32 - Lane
Lane
The landing on the common floor sent a violent, breath-stealing jolt through my spine. The world tilted and for a few seconds, my brain couldn’t process the sudden explosion of pain that wedged itself between my bones.
I couldn’t move and could barely breathe, making terrifying faint, wet clicking noises in my throat. Surely this wasn’t a high enough fall to die from? It felt like it, anyway. My ears were ringing and I felt a light pressure on my shoulder as someone touched me.
Sy.
He and Dax would very obviously have heard the crash from the basement. They were meant to be finishing up some minor touches today. I couldn’t hear Sy at first, but I could see his face. His blue eyes were red-ringed as his mouth moved without sound. But the terror nestled in his gaze…
Dax loomed above me too, and I watched as the shock on his face transformed into blind rage. His head snapped up to the top of the stairs where Sandy was staring down, frozen and pale-faced. He immediately lunged for the steps but I had just enough strength to croak out a feeble “Don’t”.
His body was visibly shaking with the conflict of whether to follow his instincts upstairs, where Sandy had slithered back to his unit and locked himself in, or to listen to me. I knew that if he didn’t stop here, he would be more than capable of breaking down Sandy’s door.
Silas lifted me into his arms, carefully avoiding putting pressure on my ribs and the instant relief of being raised from the hard floor was enough to make me tear up. The agony was still there but not as intense.
“You’re going to be less help trying to get to him than you are taking care of Lane. She needs you,” Sy said.
That snapped Dax out of it and he turned to look at me. His face softened and he nodded, leading the way to open the door for Sy to carry me inside. The gentle giant laid me down on the nearest sofa, brushing hair off my face and whispering gentle words of comfort.
“I’m going to fucking kill him. I swear to God, I’ll kill him,” Dax growled, pacing back and forth like he was still debating going after Sandy.
“We should call the ambulance,” Sy said, holding my hand and pulling out his phone with his free one.
“Hold on,” Dax said, finally shutting the door behind us and locking the rest of the world outside. “We should check the damage first.”
“Come on, Miller, that’s not—” Sy started.
“If anyone knows a thing or two about getting banged up and needing to figure out the difference between a break and a bruise, it’s me,” Dax said flatly. He hurried over and crouched down in front of me.
I was surprised by the gentleness of his hands as he carefully slid off both of my shoes. “Where are you hurt?”
“Everywhere,” I wheezed, then realized that wasn’t very helpful. “My ribs, mostly. And my right leg.”
Dax’s fingers ran flat and firm along my rib cage.
I tensed at the contact even though he was being incredibly gentle with me.
He listened for something, asking me to breathe for him as deeply as was comfortable.
When he was satisfied, he turned his attention to my lower body, checking my hips and legs and then eventually my ankles.
He prodded around the bone and frowned at the swelling, but his entire body seemed to deflate with relief when he was done.
“Nothing’s broken, Red. You’ve got a classic grade-one sprain here, and your ribs are badly bruised. No clicking and no internal shifting. You’re gonna be sore as hell tomorrow but nothing is structurally compromised.”
His mouth twitched as he said the last bit. Was he seriously making a joke? I recalled the story Silas told me about Dax’s disaster with structural integrity and managed a weak laugh, flinching at the tug in my side. “I dunno if I trust your structural deductions, Miller.”
He chuckled but his eyes were glassy. He caressed his thumb across my cheek, his throat bobbing. “God, I thought…when you were laying there like that, I…I'm gonna kill him, Lane, I swear.”
“Shh,” I stopped him, placing two fingers on his lips. He closed his eyes and kissed the pads. The gesture took me completely by surprise. I expected softness and sweetness from Silas. But from Dax, it shocked me down to my core. Something stirred inside seeing him this raw and nurturing.
Sy returned with an icepack and moved to my ankle, manually keeping the cold compress on my injury. He sat on the coffee table and used his lap as an elevation cushion.
“You guys don’t have to go through all this effort, seriously,” I said, already sounding a bit better now that I was no longer winded. I tried to move and was greeted with the pain of a thousand thick, flaming needles stabbing me all over my torso.
Dax gently pressed me back at the shoulder. “You need to keep tension out of your core, Lane. Relax, let us take care of you.”
“But—”
Now it was his turn to place his fingers over my lips to silence me. “Let us take care of you.”
There was a shift in his tone, a husk to the words that sent a shiver down my spine even through the pain.
His eyes were still red but they were also now filled with something else. Something dark and familiar that brushed up against the tenderness. And Sy’s fingers were straying far above my ankle now, tracing the sensitive flesh of my inner thigh.
I tried not to breathe too heavily as Dax moved closer, sliding a hand around the back of my neck and pressing his forehead to mine. “Let us make you feel better, Red. Let us show you how happy we are that you're really okay.”
I placed a hand on his broad chest, then slowly traced a path from his chest to his shoulder and eventually his neck. He leaned closer and when his mouth pressed against mine, the rush of pleasure instantly started drowning out the pain.
This was a different kind of kiss. It wasn’t hurried or lustful or a heavy precursor to fucking. There was a yearning behind his lips, a promise that he was giving me through his hard-earned gentleness.
And I was accepting every bit of him. Sy’s touch on my legs was soft, not intrusive or trying to redirect my attention, but more a grounding reminder that he was still here. Still holding me, like he always did.
When we broke apart, I kept my lips against his. “I want both of you.”
Dax hummed, moving his head so his nose grazed my jaw and neck.
He gently kissed the spot behind my ear and I practically melted into the pillows.
Sy started kissing my leg, gently replacing his lap with an actual stack of pillows before slowly making his way up my body until he joined Dax and me on the couch.
Sy’s mouth found the other side of my neck and both sets of hands started roaming my chest.
I sighed, closing my eyes and letting myself dissolve under their attention.
Being between both of them like this felt amazing.
The pure physicality of their bodies, the heat and strength and power I’d witnessed throughout their time working on my house, was such a contrast to the softness of their hands as they explored my body.
Powerful thighs were pressed against mine, and I could hear their soft breaths as they grew more and more turned on.
I let my own hands trail, savoring the feel of them even through the clothes.
The two of them began to sync their movements, running symmetrical lines of pleasure down my neck.
It's like they were mirroring each other–Sy would nip my right ear and Dax would follow on the left.
Dax's hand cupped my left breast and flicked my nipple with his thumb and Sy would copy on the right.
Right down the column of my body, right until…
“Ahh,” I moaned out loud, my nerve endings rapid-firing as both of them slipped a hand up my skirt and into my panties. I was wearing tights… How the hell had they gotten them off?
“Oh my god,” I muttered when I spotted the discarded material lying in a destroyed heap on the floor.
I spotted Dax’s work utility knife on the coffee table.
The little asshole. Annoyance temporarily took the wheel as I remembered the stunt Bear pulled in his truck.
“That's the second damn pair. You guys are really starting to–”
My back suddenly arched as I gasped, pain sharpening the edges of pleasure as two fingers slipped inside of me. Someone's thumb stroked my clit, and I didn't know whose hands were whose and honestly, I didn't care. I only cared that they continued to touch me like this.
Dax pressed his mouth to my temple. “Thank you for everything.”
I laughed shakily, barely holding onto sanity because of their dextrous fingers. “What for?”
“For so much. For cooking for us when you didn’t have to, just because you felt like it,” he said. His fingers curled inside of me, right into my sweet spot and I squeezed my thighs around their hands, trying not to move my legs too much.
“Thank you for noticing Bear’s leg and not making him feel like you pitied him for it,” he added. Another finger slipped inside my pussy just as Sy’s thumb started rubbing slow, tortuously rhythmic circles on my clit.
My head flopped back against the couch cushion and Sy immediately put his mouth on my throat, sucking the skin.
“Thank you for all the little stuff you did to take care of us. For being just as sweet to Sy as he is to everyone else. For getting me off the hook in court. For challenging us when we need to be challenged and not backing down, ever,” he said.
I could feel the tease of an orgasm approaching, but Dax withdrew his fingers, leaving me teetering on the edge. He licked his hand, then turned my chin and kissed me, sharing the taste. I groaned, the erotic nature of the kiss cranking my arousal even higher.
Sy also stilled his fingers on my clit, but he still had his mouth on my neck.
“We’re so lucky to have you,” Dax whispered.
I was about to tell him that I felt the same way about them when Sy slid between my legs and started eating me out like he was starving. He was holding my thighs up, careful to keep my injured ankle from hitting anything that could aggravate the pain.