Page 3 of Deadlier Obsessions

“Lucy, don’t make me punish you first,” Gage warns, even as I flip my finger up at him, reminding him that Lucy’spunishments are my job and my job only. I had all her firsts already, so I had to claim something else as mine, right?

“Mav, don’t give me that shit. She gives me nicknames, and I punish her, so if you don’t want her punished, get her to stop.” I mean, I would, but the nickname thing is something our girls enjoy. Their latest nickname for me is Mav-a-Licious, and I’m here for it. I can be delicious, right? Mine are usually far more complimentary than the ones they saddle Gage with, but maybe I’m just their favorite.

Over the many months we’ve all been together, Gage still calls Sebastian his Pretty Boy, hell, even I do sometimes, but the girls have nicknamed him a few times again. Cinnamon Roll is still a regular name for him, which I know now is a book thing, but I don’t think Stella’s feeling that one fits him right now. She’s still glaring at him when she thinks he’s not looking. Perks of not being the one who spanked her ass, because I’m not the one on the receiving end of that shit right now.

“Stella, you know you needed that to calm you, baby. Stop looking at me like I’m a monster,” he says mildly, taking her hand and stroking it. “I just wanted to get you out of your head.”

“Yeah, and into his pants,” Gage mutters, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. He still gets jealous at times, but he’s getting better about sharing Sebastian with the girls.

Anyway, things get interesting after the seatbelts can come off, and Stella flounces off to the small bathroom, followed by Sebastian, who ends up in there with her. Gage clenches his fists as he tries to stay in his seat, but I can see it eating at him, so I do my best to help…

“They’re probably fucking in there. Joining the Mile High Club without us.”

“Fuckers!” He’s up and out of his chair so fast that it would have tipped over if it wasn’t fixed down.

“Dammit, Mav!” Lucy slaps my arm as she gets up to follow him, and I smirk, easing up from my own seat and walking at a leisurely pace after them. Yeah, shit’s about to get real, and they’re all fucking welcome for me getting it started.

“Open the fucking door!” Gage yells, banging his fist against the wooden door as Lucy joins him. She dithers for a moment, turning to glare at me.

“Why are you stalking your way over here like a serial killer? Can you hurry up and diffuse this mess you caused?”

I slap her ass on my way past. “You’ll pay for that, baby.”

GAGE

There’s no fucking way anyone is taking my Pretty Boy into the Mile High Club but me, and if Stella thinks she’s going to steal that from me, she’s making a big fucking mistake. Is there a power struggle within our dynamic? Of course, there fucking is, and it’s not always one of us guys vying for control, because Stella has her own dominant side, and that’s getting in my way sometimes. Lucy is still Lucy, she’ll bend over, and do as she’s told, even if she sasses us, but Stella is stronger than any of us realized. If she thinks she’s controlling this situation though, she’s in for a big shock.

“Counting to three, and I’m kicking this door in, so you be sure that’s what you want,” I practically sing to them as I start counting out loud, or at least I’m about to, but a voice calling out from inside the bathroom shuts me up.

“Can you just give us five minutes, Gage? I swear we’re just talking, so whatever Mav said, just go punch him in the nuts for being an asshole.” How does Sebastian know it’s Mav who set this all off? Oh yeah, because he’s a dick who enjoys playing usagainst each other, and benefiting from the fallout makeup sex, since it usually ends up being all of us.

“Three minutes, baby, I can’t wait longer than that.”

I lean against the wall beside the door, using the stopwatch app on my phone, so I can watch the seconds ticking away, because I fucking mean it about three minutes, and Pretty Boy knows me well enough to know I mean business.

“Two minutes,” I say loudly, catching Lucy’s eye as I do it. She’s frowning at me, but she does that a lot around me, so it’s not that unexpected. “What?”

She glances uncertainly at Mav, her fingers twisting together in front of her. “Just a weird flashback moment, that’s all.”Flashback?

A quick look at Mav shows me that he’s just as clueless as I am, but as she rolls her eyes, I suddenly remember what she’s referring to.

“The day we all got together; you mean?”

She lifts her hands, casting her eyes to the side, like she can’t possibly reply, probably because she still panics if I get mad.

“Lucy,” I prompt, watching her edge closer to Mav, because he’s always her fucking protector.

“It’s just that you were like this then, counting down the minutes for the two of them, and things have been good since then, right? Do you really need to lay down the law again like this? What if you’re triggering either of them with this crap?”

“Lucy,” Mav says quietly, shaking his head at her, “that’s enough, baby.”

“No, she’s right. I just can’t help myself.” I check my phone again.

“Forty-five seconds,” I yell at the door, shrugging at Lucy as she sighs and turns away from me. Leopards don’t change their spots, and I don’t lose my obsessions. Deal with it, little girl.

CHAPTER THREE

STELLA

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