8. Dax
DAX
Eagle slept for six hours before he started to wake.
I’d taken up watch in his armchair, looking over the files that Wes already had on the De León Cartel.
Objectively, they had a pretty amazing operation, dividing out the work into different sections that never connected, so if one part crashed and burned, it didn’t take the rest down with it.
“That was mean,” Eagle grumbled as he shifted to look at me. Then he reached out a hand and wiggled his fingers. “Come here, hellcat. I’ve missed you.”
A grin tugged at my lips as I set the computer down and crawled into bed. I snuggled into his unwounded side as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed my forehead. “You know it hasn’t been that long.”
“Funny, you keep saying that like it matters,” Eagle rumbled, his lips brushing my skin. “Does it have to be forever for me to miss you?”
“Damn, you are drugged if you’re talking like that,” I teased.
While I’d accepted that I loved these men, and they loved me, it still had me looking for the nearest exit when it came to the mushy stuff like this.
“Hmm, maybe, but it's the truth.”
I peered up at him to see his eyes warm with affection. “I missed you too. Sprocket wasn’t joking when he told you I was a mess. It was so bad I washed all the dishes from breakfast and didn’t finish one cup of coffee.”
Eagle’s eyes widened at this. “Wait, you did all the dishes? As in like other people's, not just your own?”
“Don’t look so shocked,” I said, lightly smacking him on the chest.
He groaned and faked that I hurt him far worse than was possible, clutching his heart. “You would hit a wounded man?”
“Hmm, I seem to remember someone going on and on about how he didn’t want to be treated like an invalid. Any idea who that could be?” I mused, tapping my chin.
Eagle growled and pulled me in for a kiss.
Unlike most of our sexual interactions, this kiss was gentle, caring, and full of the love we felt for each other.
Both of us had thought we’d lost the other, and now it was sinking in that we were home safe and sound.
Never did I think I could feel like my soul was split into seven pieces, but when one of them wasn’t with me, I felt it.
Not one to be all lovey-dovey, this was a new and slightly terrifying place to be.
There was a knock on the door, and I could tell by the sound that it wasn’t the guys—which left Dani. Pulling away from Eagle, I sat up but didn’t move away as he cupped my ass with his hand. I shot him a look, but he just smiled and nodded toward the door.
“Come on in, Dani,” I called.
The door opened a crack and she peered in before fully entering. “Hope I’m not intruding, but I want to make sure he gets his next dose of pain meds, and I need to change his bandage.”
“Wes was supposed to be close to finishing dinner,” I told Eagle. “I’ll make up a plate for each of us, and I’ll be back, okay?”
“Sounds great. The food at the hospital was absolute shit,” he grumbled, then turned to Dani. “You couldn’t have changed them when I was passed out? Haven’t you done enough to torture me?”
Dani laughed. “Oh, I haven’t even begun if I wanted to really torture you.”
Leaving him in capable hands, I wandered back into the kitchen. Wes was standing at the stove stirring a large pot of something that smelled amazing. Peering over his shoulder, I discovered it was beef stew.
“Dude, it's the middle of the summer and you’re making stew?” I asked, leaning against the counter to the side. “I’m just saying, aren’t we hot enough out here?”
“If you don’t want to eat it, then you can make something yourself,” Wes quipped.
“Well, glad to see some things never change even when you’re in love with someone,” I said, heaving myself up on the countertop. “So I promised Eagle I would get him food. Would you say you’re close to being done?”
Wes set the wooden spoon he’d been using to the side, then turned to me. “Oh, so you’re using caring for the sick and injured to get the answers you want?” He stepped closer, pushing my legs wide so he fit between them. “That’s low even for you, Two Tricks.”
“What can I say? I’ve been feeling off my game and needed to even out the score,” I shared with a shrug. “Didn’t get to the top without stepping on a few toes… hands… heads… dicks. Well, you know how it goes.”
He chuckled as he leaned in, setting his arms on either side, boxing me in with his body. “Do I? See, what I remember is the broken nose, bloody lip, stitching up knife wounds, and a bullet wound or two. Someone had to look out for that fine ass of yours, yet you keep taking all the credit.”
“Hmm?” I mused. “Let’s see who’s the one who decided I needed to be the big bad working my way up through the ranks so no one would know that I own it all?”
“Fuck,” Cam swore. “How did it take you two so long to start fucking? The sexual tension between you two is insane. I feel like I could just come from your verbal sparring.”
I glanced over at my first love and how he stroked himself over his jeans. Cam had never been one who cared where we were or who was there. If he wanted something, he was gonna take it. Oddly enough, I felt the same way, but I quickly learned that it was more rare than I assumed it would be.
“You pull that thing out in the kitchen, and I’ll chop it off,” Wes warned as he leaned in and kissed my neck, trying to prove he wasn’t feeling threatened.
“So what you’re saying is if I stand behind the breakfast counter, I’m safe?” Cam inquired.
Wes glanced over at Cam, an evil smirk on his face. “Guess it would be cruel to say no since it’s the only action you’re gonna get until you win us all over.”
Cam made a shocked face covering his mouth with his hand. “Wes, I never knew you played both sides, wait until I tell my father.”
A snarl from Wes was the only warning as a knife went flying through the air.
Cam ducked, and the knife embedded itself in the wall of the dining room.
As Cam rose, he let out an impressed whistle.
“I see Dax taught you well. Not many people could make a throw that well with an unbalanced kitchen knife.”
“Cam,” I warned. “He’s right, you know, I might have decided to keep you, but more than that won’t happen until you make peace with the guys.
We won’t be able to win this fight without the eight of us being a team, trusting that we have each other’s backs.
Marco likes to play people against each other, and I need to know that won’t happen with us. ”
My dark knight rested his elbows on the counter and looked me square in the eye.
“I’m more than willing to bury the hatchet as it were, but I can’t be the only one who does it.
Without a mutual ceasefire, there won’t be peace.
Someone will always be waiting to stab me in the back.
I’ll own up to the fact I didn’t start things off well, but I’m not the only one who needs to make some changes. ”
The bastard had a point. If each of them didn’t make the effort, none of this would work. It had to work, there was no way I was giving any of them up, and I knew they wouldn’t walk away from me either. Somehow there needed to be a middle ground. I just didn’t know what that was.
“Start at the beginning, like we did,” I suggested. “Learn everyone’s boundaries and limitations, hard no’s and negotiables. Hell, you and I need to go over those again anyway. Neither of us are the same as we were when our current guidelines were set up.”
Wes frowned at me. “Why do you make it sound like some contract?”
“Because between him and I, it was,” I answered. “Wes, the games we used to play were not your average slap and tickle. Not all couples need a real contract, but I wanted to make sure he knew the limitations. We negotiated consent for knife play, minimal blood play, and a few other situations.”
“Oh, don’t be shy, beautiful. You forgot our game, hunt and fuck,” Cam added. “Sometimes it would be in a park, at school, or even at a party. She would hide, and I would find her, then we’d fuck like animals.”
While I’d expected Wes not to be a fan of what I’d just described, I hadn’t been expecting to see a glint of curiosity. “Can we make our own contract?”
My brows shot up. “I mean, it’s something we can talk about for sure, but I didn’t think you were into those kinds of kinks.”
“I don’t want to do those,” Wes said with exasperation. “No, my idea of a good time would involve ropes, toys, and a blindfold.”
Just hearing him say that had my mouth going dry and my pussy dripping wet. “Fucking hell, you don’t need a contract for that. I’ll let you do that whenever you like.”
“Oh, so you like the idea of that, hmm… shortcake?” Wes murmured as his lips brushed up my neck. “We had so much fun that night I tied you to the bed and fucked you into the mattress. I’d never heard you scream my name so loud. It was as addicting as a drug.”
I moaned, letting my head fall back against the cabinet as I remembered that night.
I’d been fucking pissed at the guys, and Wes was right there to keep my mind off them.
Fuck, this means I’m gonna need to install a bed like that in one of these rooms. Maybe we could have a playroom if we built a new place?
“Weston,” Cam interjected. “Do I have your permission to masturbate as you tease our woman?”
Wes faltered, looking at me questioningly as if unsure how to respond. “It’s your call. Cam already knows I don’t mind being watched. It’s your permission he needs, but you can say no. He’ll leave and finish himself off in the bathroom without argument.”
The two men stared at each other for a moment then Wes gave his answer. “Watch and learn, Cameron. I’ll show you what makes our woman purr.”
Wes slid both hands up my shirt, groping my tits. “I’m not even going to have to touch her pussy since that wouldn’t be hygienic in the kitchen, but I’ll have her coming in no time.”