Chapter 22
Tegan
I’m sore, but in the best kind of way. I’ve never had two guys at once before.
I was scared at first. Being with two men goes against norms, and I assumed I’d get in trouble after, that Alec would be mad at me, even though he’d asked for it.
Even as he came around to kiss me, I feared I’d feel the bite of admonishment.
But that isn’t what happened at all. Alec held me as if another man’s touch brought us closer, and despite the fear, I felt closer to him. I felt comforted. Safe. And for the first time in a long time, I slept like a fucking baby.
There’s a knock on the door, and I get out of bed and look through the peephole. It’s Tye. Will things be weird between us? I take a breath and open the door so that I can find out.
“Alec went to meet with Stacks,” I say.
“That’s okay. I’ll wait for him.”
Tye breezes into the room and plops down on the messy bed.
He glances at the crumpled sheet where he hovered over me last night.
I sit beside him, and his hand hooks around my waist and pulls me closer to him.
I freeze before relaxing into his touch.
My face rests against his neck. I expected this to be less okay—extra weird, even—but it isn’t.
This feels completely normal. But we don’t kiss.
I don’t want to betray Alec, and it’s clear he doesn’t want to either.
“I like you, princess,” he whispers after a long silence.
“I don’t know why either of you do.”
He lifts my face to make me look into his eyes. “Because you’re beautifully broken like me and Ace.”
My heart flutters in my chest. “What happened to you, Tye?”
“I wasn’t the abused one like Alec. I had to witness it. In technicolor fucking detail.”
I grip his arm and turn it toward the light. “Is that why you cut?”
His cheeks flame red. “It’s the only control I had. And I deserved to feel a fraction of the pain my little sister felt. I didn’t do enough to stop it.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died.”
“Oh god, Tye. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. Whatever’s in the afterlife has to be better than the hell on this earth.”
Our foreheads touch as we feel the unbearable pain between us.
The door whips open, and Ace walks in. Tye and I rip away from each other, but Alec doesn’t look twice. This is going to take getting used to. For both of us.
Ace turns toward us and smirks, lifting the piercing below his eye. “God, just kiss each other already.”
Is the tension that thick that he knows just by looking at us? Tye doesn’t hesitate the way he did before. He just hooks his hand behind my neck and drags me into him for a kiss. My lips spread on his, and soon there’s a hand brushing back my hair.
“You look so fucking beautiful when he kisses you, pup,” Alec whispers as he strokes my hair.
His hand forms a fist and drags me away from Tye so that he can kiss me too.
He possessively kisses me until I taste his jealousy and the sexually charged push-and-pull. And I like how it feels on my tongue.
Tye pulls me into him for his turn, and I’ve never felt so wanted. So attractive.
Tye eases back and brushes his hand through his long hair. He’s panting, feeling as frustrated as I am, it seems. “What did Stacks say?” he asks, trying to get back to the reason he came by in the first place.
“Rolo won’t be a problem anymore,” Alec says. “He’s gone.”
“Gone as in left, or gone as in—” Tye pulls two fingers across his throat.
My neck nearly breaks as I turn my head to see Alec’s answer.
Alec’s hand moves across his throat, and my stomach drops into my ass.
“Alec!” I squeal.
“Stacks will take care of it,” he says.
My eyes widen. “You killed someone!”
“He tried to hurt you.” His hand rests against my face, soothing my panic. “I won’t stand for it.”
“Neither of us will,” Tye adds, his voice gruff.
“But—”
Tye’s spine stiffens. “But nothing, princess. He deserved what happened to him. I won’t hear another word about Rolo. He fucked around and ended up in the find-out stage. If Ace hadn’t done it, I would have.”
My chest deflates. Vigilante justice is all people like us can get. The justice system shoves us into a corner to fight amongst ourselves, and when we end up getting our own form of payback, that’s when they finally want to step in.
I just have no idea what I did to deserve two men who care about me enough to kill for me.
“So what now?” I ask.
Ace runs his tongue ring between his teeth. “Stacks has to take care of that situation, so we’ll be here a bit longer. I can think of a way to pass the time.” He looks between Tye and me with a smirk. “If you guys are up for it.”
God, I want that. I never want to wake from this dreamlike state of being. “I want you both.”
Alec fists my hair and pulls me into him. “As long as you know who you belong to. I’m happy to share you. But only with him.” He kisses me. “Tell me something. How do you feel about degradation?”
“I don’t know if I’d like that.”
He wraps my hair around his fist and cranes my neck so I have to look up at him. “When I tell you that you were such a good little whore for me and my best friend, how does that make you feel?”
I never thought that word could ever sound endearing, yet it rolls off his tongue so smoothly. Sensually. And that five-letter word goes right to my pussy.
“I like it . . .” I whimper.
“Tye isn’t into degradation,” he says, a playful jest in his tone.
“It’s true,” Tye says. “I’m more of a compliments kind of guy.”
Alec releases my hair and kisses me. “And that’s why I think you’ll be spoiled rotten by us.”
Tye draws a deep breath. “What are the boundaries, Ace?”
Yeah, what are the boundaries? I’ve never been in such a situation.
“Don’t fuck without me. She’s mine, and her pleasure is my responsibility. Honestly, everything else is fair game. If there’s something I don’t like, you’ll be the first to know. I’ve never shared any girl with the same person each time. So this is new, even to me.”
Tye swallows. “And what if feelings happen?”
“Oh, she has feelings already. I can tell by how she looks at you.”
My cheeks flush. He’s right. And I guess I didn’t realize until he uttered the words. I like them both. A lot. But does that mean Tye has feelings for me too?
“Do you like me . . . like that?” I ask Tye.
“Yeah, I do. And I fear it’s only going to get worse the more I kiss you. Touch you. I’m mildly afraid I’ll be the one who gets hurt. How can there be room in your heart for two people?”
I bite my inner lip. “I don’t know. There just . . . is.”
“Then it’s settled,” Alec says. “This relationship is hereby formed. If we need to adjust as we go along, we will, but I don’t see there being any issues.”
And as the two men descend on my body, I just have to hope he’s right.