Chapter 30
LEAH
"We're right here with you," Riley said as we approached Gavin's small house. "Everything is going to be fine."
"I don't want to upset him," I said. "He's been through enough. What if this pushes him over the edge?" I was more than half-tempted to turn around and walk back to my cottage. The fire was burning inside, keeping the place warm and cosy. Safe. Less…potentially confrontational or damaging.
"If he starts to get anxious, we won't say anything," Fiona said. She'd volunteered to come with us, knowing him better than the rest of us. "We'll keep it to ourselves for now." She gave me a reassuring smile and pushed open the door before stepping inside.
I hesitated before letting my breath mist the air as I sighed, and stamped the snow off my boots to follow her in.
Gavin sat in his usual chair, the TV on, a mug of what looked like hot chocolate in his hands. A marshmallow was floating on the top, melted and gooey.
"Good morning Gavin," Fiona said lightly. "How are you feeling today?"
Gavin took us all in before his gaze settled on me. He huffed.
"Looks like an interrogation squad." He seemed more lucid than I'd seen him before. And more suspicious. Was it too late to walk away after all?
"We're not here to interrogate you," I said gently. I lowered myself to the chair beside his. "We have a couple of questions." I glanced up at Fiona who nodded reassuringly.
"You're her, aren't you?" he asked before I could say anything. "I always wondered if you'd come back."
"I've been here before to help Fiona," I said carefully.
The expression on his face would have given Connor a run for his money. He didn't roll his eyes, but he might as well have. We weren't fooling him for a moment.
"I don't mean the other day," he said. "I mean, you're… Not Coral."
"No, I'm not Coral," I agreed. "I'm Leah."
He nodded slowly, his eyes tired and sad, but still clear.
"You must hate me," he said into his drink. "I didn't know what Susan did. She's dead, you know? Heard the nurse talking about her when she thought I wasn't listening." He paused for a beat before he added, "I thought she cheated."
I frowned. "The nurse? Oh, you mean Susan."
He responded with a rumbling chuckle. "Yeah, Susan. I knew Coral wasn't mine. I thought she'd done the deed with some other man and tried to pass the baby off as mine. Always treated her like she was mine." His eyes were glazed now, but this time thinking back, rather than lost in his own head.
"Yes, you did." Josiah came to sit on the other side of Gavin. "You were good to her. You were good to me too."
"Until I wasn't," Gavin said. "I heard the things they said about you and I didn't know how to tell them the truth. They kept telling me she fell in the river. That was what they wanted me to believe. After a while, I started to think it was what really happened."
He shook his head slowly. "It wasn't until I saw you, Leah, that I knew. I let myself remember. Her mother came and took her back. It was my fault you were kept from her for so long. I think, deep down, I knew what Susan did. I knew and I did nothing to stop it."
I glanced over to Josiah. I wouldn't blame him if he hated Gavin, although Gavin clearly hadn't been in his right mind for so long.
Josiah shook his head slowly. No, he didn't harbour any hatred or resentment. Frustration, yes, but nothing more. No desire for anger or vengeance. He had accepted the situation a long time ago. It couldn't be undone now.
"Am I going to jail?" Gavin asked.
"I think we've all been through enough already," I said slowly. "You said you thought Susan cheated. They can't prove you had anything to do with it."
Honestly, I didn't believe him when he said he knew deep down. If he had, he would have come forward and said something. Done something. It was too late to speculate on that now.
Besides, Susan might have run and taken me with her if he'd given her any sign he knew. I could be on the other side of the planet right now.
Or worse.
"I used to hold Coral and wonder what she'd be like as an adult," Gavin said softly.
"I knew she'd be beautiful. And smart. I used to sing lullabies to her and tell her she could be anything when she grew up.
She… You were always so good at art. You used to sit there for hours and draw and paint. And…make things."
"I still do those things," I said. "Art is my life."
"Coral was my life," he whispered. "I'm glad you came home." He gripped my hand and squeezed, but he seemed to be pulling back inside his own head. "My beautiful Coral. I missed you." He looked confused now, but content at the same time. Like he'd wished, and finally his wish came true.
"I'll visit you a lot more," I said. "If you don't mind me popping in to see you."
"I never mind seeing my baby," he told me. "Why were you gone for so long?"
"I'm here now," I said instead of answering the question. I wasn't sure if he'd understand it anyway. Not right now. If he wasn't lucid, at least he was smiling. I supposed it wouldn't hurt for him to go on thinking I was Coral. It might give him the peace he'd needed for so long.
"She's not leaving town again," Connor said from behind me. "At least, not permanently. We're all her family now."
"Yes, we are," Josiah said. "We won't let anyone take her from us again."
Gavin looked at him sideways. "Good. All of you stay away from the river. It's not safe there." He closed his eyes and seemed to be sleeping.
I eased the cup from his hand and gave it to Fiona. "We'll stay away from the river," I assured him. "We'll let you get some rest."
He mumbled something and nestled down into the seat before starting to snore.
I gave him a long look, smiling to myself. That was the last piece of the puzzle, right in place. The past finally put to rest like it should have been so long ago. I squeezed his hand before I let it go and stood.
"He's life goals," Riley said with a grin. "Falling asleep in a chair like that."
"You do that all the time," Connor told him.
"I do not," Riley protested as we headed out the door and into the snow. "It's getting heavier. Fuck yeah. We'll be skiing tomorrow!"
"Some of us will be out with the snowplough." Josiah grimaced.
Riley patted him on the shoulder. "I can think of some ploughing we could do for the rest of the afternoon." Grinning, he scooped me up and started off towards my house awkwardly running through the ever-increasing snow.
I squealed in surprise, but let him carry me, my arms around his neck for support.
Connor jogged ahead and was ready with the door open when we got there. Lucky he did, Riley almost tripped and sent us both flying. Somehow we all ended up on the carpet in front of the fireplace, clothes flying this way and that before the door shut behind us.
"Lucky your friend didn't follow us," Brooks said as he pulled off his hoodie and tossed it aside. "She would have had a show."
I laughed. Fiona would have left quietly, possibly shaking her head. She wouldn't have stood there and watched. At least, I didn't think she would. Either way, I put her out of my mind for now, and focused on what was important. My four boyfriends and getting them naked.
"Speaking of watching." Connor pulled his phone out of his pocket and placed it on a table beside the fireplace. Angled so the camera could film all of us.
"What are you doing with all those videos?" I asked him while letting Riley pull off my boots.
Connor shrugged. "Showing Brooks what he was missing. And swapping them for videos of you before we met."
"Now that's a movie night I can get behind," Riley said.
I glanced over at Brooks.
"I haven't shown them to anyone else," he said, raising his hands to either side and smiling like he was innocent as hell.
"You better not," I growled, aiming the threat at him and Connor. "I don't want to see those turn up on the Internet."
"If that happened, I'd kill both of them," Josiah said.
"I'd help him," Riley agreed. He looked straight at the camera and pointed his finger. "And that's a promise."
"I don't share with anyone not in this room," Connor said. He grabbed Riley and pulled him in for a kiss, then kissed me.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Josiah and Brooks doing the same, their hands wrapped around each other's cocks.
Connor pushed me down onto my back on the soft rug. Riley knelt in front of me and lowered his face between my legs, licking and sucking. He drew my clit between his lips and sucked harder, until I moaned with sheer pleasure.
Connor watched for a minute or two before grabbing lube out of the bedroom and smearing it over Riley's rear hole. Eyes on mine, he readied Riley with his fingers, opening him up before positioning himself and sliding his erection inside slowly.
Brooks and Josiah lay down beside us, Josiah's face close to mine while Brooks wrapped his mouth around Josiah's cock.
"I'm so spoiled," I whispered.
Josiah turned his face and smiled, although the expression was strained as most of his blood was in his lower head. "You could never be spoiled," he assured me. "You deserve to feel good."
"So do you," I said just as decisively. This town had churned us both around and around, but somehow we came out in one piece. That in itself was something of a miracle.
His response to that was, "I love you."
"I love you too," I said. And then I was unable to form words as Riley pressed a finger inside me, then another. A smile hovering over his lips, he stroked my inside and out, coaxing me closer and closer to the edge.
"Be a good girl and come for me," Riley said breathlessly, his words in rhythm with Connor's thrusts.
I cried out to the ceiling as I came hard, in perfect unison with Josiah. Connor was right behind, thrusting faster into Riley's ass and shouting loud enough to cause an avalanche if he wasn't careful.
"Fuck, fuck…" Connor went still, spilling himself into Riley, his eyes closed, expression of pure bliss on his face. Finally, he flopped forward, catching his breath before sliding out of Riley and rolling to the side.
He was barely clear when Riley knelt between my legs, lined his cock up with my pussy and pushed inside.
"Fucking perfect," Riley whispered.
"She's okay," Brooks teased. He knelt beside me and tapped his cock against my lips.
"Just okay?" I asked, my mouth still closed.
"My stepsister is better than okay, and I'm going to prove it by fucking her mouth." He nodded once. "Now, be a good girl and open up." He tapped his head against my lower lip again until I opened and took him inside.
While Connor and Josiah watched, Brooks and Riley thrust into me, giving me everything they had before they both came, spilling themselves into my pussy and mouth.
I looked at them all, one by one before I slowly, carefully swallowed down every drop.
"Good girl," Riley said with a proud smile. He leaned down to kiss me before sliding out with a contented sigh.
We all lay side-by-side on the rug catching our breath before Connor finally said. "We should be able to see the aurora tonight. If the snow stops in time."
"Hell yeah," Riley said. "We know the best place to see it."
"Can we watch from inside?" Brooks asked. He shrugged when we all turned to stare at him. "It's cold out there."
"Trust us, it'll be worth it," Riley said.
"As long as we're all there together, it'll be worth it," I said.
But I was looking forward to seeing the northern lights.
I knew it was going to be spectacular. They didn't call the place Aurora Hollow for nothing.
Although, there was a certain irony. I was a lot less hollow than I was when I first arrived.
Now, with my four incredible men, and a town I loved, I was finally content.
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