Chapter 4 – Ender
ENDER
Seeing Celaeno crying is probably the worst feeling in the world.
I know I’m supposed to be acting casual and funny, but for a minute all I can do is stare.
Her dark hair is wet and long, trailing down her back and shoulders.
Her knees are pulled up, partially hiding her perfect breasts and the curves of her belly—the one our child grows in.
She’s beautiful. So fucking beautiful she takes my breath away.
I honestly can’t believe she’s ours. I can’t believe that anyone could love the three of us, even though we’re totally lost assholes who don’t know how to keep a woman happy.
“Sorry about today.”
She sniffs. “It doesn’t even matter.”
I can't help myself. She looks so broken. Slipping off my boxers, I climb into our large bathtub and pull her into my lap. She gives a surprised squeak for a moment, but then presses against me.
Down boy! I tell my dick. But the little asshole only hardens against her ass, betraying the fact that maybe I’m not just holding her to make her feel better. I am a guy after all. Having a beautiful woman’s ass rubbing against my dick is nice in all the right ways.
She presses her face against my chest. “You guys know I can take care of myself, right?”
I stroke the hair back from her face, then rub the muscles in her neck the way she likes me to. “You remember when we went to that club in Scottsdale, right after you agreed not to run screaming from us?”
She gives a small laugh. “You mean right after you guys agreed not to kill me for being a monster? Yeah, I remember.”
“You remember that chick you had like a dozen birds shit on?”
Her head jerks up, and there’s laughter in her dark eyes. “I can still remember her screaming, ‘there’s bird poop in my hair, get it out, get it out!’”
I’m glad my Celaeno is already laughing.
“And why did you command an army of birds to take a dump on her exactly?”
A fierceness comes to her eyes, and her chin goes up. “No reason.”
“So it had nothing to do with the fact that she crawled into my lap?”
Her chin goes up a little more. “Not at all.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Come on, sweetheart, you looked like you were going to claw her eyes out… even though I’d already pushed her off my lap.”
Her eyelids lower, and her mouth puckers. “Maybe it had something to do with the skank hitting on my man.”
“Fuck I love it when you call me your man,” I mumble, forgetting my purpose for a second.
My hand goes to her breast, and I start to circle her nipple with my thumb.
She gasps, her gaze going to mine.
I flick her nipple right before I lean down and start to suck.
She moans, her hands digging into my hair as she pulls me closer.
I’m sucking like a madman for one beautiful moment before going to her other breast. Her ass is rubbing on my dick, and I realize I’m about to completely lose my shit and fuck my beautiful woman right here in the bath… with Journey and Grey sitting in the bedroom feeling sad.
Reluctantly, I pull my mouth away, panting. “What the hell was I saying?”
Her eyes are still closed, “Humm? Something about fucking me in the ass.”
Shit, shit, shit. “Yes, I mean, no. I mean, I was talking about… the club, right. The club. How you set your birds on that woman, even though I’d already handled it. Sometimes loving someone means protecting them even when they don’t need it, just because you can’t help yourself.”
Her eyes open, and I can see her remembering our fight and the rough day. “That’s not the same.”
I start to rub her tense shoulders again. “It is to us.”
She relaxes against me. “I just want to go for walks. Shopping. Maybe make some girl-friends.”
It hurts me to hear the longing in her voice. We want to give her everything… so maybe we’ll have to give her this too.
“What if you told us where you were going, and we kept to the skies? At a distance? We’d know where you were, and we’d know you were safe.”
Her gaze meets mine. “Is that the best you guys can do?”
“I think so… but we could stay out of sight, you know, like watchful gargoyles.”
She laughs and reaches up to gently stroke my chin. “I guess that would be a step in the right direction.”
Leaning down, I kiss her, grateful down to my soul that we could work this out. There’s always this thought in the back of my mind that we were too lucky when we got her, and that what we have is something fragile. Maybe too fragile.
After living for so long, it seems anything precious is fragile. A cruel word. A wrong decision. A small thing can destroy something like love in an instant.
But maybe I’m just paranoid because I’m so grateful for this woman.
Our gentle kiss changes after a moment, growing deeper and deeper.
When her tongue sweeps into mine, my body awakens, tuned to her every move.
My tongue tangles with hers, and I reach between her legs to part her folds.
When I start to stroke her gently, she moans against my mouth, and presses harder against my lips.
I keep stroking her slowly, teasing her until she breaks our kiss.
“Ender…”
“Come on,” I say. “Let’s get you out of the bath and into our bed.”
She looks disappointed, but I help her out and dry us both off well. When I open the bathroom door, Journey is lying on the bed. And, I kid you not, Grey is leaning awkwardly against the doorframe with a rose in his mouth.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask, already laughing.
He grabs the rose and glares at me. “You said to look sexy!”
“And you thought,” I can’t stop laughing. “That was sexy?”
Celaeno bursts out laughing beside me, and Journey’s deep chuckle comes, even while I can tell they’re trying to hold back.
“I don’t need this shit!” Grey exclaims, tossing the rose down.
Celaeno races across the room and launches herself into his arms.
“I loved it!” she says, still laughing.
“It wasn’t supposed to be funny!” he says, but some of the anger leaves his voice as he pulls our naked woman closer.
“It was very sexy,” she tells him softly, resting her cheek against his chest.
He strokes her dark hair and a look of contentment comes across his face.
“Are you feeling… better?”
“Ender and I reached an agreement."
Grey looks at me, raising a brow. “You did?”
“I get to go out, make friends, take walks, and go shopping—without you three at my sides.” His eyes narrow, but she continues. “You guys can keep an eye out for me in the skies, without being too obvious.”
“We can do that,” he says, relief coursing through him.
“And,” she points at Grey. “If you mention pregnancy hormones again I get to beat the shit out of you.”
He opens his mouth as if to protest, but she cuts him off. “If I’m growing your child, craving weird things, and blowing up like a balloon, the very least you can do is be more sensitive and not act like you’re being sensitive.”
For a second I’m worried he’s going to argue, and then he nods. “Anything to make you happy.”
Thank the gods!
“Speaking of which,” Journey says, then reaches for our nightstand.
He pulls out the little package with wrapping paper with fat cupids on it.
Perfect timing.
She gives a squeal of delight. “Is that for me?”
He nods.
She races across the room like a kid on Christmas and sits down on the end of our massive bed.
Grey and I join them on the bed, watching her, hoping we picked the right gift.
She tears open the packaging, but when she opens the box she finds another box.
She tears that one apart too, only to find another box.
Inside this one is two tiny jewelry boxes.
She opens one and gasps. Inside is the engagement ring we had custom-designed for her. It's made from the best quality diamonds we could find, designed into the shape of a raven with its wings spread wide.
Her hands shake as she takes it out and puts it on her finger. “It’s beautiful!”
Journey clears his throat. “We know that we’re all pretty old to be worrying about engagements and marriage—“
Her brows rise.
I jump in. “What he means is, engagements and marriages are kind of a human thing, but we don't care. We want to marry you. We want this thing to be forever. So, what do you think?”
She smiles. “I think… yes. Of course, yes!”
We all grin like idiots, watching with satisfaction as she studies her new engagement ring. After a moment, she holds the hand over her heart, and looks down at the other gift.
“What’s in the other box?” she asks, opening the lid. Inside are three men’s bands, with little ravens etched into them.
She turns and smiles. “You guys thought of everything.”
We take our rings and put them on. It seems silly, but it’s important to us that she doesn’t just feel like we’re claiming her. We want her to know she’s claiming us too.
“So, did we pretty much kill it on the perfect gift?” I ask, needing to hear it.
Her smile brightens. “Yes, but I’m afraid I have a better gift.”
“Than a wedding ring?” Grey asks, disbelief in his voice.
“Yeah,” then, she looks around. “Where did the bag go that I had at the pier?”
Journey stands. “I put it by the door. I’ll grab it.”
He leaves and comes back in, handing her the bag. Her lips quirk in that way that means she’s up to something.
“Here,” she hands us each a pink folded up shirt.
Grey stares at it as if it might bite him.
I shrug. “Uh, real men wear pink, right?”
She rolls her eyes. “Open them.”
We obey.
Journey reads it aloud as we all stare in confusion. “Daddy of a Princess.”
She just stares at us.
And then, holy shit we realize it.
“You said the doctor didn’t know yet,” Grey says, in absolute awe.
“I lied,” she responds, flashing her pearly whites.
“A daughter,” I repeat, my head spinning.
“We’re having a daughter,” Journey repeats, and there’s excitement in his voice.
The shock wears off in an instant later. We kiss her. We hug her, and then we’re jumping around and talking at once, like dumb-asses.
Celaeno laughs. “So, did my gift beat yours?”
Grey grabs her and pulls her into another hug. “It was the best gift ever,” and every word comes out rough, as if he’s holding back happy tears.
Which, I think, we all are.
Grey releases her. “I saw this little tutu onesie over at Darling Angels—“
“What were you doing at Darling Angels?” I ask.
His cheeks turn bright red. “I thought if we had a daughter… I don’t know. They have these tiny bows, and these sparkly shoes, and even shirts that match their dads…”
“You big softy!” Celaneo says, playfully punching his shoulder.
He tosses the shirt onto his chair. “Nothing about me is soft!”
As if to prove it, he pulls her into a kiss. For one second, I’m just so fucking happy thinking about our beautiful soon-to-be wife and baby girl, but the longer they kiss the more my thoughts stray to our naked woman. To the curves of her body, and her amazing ass.
And then I think about her offer to have me fuck her.
My happiness gives away to something different altogether. I think it’s time we make up in another way…