Chapter 23
Chapter twenty-three
Camelia
The ride back to the condo was tense, though Camelia wasn't entirely sure why. She sat in the front with Evan and James sat in the back, remaining silent no matter how many times Camelia gently prodded, trying to get him to fess up, to tell them what had happened.
It had to do with his father, and they didn't have a great relationship. Anyone could see that. But beyond that...Camelia was clueless, though Evan seemed to know what to do.
Evan's surety, the way that he took charge over the three of them in times of uncertainty, it was something that normally comforted Camelia.
This time, though, his jaw was tense and his knuckles were white where he clutched at the steering wheel, and whatever James was going through, Evan felt it on just as visceral of a level as the other Alpha.
Camelia ached. She wanted to do something for them, to make the situation better. Even if she didn't know exactly what it was that she was stepping in the middle of.
"Inside. Let's go," Evan said, his voice firm but gentle as they pulled in front of the house.
James moved as if he were in a dream, his motions slow and stilted. His eyes were unfocused, and there was a despair in them that Camelia had never seen before.
"Evan..." she said quietly. She stopped talking at the minute shake of his head, and trailed after James as Evan led them inside. She shut the door behind them, and then locked it after a moment of thought.
She bit her lip, uncertainty churning in her stomach as Evan rounded on James. His gaze was fixed to the ground, his body stiff, and he didn't respond when Evan stepped up close, gently speaking. "James. Hey. Look at me."
A moment passed, and then Evan cupped James face, forcing him to look up at meet his gaze.
There was a tenderness in the gesture that Camelia recognized, an intimacy that she had seen flashes of before between the two men.
Evan's thumbs stroked across James' cheeks, and his expression softened at whatever he saw in James' eyes. "Tell me what you need."
James' throat bobbed as he swallowed, and he shook his head. A tiny, broken sound escaped him, and after a moment, Evan nodded. "I'm going to take your coat off, okay?"
He didn't wait for a response, pushing James' coat off his shoulders until it slipped free.
Camelia caught it and hung it on the hook near the door, her hands itching for something to do.
She knew that she needed to be here, that James needed the both of them for whatever it was that was going on in his mind. ..She just didn't know what to do.
"Camelia, baby," Evan's voice was still soft, but his eyes were firm when they flicked over to her. "Take James upstairs, to my room. Strip him down. I'll be up in just a second."
Camelia swallowed, stepping closer. "Why?"
Evan returned his gaze to James' face, pressing his lips together firmly for a moment. "James needs our help to get out of his head and feel better before we can find out what's going on. You're going to be a good girl and help me, okay?"
"Okay, yeah," Camelia whispered, her heart thumping faster.
As confused as she was, the command in Evan's voice still made her pussy clench and warmth gather low in her belly.
He nodded, and Camelia took James' hand in hers, lowering her voice as she stepped close to him. "James. Come on. Upstairs."
He didn't respond, but didn't resist when Camelia tugged him up the stairs. His expression was shadowed, a hundred thoughts behind his gray eyes, and Camelia's heart squeezed.
She didn't know what had happened between him and his dad, but she knew she wanted to help.
"Evan's room. Come on." She dragged him along behind her, one step at a time, and Camelia pushed open the door to Evan's room with her shoulder, keeping James close.
His fingers twitched in hers, and Camelia gently guided him to the center of the room, reaching up and brushing her fingers through his hair.
He made that soft sound again, leaning into her touch, and Camelia stepped close.
"Come on. Arms up." She gently pushed his shirt up until it caught on his shoulders, pulling it up over the top of his head when he obligingly lifted his arms.
"Good. There you go." Camelia continued whispering softly to him, trailing her fingers down his torso and watching his muscles tense under her touch. She traced her fingertips along the waist of his pants, and James let out a low, shaking breath."
"She's a tease, isn't she, James?" Evan's voice was soft as he walked in, and Camelia felt a tingle on the back of her neck as he drew close to her.
He pulled her hair over one shoulder, pressing a tender kiss to her neck and making Camelia shudder, then whispered in her ear, "Take his pants off, baby. There's a good girl."
Camelia couldn't stop from whimpering a little at the praise, her pussy clenching hard. She was already wet, slick and soft as she knelt down in front of James, and she bit her lip as she made quick work of the button on his pants and dragged them down his hips.
Evan walked around her as she did, cupping James' chin firmly and turning his face so that he was meeting Evan's gaze. Evan's expression was firm but not cruel, and a small smile tugged at his lips as he looked at James.
"What do you need, pet?" he asked softly.
His thumb traced along James' jaw, and James' breathing hitched as Camelia reached up and hooked her fingers in his boxers, dragging them down as well.
James' cock sprung free, already hard, and Camelia swallowed against the urge to lean forward and take it in her mouth.
Evan was running the show right now, that much was clear. And he hadn't given her permission.
"Ev..." It was the first thing that James had said since Camelia and Evan had found him in the student center, and his voice was rough, bordering on hopeless. "He wants..."
Evan hushed him. "Don't worry about that right now. Let me take care of you." His eyes flicked down to Camelia, and his soft expression made her heart twist. "Let us take care of you, hmm?"
Before James could respond, Evan pulled him in for a crushing kiss that made Camelia's heart pound.
It was commanding, taking, and James responded to it with a desperate gasp, his hands coming up to grip in Evan's shirt.
His legs trembled, and his heavy cock twitched as a low groan rumbled through James' chest.
"There you go, pet," Evan murmured against James' lips, his voice rough and commanding.
"Let go for me." He stepped behind James, wrapping his hand around the column of James' throat in a firm hold as he looked down at Camelia, his blue eyes burning.
"Strip down for us, baby girl. Nice and slow. Give us a show."
Camelia licked her lower lip, her nipples hardening as she stood. Evan smirked, pressing his lips to James' ear as James' gaze fixed on her. "Watch her, pet," he murmured. His hand slid down, wrapping around the base of James' cock loosely and giving it a tug.
James' hips bucked at Evan's touch, and his eyes burned as Camelia grasped the ends of her scarf, slowly unwinding it from around her neck. Her hat was next, and a tiny voice in the back of her head bemoaned the fact that she was doing a striptease in fucking winter clothes.
Winter clothes were the least sexy clothes to be stripping out of.
James' gaze didn't say that, though. His lips parted on a soft gasp as Camelia tugged her sweater and shirt up and over her head, revealing the fact that she had gone without a bra that morning.
Her nipples were already hard and aching, begging for one of her Alphas to touch her, but Evan's fingers tightened on James' throat when one of his hands twitched, as if to reach out to her.
"Not yet, pet," he growled. He smirked at Camelia, nodding when she hesitated. "You're doing so good, baby. Turn around when you take your pants off. Let us see that pretty ass and pussy of yours."
The whimper that tore from Camelia's throat at Evan's filthy words was faint, but more than enough for both of the Alphas watching her to visibly react.
James' hand twitched again, his expression darkening, and Evan's pupils blew wider with arousal at the sound.
Still, neither of them, moved, James caught firmly in Evan's grip as Camelia turned around, facing the door as she undid the button on her pants and hinged at the hips to shove them down and off her feet.
"Fuck, sweetheart..." James' voice was choked, and Camelia took her time straightening up. The air was cool against her swollen pussy, and she bit her lip when she turned back around, fully naked and vulnerable.
"This needy cock wants to bury inside of her right now, doesn't it, pet?" Evan pressed a kiss under James' ear, stroking his cock slowly, and James' throat bobbed gently as he swallowed, then nodded.
"Please, Ev..." he whispered. "I want..."
Evan sank his teeth into James' neck before he could finish speaking, and the groan that ripped out of James made Camelia want to shove her hand between her legs right then and there. It was desperate and sexy and seeing them together...
God, she hadn't thought about how hot it would be. Watching James, her aggressive, repressed Alpha, submit...
"James..." she whispered, stepping close to him.
His eyes were clouded with want when she looked down at him, and she couldn't help smiling.
She dragged her fingers along his jawline, watching his pupils dilate further at her touch.
His tongue flicked out to touch her fingertips when it passed his mouth, and Camelia couldn't stop herself from shivering, her nipples aching.
"There you go, good boy," Evan murmured, licking the teeth marks that he left in James' skin. "Why don't you touch his cock, baby girl? I need my hand."