55. Aid Another #2
She knows me well enough to hear the difference.
Her hips try to chase the sensation despite how little movement she has.
That tiny shift around my cock nearly ends me.
I shut my eyes for one second.
“Nope.”
Cami laughs breathlessly.
“Already?”
“Shut up.”
Behind her, Micah's breathing changes.
Ronan catches it before I do. “Fuck, Micah, come.”
Micah does.
His whole body locks behind Dex.
Dex makes a rough sound.
The reaction carries forward hard enough that Cami gasps and drops her forehead fully against me.
For several seconds, nobody moves much.
Micah withdraws from the chain and steps aside.
His face is flushed.
Eyes unfocused for a second before he blinks himself back.
Ronan's hand briefly catches his hip.
Micah nods.
Small.
Private.
Then Micah leans forward and kisses Dex.
That I see clearly.
Dex turns his head as far as he can, and Micah catches his mouth in a kiss that lasts longer than I expect.
There's nothing performative about it.
No audience in it.
Just the two of them checking back in with each other in the middle of everything else.
Ronan steps away long enough to handle the practical transition before moving behind Dex.
No details.
No need.
When he comes back, Dex looks over his shoulder.
Ronan checks him.
Dex answers.
Ronan takes Micah's former place.
Dex's reaction to Ronan’s thrust is immediate.
His shoulders tighten.
His mouth falls open.
Cami feels it through him.
Her fingers squeeze mine again. “Oh my fucking God.”
I laugh, but it comes out strained. “Still green?”
She nods first.
I lift my eyebrows.
“Green,” she gasps. “So fucking green.”
Ronan starts moving.
Dex loses whatever was left of his ability to stay quiet.
The force travels forward again, and this time I know what to expect.
It doesn't help.
Cami gets driven down onto me while the ring vibrates between us.
My abs lock.
My jaw tightens.
She comes again, and both Dex and I groan as she clenches.
The entire room smells like sweat and sex, and whatever the hell is left of the clean linen spray Ronan uses down here.
Cami turns her head as much as her position allows.
“Harder, Dex.”
Dex makes a broken sound.
Then obeys immediately.
Her eyebrows lift slightly.
Maybe she didn't expect that much response.
I did.
I've watched her learn each one of them.
Where to tease.
When to soften.
Which words make them stop thinking.
“Come for me, Dex,” she tells him.
That one gets me too.
He lasts maybe seconds.
His body tightens.
Then he comes inside her.
Cami cries out and clamps down around me hard enough that I pull against every restraint at once.
My wrists burn with the pressure of my own effort.
She looks down at me, breathless and laughing.
“You're trying to kill me.”
“I'm literally tied to you.”
“Still your fault.”
Behind her and Dex, Ronan's rhythm loses some of its precision.
I deliberately keep my eyes on Cami.
Dex's reaction tells me plenty.
Then Ronan goes still behind him with a rough exhale.
Finally, I give my body permission to break. I had been holding out for this moment.
I deserve some kind of trophy.
Cami gasps as she feels the pulse of my climax.
The tension in the whole chain breaks.
Bodies start separating.
Dex withdraws from Cami carefully and stands there for a second with the expression of a man who just remembered he has bones.
Micah rests a hand briefly on his arm.
Ronan comes to Cami's side.
“We're releasing you first.”
She nods.
“Green?”
“Yes.”
Micah moves in immediately.
He supports her while Ronan starts freeing her, keeping one hand firm around her ribs as her legs come loose.
The second Cami has enough movement to shift her weight, her muscles start trembling.
Not distress.
Fatigue.
She's been suspended, restrained, flogged, come more times than I have kept count of, and spent the last several minutes kneeling over me while four men's movement translated through her body.
I'm shocked her legs haven't filed a formal complaint.
Micah sees it too. “Easy, Princess.”
The tone of his voice changes.
Softer.
He helps her fully off me once Ronan has her free enough, and for one reflexive second my body wants to reach for her.
I can't.
My hands are still restrained.
The old version of me might have hated that.
Might have needed Ronan to free me faster because Cami had moved away and I couldn't be the person catching her.
Instead, I watch Micah take her.
He sits on the padded bench beside the table and pulls a blanket around her shoulders before settling her against his chest.
Cami goes willingly.
Her head drops onto his shoulder.
His palm moves slowly over her upper arm, avoiding the pressure marks while he waits for her breathing to settle.
“You with me?” he asks.
“Mmhmm.”
“Actual words, Princess.”
“Yes. I'm here.”
He tips a water bottle toward her.
She drinks.
Not much.
Enough.
“Again.”
She gives him a look.
He gives her one back.
She drinks again.
I smile.
Ronan moves to my wrist.
“You good?”
“Yeah.”
“Any numbness?”
“No.”
He begins releasing me.
The first hand comes free.
Pins and needles don't rush in because nothing was compromised, but my fingers still feel strange for a second after being held in the same position so long.
I flex them.
My instinct is to reach for Cami.
I don't.
Micah has her.
And she's good.
That realization settles through my chest almost physically.
I don't have to interrupt care that is already working just because my hands function again.
Ronan moves to my other wrist.
Micah is still focused completely on Cami.
He checks the skin along one arm with his fingertips, then turns her hand palm-up.
“Anything here?”
“No.”
“Here?”
“No.”
Cami's voice is getting stronger.
Good.
Micah brushes her hair away from her face.
“You did beautifully.”
Her eyes soften.
“Thank you.”
He kisses her forehead.
Small.
Tender.
Exactly enough.
By the time Ronan frees my legs, Micah has gotten half the water into Cami and convinced her to eat something from the aftercare supplies.
I rotate one ankle.
Bend both knees.
My shoulders ache from pulling against the restraints harder than I realized I had, but otherwise everything feels normal.
“Any joint pain?” Ronan asks.
“Just normal thirty-something-year-old man pains.”
His mouth twitches. “Very specific.”
“Medically precise.”
He snorts and finishes checking me.
Only then do I sit up.
The room tilts for half a second from the change in position.
Nothing serious.
I breathe through it and wait.
Micah notices anyway. “You good?”
“Yeah.”
He watches me another second before accepting it.
Cami lifts her head from his shoulder.
Her eyes find mine immediately. “You okay?”
I smile. “I'm good, baby.”
She starts to move.
Micah's hand tightens gently around her arm. “Nope.”
Cami blinks.
I laugh. “You stay there.”
“But—”
“He has you,” I tell her.
Micah's eyes flick to mine.
Something passes between us.
Not permission.
Not ownership.
Recognition.
Cami relaxes back into him.
Ronan and Micah check her marks together once she's more grounded.
Ronan examines the warmer areas left by the flogger while Micah follows the faint rope pressure lines, both of them looking for anything outside what they expected.
I stay close enough to see her face.
Not close enough to crowd them.
Ronan asks about tenderness.
Cami answers.
Micah asks if anything feels sharp or wrong. “No. Just... used.”
Dex snorts. “Relatable.”
I look over.
He's sitting very carefully on the edge of another chair.
Cami notices too.
Her head tilts.
“You okay?”
“Fantastic.”
“With the chair?”
His joking expression settles a little.
Then he smiles. “It was hot.”
Cami waits.
Dex sighs.
“Fine. Hot as fuck. Would absolutely do again.”
Pause.
“Just maybe not every time.”
Cami smiles.
“Well, then learn to behave.”
Micah laughs against her hair.
Dex points at her. “That feels like victim blaming.”
“You touched my nipple while they were trying to suspend me.”
“In my defense, it was extremely available.”
“Dex.”
Micah barely says his name.
Dex's pointing hand drops.
“Yes, husband.”
Cami laughs into Micah's chest.
Even Ronan smiles.
Then Dex gets to his feet.
Slowly.
He winces just enough that all four of us notice.
“No one say anything.”
I immediately want to say something.
Cami beats me to it. “You good?”
“Yes.”
He takes two careful steps toward the bathroom.
Then stops and turns around.
“For the record, I am going to perform some basic post-game maintenance because two separate men came in my ass tonight.”
Silence.
I close my eyes.
There are sentences that, even after everything we've done together, I am not prepared to hear said casually in my basement.
Dex points toward us. “No comments.”
Micah is laughing too hard to provide one.
Cami has her face buried against his shoulder.
Ronan pinches the bridge of his nose.
I manage, “I wasn't going to.”
Dex narrows his eyes. “You were thinking one.”
“I was thinking several.”
“Keep them inside.”
Then he disappears into the bathroom.
I shake my head. “Fucking hell.”
Micah is still laughing.
Cami looks better.
That matters more.
By the time Dex comes back, Ronan and Micah are satisfied with Cami's skin.
Micah finally looks toward me. “You want her?”
The question lands strangely.
Not because he's asking permission.
Because I haven't felt like I had to ask.
Cami looks between us.
I stand and move closer.
“Yeah.”
Micah loosens his arms.
Cami shifts toward me, and I sit beside them long enough to take her without making her stand.
She folds into my chest.
Automatic.
Like water finding the lowest point.
I pull the blanket around both of us and kiss the top of her head.
Ronan checks Dex when he returns.
Then Micah.
Then Cami again.