Chapter 57
jeremy
I’d give her the world if I could, but donating what I received from the house to an organization that made sure people like her were never in that position was the least I could do.
“Why did we spend all this time apart?”
My throat burned as I pulled her tighter, crushing her to me. I didn’t care that we were standing right there in the open, her hair brushing my jaw, her body trembling against mine. I’d hold her anywhere. I’d hold her forever if she let me.
“I don’t know, Lune. I don’t fucking know. I should’ve fought harder, should’ve seen it sooner. All that matters is that we’re here. I’m here. And I’m not letting go again.”
Her breath hitched, and before I could second-guess myself, I crushed my mouth against hers. She whimpered into me, clutching my shirt like she might fall apart if she let go, and god, I’d been starving for this.
But beneath all that fire, it was healing, too. Like every kiss was stitching something back together inside me that I hadn’t realized was still torn.
I broke away for air, our foreheads pressed together, both of us panting. “Where’s Dirks?”
“Inside the main house.”
I kissed her again, harder this time, and she didn’t resist. No, she melted. She threaded her fingers into my hair, tugging me closer like she needed me as much as I needed her.
I didn’t even remember walking inside, didn’t care who might see us.
The front door clicked shut behind us, and still, I couldn’t stop tasting her.
By the time we stumbled down the hall, her back hitting walls, my hands gripping her waist, we broke into her bedroom, and I kissed her like I’d die if I didn’t.
Her nails raked down my chest, desperate, and I laughed low against her mouth.
“Not tonight, honey. I want to do that thing you love.”
Her brows furrowed, breath ragged, lips swollen. “What? What are you talking about? Ball gag? Pegging Dirks? Getting on my knees and sucking you raw?”
My cock twitched traitorously at the mention of him, and I groaned, burying my face in her throat.
“That fucking bastard,” I muttered. “No—I mean, yes. As much as I want all that, right now . . . ” I pulled back, cupping her face, forcing her to see me.
“I want to hold you. I want to kiss you until our mouths are raw and then wrap around you until you fall asleep. Let me do that?”
Her eyes softened, wide and glassy, and she nodded once. “Okay.”
That’s exactly what we did. We lay tangled together, skin on skin, mouths bruising each other with lingering kisses that slowed until they became lazy brushes of lips.
Her heartbeat eased against my chest, my hand stroking her back until finally her breathing evened out.
For the first time in too fucking long, I felt peace.
Hours later, the bed shifted behind her. My eyes cracked open, and there he was—Dirks—sliding in quietly on the other side, careful not to wake her. He met my gaze over her shoulder, draping his arm protectively across her waist, and for the first time in years, it felt whole again.
I tightened my hold around her, his hand brushing mine as he settled. She was sandwiched between us. We were back. The three of us.
I pushed open the bedroom door and was surprised to see Dirks and Luna in the kitchen already.
“Coffee. I slept in.”
“No shit you slept in.” Dirks grabbed a mug from the cabinet. “It’s two in the goddamn afternoon.”
“Whatever,” I shot back, rubbing my eyes. “It’s been a long couple days.”
Luna tugged at his arm, her voice bubbling with excitement. “Can we show him? Please, Dirks?”
I reached out, grabbing her hips and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Show me what?”
My coffee was halfway to my mouth when Luna thrust a folded sheet of paper toward me.
“What the hell is this?”
“Just look.” She urged me, her bright eyes practically glowing.
Dirks leaned back against the counter, arms folded, clearly trying not to grin too hard.
I unfolded it, my stomach twisting as my eyes scanned the numbers. A wire transfer.
Half a million dollars.
Sitting in my account.
My throat went dry. “No.” I shoved the paper back at her like it had burned me. “No, absolutely not. I can’t—”
“Jer—”
“No.” I dragged my hand down my face, shaking my head. “I can’t accept this. Not from you. Not from anyone. That’s not—” I looked down at the paper again. “That’s not mine.”
“Yes, it is.” Dirks piped up, his voice maddeningly calm. He pushed off the counter and slid in next to me, his shoulder bumping mine. “It’s yours, Jeremy. It’s for you. You can and you fucking will.”
“Dirks—”
“No, listen to me.” He snatched the paper from my hand before I could shove it back again and walked toward the living room. “You’ve been drowning for years. Debts, guilt, all of it. Let someone throw you a goddamn rope for once.”
I stared after him, speechless. Luna moved closer, her pink shirt brushing against me as she reached up, cupping my jaw with trembling hands. She traced the corner of my mouth, coaxing me to look at her.
“Jeremy. I love you. Let me do this . . . because I love you.”
The words hit me harder than the money ever could.
I froze, my lips parting. “No one’s ever . . . ” My throat closed, the words caught like glass. I swallowed hard, but it didn’t clear. “No one’s ever told me that before.”
Her eyes welled with moisture, and she dug her fingers into my jaw like she could hold me together.
Dirks leaned forward on the couch, his grin soft like the sun after a storm. “Then it’s about fucking time you believed it.”
My knees gave way, and before I knew it, Luna had pulled me down onto the couch beside her.
I dragged in a shaky breath, staring down at the paper again like it might sprout fangs. Half a million. Half a million I hadn’t earned, hadn’t bled for, hadn’t clawed through nights of panic and double shifts to scrape together.
“Where the hell did this money come from? Did you rob a jewelry store?”
Luna laughed. She was perched on my lap, her blonde hair falling in my face as she pressed her forehead against mine. “No, dummy. We pooled our savings together. We . . . we wanted to make it happen for you.”
I blinked at her, my pulse hammering so hard it hurt. “Your . . . savings. You gave me your—”
“Not gave.” Dirks cut in from across the couch, his blue eyes steady on mine. “Invested. In you. In us. In the life you deserve to fucking have. You’ve carried too much for too long. Let us carry something, Jer.”
Luna nodded quickly, sliding her hands to frame my face again, forcing me to meet her tear-bright eyes. “This isn’t pity, Jeremy. It’s love. It’s family. It’s us saying you don’t have to fight every single battle alone anymore.”
I swallowed hard, my chest aching like something inside me was splitting wide open.
“You’re both wild,” I whispered, but my hands trembled as they closed around hers. “And I don’t know what the fuck I ever did to deserve either of you.”
“I love you, Jeremy. You will always be my family. Always. No matter what. No matter where. It’s you.”
Something inside me snapped, or maybe it finally uncoiled after years of being wound so damn tight.
My hand shot up to the back of her neck, pulling her down hard against my mouth.
The kiss was raw, needy, almost violent with the ache in my chest. She gasped against me, but didn’t pull back.
She kissed me like she’d been waiting her whole damn life for this moment.
I greedily roamed my hands down her sides, over that bright pink shirt, to the soft strip of bare skin between her shorts and her top.
“I don’t deserve you,” I rasped against her lips, my forehead pressed to hers.
“You do. You deserve every piece of me. Always have.”
I crushed my mouth to hers again, shifting her back onto the couch cushions. Her laugh spilled against my lips as I hovered over her, then broke into a needy moan when I slid my hands under her shirt and pushed it up over her ribs.
Dirks had gotten up and walked behind the couch, trying to give us space.
I reached up, grabbed his stupid scruffy face in my hand, and yanked him down. “You too, you big fucking asshole.”
His eyes widened, startled, and before he could argue, I crushed my mouth to his.
It wasn’t the same as with Luna; it was rough, fierce, the kind of kiss you gave a brother you’d bled with, someone who’d been there through the worst of it.
He froze, then let out a startled little huff, like he didn’t know what to do with me.
I pulled back just enough to mutter against his lips, “Get over it, asshole. I fucking love you, too.”
Dirks’s mouth curved into that lopsided grin, eyes bright with something close to tears even if he’d never admit it. “All I’ve ever wanted is for us to be happy, man. Both of you. That’s it.”
Luna watched us with a sly, hungry grin curling her mouth. She sat up straighter, her pink shirt sliding off one shoulder.
“Now that you two idiots are finally done with the heartfelt confessions . . . ” She stretched, her shorts riding high on her thighs. “Can I get fucked?”
“Yes, honey, anything you want,” I laughed, kissing her again, my lips swallowing that little grin of hers.
She pulled back just slightly, mischief glittering in her eyes as she glanced between Dirks and me. “But . . . if you guys want to kiss again, that would be cool.”
“You never quit, do you?”
She leaned in, lips brushing my ear, whispering just loud enough for Dirks to hear too. “I don’t quit when it comes to the things I want. And right now . . . I want both of you.”
I looked at Dirks again, grinning, daring. “You heard the lady.”