
Royce was clearly pushing the issue to see if he could change Nate’s mind, but he hadn’t seen how determined Nate had been in rejecting me.
Royce also hadn’t heard how broken he’d been when he apologized while I was drugged out of my mind.
Thank fuck I remembered that, because it was tucked away safely in my mind for the moments I needed to remember how real Nate could be.
Right as I put my knee on the edge of the bed, I realized I’d failed to switch the lights off. If we were actually going to sleep, then surely?—
“Royce!” I squeaked as he grabbed me around the waist and hauled me onto the bed before I could backtrack. “I was just going to switch off the lights!”
“Nate can do it,” he replied, pinning me to the bed with his body firmly wedged between my thighs and his hands on my wrists. “If he wants. Or he can leave it on and watch. I’m not fussed. Are you?”
Was I? Maybe? Yes. No. A little bit? No, I wanted him to watch. Or join in. No, wait, Nate didn’t want any part of this, so surely he’d turn the light off and that would be that. Right?
“Well, Squirrel?” Royce prompted. Apparently he wasn’t only pushing his friend here. “Lights on or off?”
My eyes locked on Royce’s. I didn’t dare look over at Nate. I was way too scared of what I might find there. Was he angry or disappointed or aroused? Was he jealous?
He was a big boy, though—he could make his own choice. If he was uncomfortable…well, the light switch was right there. As was the door. Royce was poking the bear with a stick right now, but if Nate said stop , then that’d be the end of it.
Same went for me. If I wasn’t okay pulling this loose thread, I didn’t have to do it. But shit if I didn’t want to see the whole sweater come unraveled.
“On.”
“Good girl,” Royce purred, then claimed my mouth in a kiss so possessive, it lit a fire inside me and made me nearly forget all the very valid reasons why this was an atrocious idea.
Part of me wanted to grill Royce and ask why he was so supportive of bringing Nate into our dynamic, but I already knew the answer.
It was the same reason that Nate thought he couldn’t be a part of our relationship.
Love.
Royce loved both of us and didn’t question for even a second that this was how it was always meant to be. Nate loved his friend so hard that he didn’t want to fuck up what was clearly the real deal for us.
Royce’s kisses shifted from my lips to my jaw, and I tilted my head to the side to give him access to my neck. Except when my lashes fluttered, I realized I was looking straight at Nate.
“The light’s still on,” Royce murmured against my ear. “Which is his choice now.”
My chest expanded with the sharp breath I drew, and Nate’s dark gaze shifted to my bare breasts. He sat rigid in the chair, one hand gripping the arm of the seat with white knuckles and the other balled in a fist hovering near his face—like he was thinking about biting it.
“Do you want him to join us, Squirrel?” Royce asked in a low, teasing voice as he kissed down my throat and released one of my wrists. He palmed my breast and toyed with my nipple as his mouth found the other to suck.
I gasped, arching my back, but watched Nate the whole time. He didn’t move. Not an inch. But his eyebrow quirked ever so slightly. It was a question, and he wanted to know the answer.
Would he actually join us if I said yes? I doubted it. He’d been crystal-clear that sharing was a hard limit. So why the fuck give him the satisfaction of knowing I desperately wanted him to?
“No,” I said out loud, my mind made up. The way Nate’s eyes tightened made it all worthwhile, and I couldn’t fight the smug smile pulling at my lips.
“No. He made his feelings very clear. He can watch if he wants, but he can’t touch—not until he’s ready to grovel, apologize, and admit he was wrong . ”
Royce froze where he was, lips against my breast, then he started laughing.
Nate was less amused. His jaw clenched so hard, his cheek twitched, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “Don’t hold your breath, Layne,” he muttered. “It’ll be a cold day in hell before that happens.”
Now it was my turn to laugh as well because he wasn’t fooling anyone… especially when he needed to shift his position in the chair with a lame attempt at hiding how hard his dick was inside those dirt-streaked, white suit pants.
“Sounds like a challenge to me,” Royce chuckled, smoothly tugging my panties down and shifting to let me kick them off. “This is going to be fun.” Then he slid down the bed to bury his face between my legs, his tongue spearing into me so suddenly, I cried out.
Nate straightened in his seat at my noise, and I wondered what was going through his head. Was he enjoying the show? Or resentful that it wasn’t his face my legs were wrapped around?
Royce’s attention quickly had me losing my train of thought, refocusing on what he was doing as his mouth found my clit and his fingers pushed into my already-throbbing cunt.
“Oh fuck ,” I moaned as he hit just the right spot in some combination of tongue and fingers. “Yes…right there …” My back arched, and I rode his face like I had no shame at all that we had a spectator. Hell, he’d been in that exact same position less than a week ago. This should be no shock to see.
“Are you close already?” he murmured, and I was startled to realize it was Nate that asked, not Royce. Fucker just scared my orgasm off, flighty bitch that she was.
Then I frowned, pursing my lips. “Hush, Nathaniel, you’re a silent audience. If you have thoughts you want to share, just whisper them to your hand and hold them for later.” I barely got my sarcastic snark out before Royce stuffed another finger into me, making my brain short-circuit.
What had I been saying again? Fuck it. Not important.
“Come on, Squirrel baby,” Royce murmured against me, like he already knew the vibrations would feel fantastic. He was too sharp for his own good some days. “I wanna taste that sweet release on my tongue. Stop holding back.”
“Yeah, Layne,” Nate added with a one-sided smirk. “Stop holding back. Are you shy?”
Fuck.
“Hush, you,” I scolded, then held my fist to my mouth to demonstrate. “Whisper it into your hand.”
His response was a raised middle finger and…
and I couldn’t explain it if I tried. Coincidental timing?
My core heated, swelled, imploded in a gush of sparkles and magic, and I bit my own cheek to keep from screaming like a banshee.
Come on, that was just a warm-up orgasm, and Nate did not need to think it was him that pushed me over that ledge.
“That’s my girl,” Royce praised, licking me all over, then biting my inner thigh hard enough to make me yelp even through the tail end of my climax.
Fuck that felt good. Then he shifted up the bed to sit with his back against the headboard.
His boxer briefs were gone…When had that happened? “On my lap, gorgeous.”
His hand wrapped around his long, pierced length, and he stroked lazily as I moved toward him. Then he shook his head with a lazy smile as I moved to straddle his hips.
“Uh-uh,” he corrected. “Put your back to me. Face Nate, so he can see everything he’s turning down.”
Well, fuck, that was confronting, especially in full light. But then again, Royce was really hard to say no to, and when I was still high off that first orgasm? Impossible. So I did as I was told and swung my leg over him with my ass against his abs and my feet against the headboard.
“Like this?” I asked with a slight tremble in my voice. Threesomes, we’d done, but this was different. Nate was different. I still didn’t even know if he felt anything more for me than just…scratching an itch. Hell, maybe that’s all it was for me too?
Okay, sure, and maybe the Earth was flat.
“Perfect,” Royce murmured, grasping my hips and lifting me to just where he wanted. “Guide my dick inside, baby, nice and slow. Oh , yep. Lean back, don’t hide.”
I did as instructed, getting his tip locked in before leaning back against his chest so there was nothing blocking Nate’s view of Royce’s metal-studded cock disappearing inside my tight cunt.
“Fuck, Squirrel,” Royce groaned, kissing my throat and wrapping my hair around his fist to hold me firmly in place. “Your pussy was made for me. So tight and greedy.”
He pushed in so slowly, it was almost torture, but the iron grip he held my hair in told me to let him take the lead. Yes, sure, I could have lowered my hips and forced him in faster, but that wasn’t the game, was it?
“Look how you’re affecting Nate, baby,” he murmured, biting my earlobe and sucking on that sensitive flesh. “Look how close he is to breaking. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? To break him? See him beg?”
Fucking hell . My core clenched tight, and I could have sworn my wetness just doubled. The idea of having Nate on his knees, groveling …
“Shit,” Royce hissed, pushing in the remaining distance with one hard thrust. “This is cruel…to both of us.” But still, he pulled out and thrust in so slowly, it was entirely for Nate’s viewing pleasure.
As for Nate? He was now sitting forward in his chair, elbows braced on his knees, and his forehead gleaming with a sheen of sweat.
I doubted I’d ever seen him quite so affected by anything…
which made me regret the fact our night together at the hotel was so hazy.
I wanted to remember how he’d looked at me that first time, and it was all a blur.
Royce grunted as he started to fuck me in that position, my legs spread wide and my back against his chest. His free hand shifted from my hip to my breast, toying with my nipple and pinching hard enough to make me cry out with an edge of pain.
Nate shifted like he wanted to intervene, but Royce laughed and thrust into me harder. “Calm down, Essex. She likes a little pain with pleasure. Maybe you’d know a little about that, hmm? I’ve seen those marks on your chest, bro.”
Demonstrating his point, he raked his short fingernails down my side, and I moaned.
His nails were nowhere near long enough to actually do the kind of damage mine had done on Nate, but it was enough to leave a temporary mark.
He was right, though—when it came to Royce?
Yeah, I liked a little pain and roughness.
I emphasized that by rocking down onto him with a needy moan, grinding a little as he bottomed out within me. Then I slid one of my hands down my own body and parted my pussy to play with my clit.
“Fuck,” Nate croaked, swallowing visibly.
“Do you have something to say, bro?” Royce teased. “Or should you be whispering your feelings into your hand?”
I scoffed, but that laugh quickly melted into a groan as I rubbed my clit in just the right way. I was no stranger to my own body and knew perfectly well how fast I could make myself come under the right circumstances. Though distractions made it harder. And right now, Nate had me very distracted.
“Shit,” he exclaimed, shoving out of his chair, yanking his tie off like he was struggling to breathe. “I can’t do this.”
To my horror, instead of dropping to his knees and apologizing for being an arrogant asshole and admitting he was wrong about everything, he turned his back on us and reached for the door handle.
He was leaving .