Chapter 22
Ryan
L ily's eyes widened when we stepped inside Ethan's jet. My stomach tightened. I knew it was irrational, but I couldn't fight the feeling that I was losing her again. To Ethan, Matt, Eric and all the things I couldn't offer her, things she needed from all of us. We'd only just gotten her back and I'd super glue myself to her side if it was acceptable, make it so we breathed the same breath and shared the same skin. No one would ever be able to take her away again.
Nausea clutched me tight every time I had to give someone else their turn with her. If I had a private jet, I'd throw her over my shoulder and take off running, fly her somewhere we could be alone forever. But that would be kidnapping all over again and I'd be hurting her in the process. Because I'm a terrible partner. Selfish.
I needed to control myself.
"Oh, yes! I could sleep for days." Lily sighed and flopped onto the compact beige sofa.
As if someone had just blown a whistle to set a race off, we rushed forward, all occupying the closest seats we could claim nearest to the sofa. Our eyes were trained on her like hawks.
"Try not to fall asleep, what if you have a concussion from when he pistol whipped you?" Falling at her feet, I looked up into her hazel eyes which had locked me in since the first day I saw her and winked at me as I held her pictures close. My stomach did a somersault and I reached up to cradle her face, inflamed by the bruises there. I stiffened at the stitches in the back of her head.
She smiled at me. "Stop fussing."
"What's this?" I clenched my jaw.
"What's what?" Eric followed my hand with his eyes and jumped up to shove it aside and feel for himself.
"Fuckers hit me in the back of the head when they took me. Cowards." Lily choked.
A grenade had just gone off inside me and I dug my nails into my palm to keep from exploding.
"I'm going to fucking kill them." Eric roared.
"Not before I get to them." Ethan chimed in.
Lily's eyes flew up to meet theirs. "No. No, you won't. You won't go near them! Promise me!"
"Why not!" Matt growled.
"You can't be serious!" She clutched her head and I leapt up from the ground to wrap my arm around her.
"Stop it! Can't you see you're upsetting her?" I held her body against mine, hugging her tight.
Each of them reddened. Ethan swiped his hand over his face.
"Of course not, baby. It was just a figure of speech. I know how you feel about violence, I wouldn't." He kissed her temple.
She leaned into the kiss with a sigh and rubbed her head against the brush of his lips.
"I'm sorry, Lils. We're allowed to be angry, aren't we? They hurt you..." Matt growled.
"Don't worry about that. I'm here now. That's what counts. Focus on me," Lily said.
"We are." Ethan winced and took a seat. "We are. I'm sorry."
Lily smiled. "Come here."
No. The seat's already crowded enough. I protested inside my head.
She inched me over and pulled on Eric's legs to move him closer to her. "Why don't you all come sit over here, so I can lay across your laps?" She fluttered her lashes at us. "Oh, don't frown. I'll be fine. If you're that worried about me falling asleep, I'll be awake as soon as we touch down in Durham, and you can wake me up throughout the flight. I just need to shut my eyes and I need to have you all close to me, reminding me I'm safe."
Oh, how can I be mad at that?
"She is a nurse, guys..." Ethan reminded us. "She knows what she's talking about. Come..." He got up and moved over to the sofa, pulling it open. She jumped and giggled a little when it unfolded into a bed. "It's not a long flight anyway. You must be exhausted."
I took a deep breath. So what if Ethan was pulling out the stops and all I could offer her was a hug? It was good to see her smiling despite the scared little creature still hiding out behind her eyes. She was the one that mattered and as she stretched out on the bed like a cat, I realized how stupid I'd been acting. How I screwed my face up as Eric and Matt got to be the ones to hold her hands on the way out of the hospital and shielded her from the insensitive news reporters. Or how I burned, waiting for my turn to hold her in my arms as I'd dreamed of doing ever since she went missing.
It's hard sharing a woman, but what's worse is not having her, thinking that she might have died, knowing what she might have suffered, and not being able to do anything about it. I can't take her experience away from her. That's the worst part and why nothing I do will ever feel good enough, because I couldn't prevent her suffering.
But, she's here now. Lily's safe. She wants all of us around her. And there's enough of her to go around, as fragile as she may be.
She opened one eye and regarded us all staring at her. "So, are you guys going to join me on the bed, or are you going to just sit there, staring at me like zombies?"
Eric cleared his throat.
"What?" she said. "This bed is bigger than my bed back at home. I mean, at that house. Do I even have a home anymore?"
"What kind of question is that?" Matt was the first one to join her on the bed, and I stopped wrestling with myself and lay down next to her.
"It's just that I don't want to go back to that house. In fact... will you guys collect my mother for me? I don't want to step foot in that house ever again if I don't have to." She shivered, and I couldn't help but move in closer to wrap my arms around her. She sighed into me, and it was heaven on earth.
"About that." Ethan stalled.
Eric looked from Ethan to Lily and sighed. "The police wouldn't let them take her home. Up until today, they thought we had something to do with you going missing."
"What?" She balked. "Where is she?" Her pulse fired up and thumped hard through her back as I held her against my chest.
"Relax, babe." Matt ran his hand through her hair. "They agreed to let her stay at The Women's Shelter. They're excited to see you."
"Oh." Her body softened. Lily braced her head on her hand and studied all of us. "That must have been so difficult for all of you," she said and stroked Matt's hand with a feather touch of her fingers.
My eyes creased. What was happening here?
"Hard for us?" Matt exhaled. "Compared to what you went through..."
"Can we not talk about that?" She wrapped her hand around his wrist and pulled him closer. "Just lie down next to me, please."
Matt smiled. "Anything you want, Lils." He brought her hand to his lips before laying into her and placing a kiss on her forehead. She sighed, but she was still up to something, I suspected.
She turned her attention to Ethan and Eric. "What are you waiting for?"
Ethan grinned and sat at the edge of the fold-out bed, taking her feet into his lap. When he began to massage them, she moaned and started rubbing them up against him, into the crotch of his pants.
"What are you doing?" He rasped and gripped her feet, pausing their pursuit. My cheeks heated.
"Nothing," she feigned.
Lily turned to look at Eric in the reclined seat observing us and exhaled. "You know, one of the only things that kept me going when I closed my eyes and tried to think of my happy place?"
"What's that?" He smiled at her, a twinkle in his eyes.
"The memory of you all in my bed," she breathed, and I hardened.
Okay, this was the part I didn't mind sharing. I'm an open bisexual man, after all. I couldn't deny that watching hot men fuck my sexy woman got my blood so hot and pounding, I could have a fucking aneurysm. She's such a freak, and I love it. I love watching her get off to the sight of me fucking Matt and diving into her pussy straight after she's cum all over herself. Or after Ethan has coated her insides with his seed.
She's always so hot and slick inside, I grow harder and tighter, needing her depths to ease my ache. I don't know how she does it, but she's always tight as fuck right after, or maybe I just swell from the desire of her, filling her hole until it's snug. I even love it after, when Eric gets to her. He likes it when she's all fucked out and limp, yet unable to resist him. Cursing herself for wanting more.
Fuck, it's sexy falling asleep to the sound of her whimpers and pleas, and his encouraging grunts as he takes them to the edge together. No wonder we couldn't get enough of her before. I'd fall asleep, only to wake up an hour after their session snuck into my dreams, leaving me ravenous for more.
But, this is not the time or the place , I reminded myself as I made a conscious effort not to rest my arm up against her breasts, and to pull my hips away from her scooting ass.
We were all speechless. Desire was running rampant within all of us. Ethan's hard cock bulged against his crotch. Eric's pupils had devoured his irises. Matt's lips were plumper, his skin redder. We all looked at each other. This isn't appropriate for a woman going through such recent trauma, is it?
She continued. "I need the warmth of your big arms wrapped around me."
"So, I guess I didn't factor into your memories then," Matt joked, flexing his scrawny arms.
"Me either, it seems," I interjected, trying to keep this as lighthearted as possible.
"Of course you were. All four of you. You were wrapped around me. I was wrapped around you." She leaned in to kiss Matt and pulled my arms tighter around her body, back from where I had removed them, and up against her breasts. I cleared my throat. She didn't know what she wanted right now... so self-control, Ryan, have some self-control. Don't stick your hands into the waistband of the borrowed sweats the hospital gave her. Don't rip it down her hips and slam your dick into her.
"Lily." Ethan groaned, and when I looked down, I could see her rubbing her foot up against the crotch of his pants. Again, he held her ankle still. His self-control was my current role model.
"Eric?" She breathed.
Eric was gripping the arms of the recliner seat, his jaw tense. Ethan was going to have to get the leather on those arms replaced. Most of it was under Eric's nails.
"What?" Eric asked.
"Come over here." She purred.
He chuckled a little, pulled out his ponytail and ran his hand through his hair before tying it back up, taking a deep breath and turning to her. "I want to hold you, not Ryan or Matt. No offense." He looked over at all of us surrounding her body, before winking at her.
I didn't even care that he wanted us gone so he could have her to himself. Those were my sentiments, exactly. Even with this uproar in my body while I was fighting the urge to give her what she was asking for, and respect her recovery time, I was not letting go of her anytime soon. I'd endure the torture of wanting more than I was able to have. I was too selfish to let go and let him or any of them wrap their arms around her.
She didn't accept defeat so quickly, rolling onto her back and opening her arms out to him. "Come on top then." She grinned, biting her lip.
He exhaled. "I'd crush you," he said, joking.
"Mmm." She moaned. "I'd like that."
He breathed a laugh, shaking his head.
She huffed. "I won't break, you know." Batting her lashes at him, she beckoned him forward. "Please?"
Eric sighed and regarded her with a tickled smile, before getting up and leaning over to give her a brief kiss. But as he started to pull away, she pulled him down on top of her, grinning. He grunted.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She gasped. "I forgot. Did I hurt you?"
"Me?" He jumped up and started running his hands over her as if he had almost shattered her. "Are you okay?"
"Eric." She sighed in exasperation. "I'm fine." She cupped his face, but he just turned to kiss the palm of her hand, his eyes still wild as they searched her body.
"Are you sure?" He insisted.
"Yes." She breathed, giving up. "I think I'll have that nap now." She released him, flopped over onto her belly and buried her face into the crook of her elbow.
Okay, I recognized that move. It was the same move she did when she was on her period and we didn't give a fuck about sexing her through the blood and all. When we tried to convince her we didn't care about the mess and she could stick a tampon in while we made love to her ass. That's when she looked at us horrified, but interested. Still, it was a big no-no from her. So, once we saw her get in that position, we knew it was time to fuck off.
She was shutting us out and that's what we wanted, right? Yet, ' What have we done wrong?' was written all over our faces as we regarded each other, took a deep breath and went back to training our stalker eyes on her every movement.
"Everything okay, Sir?" Ethan's pilot stepped out of the cockpit into our space. We all jumped and turned to look at him. That was a close call. If things had gone the other way, he'd have been in for quite the shock.
"Yeah, everything's okay." Ethan crossed his legs to hide his semi.
"Alright, sir. We're ready for takeoff." The pilot announced with a nod before disappearing.
All of us turned to look at each other and I couldn't help the soft laugh that escaped my lips. Man, even brief laughter was such a relief. Within seconds, Lily was already snoring, letting sleep replace her hunger for dick. Thankfully, there was time for all of that later, when she had recovered and rested. For now, I stroked her back, syncopating her snores with the rhythm of my pulse.