Chapter 18
Sabine
I gripped the blanket beneath me, nails biting into the fabric. My chest felt as if the air had been stolen. Every sound seemed louder, footsteps creaking on the stairs, the shift of weight that told me she was coming. My eyes locked on the open doorway, helpless to do anything but wait.
Alex stepped aside, her presence filling the space even as she moved. She left the path clear for Kara. My pulse hammered like it wanted out of my body. Panic clawed up my throat. The sound never left me, caught silent, as the truth blazed bright in my mind.
Kara filled the doorway, then stepped inside.
Her eyes found me first, sweeping over my bare body as I sat up on the bed.
The heat of that stare made my stomach knot, but she didn’t linger long.
Her gaze slid to Alex, and the silence between them stretched sharp.
They didn’t need words. The weight of that look said they were already aligned.
“I think we need to take care of Sabine,” Alex said, voice calm, almost pleasant. Her hand stayed loose at her side, but her presence filled every corner of the room. “She has some questions she’d like answered.”
A low sound rolled from Kara’s chest, not quite a laugh, more like agreement settling into place.
“Oh yeah,” she said, tone clipped, certain.
“We can do that.” She reached for the straps of her double gun holster, sliding it down her arms one by one.
She set the equipment aside without hurry, dropping it over the arm of a chair as if she had stripped down this way a thousand times before.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Each layer she removed felt like another wall falling between me and the truth I hadn’t wanted to see. This was not chaos, not improvisation. It was deliberate, organized, methodical.
Kara’s eyes cut back to me, direct, holding. “Let’s hear it.”
The command cracked down my spine. Before I could gather a thought, Alex moved. She crossed to the bed in three sure strides, her hand fisting in my hair, angling my head so I had no choice but to look up at her. The sharp pull stung my scalp, forcing my eyes to her dark, steady gaze.
“You heard her,” she said, voice low enough to curl straight through me. “Let’s hear those questions.”
My throat closed. Between them, I felt like an object set on a table, exposed and examined.
My thoughts scattered, but I knew one thing: whatever I asked would matter less than how I asked it.
I forced myself to breathe and sound steady even though my voice shook at the edges as I flicked my eyes to Kara. “Do you know who she is?”
Kara’s head tilted, her expression unreadable as she tugged at the laces of her boots. “Alex?” She dragged one boot off, set it neatly aside. Her eyes lifted, pinning me. “Or did you mean who else she is?”
The distinction cut through me, sharp and cold. My lips parted but no words came. Confusion tangled with fear, and I could only stare at her.
Kara stripped the second boot and leaned back in the chair, her movements controlled.
“She is Domenica Bellante. Of course I know.” The words were firm and final.
“Do you think I’d be able to manage your security if I wasn’t aware of every detail?
” Her tone held no mockery, only dominance, the certainty of a woman who didn’t need to prove herself.
I swallowed hard, the answer striking deeper than I had prepared for. Kara knew. Alex wasn’t hiding from her. Her identity wasn’t a secret between them. They all knew. The women I had trusted with my safety had been standing shoulder to shoulder with a Bellante the entire time.
Her hands went to her waistband. The metallic scrape of her zipper filled the air. My heart lurched. But she stilled for a moment, fishing in her pocket. When her hand came free, she held a lighter, turning it over once before flicking it toward Alex.
“Found this at the south gate,” she said, casual but clipped. “You've got be more careful.”
Alex plucked it from the air, the gleam of metal sharp in the light.
She turned it once between her fingers, then glanced down at me.
“Gift from my oldest brother, long time ago.” Her tone carried possession, as though the explanation was meant for me alone.
She slipped the lighter into her pocket and tightened her grip in my hair until my scalp burned.
“Next question.”
“Why do you have me here?” The words broke out of me in a stammer, thin and ragged, barely more than a gasp.
Kara stepped closer, her pants unzipped, as if there was nothing unnatural about this moment. She stopped in front of me, filling my vision, her voice low and certain. “To protect you. To take care of you. Do you want us to do that?”
I nodded.
"I can't hear a nod, Sabine. Do you want us to take care of you?"
"Yes," I stammered, cutting my eyes to the side to Kara's face. Her mouth quirked into a half-smile.
She brushed her hand against my breast, fingers teasing over the peak until they closed, a firm tweak that sent a shock through me.
I gasped, the sound unguarded, my body betraying me even as my eyes stayed fixed on Alex.
Her grip in my hair anchored me, tilting my head so I could not look away from her.
Her dark gaze watched every flicker across my face, every tremor of breath, holding me steady while Kara touched me.
Kara lowered her mouth, lips closing around my nipple, tongue hot and insistent.
I tried to swallow the sound in my throat but failed, a sharp inhale breaking free.
She shifted without pause, dragging her mouth across my chest to the other breast, drawing it between her lips with equal care.
My skin burned, my body torn between the pull of memory and the press of fear. I hated how good her mouth felt on me.
Her mouth moved higher, tracing my collarbone, then settling at the side of my neck. Her breath was rough against my skin, her voice rasping in my ear. “I’ve got her. Go get those boots off.”
The words jolted through me. Alex’s fingers tightened once, then released. My head dropped forward, free of her hold, and the sudden absence left me reeling.
Kara seized the moment, her mouth crashing against mine without warning.
The kiss was brutal in its force, lips demanding, tongue sliding deep until I had no air left.
Her weight pressed me backward, driving me down onto the bed.
The mattress caught me hard, my body folding under her as her kiss swallowed every protest.
Pinned beneath Kara’s heat, the echo of Alex’s grip still tingling at my scalp, I realized there was no space left to claim for myself.
They were moving in tandem, each step calculated, and I was caught in the middle.
I slid my hands through Kara’s short blond hair, lost to the sensation of her body covering mine.
Her mouth left mine and trailed lower. Her kisses pressed a heated path across my stomach, down the curve of my hips.
My breath hitched with every inch she claimed, my body trembling as if bracing for impact.
She pushed my thighs apart with firm hands and settled between them.
The first stroke of her tongue tore a gasp from me.
She devoured me as though she had been starved, lips dragging, tongue circling with relentless hunger. Her voice came muffled against me, rough and satisfied. “Jesus, she tastes good.”
The words sent a hot flush over my skin. I heard Alex’s reply from above, steady and sharp. “Yeah she does. Sweet cream candy.”
The sound of them speaking about me, around me, sent my mind spinning.
Every nerve stretched taut, pulled tight between two centers of gravity.
Kara’s tongue moved in quick strokes, fingers pressing inside me, curling until I arched against the sheets.
I could hardly process, sensation drowning thought.
Movement at the side of the bed caught me.
Alex stripped the last of her clothes, her body strong and certain in the low light.
My pulse lurched as she climbed onto the mattress, her knees braced on either side of my head.
Her pussy hovered above my lips, slick and musky, and instinct drove me before I could think.
My mouth opened, her taste sharp against my outstretched tongue.
I tried to steady myself, to find rhythm, but Kara’s tongue slid deeper, her fingers working with ruthless precision.
Pleasure jolted through me in bursts, shattering every attempt to focus.
My moans broke against Alex’s gaze, the vibrations jolting on her clit as I fought for control that would not hold.
“Pay attention.” Alex’s voice dropped low, her fingers reaching back to tweak my nipple hard.
Pain snapped bright, lancing through the heat, yanking me back to her.
I tried, lips sealing tighter around her clit, jaw working, but another surge from Kara ripped a moan out of me.
The sound vibrated through Alex as I surrendered to the pull.
My focus was shredded under the assault of mouths and hands that refused to let me go.
Alex’s voice cut through the haze, steady and commanding. “Flip her. Mouth’s no good this way.”
The mattress shifted as Alex lifted off of me.
Kara’s hands clamped around my waist, turning me onto my stomach without effort.
For a breath I stayed stunned, then felt the spread of her hands forcing my thighs apart again.
Heat surged when her mouth returned, tongue sliding along the seam of my body from pussy to ass, wet and unrelenting.
The shock of it made me cry out, face buried against the blanket. My body arched against her, desperate and ashamed. I gasped as pleasure spiked sharp and deep, leaving me trembling.
In front of me Alex chuckled, dark and satisfied. “Like that, eh?”