Chapter 8
Brawley
It has been a few days since Kayla returned, and I am waiting for her to leave again.
If she did it once, she could do it again, and Vero isn’t strong enough to handle that happening.
I don’t mention it to anyone, because saying it out loud would mean admitting that I care whether she stays, and I don’t know how I feel.
Do I care because of Vero, or is she someone I might have feelings for as well?
Logically, I know it’s not possible. I haven’t known her long enough, and unlike Vero, I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve.
Right now, they are on the couch, and she is teaching Vero how to crochet. It is the single most boring thing I have witnessed in my entire life. He has yarn wrapped around both hands and is frowning at the hook, while she sits beside him with her legs crossed, trying to talk him through it.
I stand in the doorway for a moment and watch them.
Kayla says something, and he laughs as he untangles his hands, then tries again.
Yarn is on the couch, floor, and even on the lamp.
She takes his hands and repositions them as he looks at her the same way he looks at me.
My heart squeezes in my chest, and I can’t watch them any longer, so I decide to go for my nightly run.
I love the island at this time of the evening; it’s peaceful and everyone has shut down from the day’s activities, but it’s still way too early for the nightlife.
While violence is the best thing to help me stay calm, running also helps.
I follow the perimeter of the island, and I’m coming past the freak museum when I see Banks sitting outside on an upturned crate.
I slow down as I get closer, and he looks up when he hears me.
“Brawley.”
I stop. I have wanted to do this for four days, but I’ve talked myself out of it every time. “Banks.”
He doesn’t say anything else as I approach him, waiting for my next words.
“The microchip,” I spit out.
“Was wondering when I would see you.”
“I told him no, but he came to you anyway.” I fight to keep my aggression at bay. I don’t want to be pissed at Banks.
“He did,” Banks says, since he isn’t the type of man to apologize when he believes he did nothing wrong.
“I need to know what you put in him.”
“Just a tiny GPS tracker. He wants you to be able to find him so he doesn’t hurt anyone again.”
I don’t reply. I hate this, unable to imagine what it feels like to be him.
“It also acts as a microchip, and he listed you as his emergency contact. Only you.”
I drag my hand across my face.
“While I have you here, I have a new batch of face cream. The formulation has improved, and I think you—”
“I will put you in the ocean and make you fish food,” I interrupt with a growl.
“Fair enough,” he concedes.
“The girl,” I say. “Kayla.”
He looks at me as if he is getting bored with me being here.
“She came to you?”
“She didn’t come to me,” he says. “She came with Vero. Then she sat in my museum for two hours, while he went on about capturing her tattoos right, and she looked at everything. She didn’t ask questions or touch anything. The woman is fascinating—I can see why he likes her.”
I snap my head around to glare at him, and he laughs at the look on my face. Even with my conflicted feelings, I find myself protective of her.
“Whatever she came from, it was not great,” he adds. “You can see it in her whole demeanor. She moves with caution, maps exits in every room, and I don’t think she even knows she is doing it. For Vero to call to her, she has some demons of her own.”
I don’t respond, just start running again. He has given me a lot to think about.
“Perhaps reconsider the face cream!” Banks calls after me.
I merely shake my head, having already turned back the way I came.
When I get back to the house, there is now yarn on the porch.
I step inside to find more in the hallway, and some hanging from a framed painting on the wall.
I follow the trail upstairs, where the door to our room is cracked open, and I locate the source of the yarn.
On the bed, Kayla is straddling Vero’s lap, looking flushed, and Vero has his hands on her hips.
He glances over her shoulder at me and smiles. “Finally, come join the party.”
I lean against the doorframe and look at the state of the room, and then at the two of them. I pull my tank top over my head and drop it on the floor.
“How did crocheting turn into this?”
“There is a simple explanation,” Vero says, and Kayla laughs.
“You have no patience,” she chides, then turns to look at me. “He lasted about seven minutes after you left, then announced he was bored and started trying to make a noose.”
“In my defense,” Vero says, “it’s just a big knot, and that was all I seemed to be doing, so I figured, when in Rome . . .”
“You tried to put it around your neck.”
“Then there is no defense,” I say.
“Then he knocked the basket over, tripped on it, and kicked it, all while trying to remove the knot from his neck. And, well, this seemed like the easiest way to get him to stop.”
“It worked,” Vero confirms with a grin.
Kayla’s eyes don’t leave mine as I cross the room and put my hand on the back of her neck, the same way I do to Vero. Her whole body relaxes, and she exhales.
“Seven minutes,” I say.
“Give or take.”
“Next time give him something he can’t tangle.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Vero insists. “Crocheting is not for me, though I could be bribed if this is how it ends.”
I move around the bed, removing my shorts. Vero watches me the entire way, his gaze drinking in my body, and I love the way that feels. He always makes me feel like I am the most important person in the room, just by the way he looks at me.
“Lift,” I tell him.
He grabs Kayla and lifts enough I can shift beneath him.
I settle back against the headboard and pull Vero to my chest. Kayla fixes herself on his lap, and I reach out to push her hair back from her face, letting my fingers drag through the strands until I have a loose grip on her neck.
She whimpers, and I realize this is something she really likes, just like Vero.
He tips his head back onto my shoulder and watches me gaze at her. “Tell me we can keep her. She is perfect for us.”
I chuckle. “I think that’s up to her.”
He leans forward and takes her face between his hands. “Please say we can have you. I promise to be good.”
Kayla smiles. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Just promise you will try.”
I slide my free hand around Vero’s ribs, and he removes his hands from Kayla’s face, covering my hand with his, lacing his fingers through mine. “I promise to try.”
Using my hold on Kayla’s neck, I pull her forward as she nods and places a hand on Vero’s chest.
She grinds down onto him and makes a little moan.
Then with her free hand, she traces my jaw with her fingertips.
Vero leans forward and captures her mouth with his; her hand still on my jaw trembles, and his hand squeezes mine.
When she pulls away, her eyes find mine, as if she is seeking permission.
I love how much she respects Vero’s and my relationship, and that it came first.
When I nod, she lifts from Vero and leans forward, pressing her lips to mine.
They are so soft and feminine. Never have I let a woman we fuck kiss me before now.
There is something intimate about the action, and I refuse to allow anyone but Vero to have that part of me.
Yet somehow she makes me want to give it to her too.
I slide my hand from Vero’s ribs, reaching for her waist and feeling the warmth of her skin. She shifts forward, pressing hard against Vero, who laughs quietly against her neck, where he now has his face.
“Maybe we should make Vero crochet more often,” I suggest.
“A noose isn’t hard to make,” he mumbles.
“I take it back.” I press my mouth to the side of his head. “Lift. It’s time for clothes to come off.”
Vero does as I ask, lifting his body up, and so does Kayla.
I pull his sweats down and smirk when I see he doesn’t have any boxers on. “Now you, Double P.”
Vero helps her remove her pants. While they fumble, I lean sideways and pull the lube from our drawer, then remove my cock from my boxer briefs and get myself ready for Vero.
I don’t have to tell him what to do; he positions himself, and I swipe my fingers around his hole, making sure it’s nice and ready.
“Fuuuck,” Vero grits out as he slides down my cock at his own pace.
Once he is all the way down, he grabs Kayla by the waist and pulls her toward him, then finds the hem of her shirt and yanks it over her head, slingshotting it across the room. Her bra goes next, and her tits spill out.
She settles herself back on Vero, wrapping her hand around his length and guiding it between her legs before she sinks down in one quick movement.
Vero gasps in response. “Holy fuck, I have died and gone to heaven. I wish you could both feel what I can. I don’t think I’m going to last long unless I chant about things that gross me out. How wrong is it if I think about Vesper right now?”
Kayla throws her head back and laughs. “Not sure thinking about another woman right now is a turn-on for me, but do whatever works because I need to move.”
Kayla grinds against him, and I wait for her to build a rhythm before I join her. I don’t have much room to move, but the three of us work together as if we were made just for this.
Kayla sets the pace, and I place my hands on Vero’s hips, holding him steady while she rides him.
“This is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” Vero crows while looking up at the ceiling. “I want everyone to know. Where’s Clay and his walkie-talkie when I need him?”
“No fucking way,” I grit out. “If Clay comes in here right now, I will hurt him.”
“I’m just saying, look at us. Maybe we should make porn.”
Kayla snorts. “I’m not sure Brawley could handle the world seeing you like this.”
“She’s right. But they also don’t get to see you either, Double P,” I growl.
She makes eye contact with me and can see the seriousness in what I’m saying. Would Kayla and I have been a thing if it wasn’t for Vero? Probably not, but here we are. I won’t let anyone else see her like this—anyone outside this house, that is.
She belongs to us.
Vero has claimed her. And as much as Clay likes to pretend she means nothing, she has gotten under his skin. Ares has convinced himself that she is someone he needs to figure out, but what he doesn’t or can’t understand is that in Ares-land, it means he cares.
Kayla laughs, not a full-bellied laugh, but one she seems to do when something makes her nervous, so I thrust up hard and she grips Vero’s shoulders.
“Oh!” she yelps.
“Good, right?” Vero adds.
I do it again, and she moans, the sound vastly different to Vero. She braces herself on his shoulders, and I lift his hips and fuck him hard, over and over again. They both moan, the sounds getting louder.
“Fuck, I love the way you look at him,” Vero says. “It does things to me, just so you both know.”
“Please don’t stop,” Kayla whines. “Fuck!”
Vero reaches between them and circles her clit. Her noises get louder and she starts to tremble.
“Fuck yes, I can feel your pussy strangling my cock.”
“I’m going to come,” she gasps out. “Oh, fuck, yes!”
She screams Vero’s name as her orgasm has her shaking. Her eyes snap shut, and I wait for it to pass a little.
“Grab her and hold her tight to your body.”
He does as I ask, and I fuck him until he is panting. Just as he is about to come, I grab the back of his neck. Vero angles his head away, allowing me to lean in and bite down.
Unintelligible words spill from his lips as his body convulses, and I fill his ass, my own orgasm hitting at the same time.
“I love you,” he says to me, and Kayla is smiling at us.
“What?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “Nothing. You are both so adorable.” Then she laughs when I furrow my brow at her. “Your face right now. Sorry, not adorable, you are very rugged and manly.”
That makes Vero laugh, and I push them both off of me, making them both laugh harder as they tumble onto the bed. Vero turns his head to look at her. “We should start doing everything I’m bad at and see if this happens again. What about macramé? Or whittling?”
“Do you even know what those things are?” I ask.
“Nope, but I know I will be bad at them.”
Kayla giggles and I drop beside Vero. “Go to sleep, Vero.”
Kayla snorts and lifts her head to look at me.
Her hair is everywhere, and her cheeks are flushed.
She reaches across Vero’s waist, and I place my hand on top of hers.
Vero falls asleep within minutes, which is unlike him, as his brain never usually shuts down.
So this is a moment for the history books, or at least the book of Vero.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
She looks over Vero at me. “For what?”
“Coming back, treating him like a person, and for your forgiveness.”
She smiles. “It’s hard not to forgive him.
I don’t understand why people don’t like him—he is authentically himself, and I love that about him.
And I really meant it when I said he heals a part of my soul every time we are together.
I have been so broken for so long that it’s hard to trust him, but everything inside me wants to. ”
I nod. “I will make sure what happened at the bar never happens again, you have my word. It will be easier now that the idiot microchipped himself.”
Kayla chuckles. “I guess we’ll see how this goes. And I can’t complain about the sex—that’s a bonus.”
“The sex is pretty good.”
I squeeze her hand and close my eyes. She might be good for Vero, but I have a feeling that having someone else as close to him as I am will be good for me. Someone to confide in when things are hard will be a massive weight off my shoulders.