Chapter Thirty-Six
Knox
The authorities finally arrive—RCMP in helicopters, taking statements, securing the scene. But it’s going to be a long process.
Hours of questions, documentation. Michelle offers us a back room to rest while we wait our turn for interviews.
The room is small—cots, a space heater, nothing fancy. But it’s private. Safe. I close the door, and for the first time since
escaping the cabin, we’re alone together.
The adrenaline is still coursing through me. Combat high, survival instinct, the need that comes after nearly dying. I can
see it in Hailey and Liam too—the same wired energy.
“We lived,” Hailey says to me, shaky. “We actually lived, Knox.”
I pull her into my arms. She’s trembling—delayed shock. I hold her tight, grounding her. Over her shoulder, I see Liam, standing
apart, uncertain.
I make a decision. Extending my hand. “Get over here.”
Liam hesitates. “Knox—”
“Now.”
Liam moves into the embrace. The three of us together, arms around each other, breathing hard, alive. The touch shifts. Need.
Want. The connection from the cabin, still there despite everything.
I tilt Hailey’s face up, kissing her hard. She responds immediately. Then I’m turning to Liam, claiming his mouth too. Liam
makes a sound—surprise, relief, desire—and kisses back.
I can feel Liam’s stubble against my lips, the roughness a contrast to Hailey’s softness. The room is warm, too warm, but it’s not just the space heater. It’s us, the heat between us, the desperation to feel alive after staring death in the face.
Hailey’s hands are at my waist, gripping tightly, her breath hot on my neck. Liam’s body is pressed against mine, his heart
pounding in sync with ours. It’s chaotic, messy, but there’s a rhythm to it, a dance we all know the steps to.
I pull back slightly, just enough to see their faces. Hailey’s eyes are wide, pupils dilated. Liam’s gaze is intense, focused.
There’s a question there, a silent conversation. We’ve crossed a line, but there’s no going back. Not after everything we’ve
been through.
Hailey reaches up, her hand cupping my cheek. She turns my head to face her, her lips brushing against mine softly this time.
It’s a stark contrast to the earlier desperation, but it’s no less intense. Liam’s hand is at the small of my back, supporting
me.
The sound of voices outside the door brings us back to reality. We should pull apart—but fuck that. I need them now.
I lean forward, kissing Hailey again, and she melts into me. Liam’s hand lifts to my neck, tugging gently until I turn and
his mouth finds mine. He tastes of blood and winter, and there’s a rawness in both of us that makes it urgent, almost violent.
Hailey bites my lower lip, just shy of pain, and when I gasp she laughs, breathy and reckless.
We tumble onto one of the cots. The scratchy wool bites my skin, but I don’t care. Everything is about sensation: the slide
of Hailey’s hands under my shirt, the way Liam’s fingers move from my hair to my jaw, holding me firm. I kiss them both in
turn, greedy, not willing to waste a single second of this borrowed peace.
When I press Hailey’s body down, Liam follows, wrapping his arms around us both. We move together, a tangle of limbs and fevered
mouths, until I’m dizzy with it. It’s not about sex—at least not just that. It’s about affirmation, hunger, the certainty
that we made it out and are still here.
“Fuck me,” I hear her say.
Liam looks as startled as I do, his eyes shooting to mine and then to Hailey, searching for confirmation. She repeats it,
some dark smile playing at the corners of her mouth, and then pulls me in by the belt loops as if daring either of us to say
no.
I kiss her, then Liam, until I can’t tell whose hands are whose, whose lips, whose teeth. Hailey is the first to get her shirt
off, tossing it aside before crawling into my lap and straddling me.
But the cot is too small for all three of us, and by the sound of the creaking, I’m not sure it will hold all our weight.
I push up from the cot, decision made before I even think it through. “Floor,” I mutter, and we spill onto the cold linoleum,
dragging blankets with us in a haphazard nest. It’s not comfortable, but it’s space, and that’s what we need.
Hailey’s on her back now, arching as I slide over her, my hands pinning her wrists above her head. She wriggles, testing my
grip, her eyes gleaming with that same wild spark from the cabin. Liam’s beside us, his shirt half-unbuttoned, fingers fumbling
with the rest as he watches, breath coming fast.
I release one of Hailey’s hands to help him, yanking the fabric open and off his shoulders. His skin is warm under my palm,
marked with bruises from the fight, but he doesn’t flinch. Instead, he leans in, capturing Hailey’s mouth while I work on
her pants, tugging them down her hips.
She kicks them free, laughing again—that sounds like a dare—and pulls Liam closer by his hair. I feel a surge of something
possessive, but it’s tangled with want, not jealousy. This is us, all of us, no room for anything else.
My own clothes come off in a blur—belt clinking against the floor, boots thudding as I shove them aside. Naked now, the air
hits me, but Hailey’s body heat draws me back like a magnet. I settle between her thighs, feeling her slick and ready, her
nails digging into my shoulders as I push in slow.
She gasps into Liam’s kiss, her body clenching around me, and it’s everything—tight, hot, alive. Liam breaks away to watch, his hand trailing down my back, then lower, urging me on with a firm press.
I thrust deeper, finding a rhythm that matches the pounding of my heart, each movement pulling a moan from Hailey’s lips.
She’s writhing beneath me, her free hand clutching at Liam’s arm, drawing him in closer. He leans down, his mouth on her breast,
sucking and teasing until she arches higher, her inner walls pulsing around me in response.
The floor is unforgiving against my knees, but the discomfort only sharpens the edge of it all, makes every sensation more
vivid. I can feel Liam’s hand sliding farther, fingers exploring the curve of my ass, pressing in a way that’s both commanding
and tentative, like he’s testing boundaries we’ve already shattered.
“Knox,” Hailey breathes, her voice breaking on my name, eyes locked on mine. There’s a vulnerability there, mixed with the
fire, and it hits me hard—how close we came to losing this, losing each other. I lean down to kiss her, swallowing her cries
as I pick up the pace, driving into her with a need that’s almost punishing.
Liam shifts, his body pressing against my side now, his erection hard against my thigh. I reach for him without thinking,
wrapping my hand around his length, stroking in time with my thrusts. He groans, the sound low and guttural, his hips bucking
into my grip. His free hand finds its way between Hailey and me, fingers circling her clit, making her buck wildly.
“I don’t ever want this to end. Us,” she moans.
His fingers don’t let up on her, circling faster, and she shatters first—clenching around me in waves, her cry muffled as
she buries her face in my neck, nails raking my back.
That pushes me over, the sensation too much, and I come hard inside her, groaning into her hair, hips jerking as everything whites out for a second.
Liam’s right there with us, his body shuddering as I stroke him through it, feeling him pulse and spill over my hand, warm and messy.
He collapses against me, all three of us a heap on the blankets, breaths ragged in the dim light.
I lie there, sandwiched between them, my chest heaving as the world sharpens back into focus. Hailey’s head rests on my shoulder,
her fingers tracing lazy patterns on my chest, while Liam’s arm drapes over my waist, heavy and possessive.