He wasn’t okay. He was anything but okay. Rika was right.
He was fucking spiraling.
And I doubted anyone knew the full measure of the mess in his head.
Winter brought her head up. “Close your eyes,” she said, putting her hands on his chest. “Close them for a minute. We’ve got you.”
I peered down at him, seeing his eyes closed.
“We’ve got you,” she whispered again. “We’re yours. We’re all yours. We’re not leaving.”
She put her head back down on him, holding him with one of her hands resting on my thigh.
She inhaled long, deep breaths, soothing him with her soft voice. “Damon at your back,” she said, “and me at your front. Feel us breathing. Feel it.”
I did the same, tipping my head back and closing my eyes, just concentrating on our bodies.
“In.” She drew in a breath. “And out.”
Will’s body shuttered, but he was trying.
In.
And out.
“Slow, Will,” she breathed out. “Go slow.”
Her fingers squeezed my thigh, letting me know she was here, and I rubbed her arm as we all kept our eyes closed, trying to calm the fuck down.
“Do you feel him?” she asked Will. “Feel his body behind you. And feel me.”
The shaking in Will’s body started to subside as his chest rose slower and slower, all of us concentrating on every breath and falling into sync.
“In,” she told us. “And out.”
We all blew out, our bodies melted together and moving like one unit.
In…
And out….
“Slow,” she whispered. “Slow with me.”
His arms came around her, and all of us just sat there intertwined and warm, Rika and Michael probably pacing upstairs and wondering what happened to us.
Will’s and my phones were at the bottom of the river now.
I couldn’t go upstairs, though. I didn’t want to move.
“In and out,” she chanted again.
I ran my hand around her back, finding her T-shirt already pulled up a little and Will’s hand tucked up inside it, not rubbing but clutching at her warmth.
“Whatever is after you is failing,” I told him. “You’re not fucked. You’re the strongest of us all, because you’ve survived the most.”
I failed to destroy him. Miles Anderson failed. Two-and-a-half years in prison failed.
And that bitch who treated him like garbage in high school and still rented space in his head would fail, too.
I rubbed Winter’s back, and he began caressing her with his thumb.
Her voice and the water lulled us into relaxation, everything quiet and warm and feeling so good, I just wanted more of it. We kneaded her skin slowly, but my hand started rubbing her back harder and more demanding as I chased the hunger for contact.
I drifted down to her ass. I needed to feel what was mine. Feel everything that was mine right here.
“We’ve all been through some shit,” Will said.
“Too much shit,” I added.
And nothing felt so good as to hold nearly everything I cared most about in the world right here.
Will and I stroked her skin, more demanding as our breathing grew more labored again, and she pulled her head up—or tried to—but it just hung, dipping into Will’s chest as she arched into our touch.
“You guys,” she begged.
But she didn’t get any more words out.
Will peeled her shirt off over her head, leaving her in her bra, and I cupped her face, caressing it. She laid her head back down, us touching her—her arms, her neck, her back.
She trailed her fingers up Will’s arms, and I felt him let out a sigh and relax into me more as her hand left him and found my arm, her touch drifting down the length.
We became a web of arms and hands, our hands on her and hers on us, returning the affection as Will traded one frenzy for another, and the spray of the water drowned out the world outside.
She arched up, holding Will’s face, but kissing me, long and slow, teasing me with that tongue, and no sound filled the shower except for the breath between us.
Holding her face with one hand, I gripped her ass with the other and nudged her up into me, forgetting Will was there. Instead, she rubbed up on him, and he let out a breathy growl as their groins met and the friction got him turned on.
Winter froze, her lips layered with mine as she seemed shocked at first, but then a whimper escaped.
I watched her, feeling her body in my hands, and then I kissed her, going at each other as my heart pounded and my groin charged, hot and ready.
I had everything right here. Everything. I hadn’t let them go. They were here. I fisted her hair. Mine.
I moved her on him again, sucking and biting her lips as his mouth came down on her neck, and he wrapped his arms around her like she was all he had to hold onto, and all three of us were a mess of lips and hands, biting and grabbing.
Will took her bra-covered breast and sucked it into his mouth through the fabric, while she rolled her hips on him, deep and urgent, fucking him through his jeans.
He gripped her hips, sucking in air through his teeth as he helped her move.
“Don’t make her stop,” he gritted out. “Don’t stop.”
She planted a hand on the wall behind me, held my face with the other as we kissed, and dry-fucked him.
But then she whimpered and pulled away, climbing off him and rising to her feet all of a sudden.
What…
My blood chilled, and Will couldn’t catch his breath, both of us painfully hard and wanting her so badly.
Shit, what did I do? Was she scared?
I closed my eyes, dropping my head back.
“It’s okay,” I told her, looking back up. “I know I’m fucked up. Just go. You can go.”
Jesus Christ. What was I doing?
It just felt so good to have them both here, in my fucking arms, and I knew Will felt it, too. After so long and so much anger…
But she just shook her head. “I don’t want to go.”
Then why did you leave?
God, she was beautiful. With a wet body that could kill.
I wanted her so goddamn bad.
Why wasn’t she here?
But then we watched as she unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, sliding them down her legs and stepping out of them.
She reached behind her back and unclasped her bra, moving her wet hair over the front of one shoulder as her tits, full and tight, stared at me. Will and I were so fucking frozen, just looking at her.
Smooth and glowing. Wet and rippling with steam.
My cock swelled, and I stared at her red silk panties with lace trim, knowing how good what was underneath them felt.
I could feel the small smile on my face as I leaned into Will’s ear. “You see that shit?” I growled, both of us zoned in on the triangle of Winter’s panties.
He breathed hard.
“You stay on the outside of it,” I ordered.
He chuckled, his playful tone like his old self again. “And if I don’t?”
“Then you just might die tonight, after all.”
He laughed, and I pushed him off, shooting to my feet.
Stalking over to her, I scooped her up and threw her over my shoulder, smacking her on the ass.
She gasped.
“Turn off the water,” I told Will. “Let’s go to bed.”
Winter
Present
We almost died. A half an hour ago we were sinking to the bottom of a river, and I just wanted to hold them and touch them and never let go all night, so all we would feel was good right now.
That was everything I wanted in this moment. Them safe, Damon to know I was rooted at his side, and Will to know he was ours. We claimed him, and we wouldn’t let him fall.
Damon threw me down on the bed, my body wracking with something I couldn’t explain, and he came down on me, his wet jeans rubbing against my panties and driving me wild.
I heard someone else close the bedroom door, and Damon was just as charged as I was, not waiting a moment. He unfastened his jeans, yanked my underwear to the side, and I spread my legs as he thrust inside me, sheathing his dick to the hilt.
I cried out, his length touching me deep inside and filling me up so good I clawed his shoulders.
He growled, holding himself up with one hand and sliding his hand under my ass with the other as he fucked me, pumping his hips between my legs hard and fast like he was possessed.