55 - Peyton
PEYTON
The city felt different from way up here. No sound, just wind. It was easy to focus on the motion of every avenue, every car, every person. To watch them curiously, moving along their own tiny paths, slowly winding their way to their own destiny.
My destiny however, was still up in the air.
“The way Christmas felt, when I was a kid.”
Ripley’s voice startled me out of my trance. He stepped up alongside me, his bare arms flexed outward, muscles rippling as he stretched his back.
“What did you just say?”
“Back in the glass house,” he murmured. “When the three of you were talking about what you missed most, from childhood. I never got to take a turn.”
Together we leaned out, over the railing, looking down at everything and nothing. My hands shifted. The metal felt cool again, beneath my palms.
“I miss the way Christmas felt, coming home from my grandmother’s house on Christmas Eve,” Ripley said quietly. “My parents driving. The snow falling. And me, in the back seat. Thrilled out of my mind, for what was coming the next morning.”
“No responsibilities,” I smiled. “Just toys.”
“Yes.”
“I can get behind that.”
“Me too,” sighed Ripley. “This was before the accident, of course. Before my grandmother got sick. Before I got folded into the foster system.”
I stepped sideways, moving my body against his. His warmth was comforting, as I slipped an arm around him. It barely made it to the other side of his thick waist.
“You never get that feeling again, you know?” he sighed.
“Yeah. I know.”
“But you get other feelings,” Ripley said, adding a smile. “Even better, more powerful feelings.”
On the cold metal railing, his hand found mine. It squeezed gently, just as the glass door slid open behind us.
“You two being all serious again?” Theo chuckled, stepping out onto the balcony. “Pretty sure that’s illegal in this city.”
The wind whipped my hair sideways, as I turned to look back over my shoulder.
“Pretty sure we broke worse laws last night.”
I nodded into the bedroom, just beyond the doors. Our giant bed was a horrendously unmade mess of black and white silk sheets. The floor around it was littered with empty water bottles, and pieces of clothing.
Theo followed my look and grinned. “Fair enough.”
He moved to my other side, and stared down into the streets. His body blocked the wind, providing me even more warmth, more protection.
“Donovan’s done,” he said, nonchalantly. “Every media channel and news outlet is already eating him alive.”
“Good,” grunted Ripley.
Another set of footsteps fell in behind us. Colson appeared beside Theo; white T-shirt, bare arms, five-o’clock shadow. He put his own hands on the railing and sighed.
“Late start?” I teased him.
For once Colson wasn’t scanning for threats, or checking the exits. Instead he looked me up and down, his eyes crawling over my body without apology.
“That thing you did last night,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Wow.”
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” I grinned. “I did a lot of things last night.”
He craned his neck to look wistfully back at the destroyed bedroom. The disheveled bed.
“I mean, that one thing. With the…”
He stopped suddenly and looked at the others. His face turned red.
“Go on,” I laughed. “You can say it in front of the others. After all, they were there, too.”
Teasing the boys was always fun. But teasing Colson was the best.
“The whole fucking night was just off the charts,” he exhaled softly, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“Yeah, well we had a lot to celebrate.”
“Still do,” he noted.
The sky was an early morning gray, but with hints of a brighter light already peeking through. The sun would burn everything off, turning the city gold and silver. By noon, the view would be pretty spectacular.
“So what now?” asked Theo.
It was a simple question. The answer however, was anything but.
“We could disappear,” offered Colson.
Ripley shook his head slowly. “Or… we don’t.”
I glanced between them, marveling at how the two biggest men in my life could be radically different. But also, so very alike.
“There are advantages to both,” said Theo.
“Of course there are,” I rolled my eyes.
Ripley nudged my shoulder, nearly knocking me into Colson.
“Hey, you’re the one who set the whole Prescott empire on fire,” he quipped. “I’m thinking you’re the one who gets to decide if we stick around to watch it burn.”
I turned to look out over the streets again. So many people. So many lives.
So many millions of open-ended possibilities.
“Well, I don’t want to run,” I sighed to no one in particular. “I’ve done enough of that.”
“Good,” Ripley nodded firmly. “Then we don’t.”
“That’ll mean media attention,” added Theo. “Interviews. Investigations…”
“Tell them bring it, then,” I said definitively, realizing I’d already made the decision.
“Yeah,” Colson agreed. “They can all get in line.”
“They won’t want just her, though,” said Theo. “They’ll want all of us. There will be… questions.”
“About us?”
He shrugged. “Sure.”
“Good. Let them ask.”
I turned away from the railing, and leaned my arms back against it.
“Maybe I’ll tell them how we’re way more interesting together.”
Three sets of eyes shifted back to the ruins of the bedroom. God, they were such men. It made me laugh.
“Works for me,” Ripley grinned.
The wind picked up again, playing havoc with my already sex-tousled hair. Two of them reached out and tucked it behind my ears, before I could do anything.
It made me wonder what my life would be like, having three capable, attentive men taking care of my every need.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” I said, speaking my thoughts aloud.
The words hung there for a moment, in the rooftop silence.
“Everything I had was tied to Donovan. And now that’s gone.”
Ripley shrugged. “So?”
“So I’m basically homeless.”
Theo made a face I’d seen often. I called it the ‘does not compute’ face.
“You may still have limited access to certain financial reserves,” he began awkwardly. “Maybe even a few properties. Provided of course—”
Ripley cut him off. “She’s saying she needs a place to land, genius.”
“Oh.”
Colson looked at me, his eyes searching. “You’ve got options.”
“I know.”
“But you don’t need to figure it out today.”
My stomach knotted a little. As crazy as it seemed, it was hard to imagine a world without all three of them.
Ripley bumped my shoulder again. “You could always crash with me.”
I laughed nervously. Theo frowned.
“That idea sucks.”
“Oh, really?” Ripley grunted.
“Well you’re not exactly a beacon of stability,” Theo reasoned. “Chaos follows you.”
“It does follow you,” Colson chuckled.
“It’s like the two of you are best friends,” Theo piled on.
“Yeah, well I’m a lot more fun than either of you,” Ripley pointed, defensively. “Besides, I bring the fun. I bring happiness. I bring—”
“All of you.”
My words ended all discussion, immediately. The three of them remained utterly frozen. Staring back at me like a grazing unicorn, afraid to frighten it away.
“I don’t want to pick a place,” I said, softly. “I want to pick… this.”
I gestured with one hand, motioning between us.
“It might be greedy,” I shrugged. “But I want us.”
There were a few moments of shocked silence, but not many. Theo’s expression could barely contain his excitement. Ripley just grinned.
“Are you sure?” asked Colson.
“Well I’m not going back to what I was,” I said softly. “And I’m sure not doing this alone.”
“So…”
“Yes,” I said, more firmly. Then, more loudly: “Fuck yes, actually!”
Ripley picked me up so quickly I yelped. I don’t know how many times he spun me around, but when he set me back down I was dizzy and laughing.
But not half as dizzy as when they began kissing me, a moment later.
It happened one by one, as it often did.
Three pairs of lips, crashing against mine.
Strong hands, shifting from my thighs, to my hips, to the small of my back.
They held my face, ever so gently, as slow fingers sifted through my hair.
And they were so patient between turns, too.
So patient that it stole my breath away, as they kissed me, over and over, passing my mouth back and forth between them.
When they finally stopped I had to grab the railing again. My knees were weak.
“Maybe we should get out of New York City for a little while,” said Colson. “Take a little vacation.”
“A vacation from our vacations?” joked Ripley.
“Those weren’t vacations!” Theo countered. “We were on the run.”
“They sure felt like vacations,” I smiled, agreeing with Ripley. “During the times we weren’t in mortal danger, that is”
“But we were always in mortal danger,” said Colson.
“True,” I said, biting my lip. “Which is why I’m agreeing with you now. Let’s get away from here for a week or two. Not running, just… slowing down.”
“Slowing down,” Theo mused. “I like that.”
“But first and foremost,” I said turning to face Theo. “We see your father.”
He swallowed hard, then nodded, solemnly. “Yes.”
“Good.”
“He’s going to love you, you know,” Theo choked, his eyes glassy. “I promise you that.”
“Are you kidding?” I smiled, fighting back my own tears. “Who wouldn’t?”
I hugged him so hard I thought we both might break. But I knew we wouldn’t. Not now. Not ever.
“We’ll come back and face all this when the smoke’s cleared,” I finished, turning into the three of them. “When it’s calmed down, we’ll face it head on and sort it out.”
“Makes sense,” agreed Colson.
“And while we’re away,” Ripley stepped in. “We figure out this.”
He motioned between us, just as I had. I smiled and nodded.
“And we do a lot more of that,” he grinned, pointing to the bedroom.
“Oh, lots more of that,” I agreed, happily. “So much, that you might even get sick of me.”
“More like so much, that we might cripple you,” offered Theo.
“Then cripple me,” I sighed, letting the butterflies in my stomach loose again. “Destroy me so fucking badly, that you have to carry me back here.”
I turned and placed both hands on the railing again. New York City was still surging beneath us, but it looked different now. I wasn’t running, or hiding, or avoiding my fate.
No. Right now I had fate by the balls. We all did.
And for once, I planned on twisting it to do my bidding.