Seventeen
Kito
For the first time in almost a week, I wake up in a bed. A real bed with a mattress and pillows. Well, sort of. The bed’s been left with a few of the subpar pillows that didn’t make it into Jess’s nest and the only thing covering me and the other three naked bodies around me is a loose white sheet with little pink flowers on it.
The sun streams in through the windows on either side of the room, leaving the neon lights in the corner muted and unnecessary. The chair is somewhere in the middle of the room looking a little worse for wear after last night’s sexcapades.
“Morning,” Jess groans, stretching out from beneath the two bodies crowding her. Orion is flat on his back, one arm thrown over Jess’s chest and hand cupping her breast. Adair is on his side, curled up against her back like he never wants to let her go. This is exactly what every morning should look like. The three of us with a naked Jess sprawled across our bed.
But we might need a bigger bed.
“Morning, honey,” I say with a grin, standing up from the mattress and immediately knocking my head on one of the lower hanging beams. “Motherfucker!”
“What? What happened?” Orion stirs, sleepily sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. Adair quickly follows, nearly falling off the edge of the bed as he tries to move.
“Just a mild concussion,” I grumble, rubbing at my scalp. “Anyone ever tell you your house isn’t alpha friendly?”
Jess chuckles, covering her mouth as if it’ll do anything to stifle her laughter. “Yeah well I wasn’t exactly expecting to have three alphas living under my roof, was I? If I’d planned ahead we probably would’ve been better at my family home.”
“You’re sounding very well put together today,” Orion frowns, lifting his hand to touch Jess’s forehead. “No fever. I think your heat might have come to an end.”
“Is that why I’m so sore?” she replies, stretching her arms and wiggling her fingers. “My back is killing me.”
“That might have something to do with the gaming chair misadventure, perhaps not the smartest move,” Adair says into the pillow, his voice muffled but legible enough to understand.
“I’ll get coffee and meds,” I volunteer, crawling over the too-small bed until I’m close enough to press my lips against Jess’s.
“Me next,” Orion teases, throwing himself at me and planting several sloppy, morning breath smooches all across my cheeks and neck. I slap at him, fighting to get off of the bed and back onto my feet before one of us ends up hurt.
I’m standing at the kitchen counter making four coffees with the fancy machine Jess has when two arms wrap around my middle. I recognise her scent immediately, and the feel of her soft skin on mine. Her lavender, oat, and vanilla scent is more muted than it’s been the last few days which makes me surprisingly sad. I’d gotten used to swimming in, indulging in it. Now that Jess’s heat is just about over it feels suspiciously like the end is nigh.
“Hey,” she mutters, pressing a kiss to the top of my arm, right above a little gaming console controller tattoo I have.
“Hey yourself,” I reply, hoping the sadness doesn’t come through in my tone. The reality of Jess’s situation is settling back in. She has a boyfriend. One that whether we like it or not, will be home any day now and wondering why her whole cottage smells like alpha.
“You seem tense,” she says and I know for a fact she’s got it from the tone of my voice. She does this all the time when we’re online together, she knows within a couple of syllables if one of us has had a bad day or has a lot on our minds.
“I’m not sure what our place is here, now that your heat is coming to an end.” It comes out blunter and perhaps more honest than I’d intended. I panic for a second when she tenses, like I’ve upset her or made her feel like these last few days have been anything less than the best few days of my entire life. But her body shifts, she sets her hands on either of my arms and spins me around with ease.
“I want to take you guys out today,” she says simply with that glorious smile of hers. Kiss blushed lips twist up and she gives me a flash of those pearly teeth, where the front two are just a smidgen longer than the rest.
“Sounds ominous, is this the point where you sacrifice us to your demon overlord?”
She giggles, pushing herself up against me and reaching up to brush a stray piece of dark hair out of my eyes. “My demon overlord hasn’t requested your souls until next Sunday actually so you’re safe for now.” She pauses and keeps smiling up at me, a look in her icy blue eyes I can’t quite place. “There’s a beach just around the corner, it’s really beautiful. I’d like for you guys to see it.”
She shuffles from foot to foot as though she’s uncomfortable.
“You need your meds and coffee and feeding before we go anywhere.”
***
Jess is right, it’s the single most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen. We walked straight out her backdoor and down a small secluded hill, she limps most of the way. Now that her heat is over she’s starting to feel the effects of our few days of nonstop fucking. That mixed with her chronic illness and I have no doubt in my mind she’ll be floored for the next week. I just hope she’ll let us stick around and help her out, at least until she’s feeling better.
Anything to steal just a bit more time together.
Orion and Adair seem to feel the same way. Their heads are down and their hands are in their pockets, like they know the end is coming and they can smell it a mile away.
“It’s pretty, right?” She asks as we finally reach the beach. It’s a tiny harbour with just two or three fishing boats, surrounded by huge cliffs that are smoothed by the ocean to create interesting lines and shapes. The sand is pebbly, but it doesn’t stop Jess from throwing herself to the ground in a heap.
I rush to her side, terrified she’s collapsed or fainted or something until I realise she’s giggling. “I haven’t come here in ages.”
“It’s right out your back door,” Orion states the obvious, grunting as he takes a seat beside Jess. “Figured you’d be down here skinny dipping any chance you get.”
“Not a bad idea,” Jess replies, peeling her black jumper off and tossing it aside. She struggles to get to her feet but when she does, she kicks off her boots with revelry. Before long she’s in her underwear, a simple pair of pink panties and a black bra that immediately sends the blood rushing to my cock. When she runs, she runs fast. Feet stomping across the pebbly sand until she throws herself into the water head first.
The panic in Adair is the first thing I notice, he takes off after her without even shedding his clothes. It’s like she’s lost her mind but fuck what a beautiful thing to see.
Adair grabs her around the waist, hauling her out of the water and marching her back towards the shore.
“It’s not that cold,” she pouts. “Come on, just five minutes.”
“Five minutes could be hypothermia,” Orion argues as we both take off towards the water. I tug off my top and jeans, kicking my trainers to the side. Orion does the same before we get the first of the waves and come to a standstill.
I dip my toe in, testing the temperature. It’s fucking baltic.
“Don’t be such h,” Jess calls, still wrapped around a now smiling Adair. He’s infatuated by her, eyes locked on her face, watching her every micro expression.
Orion takes a dive, going headfirst into the water and coming up with a gasp. “It’s fucking freezing. Jesus, fuck, my balls are going to drop off.”
“Didn’t realise you had any,” I snap back.
Jess replies with, “Says the guy too scared to go more than ankle deep, come on! The water is fine!”
The second I dip my body beneath the gentle waves, it’s like my soul leaves and all that’s left is cold. The only thing that warms me is when I see the way Adair and Orion are holding Jess. Adair at her back with his arms around her chest and Orion at her front, hands splayed on her bare hips. They jump with each roll of a wave, avoiding getting sea water in their faces. There’s a child-like joy in each of their expressions, one that I want to commit to memory forever. I’ve never seen Adair look so carefree. I’ve never seen Orion without his usual scowl. They look younger. Happier.
And it’s all because of Jess.
“Okay, my turn,” I chuckle, throwing myself through the water and grabbing Jess by the waist. We collapse beneath the water, heads momentarily dipping beneath the lapping waves. I catch her face in mine and as we come up for air our bodies are intertwined, my lips on hers.
“This is the last place I ever felt like I was part of a family,” she says suddenly, using his arm to wipe droplets of salt water from her eyes. “We came here, mum, dad, me. The memory is a little foggy but I know we had a picnic right over there.” She points to the far corner of the beach, littered with sparse sand and abandoned driftwood washed in from the coast. “My mum got too sick after that and we couldn’t leave the house much. But I remember thinking wow, what a great family I have.”
Jess sniffles but it’s the only sign she’s crying, her face is lifted in a wild sort of smile. The kind that creases her eyes and flashes her slightly too-big front teeth. “I haven’t come back since dad died. I came down here to try and figure out my head, work out where it all went wrong. All I got in return was flashes of memories that at the time were too painful. Now, with you guys here… well, I just knew another good memory on this beach would make the whole place seem happier again.” I tighten my arms around her, using my fingers to run circles on her back and hip.
“I think we probably need to talk,” Jess says with a grimace as we separate. She glances at each of us individually. “We need to talk about what happens next.”