Chapter Twenty-One
I LAST ABOUT THIRTYseconds before I speak again.
“Excuse me?”
I blink.
“Wait. Wait. Hold on. What the fuck does that mean?” I shake my head. “I don’t have seizures? Except I know I do. I have epilepsy. Spells. I pass out—”
“Yeah, and you don’t know what happens during them, do you?” Will interrupts. “You’re just taking everyone’s word for it that they’re regular seizures, but how would you know if you’re unconscious?”
Okay, fair point, I guess. But...
“But I’ve seen a doctor,” I say. “He ran tests—”
“A doctor your uncle found, presumably,” Rob says gently.
I freeze. That can’t be—
“You mean...” I flutter my eyes closed, piecing it together. “Uncle John knew. Knows. He knows I’m...that I can do...that I have some kind of powers?” I shake my head harder, press my palms into my forehead. “Sorry, but this is all a bit fucking much.” I blow out a breath.
“Of course it is,” Tuck says gently.
“Here’s what we know,” Will says, striding over and perching on the deck chair next to me. “After you and LJ had that little...run-in at the auto parts place, LJ brought you back here, unconscious, and we knew. We could all tell. The aura around you was different. Charged, kind of.”
“Like you’d had a kind of electrical surge,” Tuck says. “It can happen when someone’s supernatural powers are repressed. If you don’t know about them, don’t channel them properly, they come out in fits and starts.” He winces. “Pardon the expression.”
“It’s fine,” I say, waving him away. “So...when I was with LJ, and that guy was bothering me—”
“Like an immune reaction,” Will says. “Your body was just doing what it could to activate some protection. But the system’s immature, not trained properly, so it just sort of...” He explodes his fingertips with a whoosh sound.
I nod. It sort of makes sense, even if it’s fucking insane. “Okay,” I say. “But...then why just now, when Tuck and I...”
I stop short.
It only now occurs to me that Tuck and I might have broken a rule.
I totally fucking forgot.
Will raises an eyebrow. “When you and Tuck...?” he prompts. I’m frozen, can’t say anything, but Tuck isn’t.
He licks his lips and looks at Rob and Will sheepishly. Rob’s the first to grin, then Will.
“You did not,” Rob says, his smile broadening.
“Tuck, you smooth little bastard,” Will says, getting up to ruffle his hair.
“Hey, hey, calm down!” Tuck fights him off. His face is pink. “I don’t kiss and tell.” He looks at me, visibly embarrassed. “Sorry, Maren. It’s just...”
“No, no, it’s fine,” I say quickly, tucking a wet strand of hair behind my ear. I guess they were going to find out eventually. But why isn’t it an issue? I suck in a breath. “Yes, Tuck and I kissed. At the club. And I got a little dizzy. Is that...what was that?”
Rob shrugs, his slick bare skin catching the moonlight. “It’s hard to say, exactly. But best guess is the emotional surge of the moment comingled with whatever power is inside you and...kaboom.”
“Whatever power is inside me,” I repeat. “So you don’t—we don’t—know what I...am? What I do?” I tip my head. “Am I a shifter too?”
“No real way to know,” Will says. “Not until you actually shift. Until then, it’s anyone’s guess.”
I rub my forehead. “So that’s why you wanted to keep me here. Because of who I am. What I am,” I correct myself.
“No,” Rob says. His voice is strangely husky, his eyes distant, almost pained. “Like I said, we just found out too. Just put it together. Trust me, Maren, if we had known, known it was you...God, we would have—”
“There’s no point in casting blame,” Will says sternly, more to Rob than to me. “All we can do now is try to keep Maren out of trouble and see what powers might manifest.” He looks at me. “You’ll have to be somewhere safe. The reason you haven’t shown anything yet is probably because you’ve been, ah...”
“Abused,” I finish for him. “You can say it. Traumatized. I’m a fucking mess.”
“You’re not,” Tuck says softly. “Not to us.”
I sit, silent, for a long, long moment, shivering suddenly as if I’d just remembered my dress was all wet.
“This is too much,” Rob says. “It’s been a long night, she needs to get inside, and we’re all out here half-naked.”
“No,” I say quickly. “It’s fine. I’ll warm up.”
And that exact moment, Will happens to set down his bourbon. I snatch it up before it even touches the table and toss it back, the caramel burn on my tongue and throat sending warmth to every corner of me.
“My goodness,” Will says, his eyes flickering from his empty glass to my face to—I note with another shiver—my sopping-wet body.
“See?” I say. “I’m fine.”
Rob studies me, amused but not convinced. “That ballgown’s not getting any drier, pretty lady.”
From the corner of my eye, I catch Tuck looking suddenly flustered, embarrassed, like a clumsy puppy version of the golden retriever he is.
He wants me. It’s obvious. The kiss wasn’t enough for him.
And, if I’m being honest? It wasn’t enough for me, either.
I bite back a smile.
“No, it’s not,” I say. I look at the other two, study them, and decide...fuck it. I’ve got to ask.
“Why don’t you care that I kissed Tuck?”
Rob and Will exchange a glance.
“Who says we don’t?” Will mutters.
“She kissed me,” Tuck jumps in. “I mean, I wanted to kiss her. Pretty badly. But I just want to make it clear, I wasn’t going to...I know we’re supposed to...”
He shakes his head, eyes intent on me.
“I didn’t mean to start a whole thing,” I say truthfully. “I just wasn’t thinking about your rules.”
“Rules, schmules,” Will drawls. “Since when do we care so much about rules, anyway?”
“Mm.” Rob rubs his jaw. “I suppose we could work out some way to settle things. Even the score, perhaps.”
I shiver.
Maybe it’s the liquor, maybe it’s the absolute insanity of all that’s been revealed, maybe it’s the fact that I’m quite literally not who I thought I was, but I feel bold. I stand up.
“You know, you’re right,” I say to Rob.
He cocks an eyebrow.
“About my dress,” I go on. “It’s not getting any drier.”
I want to sound confident, seductive, but I can hear the tremble in my voice. Still, the words are out. I’ve said it. And for a moment, I’m terrified I’ve gone too far, pushed the limit.
But no.
“She should probably get out of it,” Will says.
“Here.” Rob steps behind me, and I feel his fingers at the top hem, between my shoulderblades. He pauses there, his touch fiery on my skin even as his hand is still cool from the water.
“What?” I turn my head slightly to try and see him, heart hammering.
“The zipper,” Rob says, low and husky. “I assume you’ll need some help.”
Is this really happening?
My throat tightens again, too much to speak, so I simply nod. Anticipation is electric over my skin, like I’ve touched a live wire. I feel the tug of his grip sliding the zipper down, down, down my spine, the dress petaling smoothly open and exposing my back to the night air.
Instinctively, I curl my arms up into my chest, holding the bodice so it doesn’t tumble down around my hips.
“Need help with that too?” Rob murmurs, his fingers now finding the small of my back, his body drawing closer to mine.
“Maybe,” I whisper. “Yeah.”
“Scarlet.” It’s more command than request from Rob, coming in the same breath as him pressing up against me and brushing his lips lazily against my neck.
I glance up slightly. Will is chewing his lip, arms crossed, considering, but quickly sighs and relaxes. “Ah, hell. I’m five whiskeys deep and half hard already.” He strides over to face me and takes my wrists in his hands. “Show us, beautiful.”
“Mhm.” It’s all I can manage, a whimpered assent, but it’s enough for him. As Rob nips at my neck again—harder—Will pries apart my willing arms, inches his fingers under the straps of the dress, and glides them down my shoulders.
The dress peels away from me, leaving only the bra that I’d picked out from Jack’s collection: midnight blue, with two straps that crisscross between my breasts and sheer chiffon cups that strain against my stiff nipples.
“Oh, God.” Will sucks in a breath. “Yes.”
Eyes half-lidded, he catches his lip in his teeth again and plunges forward, opening to enrobe first one lace-crested peak, then another, in the sweet, soft heat of his mouth.
“Unh.” I jerk at the sensation, almost involuntarily, flooded by it, by the need for more—of it, of him, of everything—but no sooner do I move than Rob’s hands are at my waist from behind, shimmying the dress past my hips and down, at last, to the ground.
“There,” he says, to the other two as much as to me. “There she is.”
“Perfect,” Will mutters, and bends to suck my left nipple again, the velvet warmth of his tongue contrasting with the scrape of the lace. Rob’s hand finds the right, his fingers swirling around the tip until it’s pebble-hard and aching.
“Can I...” Tuck’s voice is thick from where he’s knelt beside me, his knuckles gently brushing my right hip, just shy of the strap of my matching lace thong.
Will pulls away with a grin, leaving a dark, damp circle where his mouth was. “Tuck, please. Let her beg for it.”
“Don’t stop!” I cry, surprised at how forceful my voice sounds. Rob chuckles into my neck, massaging my breast inside the cup of the bra, teasing me even as Will eyes me, refusing to give me what I want.
“See what I mean?” he says to Tuck.
“Yeah,” Tuck pants. “I’m just...I’m so fucking hard—”
Will turns and smirks to me, skating a thumb over my nipple. “This what you want, gorgeous?”
“Mhm,” I choke out, leaning into Rob as he sucks on my neck.
“And you want Tuck to pull those panties down?”
God, do I.
“Yes,” I breathe. “Please.”
Will’s eyes gleam. “You heard the woman.”
Tuck barely needs another second. His massive, warm hands palm my ass, kneading the flesh with a moan as he yanks at the thin line of fabric spanning it.
“She’s wet for us, isn’t she?”
Tuck looks up at me, dazed, and trails his fingers between my legs.
“Oh God,” he growls, a mixture of surprise and delight. “Yeah—she really is.”
I cry out again, a wordless sound, as the tips of his fingers find my clit, stroke it. Tuck’s touch is gentle, feather-light, and yet each dip of his finger makes me feel like I’m about to gush all over his hand.
“The table,” Rob grunts. “Lay her back.”
In two steps I’m maneuvered backward, the bare skin of my ass brushing the metal edge of the picnic table. It’s cold, and I jump a little.
“She’s cold,” Will says. “Get a—”
“Here.” Tuck grabs his suit jacket and spreads it out behind me, brushing my ass lightly as he pulls back.
“But...” I can already feel my arousal starting to slick on my thighs. “Your jacket...I’m...”
“I know,” Tuck says throatily, “and I want it that way.”
“Wait.” Rob withdraws, steps over to the sparkling pile of our take, and I want to cry out in anguish, get him back here, on me, now now now, but before I can really object he’s back, a glimmering strand of jewels dripping from his fingers.
“Put this on her.”
It’s a stunning necklace, six fat emeralds strung together on pale yellow gold, and it’s got to be worth a fortune.
“What? Why? I can’t...” I protest even as Will takes the necklace and fastens it around my throat.
“It suits her,” he says, grinning wickedly.
“It does,” Rob agrees.
“Makes her eyes shine,” Tuck says.
I finger the jewels, their chill warming on my skin, and look from one of them to the next. The weight alone is impressive, and I can only imagine what it looks like.
Not that I need to know, specifically. Because their reactions are more than enough.
I purse my lips, then smile. “Fine. But why, though?”
Rob crouches in low, so that our eyes are level. “Because I want to watch them sparkle when we make you come.”
He moves ruthlessly, hard and fast, pinning my right arm down to fasten his lips around my nipple. Will follows suit, cupping the other breast and sucking, sucking, sucking it to a peak, and Tuck kneels again by the table’s edge, pressing his lips against my thigh until his fingers find the deep, hot center of me
“That’s it,” mumbles Will around my skin. “God, yes, Maren.”
I buck up, arch my hips off the table, my teeth digging so hard into my lower lip I think I’ll draw blood.
“Is she holding back?” Tuck asks, glancing up, before his tongue joins his fingers and a moan claws at my throat, needing out, needing release.
I can feel Rob’s lips curve as he works my nipple. “Scream if you need to, pretty lady,” he says, tweaking me with his thumb and forefinger. “We’re deep in the woods for a reason.”
Then his hot mouth joins Will’s in enveloping my breasts, and Tuck’s ungodly fingers and tongue tease my clit harder, harder, harder.
It’s too much. Too good. I can’t—
“I’m going to—” I gasp. “I’m g-going t-to—”
“Come for us, beautiful.”
I don’t even know which of them says it. But it’s all I need to hear.
The orgasm ricochets through me, the necklace skating over my skin, and a cry, ragged and primal, surges from my lips as they shatter me into a thousand pieces.
I lie there I don’t know how long, staring up at the distant silver stars.
Then, suddenly, reality all rushes back into place: the chill of the air and the darkness of night and the firm reality of what’s just happened.
Heat floods my face. I’m so exposed, spread-eagled like this with nothing on me but what remains of my fancy bra and a ten-grand emerald necklace.
Tuck coughs. “I’d better...” He gets to his feet gingerly. “I’m gonna go...clean up.” He ducks his head and hightails it inside.
Will laughs, and Rob chuckles, but gives Will a shove.
“Oh, like you wouldn’t absolutely be doing the same thing in his situation.”
“Fair enough,” Will drawls, doing a palms up. “I can only hope to have the chance one day.”
“Not tonight,” Rob says, looking at me. “Something tells me Maren’s spent for the evening.”
I nod, dumbly, feeling tender and raw all at once. I sit up, curling into myself, and Rob hastens to grab his jacket and throw it over my shoulders.
“Nothing to be ashamed of, little vixen,” he whispers into my ear. “You’re beautiful when you come.”
No one’s ever said anything like that to me before. I nod, swallowing hard, and tug the jacket around me.
“Get her to bed, Will,” Rob says, straightening up. “To sleep, mind you. I’ll deal with all this.” He gestures at the heap of jewels. “Make sure she’s okay,” he adds, his voice lower.
“Aye aye.” Will’s gaze on me softens, and he offers me his hand as I step down from my perch on the table.
We walk in silence back through the dark house, up the stairs, to my room, where I open the door but don’t go all the way inside.
“Everything okay?” Will’s voice comes through the dimness.
“Yes,” I answer, but even I can tell I don’t sound convinced. I rub my forehead. “Did we just...did that really just happen?”
“If the ache in my balls is anything to go by, then yes,” Will drawls. He immediately softens. “Hey, Maren. Don’t worry, okay? We all wanted to. And it seems like you enjoyed yourself.”
“Mhm.” I nod, feeling a little meek remembering how I’d screamed to the heavens.
“So, then.” I can just make out Will’s smile—not his all-knowing, superiority-complex smile, but an easier, gentler smile. “Don’t overthink it, all right?”
He presses a kiss to my forehead.
“Good night, Maren.”
I WAKE UP GOD KNOWShow many hours later with a smile on my face.
At first, in the groggy state of prying myself away from my pillows, I don’t even know why I’m so happy. But then it comes back to me, in fits and starts, images from last night...
I—me, Maren—just had mind-bending, earth-shattering...I don’t even know what to call it. Group sex? With three of the hottest men I’ve ever laid eyes on.
In spite of myself, I giggle, and press my face into my pillow. I feel like a middle-schooler with a crush and an otherworldly sex goddess all at once.
The high continues as I float into the shower, take my time lathering my hair and body, replaying every touch and feeling in my mental highlight reel (and barely resisting the urge to do some solo reenactments), and exit in a cloud of vanilla-scented steam.
As I’m toweling down in the bedroom, I look around for anything to tell time with, and settle on my old dumb phone where I’d parked it near the reading nook. Finger-combing my wet hair, I grab it and flip it open.
And my heart drops.
Don’t think I don’t know you were at the Fox Hunt Club last night little bitch
Flirting with all kinds of men I heard
Putting shame on my name
You little slut
I know who’s hiding you
I’ll kill you when I find you whore
I’ll kill you