Page 74 of Gluttony

The three of them ignore me and Orion carries on with our super-weak explanation.

“Anyway, we all threw ideas around, then left it to Hayes to organize the finer details after Hadley called his contact. The basics of it was that you were supposed to think you were being arrested, the cops were going to ask you a few questions, threaten you with prison time, and we’d see how long it took you to confess. If you didn’t, then we knew your loyalties lay with that Mickey guy. If you did, then we would know that everything we’ve been feeling about you isn’t fucking wrong.”

Swiftly moving forward, Orion cups Bowie’s face in his palms, and he doesn’t give her an opportunity to speak just yet.

“Sweetheart, you’re fucking incredible. Turns out, we didn’t need this stupid fucking plan because you came clean all by yourself. And we really couldn’t give two fucks why you came barreling into our lives, the fact is, you’re here. The problem, though, was that this had already been arranged. We didn’t know when it would happen and we were blindsided at the hotel. We tried to stop it, but it was too late.”

Squinting her eyes at him, she moves his palms from her face. “Why the fuck would I think they were cops when they brought me to a damn warehouse?”

“Yeah, we didn’t fully think that through properly. We just hoped the interrogation would get answers out of you.” I throw another Tic Tac in my mouth and swirl it around with my tongue, wishing I could put my tongue somewhere much sweeter than around a mint.

“Do you all realize how fucked up this all is?”

The three of us nod in sync.

“We’re saying sweet things too, Little Rabbit. Laying everything out on the line here. We only went to all this trouble because you deserve maximum effort in everything. Including punishment for, ya know, wanting to steal from us. It’s a lot, yeah, but we’re a lot.” I stand behind her, bringing a palm around to cup her chin and neck, encouraging her to tilt her head backward a little to rest on my chest as she looks up at me. “You, Little Rabbit, have burrowed your way into every fucking inch of me. And I can promise we’re gonna be arseholes, and you’re going to hate us at times, but you’re also gonna be so fucking loved and cherished that you won’t remember a time you weren’t treated like the fucking queen that you are.” Leaning down, I steal a kiss from her, upside down, like motherfucking Spiderman, and while it’s awkward, it’s alsoeverything.

“Okay, Hads, let us all grovel a little before you whip her panties off.” Orion grasps her cheeks like he did before and Iallow him to bring her head back to facing him. “We took it too far, I know, Sweetheart. I’m sorry. Hadley’s right, you own a piece of each of us now, so technically, you kinda did already steal something.” Grinning, Orion attacks her mouth with as much passion as my dick is feeling as it pokes into Bowie’s back.

Breathless, Bowie is freed from Orion’s kiss, and still standing between the two of us, she turns her head toward Hayes.

“You expecting me to give you a huge declaration of love and apologize too, Diamond?” His gaze hasn’t left her once the whole time we’ve been here.

Bowie shakes her head, opening her mouth to speak, but Hayes gets in there first.

“Bowie Diamond Glitter Jones, I will not apologize for what we did because every action has a consequence. But, I will say that we’ll never do something like this ever again. That seeing you all the time for the last couple of months has made my days brighter, even when I’m mad at you. You infuriate me, you intrigue me, and no matter what I do or what I try to focus on instead, you have it all. All of me. It’s yours.” With his chest heaving, Hayes approaches her, his steps slow and measured, and his eyes never leave hers.

Standing beside her now, Hayes grasps her thick red hair in his palm and kisses her. It’s hot, it’s quick, and it’s full of desperation.

When Hayes bites her bottom lip as he pulls away, Bowie pants out her breaths, and I suppose it’s not too easy because the three of us are basically sandwiching her between us.

“Don’t think kissing me will make this go away. I’m angry with all of you.” She doesn’t know where to look. We’re all so close.

I’m letting my breaths whisper over the skin of her neck beside her ear from behind, Orion is stroking light trails from her cheek to her chest with deft fingers, and Hayes still has her hair in his grip, keeping her facing him.

“We’re angry with you too, Diamond, but now we’re even.” When Hayes grins, it’s creepy. In my opinion, anyway, because he doesn’t do it often. But the grin currently on his face is positively Devilish. Way to go, big bro!

Without giving her a chance to argue, he pushes his lips onto hers again and devours her.

The first to pull away, Bowie shakes her head as if to clear it.

“Wait, are the three of you really doing this? All kissing me? All…sharingme? Because this makes even less sense than what just happened with the freaking mob and I’m only semi-sure that I haven’t gone crazy enough to start hallucinating.”

Her eyes dance from a grinning Orion, to an only half-scowling Hayes, then to me.

“You bet your fine sweet arse we are, Little Rabbit. Now, the question is, do you want us to fuck you right here and now, or shall we take you back to the hotel first?”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Bowie

Of course we went back to the hotel, I’m not fucking in a dirty warehouse with cement floors that have a suspicious red tint to them and a drain in the middle of the room. When my fears were confirmed that I was being kidnapped by the mob, this whole scene made a whole lot more sense.

Yeah, I still haven’t digested their little prank, just like I’m sure they haven’t turned the page on my betrayal, but I’m sure time will heal all lies.

We all file into some kind of Honda, and Hayes drives, of course—the control freak he is—while Hadley takes the passenger seat and Orion slides in next to me in the back. It all seems so banal; four seats, four people travelling the tepid streets of New York in the early hours of the morning.

When I look out the window, the sun is working hard to push its rays into the inky black night sky. The orange hues are just a distant dot on the horizon but when I look at the dashboard and see it’s nearing six thirty, I know that in about thirty minutes, that great big ball of light will have travelled over the horizon and bathed the entire island in pinks and blues and oranges.

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