Page 180 of The Obedient Lie
Bastion noticed immediately.
His voice was quiet, close behind me. “Don’t.”
“I’m fine,” I said quickly.
But my hand braced harder on the edge of the table.
“You’re not,” Luca said, already seated with his coffee, his eyes watching me like I was made of glass. “C’mere, baby.”
“I can sit.”
“Not today.”
Bastion’s arm slid around my waist before I could argue again.
And then I was being lifted.
Not like I was fragile —
But like I washis.
He carried me the short distance to Luca’s chair, and Luca opened his arms without hesitation, spreading his knees wider as Bastion gently lowered me down — intohis lap.
My stomach fluttered.
“You’re ridiculous,” I mumbled, settling as comfortably as I could. “I could’ve just?—”
“Shhh,” Luca murmured, wrapping one arm around my waist, the other reaching for the fork on the plate Bastion had just set down. “Let us take care of you.”
He speared a piece of pancake and held it up.
I blinked. “Are you seriously?—”
“Open.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“Watching you squirm and blush while I feed you in my lap?” His voice was smug. “Yeah. I really am.”
I opened my mouth — mostly to argue — but he took it as obedience, sliding the bite between my lips.
His hand never left my waist.
Bastion sat across from us, sipping his coffee.
But his gaze flicked over me more than once — lingering at my thighs, the stretch of his shirt over my skin, the fading marks on my neck.
“You look good like that,” he said after a beat. “Wearing my shirt. Letting us take care of you.”
I swallowed. “You two are going to get cocky.”
Luca kissed the side of my jaw. “We already are.”
Bastion raised a brow. “Only because you make it impossiblenotto be.”
I looked between them — the gentle teasing, the quiet worship, the constant claiming —
And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel caught between two forces.
