Page 40 of Thick as Thieves
“I better go, Jonno. I love you, baby bro. See you when you come home. Kiss Marshall for me.”
“Go for it. They make you happy even though they’re crazy. They love you, Kitten. You love them. Nothing else really matters.” He blows me a kiss down the phone and then hangs up.
I look at the clock, 11:57.
I shove a skirt on and an old pair of Blundstone boots and run out the door. I hear the buzzer sound as I reach the bottom step of the black tent stairs. I hope I’m not too late, although for what I have no idea. What if they have women lined up to commiserate with? What if the room is full of them fucking everyone? I feel sick, and my bees have started to swarm again. Fuck it. I’ll drag 'em all off and kill the bastards.
I find door ten and push it open with force.
17
Evie
My heart sinksat the sight in front of me. Xander, wilting in the booth on the back wall, his head in his hands. Kellen, slumped in the corner, crying.
I slam the door shut behind me. Fuck this.
Walking over to Xander, who is just staring into his hands, I take his face in my hands and kiss him. Shoving him back against the booth wall, I straddle his lap, turn, and command, “Kellen.”
Holding my hand out behind me as I kiss Xander again, I hear Kell get off the floor and stand at the side of me.
“Fuck, Kitten, thank fuck.”
I turn away from Xan and kiss Kellen. I can feel Xander getting hard beneath me as he touches my face and runs his hands down my body over my T-shirt. When I go to move off him, he holds me hard against his body.
“No, stay on here.” His voice is a desperate rasp as he holds onto me, keeping constant contact. His eyes telegraph everything he can’t get out of his mouth. Joy, love, bliss, lust—every wild emotion swirls there, looking at me.
Kell is running his fingers through my hair, as Xander grasps a wayward strand and caresses it with his fingertips.
“Are we staying here? Together?” Kellen asks us both, his eyes going from one to the other, reflecting everything that is in Xander’s.
I nod, so does Xan. And we all look at each other, silently asking the unspoken questions.
Kell smiles at me, his whole being lighting up. His answer.
Xander’s broad grin widens as he allows us both to look into his heart. His answer.
I smile shyly at them both, my heart is full of love. My answer.
“I love you, Kitten.” Xander’s voice is full of awe and wonder. “God, woman, I fucking love you.” Hope and excitement light up his face as he leans forwards and kisses me on the lips reverently.
He comes up for air and looks up at Kell. “I love you, baby.”
They grin at each other, playing into some private running joke, before Kell leans down and kisses him.
Oh my God, I have never seen anything so hot in my whole life.
They both turn their faces towards me and I can see their eyes have changed, pupils blown wide open.
Xan places his large warm hands on either side of my face, the calluses on his fingers a delicious contrast to the gentleness of his caress. Resting his forehead on mine, as if everything in his brain, all his thoughts he wants to share can be telepathically transmitted, he holds me, entranced. But then he makes things very clear. “I want to love you both. Are you all in, Kitten? I know Kell is.” He’s checking and double checking, still looking to be in shock, like he can’t quite believe I’m here.
“Yes, all in,” I manage to get out.
In three little words I am throwing hundreds of years of convention out the door. Throwing myself to the wolves by sacrificing my anonymity and putting my life up for scrutiny. To hand that over to these two men, for love. To join them in a space where it will be us three against the world. I know that the love we have is strong enough to endure the onslaught that’s coming. I feel it, it’s a living thing in this room. It swirls around me, enveloping me.We will keep you safe,it tells me.Trust in usthey both shout at me, their hearts and souls laid bare. History tells me they will, our history shows me they will—even though it’s laden with issues, we’ve always found our way back to each other. I feel free, optimistic. I have faith in them, faith in what it is I finally want. What will make me happy and fulfilled.
I stare at them both, my heart feeling like it’s going to explode, as both of them look at me, the hungriest expressions on their faces I have ever seen.
Xander speaks first. His voice a low growl causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. “Kell, take her T-shirt off,” he commands, not taking his eyes off me.
