Chapter 14 Jaxon #2
"I'm not most guys." His ice blue eyes held mine. "And neither are you."
The air between us crackled. The bond pulled, insistent.
I moved closer. Until there was barely space between us. Close enough to see the water droplets on his eyelashes. Close enough to smell his scent, cedar and ice mixing with steam.
"All those years ago," I said quietly, "we never acknowledged fucking each other."
Luca's eyes flashed. "We were drunk. Grieving. It didn't mean anything."
"Bullshit."
"Roarke."
"It meant something then and you know it. And it means something now."
"Because of Reina."
"Because of Reina," I agreed. "But not just because of her."
His hands clenched at his sides. "What do you want me to say?"
"The truth. That you feel it too. The pull. The attraction."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Liar." I stepped even closer. "The bond connects all three of us, Vale. You to her. Me to her. And us to each other through her. You've been fighting it since the moment we bonded. Right here in this cabin."
"I haven't been fighting anything."
"Then why do you tense up every time I get close? Why do you avoid looking at me unless Reina's between us?"
His jaw worked. The muscle in his cheek ticking.
"Say it," I challenged. "Say you feel it."
"I..." He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, something in his expression had cracked. "Yes. I feel it. Are you happy now?"
"Getting there."
I closed the last bit of distance between us. Cupped the back of his wet neck. Felt his pulse hammering under my palm.
Pulled him into a kiss.
He froze for half a second. Then he was kissing back, hard and desperate. His hands came up, fisted in my shirt, pulled me closer. Twelve years of denial burning away in the heat between us.
The bond flared hot and bright. Not just mine to him. Him to me. The connection we'd been pretending didn't exist finally acknowledged.
We broke apart breathing hard.
Luca's pupils were blown, lips swollen from the kiss. He looked wrecked.
"This doesn't make us gay," I said.
"I know."
"It's the bond. The trinity. It's part of what we are with her."
"I know," he said again.
"But it's also real. This thing between us. Always has been."
Luca nodded, unable to deny it anymore. Not here. Not now.
I slid my hand down his wet chest. Over the defined muscles of his abs. Lower. Wrapped my hand around his hard cock.
His breath caught. "Roarke."
"Let me," I said against his ear.
I stroked him slow and deliberate. Watched his head fall back, listened to the groan that escaped his throat.
"Fuck."
"You like this."
"Yes."
"Been thinking about it?"
"Yes." The admission tore out of him. "Ever since we bonded here. In this cabin. I can't stop thinking about it."
I kept stroking, found the rhythm that made his breathing hitch. "Good. Because I think about it too. Think about how you felt against me during Reina's heat. Think about your hand on my cock while you were inside her."
"Jax."
"Think about doing this properly. The three of us. No more pretending it's just about her."
"It is about her," Luca managed.
"And about us." I tightened my grip. "All three of us."
He was close. I could feel it through the bond, feel his pleasure spiking.
"I'm retiring," I said.
His eyes flew open. "What?"
"After this season. I'm done with hockey."
"You can't be serious."
I stroked him faster. "Dead serious."
"But why?"
"Because hockey was never my real passion. It was just what I was good at."
"Then what..." He gasped as I twisted my wrist. "What is?"
"Motorcycles. I'm opening a custom shop. Building bikes. It's what I actually love."
"You don't have to do this," Luca said, even as his hips moved into my grip. "Don't quit because of me. Because of the rivalry."
"I'm not quitting because of you." I kissed him again, softer this time. "I'm quitting because I want to build something that's mine. And because this way, there's no more conflict. No more rivalry. You get to be the sole hockey god. I get to do what I love and come home to our Omega every night."
"Our Omega," he repeated.
"Yeah. Ours. All three of us. Here in this cabin or wherever we end up."
"What is this?" He gestured weakly between us. "What are we doing?"
"We're part of a trinity bond. Which means we're connected to each other through her. The attraction, the pull, it's all part of that."
"So this is okay?"
"This is more than okay. It's right." I stroked him harder, faster. "We're a pack, Vale. All three of us. And that means this is part of it."
His breathing was ragged now, close to the edge. "Not without our Omega in the middle."
I grinned against his throat. "Is that a request?"
"Maybe."
"Then come for me first. Then we'll go to her together."
I worked him over the edge. Watched him come apart in my hand, my name on his lips. The bond flared between us, bright and hot and undeniable.
I held him through it. Felt his pleasure like it was my own through the connection we shared.
When he could breathe again, he leaned against the sink, looking at me in the mirror.
"That was..."
"Yeah."
Something had settled between us. Something that had been broken for twelve years finally mended. Here in this cabin where we'd become a pack.
"We should go to her," Luca said.
"Yeah. Our girl's waiting."
He grabbed a towel, dried off quickly. Pulled on clean clothes from his bag. I watched him, comfortable with it now. The awkwardness from years ago completely gone. Replaced with certainty.
This was right.
This was how it was supposed to be.
We walked to the bedroom together.
The nest took up most of the room now. Blankets and pillows piled high, soft and perfect. Reina was curled in the center, already half asleep.
She looked up when we entered. Her eyes moved between us, seeing the change. Feeling it through the bonds.
"Took you long enough," she said, but she was smiling.
"Just the shower?" she asked innocently.
I laughed. "Maybe a little more than the shower."
Luca's ears turned slightly red but he was smiling too.
We climbed into the nest on either side of her. Our positions as natural as breathing now. Reina in the middle where she belonged.
The bond settled, warm and complete.
Perfect.
"I'm retiring from hockey," I announced.
Reina sat up. "What?"
I explained about the motorcycle shop. About ending the rivalry. About giving Luca the space to be the hockey god he was meant to be while I did what I actually loved.
"You're really doing this?" she asked.
"Already decided. End of this season, I'm done."
Luca reached across her, put his hand on my shoulder. "You're sure?"
"Never been more sure of anything."
"We should make this permanent," Luca said. "Move in together officially. Make a real home."
"Here?" Reina looked around the cabin. "At the lake?"
"Maybe. Or somewhere bigger in the city. Somewhere that's ours. All three of us."
"With a garage for my bikes," I added.
"And a photography studio for me," Reina said.
"And a nest this size or bigger," Luca finished.
We talked about the future. About our life together as a pack. No more hiding. No more conflict. No more choosing between what the world expected and what we actually were.
Just us.
Reina yawned, settled between us. "We're really doing this."
"We're really doing this," Luca and I said together.
Outside, the lake was quiet under the stars. Inside, the fire crackled in the main room. The bonds pulsed between all three of us. Warm. Complete. Permanent.
I'd lost them twelve years ago. Spent twelve years pretending I didn't care. That I didn't need them. That hockey was enough.
Now I had them forever. My Omega. My Alpha. My pack.
Here in this cabin where it all began.
And I was never letting go.