#((i'm just feeling soft for mike and walker))

[svndrenched]

walker inherited mike's stunning smile.

[sillyrabbit81]

The Fallen Wolves Brotherhood - Part Sixteen

Series Summary: Lori "Babycakes" Tate swore she would never date a biker but when her life is in danger, she is put under the protection of a small club known as The Fallen Wolves Brotherhood. She suddenly finds herself attracted to not one, but five bikers.

A reverse harem, biker AU.

Part Sixteen Summary: Marshall opens up about his past.

Pairing: Captain Syverson x OFC, Walter Marshall x OFC, Mike x OFC, Geralt x OFC, August Walker x OFC

Word Count: Approx. 3.1k

Warnings:

Series Warnings: Reverse harem, age gap (OFC 23, ages range from 23 to mid 40s), oral sex (male and female receiving), unprotected p in v sex, anal sex, group sex, masturbation, praise kink, mentions of body fluids, drug use, recreational drinking, sex work, criminal activities, mention of death, violence, use of weapons, mentions of war, mentions of abuse, angst, fluff, probably a lot more that I will add as they come up.

Part Sixteen Warnings: slight angst, discussion of murder and violence against women, smut, p in v sex, oral sex (f receiving), mentions of body fluids, I think thats it

Authors Note: Thanks as always to my lovely BBFs (Best Beta's forever) @henryobsessed and @nashibirne .

So... Been a while... I am really nervous about posting because it has been so long! But I put my big girl pants on and I'm just going to do it. This chapter had to be split in half, which was a small reason for why this took so long to put out, the other part is that I think some of it is a bit dry... Exposition is hard!!!! The next part isn't quite finished but this point was a natural stopping point so I figure, post this and then maybe I won't be so in my head about the next bit.

Divider made by me. Edited by me, there will be errors.

Masterlist

Parts Masterlist

Part Fifteen Part Seventeen

Lori

I woke up with a start.

My heart was beating as fast as a mouse’s and I was sucking in huge gulps of air that failed to fill the hollow in my chest. I was shaking, every muscle and sinew quivering with a chilling thrum, yet I was frozen. I willed myself to move but my glaciated neurons refused to fire, iced over, hardened, ready to snap.

From behind me, a heavy arm moved on my waist and a hand pressed against my belly as soft whiskers and gentle lips caressed and the back of my neck. Relief warmed my blood in a balmy rush, my body thawing in a heady and welcomed surge.

Marshall. It was only Marshall.

“Alright?” he asked, his voice low and rough from sleep.

I hummed, not quite ready to speak. I looked at the clock on the nightstand. Small and generic, its garish neon green digital numerals reminded me that my room wasn’t actually my room and my briefly mollified anxiety inched its way back into my tightening chest.

I’d barely slept, little more than dozed. I wondered if I should get up and shower, but I didn’t want to disturb Marshall. So I laid there and listened to his breathing return to its regular cadence while I tried to recall and hold onto my dream. I might as well have tried to catch a cloud, the memories were wispy vapours, too vague and insubstantial to retain, leaving behind echoing stains of dread and emptiness. 

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what I had dreamed of. The strange and rapid life changes over the past couple of weeks made it possible for me to push aside the grief from the loss of my parents and focus on other things like my anger at Nate, the shocking revelations about Jake, and the developing situation with the Brothers. I may have made a conscious decision not to dwell and process my emotions, but my subconscious was obviously not on board.

I focussed on the rhythm of Marshall’s breathing, the soft reverberation in his throat on each inhale and the sturdy snugness of his arms while I pushed down the lingering feelings, stuffing them like clothes into a laundry basket, deep into the recesses of my mind. Even as I crammed them away, I knew I’d have to deal with my emotions at some point. I told myself I would, just not today, or tomorrow. Maybe in a month or two. Or three. When I was home again, or alone, or when things were back to normal.

Eventually, the residual fear from my lost dream ebbed and slowly faded while a myriad of new ones took its place. 

Had last night been another mistake on the long list of mistakes I had made. Was Marshall another Jake? Was Sy for that matter?

Sy.

Now that Marshall and I had crossed the Rubicon, would Sy still feel the same way about me when he returned and faced the reality of what he had agreed to? Or, had the existence of the pact forced him to adhere to it out of a sense of bravado and loyalty to the Brotherhood? Had I just turned myself into another groupie, a woman destined for a lifetime of disrespect, deception and disillusion, stupidly thinking that an outlaw, an outsider, a biker, could change for them?

I waited for the gut feeling that I had fucked up by sleeping with Marshall to arrive, but it never came. Of course there were no guarantees in any relationship, but everything that had happened with Marshall had felt sincere and genuine. 

“I can hear you thinking,” Marshall grumbled. His breath was warm against my ear and his gentle accent made me shiver as a heated rush rippled across my skin, soothing and comforting me.

“I thought you were asleep,” I said.

He grunted and shifted his body until he laid on his back. I rolled over, following him and he tucked me under his arm. He glanced with a half smile that I barely picked up in the darkness of the room. I returned it and his grin grew slightly bigger before he laid his head back into the pillows.

“My sleep cycle has been off for years. Never recovered from shift work with the PD.”

I shimmied closer to him, pressing my breasts against his side, resting my thigh across his hips and dipped my fingers into the thick, coarse curls that spread across his chest from shoulder to shoulder. In response, I felt him stroke my arm, the tips of his fingers tracing an invisible path.

“Marshall?”

“Lori,” he replied, one side of his mouth lifting in a smirk.

“How did you end up in the Brotherhood?”

His smile vanished instantly and after a couple of passes over my arm, his hand stopped his caress, pausing mid stroke. His eyes sought out mine and I made it easier for him, by laying my chin on his chest, ignoring the way his wispy hairs tickled my jaw.

“There were a series of murders. Women, young women, some still teens. To call them murders doesn’t go far enough, each one was assaulted, tortured…” Marshall trailed off but his fingers began to stroke me again, this time sweeping over my back.

“You don’t have to tell me,” I said.

Marshall grunted and took a deep breath. “It was a long investigation that led nowhere. We had physical evidence, DNA, but no matches in the system and no motives. There were no useful eyewitnesses, no connections between the victims, they were of different racial backgrounds, economic status, from all over the city. We kept hitting dead ends, every lead we had didn’t pan out. Meanwhile, more girls were showing up dead, nearly a dozen and the media were breathing down our necks.”

He scoffed, his lip curled in disgust.

“They can be viscous,” I said, remembering the media circus that followed my parents' death.

Lifting his head, Marshall kissed my forehead before continuing.

“Eventually a name popped up that looked promising, he had been a contact in four of the victim’s phones. No other number had shown up twice, let alone four times. So we started an investigation into him. Found out he was a CEO of a financial institution or an investment bank, I don’t remember which. He was young, one of those prodigious financial wizards that seemed to have the Midas touch. He was famous in the financial world, puff pieces in newspapers, magazines, you know the type?”

I nodded and he continued.

“We’d barely gotten further than collecting basic background on this guy when the case was taken out of our hands by the Feds. I was furious, obviously, their jurisdiction over the case was on a flimsy basis at best. There was nothing I could do about it but wait for news of the investigation. However, months went by and… nothing. No news, no arrests, no more media reports, nothing.”

“He wasn’t the guy?”

Marshall shrugged. “I thought I must have been wrong. After a year, a homeless guy was arrested and charged.”

“So you had the wrong guy, after all?”

Marshall chuffed and shook his head.

“I knew in my gut the man they arrested was a patsy. I looked into it. I talked to some of his friends from the streets and as far as I could tell he wasn’t even in town when the first three victims had been murdered. His friends said he came to the city to attend the funeral of his murdered daughter.”

“No,” I gasped, my mouth covering my hand in shock.

“Yes,” Marshall said, “He was the father of the first victim we found. We had tried to contact him in the early days of the investigation, but he couldn’t be located. By the time he had discovered what happened to his daughter, there had been other victims and it was no longer a priority to find him and rule him out as a suspect.”

I thought about Nate and my father. I had never been privy to the dealings of the club, but you picked things up. The club had a surprisingly low number of members with criminal records and although I had never been explicitly told, I knew it was because the “right” people had been paid off for years. I figured the real killer must have been doing something similar, but on a massive scale.

“So what did you do?” I asked. 

“I took my theories up the chain and requested permission to do my own investigation. I was told in no uncertain terms that if I did that, it would cost me my badge.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Shit.”

“I couldn’t let it go though. I knew I couldn’t investigate alone and I suspected that I might be under surveillance. I couldn’t ask anyone else in the department to risk their job, so I called a guy I trusted. He used to be a bounty hunter but by then was working as a private security contractor.”

“Geralt?” I guessed.

“Geralt,” Marshall repeated. “He used his connections and reported back that there had been rumours floating about this guy for years, from his college days to his early Wall Street days to this case. Reports of domestic violence from women he’d had relationships with and assaults on sex workers that always seemed to be retracted or ignored. Somehow, this fucking guy kept getting away with fucking murder because of his connections.”

He closed his eyes and the muscles of his jaw pulsed beneath his thickly bearded skin. Swallowing hard, he opened his eyes and his voice was husky as he continued.

“When I realised what they had done to that man, that girl’s father… I wasn’t particularly idealistic and I wasn’t naive, but I had never thought that this level of corruption could happen. The Feds, the media, the PD; how many people must be involved, how many people were paid off or blackmailed? Everything I knew, everything I….”

He shrugged and was quiet. I waited, sure he had more to say. But he stayed silent, jaw twitching again and his eyes seemed to glaze over as his thoughts seemed to drift away.

I placed my hand on his cheek, my thumb sweeping along the bone and tilted my head to kiss his chest softly. Marshall’s hand went to my hair stroking my hair off my face.

“I quit. I couldn’t do that kind of work again, not knowing what I knew. I went back to Geralt, thinking with my SWAT background, maybe I’d try private security. Instead, Geralt introduced me to Sy and Walker.”

“What happened to the CEO?”

Marshall’s grin was a little disconcerting as he replied, “He got his in the end. An international financial scandal ruined him. The bank he headed was laundering money for the cartels and he was directly implicated in running the scam. The CIA got him for that one, apparently his reach didn’t go that far.”

“What happened to the father?” I asked.

“Suicide in prison while awaiting trial. It was a fucking joke.”

“I’m sorry, Walter,” I said softly.

His eyes found mine. Blue, deep and clear, they held me and I couldn’t look away. He sighed and shifted his hips. The movement made his thigh brush high between my legs and I became very conscious of the fact that both of us were naked.

The atmosphere changed, the air crackled with an electric anticipation and a heady jolt of lust worked its way down my spine to my core. I wasn’t alone, Marshall breathing became heavy, his nostrils flaring as he drew in each breath and his chest swelled.

His fingertips began to skim over my back again, and my skin broke out in goosebumps as I shivered with pleasure. His burly arms drew me to his chest, the coarse hair tickled my nipples as he guided me onto my back. Blanketing me with his comfortingly heavy body, his weight was concentrated at our hips and effectively pinned me to the mattress. My legs split beneath him, opening myself up in a shameless invitation. He took the hint, and he rolled his hips against me as he kissed me. 

It was like he was a different man; his feral, almost brutal urgency gave way to languid deliberateness. His lips moved down the column of my neck, hands exploring, clasping my ribs as if he wanted to caress not just the flesh, but the bones beneath. Moving with barely restrained greed, he slipped my nipple into his mouth and his teeth captured it while his velvety tongue flicked. His lips were satin, his beard was rugged silk, equally coarse and soft as he kissed and rubbed his cheeks against the sensitive skin between my breasts.

Opening his bearded jaw wide, he took more of me into his mouth than just my pink pebbled nipple. I watched bleary eyed as creamy skin disappeared into his warm mouth and his tongue lashed. My fingers slid into his thick curls, holding him close, begging for more.

I moved a hand down his shoulder and back feeling his dense muscles ripple under my touch. I went lower, down his side and abdomen, a rush of heat surged through me as my fingers found the trail of hair below his navel. I wanted to follow its path, wanted to feel him throbbing just like I was.

Thwarting my plans, Marshall laid warm, wet, kisses down my tummy, and became out of reach. I let out a petulant moan and he grinned, rubbing his beard against a sensitive spot near my hip, making me giggle and squirm out of his grasp. He caught my hip and pushed me down to the bed again in a flash back to his earlier impatience.

“Shh,” he soothed with a wolfish grin.

His hand swept down my thigh, curling under my knee and gently guiding my legs further apart. His kisses started at my knee and moved down the inside of my thigh, heat from his mouth made me shiver and I fell back onto the bed. He got closer to my soaked, throbbing core and I felt his tongue at the crease of my thigh, lapping at the combined wetness there from both my arousal and his release.

I gasped and leaned up on my elbows to watch and his feverish blue eyes were looking up at me from between my legs. My body looked as aroused as I felt, nipples tight and hard, tummy and thighs trembling, my pussy was swollen and glistening with the remains of our previous, furious love making.

Fingers glided over me, thumbs pulling apart my folds, his breath simultaneously warm and cooling against my hot throbbing sensitive skin. A finger teased my weeping core, swirling at my entrance. I was on fire, desperately clenching at nothing, and I could feel evidence of his orgasm leaked from within me.

“Fuck,” he murmured under his breath.

“Marshall,” I said breathlessly, reaching for his shoulders, trying to pull him up to me, “stop teasing me. Just fuck me.”

“I’ll fuck you,” he said, voice husky, almost gone. Then he mumbled something I couldn’t catch against my pussy.

The feel of his tongue prodding my entrance, no doubt tasting himself as he ate me out was so wickedly filthy to me that I was completely transfixed by the lurid eroticism, I’d never experienced anything like it. I could barely hold myself up, but the sight of him practically pussy drunk and groaning was too good not to look at. He growled, his arms wrapped around my thighs and he pushed his face into me, soft prickles of his beard against me made me shake even more and despite wanting to keep watching, I fell back to the mattress.

Suede-like brushes against my clit had me shaking, the tension in my muscles quivering like violin strings. Jesus christ he was amazing, then he sucked softly on my clit, and I was gone, crying out as my hands tangled in his hair, tightening into fists and held him against me. He didn’t stop as I came, his hands moved to my hips, his long fingers splayed across my belly and waist as if he wanted to feel my body move as I buckled.

My hands unclenched, and I shuddered with aftershocks as Marshall stayed where he was, softly licking at my core. I closed my eyes, bathing in the post orgasm euphoria, running my fingers through his hair. He didn’t stop kissing me as he moved up my body and rested a fraction of his weight against me. His hand was warm as he cupped my cheek and covered my mouth with his. I could taste us on his lips and tongue, his beard was soaked too. I was so turned on that after the flavour faded from his mouth, I swept my tongue over his chin.

“Fuck,” he groaned, “You taste good, don’t you?”

I hesitated, self-consciousness creeping in and my cheeks burned with embarrassment. Marshall stroked my cheek with his thumb and I opened my eyes and realised that he wasn’t trying to shame me.

“You taste good too,” I said.

He smiled, his lips parting just enough to see his teeth, before he grew a little serious. His hand curled around the back of knee, lifting and opening me again, and he adjusted his body in a way that made me gasp. Poised, and ready, his silky hardness waited, his brows raising just enough to ask the unspoken question.

“Yes,” I murmured.

His mouth was on mine as he slid inside me, our kiss muffling both our moans. We stayed like that, joined and locked together, hungrily swallowing the others whispered words and whimpers. Fingers sought mine, and lacing them together he squeezed, gripping me and releasing me in time with his steady rocking movements.

He knew what he was doing, making sure I could feel every inch of his thick and rigid length, making sure he found that spot that made my breath hitch every time. His breath was coming in harder and heavier, each exhale punctuated by a muted grunt. I couldn’t focus, I had to close my eyes. Fuck, he really knew what he was doing.

“Marshall,” I gasped. I don’t know why I spoke. I was riding close to the edge, any second now and I would fall.

“Yes,” he growled, “Fuck, yes.”

I fell.

[catierambles]

Alternate Instincts Ch.12

Pairing: The Rogue’s Gallery (Geralt, Syverson, Mike, August Walker, Walter Marshall) x Stephanie Daniels (OFC)

WC: 1109

Warnings: smut

The next morning, she approached Sy's room door, a mug of coffee in her hand. Easing it open, she peered through the gloom until she saw him still sprawled in bed on his back, his sheets to his hips with an arm over his eyes. Given how low his sheets were, she pretty much guessed he liked to sleep in the nude.

“Sy?” She asked and he hummed at her, but didn't otherwise respond. “I brought you coffee.” He just hummed again and she went to the bed, setting the mug down on the bedside table and sitting down sideways, the mattress dipping under her weight. “I made pancakes and there's still a bunch left, but the way Walter was digging into them, I'd hurry up if you wanted any.”

“M'good.” He mumbled and rubbing at his face and beard as his arm dropped from his eyes, blinking heavily with sigh.

“You'd think a former Army Captain would be a morning person.”

“I was a mornin' person when I was in the Army because I didn't have a choice.” He said, “Now I got one.”

“Fair enough.” She said with a soft chuckle.

“Mikey already up?” Sy asked, “I usually gotta pull him out bed by his ankle or else the boy will sleep all day.”

“I got him up by ripping the blankets off him.” She said and he snorted, his eyes closed.

“That'll do it.” He said and she leaned over, laying her head on his chest.

“You're handsome.” She said and he chuckled.

“Thank you.”

“I mean, really handsome. Like, goddamn so handsome.” She said and he chuckled again, his hand laying on her hair. “I like your nose.”

“My nose?”

“You have a very nice nose.” She said, “It's strong, but in a good way, not in the way that people usually use the term to describe someone and they're trying to be polite.”

“Well, I'm glad you like my nose.” He said with a smile, “I like your...everythin'.”

“You're only saying that because I'm your Mate.”

“Babe, if I didn't, you wouldn't be my Mate.” Sy said, “It ain't just my wolf whose attention you grabbed. I hadta take notice too. You bein' my Mate was just the cherry on top. Like I told you, it's always gonna be you." Shifting up slightly, she kissed him, feeling his hand cradle the back of her head. “You taste like pancakes.” He pulled her back when she tried to pull away, taking her lips in a kiss of his own and her hand laid on his chest, nails moving through the layer of hair covering his skin. The feeling of fur made her shiver and she slid her hand down to his stomach, his breath catching as he broke the kiss. “Close the door.” He let her get up and she went over to the door, closing it and heading back to the bed, his eyes on her as she pulled her shirt over her head and pushed her shorts down her legs, stepping out of them.

Sitting on the bed again, her hand slid under the sheet, her fingers wrapping around him and starting to stroke slowly. He quickly grew hard, filling her palm and he shuddered, his head falling back against the pillows.

“You're so big.” She whispered, moving up to press her lips to his neck and he swallowed heavily, his hips twitching up into her hand.

“Fuck, baby, you don't know what you do to me.”

“I can guess.” She said and nipped at his skin with her teeth, squeezing him gently and driving a gasp from his lips.

“Need you.” He said, “Fuck I need you.” He pulled her up into a kiss, wrapping his hands around her waist and turning them over so he was above her. “I need my Mate.”

“Yes Sy.” She sighed as his fingers delved between her legs, two pushing inside her and starting to pump lazily as his thumb worked at her clit.

“So warm, baby, so soft.” He whispered, his lips moving over her neck, “Gettin' so wet for me.” Her body responded to him so easily, so quickly, just like it did with the others, far quicker than any man she's been with before she met them. She didn't know if it was because they were all sinfully good looking, or if it was because they were her Mates, but right now, as Sy aligned himself, she didn't care.

“Fuck!” She gasped as he started pushing into her and he paused.

“M'I hurtin' ya?”

“No!” She said, “It feels good, it feels so good.” He resumed easing into her, a groan shaking his chest as she took him. His soft grunts against her neck as he moved made her cling to him, her legs wrapped around his waist.

“Fuck, Steph.” He growled and she heard fabric tear but paid it no mind. Gathering her in his arms, he rolled them so she was above him and she sat up on his hips, moving against him as he rocked up into her. His nails were sharp claws as she entwined their fingers, pushing against him as she rode him. She didn't even hear the door, didn't even know someone had come into the room until gentle fingers turned her jaw, soft lips taking hers in a kiss.

“He taking care of you, love?” Walter asked and she nodded.

“Join in or fuck off.” Sy growled and there was a pause before Walter gave a snort, pulling off his clothes and kneeling on the bed behind her, Sy making room for him.

“Lean back.” He whispered in her ear and she leaned back against his chest. Her eyes closed as she felt his fingers between her legs, circling her clit as Sy continued to move inside her.

“Almost—almost—” She came with a cry, pushing down flush against him as she pulsed around him.

“Fuck!” He exclaimed, taking his hands from hers to hold her hips, pumping up into her a few more times before he released with a snarl. “Shit.” He said breathing heavily, his hands running up and down her thighs. “You never heard of knockin'?”

“I did.” Walter said with a snort, “A few times.”

“She's fuckin' perfect, Walt.” He said, relaxing against the bed and her hands smoothed over his sides.

“I hope you can go again, love.” Walter said against her ear, his hands sliding over her stomach. “Because now it's my turn.”

“You guys are going to kill me.” She said, “Death by orgasm.” They both just gave low chuckles, the promise in the sounds making her lower stomach clench.

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

Part 29 - The switch

Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Part 28 -- Part30

Pairing: Marshall x Lexi | August x Anjelica | Mike x Dani | Sherlock x Elena (In that - recurring - order)

Summary: Some of the Crescent Street boys - and their girlfriends/ situationships/ let's face it at this point Marshall and Lex are just a 'situation', not even a 'ship' - go on a ski trip...

Warnings: SMUT, NSFW, 18+, MINORS DNI, (mention of) oral (f receiving, vaginal, anal), p-in-v, some interesting miscommunications, mention of sexual trauma, mentions of illegal activity...

Word count: 7.8k

A/N: Alright, so instead of writing this chapter 4 times, like I did with the NYE chapters, I decided to switch POV's a bunch (Which always goes in the same order: ML, AA, MD, SE.) Apparently stuff like that ends up being nearly 8k. I'd say I was sorry, if I was actually sorry, which I'm really fucking not, honestly.

I like this chapter, I hope y'all will, too! (There's some uncharacteristically sweet August and Ange, and there's a very confused Sherlock, and a very adorable Mikey, and.... The good news is @deandoesthingstome gets her M+L Shower Scene, but it's probably not the hot, steamy event you hoped for, sorry girl...)

@deandoesthingstome @summersong69 @livisss @sillyrabbit81 @ellethespaceunicorn @ylva-syverson @poledancingdinos @geralts-yenn

“I’m off,” August said, a hand already on the door handle.

Marshall raised an eyebrow. “Off to where?”

“Ange,” August answered indifferently.

“Isn’t she sharing a room with Dani?” Marshall asked, not catching on.

“Dani will be with Mike,” August said, fighting to keep the annoyance out of his voice. Every second he wasted standing here was a second closer to the whole plan collapsing. Ange wouldn’t be happy, then. And neither would he. Or Mike, or Sherlock, or either of their girls, for that matter.

“Mike, who’s sharing a room with Sherlock?” Fuck. He didn’t have a complete grasp on the scheme yet, but enough to know something was up. Pun not intended.

“Yes. Sherlock will stay with Elena,” August said, opening the door so he could make a break for it if he had to. And he had to.

“Elena is sharing a room with…” Marshall tried, but August smiled and quickly stepped out. “Walker! Son of a bitch!”

He had no choice but to let himself fall back against his pillows and wait for the soft knock on the door. Actually, he did. But it would ruin the night for six people, and… maybe there was a part of him that didn't want to murder his friends for this obvious setup.

He opened the door with trembling hands. Why were they doing this? They’d been right to keep him out of this; he’d never have agreed to it!

“Hi,” Lexi said as soon as he opened the door. She pushed him aside and walked into the room. “We need to talk.”

“These bathtubs look just about big enough for the both of us,” Anjelica said, sliding her hands into August’s shirt.

“That's been a while,” August hummed in return, his lips brushing the skin of her neck softly, while memories of that evening alone at Anjelica's parents' house made their way to the forefront of his brain.

“Hm,” Anjelica moaned at the attention August was giving her, “that was a fantastic night.” Her fingers made quick work of the rest of the buttons of his shirt, and impatiently pushed it off his shoulders. She was right, it had been absolutely amazing – her father's presence had been needed at some fundraiser, and they'd had plenty of time to fully explore the luxuries of the main bathroom…

“It was… You know, when I saw that fireplace downstairs I was afraid we’d spend our whole evening there,” he admitted, moaning as her fingernails gently travelled down his back. He loved the feeling – she knew that.

“I wouldn't have hated curling up in front of that with a good book,” she replied, pulling him closer – which made August chuckle. Napoleon and Charles – and occasionally Mike, Sy and Sherlock, although the latter could be excused, still, simply because of his lack of experience – liked to complain that women were so incredibly difficult to figure out, but August couldn't agree. He'd always found Anjelica extremely easy to read: She'd pull him close when she wanted him close, and pushed him away when she needed him there. That's pretty much all there was to it. Right now, she was trying to trick him into thinking she wanted, rather than needed, him with her – like there was any sort of real choice involved in that.

“Why don't you curl up in bed for a moment,” he said, wiping a rogue curl out of her face, “I'll take care of the bath.”

“Yay, sleepover!” Mike immediately wrapped his arms around Dani, picked her up and tossed her on his bed. He'd taken the liberty of pushing the two singles together, so they'd have plenty of space for whatever it was that he had planned. Alright, it was Mike, so the plans probably didn't go a whole lot beyond ‘cuddle and fuck', but still. It was nice. And there was plenty of space to do it. Dani laughed when he jumped on the bed too and crawled over to her. “Hi!” He touched the tip of his nose to hers, before kissing her fiercely and then quickly moving on to her neck.

“Mikey!” she shrieked before pushing his face off her. “No hickeys!”

“It's freezing and we're on a ski trip, Sweetcheeks! You'll be covered head to toe. Let me… No! Lemme!” He wrestled her for it – and let her win, because there was no way she could take a guy like Mike on her best days… “You break my heart, Sweetcheeks,” he said dramatically, pouting like a sad little puppy. “Oh, how you wound me! What did I do to deserve this?”

“Mike, cut the drama,” she laughed, climbing on top of him and straddling his hips as he threw himself on his back with a theatricality that wouldn't have looked out of place in an off-off-off-off-Broadway production of whatever Shakespeare play you could think of. “I know the perfect way to make it up to you.”

“I'm beginning to see why you love this part,” Sherlock chuckled as Elena pushed him against the door as soon as he'd shut it behind him.

“I've been waiting for this all day,” Elena whined softly, peppering Sherlock's jaw and throat with kisses. There was no denying it. Even on the bus ride over to the hotel they were staying in for the weekend, she'd curled up next to him, her hands wandering places they probably shouldn't have been exploring in public – even if it was under the blanket she (and all the other girls) had miraculously thought to bring.

“I know,” he laughed, “but could we slow down a bit?”

“We can slow down after we get naked,” Elena replied, impatiently working the buttons of his shirt. It seemed a fair compromise, and he gladly helped her achieve her goal. She kept her promise; as soon as all clothes were off, she slowed down, diving into his arms under the covers as she teasingly slowly moved her hands all over his upper body, her head resting on his shoulder.

“Is it strange that I like spending time with you like this?” Sherlock asked softly, a smile playing at his lips.

“Not at all,” Elena answered, “I like it, too.”

“There's not a whole lot I can say.” Marshall shrugged, looking everywhere in the room except at the girl in front of him.

Lexi put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. “Wrong, Walter. There's a whole fucking lot you can say. Starting with…” She'd planned on making him apologize, but now that she was standing in front of him, her plans changed quickly. Why did he have to be so hot?

“I'm sorry,” Marshall said, the sincerity of his words obvious in his eyes, which he finally lifted to look at Alexandra. That was what she'd been wanting to hear, right? Then why did those words not make it better? Why did they make her feel absolutely overcome with rage?

“Wow, I really thought that would at least begin to fix something,” she sighed, slumping down on the edge of one of the beds in the room. Marshall sat down on the one opposite her.

“I, eh… Get mad,” he said, much to Lexi's surprise.

“What? Why? So you can feel better about what you've done once I've been screaming at you like crazy for a while?” God, why did he have to get his wish, even if she didn't want to grant him the satisfaction? Why was he winning this fight?

“Because I think I don't even know half of what I should be apologizing for.” Oh. Well. If he put it like that…

“Well buckle in, buddy, because it's a long ass fucking list.”

“I thought you hated the scent of lavender?” Anjelica leaned back against August's chest, running a hand up his thigh.

“I do,” he said. It was quite the understatement; he absolutely despised the stuff. And yet…

“Then why, pray tell, are we taking a bath in your worst nightmare right now?” A valid question.

“Because it helps you relax,” he answered, “and you need that. You practically singlehandedly organized this trip, Angel.” It was the truth – she knew that, although she'd never admit just how close her efforts came to being nothing short of completely supernatural.

“Sometimes I wish I could hide from you,” she chuckled softly. It was so difficult for her to give up control, to surrender the illusion that she had everything covered at all times… Sometimes, August staring straight into her soul was something she wished she could opt out of – but it would involve breaking up with him, and she could never.

“And I would let you,” August said to her surprise, “if there was even the smallest part of me that was convinced you'd take care of yourself if I wasn't doing it for you.” Of course he was right. Not that Anjelica couldn't take care of herself – of course she could! In fact, August was convinced she could pretty much do anything. The reality was, however, that she simply wouldn't.

“I know, but…” 

He didn't let her finish that sentence. “Princess treatment for you tonight, my Angel.”

“Eek!” Dani crawled deeper under the covers, grabbed Mike, and pulled his shark Squishmallow closer. “Mike! I hate this movie.” Lies. They weren't half bad when watched while snuggled up to Mike – especially when she got to confiscate Jacques. Yes, the Squishmallow had a name.

“Jacques will protect you,” Mike vowed. See? Squishmallow had a name. And a ridiculous one at that, for a stuffed shark, at least – which was exactly why Mike had chosen the name.

“I want you to protect me,” Dani said, snuggling closer to Mike. “Hold on, is Jacques a way of not having to make any promises to…”

“Yeah, sure,” Mike cut her off bluntly, sarcasm clear in his voice. “Sweetcheeks, no girl I've hooked up with has ever even seen Jacques. He disappeared into the bottom of the closet for… a bit…”

“Oh no! How could you! Look at this sweet, squishy, little face!” She screamed when she looked at the screen of Mike's laptop again at exactly the wrong time. “Okay, turn this off! I'm scared-scared now, not horny-scared.”

“Shit,” Mike deadpanned, tickling Dani's side. “That's the wrong kind of scared.”

‘Slowing down' was out the window. Gone. Long forgotten. All that existed now were the sweet moans Sherlock heard as he kissed his way up the inside of Elena’s thigh. He buried his face between her legs with unprecedented enthusiasm, causing Elena to chuckle, which made him look up, an eyebrow raised inquisitively. Not that there was any way for her to answer his unspoken question, as she was far too occupied with the delightful feeling of his tongue, lapping hungrily at her apex, and the pleasure it brought her far too quickly.

“I don't like how good you are at that already,” she joked as he made his way up her body again, the kisses he pressed to her skin leaving a blazing hot trail. Every part of her wanted to jump him, he knew that. It wasn't particularly hard to figure such things out – she was quite vocal, and her fingers dug into his skin more and more greedily as she became more worked up. Right now, he was convinced they would be leaving marks on his upper arm.

“You're easy to read,” he confessed before kissing her gently.

“You hurt me, Marshall,” she whispered softly. “Let me recap this for you and see if you can spot the mistakes. We get drunk together and you fuck me - don't… I know I was on the other end of that and you didn't do anything I didn't want you to do. I know, okay? I know. Then you tell me you regret that you even liked it because you should have regretted it, which gave me a headache, for starters, and also was just generally kind of rude. Then you fucking ghost me! And I show up at your party at New Years Eve and I see you run off to your room with some fucking puck bunny that's been through half of your team?!” By the end of her speech, she was screaming – maybe mostly because, save for a complete communicative failure, Marshall hadn't actually done anything wrong. Although Alexandra wasn't quite ready to admit that. It was as Elena had said; the big crime she was accusing him of was rebounding. Alright, attempting to. Alright, the ghosting was bad.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” Marshall said. He meant it – how could he not? Lex had been one of his best friends for a really long time, and seeing her hurt was just about the last thing he wanted.

“I need to know, Walter…” Her voice was a whisper again. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why sleep with me? Why ghost me? Why her?”

“Let's get the Veronique-thing out of the way first… I was trying to forget about you, Lexi. And I couldn't. Because… things wouldn't… I didn't… It… I… Eh…”

“Your dick refused service,” Lexi said without thinking, a sweet smile on her lips. She realized her mistake too late, and hoped her slip-up wouldn’t make things worse.

“Of course she told… Well. Yeah. I ghosted you for the same lame reason. I tried to forget about you because… Because I thought we could never be together. You're my best friend's sister…” He looked at his hands; a feeble attempt to keep his voice from breaking.

“Why'd you sleep with me in the first place?” It's not that she had expected him to confess his love to her when she'd done it. As far as she was concerned, that had been a stupid, drunken mistake. But at least she'd hoped that he'd feel it didn't have to be. That he'd…

“Because I love you.”

The massage had started with a ‘Is this necessary?’ from Ange, who'd then proceeded to attempt to stall and evade August so much that he'd seen no other option than to tie her to the bedframe using the belt of her bathrobe. Relaxation was mandatory, and that was the end of it. Ange had laughed. Now, she was on her knees, still tied to the headboard, with her ass high in the air and August’s eager face between her thighs. The position wasn't ideal – at least; it would have been suboptimal had the objective been to make her cum. It wasn’t.

“You like doing that a little too much,” Anjelica groaned into her pillow. It didn't make August stop, but it did make him chuckle, and soon his fingers took over while his mouth moved up a little, carefully gauging Angie’s reaction. It was something he – much like practically every other man on the planet – had always wanted to try, but they'd never talked about whether or not she was into some ‘backdoor experimenting'. “Fuck!” Aright, that sounded promising… “Three years in… I thought I was going to have to bring it up myself.”

Wait? She was up for it, and he didn't even have to ask? “Yeah,” she laughed, subtly cluing him in that he'd actually said that out loud. “Can you untie me? I really want to cuddle.”

“I'm impressed,” August said – but not before sinking his teeth into her ass once for good measure. “And I'm really happy you asked, Angel.”

“Still scared?” Mike asked. The question was surplus; Dani had good and well forgotten what she'd been scared of in the first place.

“No, definitely just horny now,” she laughed, “you're really getting the hang of eating pussy, babe.” Mike looked a little too proud when she said it, flashing her that insufferable grin before he threw himself face-first between her boobs. She wanted to get mad at him for motorboating her, she really did, but the puppy-eyes prevented her from feeling anything but ‘aww’.

Soon, he climbed up, though, focusing his attention on her neck, and finally capturing her lips in a searing kiss. It was unfocused – which wasn’t unusual for Mikey, but today was something special.

“What are you thinking, babe?” Dani muttered against his lips, because he wouldn’t break the kiss.

“Hmm,” he hummed before finally moving away, “I can’t decide what position I want you in and it’s driving me nuts.”

She laughed. What else could she possibly do? He said it so matter-of-factly that all possible awkwardness – and there was enough of that to go around – disappeared immediately, and she just laughed.

“Missionary?” She suggested, still trying to catch her breath.

“Boring,” Mike said. It was only slightly offensive. “And doggy sounds boring.”

“That’s your favorite!” she said, quasi-shocked.

“I know, that’s what’s driving me nuts!” he grumbled, burying his face in her neck. “I wanna try something new, if you’re okay with that?” And with another dose of those puppy-eyes… how could she say ‘no’?

“God, yes! Fuck me, please,” Elena cried out as Sherlock sank into her with a smooth thrust. The desperation in her request, paired with the sultry determination in her eyes raised heat and color to his cheeks. Elena grinned. Making Sherlock blush was easier and far more satisfying than she’d ever dared to dream. She reached for his neck, pulling his face to hers and kissing him fiercely before bringing her lips to his ear. “Go on, then, you know I love your cock.”

With shame clouding his cheeks and coloring his ears, he began to move. Slowly, at first, but soon encouraged by her words, increasing his pace until she yelped loudly. “Fuck! Just like that.” Upon hearing her words, the corners of Sherlock’s mouth twitched up into a gentle smile that didn’t go unnoticed by his lover. He couldn’t deny that he enjoyed receiving her praise at least as much as she enjoyed showering him with it. Even more than that, however, he appreciated her instructions. They were clear and concise and allowed him to please her better than he would have been able to without them, and he thanked her silently for them.

It wasn’t too long before he felt the increasing difficulty to keep his steady rhythm reach its peak. Through gritted teeth he let out a pained grunt. “I’m…” He didn’t make it past the first word of his sentence before his grip on her tightened involuntarily and he came, swearing softly under his breath. “I’m sorry,” he muttered shamefully as he retreated.

“What on earth for?” she said with a gentle chuckle.

“My… lacking stamina.”

“Give it some time, Sherlock. Besides, that was lovely, either way.” She wrapped her arms around him for a moment. “You know, a shower together wasn’t quite your thing, which I understand, though I do pity myself… but the bathtubs look quite nice…”

“What?” He… What?

“I love you,” he repeated quietly. So she’d heard correctly… “I’ve always loved you. As a friend, when we were little… Then as a little sister during the few years I talked myself into believing I was so much more mature than you – never was, of course—” he laughed awkwardly “— and then… Oh, God. You started bringing boys home on occasion and guys started to ask you out and whatever, and Peter would always complain about it. ‘What do they even see in her? She’s just my stupid little sister.’ And all I could think about was how pretty you were… It took me nearly two years to realize that…”

“That what, Marshall?” she whispered softly as she got up from where she was sitting and sat down next to Marshall instead.

“That I didn’t want to punch all those guys in the dick because I was protecting a sister.” He flashed an apologetic grin at her, while she barely managed to hold back a snort.

“I’ve had a crush on you for… years,” she admitted plainly, not daring to look him in the eye. “Ever since the summer I turned sixteen…”

“You avoided me for most of that vacation!” He laughed — the familiar sound she loved and that always reminded her of the fun the three of them used to have. “I was so confused, and our moms took me apart and told me that you were a little eh… ‘sweet on me’, I believe is the term mom used, and I laughed it off… didn’t believe a word of it.”

“No, they were right. I’d missed you and Peter so much when you were off to college, and our hockey games had been so much fun, and I’d been looking forward to seeing you again… and then you got out of the car the morning you got back, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.”

“What did?” he asked, clearly somewhat confused.

“You. And I didn’t even admit to myself it was a crush until about three days later, when you saved me from the collapsing chair. I was so shocked that I wasn’t disgusted by your chest hair anymore…” She couldn’t finish her sentence, because next to her, Marshall cracked up — and it took him a while and a half to be able to speak again.

“I’m sorry,” he chuckled, “don’t let me and my disgusting chest hair keep you from finishing your story.”

“Like I said: it suddenly wasn’t disgusting anymore,” she laughed as she pushed against his shoulder. “God, remember the last night?”

“What, the teen disco thing?” He snorted, a dirty grin spreading across his face. “Yeah I remember… Shit! Oh, fuck, Lex, did that upset you?”

“That you went outside with the girl I thought was my friend? Nah, why would you think that?” She could joke about it now, right?

“If it helps: she was a horrible kisser,” he said as he leaned over to her, “unlike you.”

“That’s not cuddling, August,” Anjelica said with a smile when she felt the tip of August’s cock at her entrance.

“We can do both,” he replied with determination. It was true, they could – although they hardly ever did, unless it was something one of them, or in this case both of them, really needed.

“I love you,” she whispered when he pushed into her with a grunt that would have to suffice as his answer. She pulled him along as she rolled onto her back, wrapping a leg around his waist.

“My beautiful angel,” he muttered softly against the skin of her neck as he pushed deeper, drawing a whimper from her lips. She moved her hips in time with his, rolling them into his movements as he gently rocked into her. “Good?”

“Mmhmm,” she hummed, a content smile on her lips.

His hand moved to her hip, grasping her tightly as he tried to keep his slow rhythm. It could be challenging; her tight walls clenching around him felt so good it always kept him on the verge of losing his ability to think straight, and there was the ever-present urge for him to make her cry out his name — in pain, in pleasure or both.

At the same time, he relished the thought that he could go for hours like this — if she’d let him, and from the sound of it, she would.

“I missed you,” she whispered suddenly, making August’s brows draw together in surprise. They were together more often than not… “I was so caught up in what I needed from you that I forgot to just want to spend time with you,” she admitted as she gently let her fingers trail the side of his face, tracing his jaw.

“Well then,” August started, bringing his lips to her ear, and snaking his arms tighter around her before he continued, punctuating his words with deep, lazy thrusts that made Ange squeal: “Let’s make sure we reconnect.”

“Shit, babe, this is ah—” Mike’s greedy hands dug roughly into the flesh of Dani’s ass. “Pretty fucking amazing, holy shit… Keep— damn!”

Dani couldn’t do much other than laugh at Mike’s all-over-the-place rambling and mumbling about how much he liked what was going on. Well, that and keep moving, bouncing up and down Mike’s cock while he barely even tried to keep quiet. He loved it, there was no doubt in her mind, but Dani herself? She mostly wondered if she looked as weird as she felt about this. And it was a whole fucking thigh workout…

Mike whined when she climbed off of him. “No, babe, don’t… Hey? What’s wrong?” He reached for Dani with a sweet smile — but the pleading puppy eyes didn’t go anywhere.

Reluctantly, Dani let herself be pulled into his arms. “I felt silly,” she muttered, hiding her face in his neck.

“You didn’t look silly,” Mike replied, littering her face and everywhere else he could reach with kisses, “you looked fucking hot. This ass” — he grabbed it for good measure — “jiggles like crazy and it’s literally so fucking good!”

“Mike!” The last thing Dani wanted to hear was that she jiggled in any kind of way. Even a good one.

“Babe,” Mike sighed, clearly exasperated. “What do you want me to say? What do you want to do? Turn off the lights, get under the covers and — ow! What? Don’t use Jacques to hit me!”

Then, he attacked her, tickling her until she begged for mercy.

“Not until you tell me you’re pretty!” he threatened, pressing a soft kiss to the tip of her nose that she tried to avoid — unsuccessfully.

“Never!” she laughed, and her stubbornness made him smile. Of course, it was easy for him to enjoy this: he wasn’t the one gasping for air as she struggled to keep his hands away from her body. “Okay! Fine! I’m pretty!”

“Yes, you are.” He ceased his attack immediately and wrapped her up in a big hug. “Now, remember that or I’ll have to punish you again,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh no! I’ll be good, daddy, I promise!” Dani tried really hard to keep her face in check, but Mike’s reaction was so funny that she didn’t manage.

“Tell me you were joking!” he said, looking absolutely terrified, even when Dani finally failed to hold back her laughter. “Oh, good! That was…” He shuddered. “Don’t… Don’t call me that. Literally ever!”

“Looks like we found your weakness,” she laughed, poking at his side.

“This is preferable to the shower, but I’m still convinced you’re trying to boil me,” Sherlock sighed — a sound that was part annoyance and part pain — while Elena snuggled into his chest.

“Sorry, I didn’t exactly make the water more accommodating for you,” she chuckled, “I’m very cold.”

“Anything for you, darling,” he sighed, feigning a smile.

“You really are a quick study,” Elena laughed, trailing her fingers over his chest and abs. His muscles twitched under her touch, and she even felt his cock come alive against her hip.

“I have a great teacher,” he grunted as she continued her ministrations. The water temperature suddenly became a lot more tolerable — how strange.

The kiss that followed was gentle, and lasted just long enough to make Sherlock whine softly when she pulled back, his eyes begging her to keep going.

“I don’t mean to start something we can’t finish right now,” she whispered as she settled against his chest again.

A thoroughly sarcastic chuckle escaped him. “It’s a little late for that.” He didn’t mean to sound irritated — but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

“I beg your pardon, Holmes?” She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “Are you suggesting we just… risk it?”

He opened his mouth to reply to her utterly ridiculous proposal, but his words got stuck somewhere between his brain and his mouth.

“What? Nothing smart to say?” Elena moved away from Sherlock as best she could, and looked at him, her eyes clearly posing a challenge she knew Sherlock and his rather limited experience with women were going to accept — except it looked like he still had absolutely nothing to say.

“I think I’ll just go,” he muttered quietly as he got up. Elena seemed less than inclined to come after him, and he prepared to escape the bathroom slightly flustered.

“Perfect,” she snapped at him as he walked back into the bedroom, “you were ruining my bath.”

He kissed her. Gently but decisively, and she gladly subjected herself to his treatment, not hesitating for a second. She’d missed him so much…

“We shouldn’t.” How someone could say that while pushing her back onto the mattress, she had absolutely no clue — but it annoyed her.

“Why not?” Lexi said, pushing Marshall off her and glaring at him. “Why can’t you just be with me unapologetically? Why is that so hard?”

“Lexi,” Marshall sighed, moving closer to her again. “We can’t just… hook up. We’ve never even been on a date.”

“Hockey game in two weeks,” she said with a devious smile. “There’s your date. Now, please kiss me?”

She didn’t have to tell him twice; before the words were good and well out of her mouth, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, making it abundantly clear that he planned on doing a lot more than just kissing her. Lexi’s arms immediately wrapped around Marshall’s neck, pulling him closer, and he was more than happy to oblige. Lips parted and tongues eagerly tangled, moans escaped both of them, hands slipped underneath sweaters and before long, most clothes had come off and fingers were wandering everywhere.

Lexi shivered when her fingers brushed past Marshall’s hardened length – no equipment failures tonight, or so it would seem. It seemed bigger than she remembered…

“Shh,” he whispered softly, “you know I’ll take good care of you.”

“I know,” she muttered. “It’s just… intimidating.” Her remark earned her a low chuckle.

“It’s a curse,” he replied with a wink.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure they all saw it that way,” she huffed, a hard to miss edge of annoyance to her voice.

“Six,” he said.

“What?”

“There have been six. Not including you. You are number seven.”

“And if we’re counting hand jobs and oral?”

“Eh… The number doubles,” he admitted. “You’re not the only one who’s been…”

“Intimidated, right?” Lexi stroked the side of his face, her fingers lingering briefly in his beard. She knew she had no right to be upset she wasn’t his first. He wasn’t exactly hers, either, but it stung, nonetheless.

“Lexi, please,” Marshall sighed, leaning his forehead against hers.

“I know, I know… Why did you even tell me?” Right. Like it was his fault…

“You were going to ask,” he sighed. He was right – which irked her. “Why do girls ask that question and then get mad about the answer?”

“Oh, I’m definitely picking this fight, just so I won’t have to deal with your scarily massive dick,” she joked. Okay, fine, half-joked.

“Hey, listen,” Marshal said, picking up on the serious edge to her voice, “if you don’t want to do this, we’re obviously not doing this. But I do want to keep making out, if you’re okay with that.” His eyes were kind, as was his smile, and the kiss he pressed to her neck was gentle and encouraging.

“Oh, I’m more than okay with that.”

She was in his lap now, slowly grinding her hips against his, while both of them moaned loudly with every move. August’s hands rested on her thighs, occasionally sliding up or down, but ultimately mostly leaving her to it. Ange had a hand between her legs and a blissfully fucked-out look on her face – that August was sad he couldn’t see, because Anjelica was riding him with her back towards him. Her slow tempo and sultry moans made him impatient, but he refrained from taking charge.

She was close — he could tell from the way her breath quickened, and with it, her pace.

“Fuck.” The sound was barely audible, as was the name that followed. A name that wasn’t August’s. And, unfortunately, he heard her — but he didn’t let her know. With an insidious little smirk on his handsome face, he let her do her thing, until she finally exploded around him. Then, as she slumped back against his chest, limp and worn out from what had sounded like an amazing orgasm.

August’s hand traveled briefly up her stomach and chest, lingering at her neck for a moment before he decided against his instinctive approach. Instead, he turned her on her knees and entered her from behind, not holding back for so much as a single moment. Within seconds, Ange was squealing into the pillows and grabbing the sheets while August pounded into her from behind. It took him one small adjustment to their position…

“Fucking hell,” she cried out, and he chuckled softly. She’d cum from this — and it wouldn’t take long.

He was right — of course he was. Barely a minute later, she came hard, her walls squeezing his cock so hard he couldn’t stave off his own release any longer.

“Dammit, August, what was that?” she panted, trying to catch her breath as she rolled over in bed.

“Oh,” he chuckled darkly, “so you do remember my name?” As soon as the words left his mouth, Anjelica’s eyes went wide.

“I still can’t believe you called me ‘daddy’,” Mike said, pouting and shuddering while clinging to Jacques.

“Babe, seriously,” Dani sighed, leaning over him. “It was a joke. Can we get back to what we were doing before?”

“Sweetcheeks, I honestly don’t think I’m going to be able to get it up tonight,” Mike groaned dramatically. It was a blatant lie, which Dani didn’t hesitate to point out.

“Uhuh,” she nodded, “nice semi, Mike.”

Mike curled up and glared at Dani, still clutching Jacques to his chest — making his girl laugh in the process. She curled up behind him and pulled the covers over them.

“Wow,” Mike muttered quietly into Jacques. “This is fucking nice.”

Dani chuckled as she pulled Mike closer. “Never been the small spoon before?”

He shook his head and made a ‘nu-uh’ kind of sound. “This is awesome. Do you get to feel like this all the time?”

“About half the time from here on out, I suppose,” she joked.

Mike turned around in her arms, still holding Jacques. “I’m not trying for your spot, babe. It’s just… nice, every once in a while, I guess.” He let out a deep sigh and settled into her side with his head on her chest.

“How did you get Jacques?” she asked after a while.

“Impulsive acquisition in high school. Remember the disaster-divorce?” Dani nodded in response to his question. “I was angry at the whole world for obvious reasons, and I walked past him on my way home from school. He made me smile, so I took him home.”

“And by ‘took him home’ you mean ‘bought’, right?” Dani gave Mike a meaningful look — or rather, tried to, because he wouldn’t meet her eye.

“Ehm… No, I mean ‘stole’.”

“Shoplifting, Mike, really?”  

“Yeah, I wasn’t in a great place, Sweetcheeks. My parents were fighting all the time, and…”

“Failing your classes didn’t get their attention, so you figured ‘juvenile delinquent’ might?” she asked semi-sarcastically — and, much to her surprise, Mike nodded.

“Pretty much. Started small. Nail polishes for whoever I was seeing that week—”

“Mike! Don’t…”

“Sweetcheeks, trust me, it all meant nothing, and I sure as fuck never closed, so… either way; nail polish, lighters… Jewelry, make-up. God, I was desperate.” He laughed.

“Lighters?” Dani asked. It felt like one of those primary school assignments: ‘Which word does not belong with the others?’

”Ehm… Yeah, me and my friends might have set a trash can or two on fire,” he smiled apologetically. “Like I said; not in a good place.”

“And Jacques?”

“Like I said; I saw him, and he made me smile. Reminded me of something from when I was younger, so I took him home.” He absentmindedly stroked Jacques’ head. Or… he was a Squishmallow, they’re all head…

“Never got caught?” Dani asked, curiosity finally fully taking over.

“Once. They let me off with a warning because they thought it was painfully obvious I did it to impress a girl. Needless to say, she was not impressed.”

“Go figure,” Dani teased while running her hands through his curls. “Were you doing it to impress her?”

“Duh,” he snorted. “Sweetcheeks, you may not have noticed this, but I’m not exactly smooth or anything.”

“Oh. No, I’ve noticed,” Dani deadpanned, leaving Mike glaring up at her.

“Thanks.” He rolled his eyes.

Sherlock ran through the conversation-turned-argument in his head a dozen times in a feeble attempt to uncover his mistakes, until the sound of Elena’s voice distracted him. The sounds coming from the bathroom left little to the imagination with regard to what was going on, and the realization made his cock twitch in his pants. Shame reddened his cheeks as he silently cursed at his body’s reaction, and he fought the urge to take matters into his own hands, so to speak.

Focusing on his reading proved impossible, so instead, he folded his hands on his stomach and waited until Elena finally emerged from the bathroom, hoping she would be in a better mood.

“Are you ready to apologize?” she snapped when she came into the bedroom.

Sherlock’s eyes went wide. “Apologize? What about you? You were being completely unreasonable!” Of course, he didn’t realize his mistake until it was too late.

“Get out of my bed,” Elena replied, her voice at least as cold as her eyes. “Now.”

“Where am I supposed to—”

“Lexi’s bed. The floor. I really don’t care, Sherlock.”

“Elena, I—” “Sherlock, fuck off,” she snarled. Bewildered, he got up and sat down on the other bed, watching Elena as she got into bed and turned off the lights.

For a while, he didn’t speak while he wracked his brain in another attempt to figure out where exactly things had gone wrong. “Elena,” he whispered softly, his voice drenched with utter despair, “can we please talk?”

“I have nothing to say to you,” she huffed, turning her back to him.

“Elena, I know you’re upset with me, and I’m very sorry that I did something to upset you,” he said as he quietly got up and walked over, putting a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off. “Please help me understand this situation so I can make things right.” This time, she let him put his hand down, and he sighed in relief — albeit carefully.

“Trust you, relax, tell you if it hurts,” Lexi repeated before taking a deep breath. Theoretically, she was plenty prepared to take him, but in reality? She wasn’t drunk this time, which made it a lot more difficult to relax when Marshall slowly pushed into her. Her face scrunched up when she felt the sharp pain she was familiar with.

“Lex—” Marshall started, but she shook her head.

“It’s okay, it’ll pass, just…” A hand on his lower back pulled at him, guiding him deeper.

 “N-no,” he stammered.

“Marshall, it’s fine,” she said with a warped smile.

“The fuck it is! Lexi, no.” He pulled out and dropped down on the mattress, next to her. “I’m not okay with this. I won’t hurt you.”

“Marshall, really, it’s no big deal,” she groaned. Why was he being so difficult?

“It is to me, Lexi! How can I have a good time when I’m hurting you? I don’t know how to make this clearer… I explicitly do not consent to hurting you.” There was something strange to his voice and about the way he punctuated every word of his last sentence very clearly and deliberately, and Lex I found herself quite occupied with trying to figure out what was bothering him when he announced he was going to take a shower.

“Can I join you?” she asked carefully when she figured he’d had enough time to cool off – and so had she. He growled a ‘yes’, but didn’t turn around when she stepped into the cabin. “Marshall, what happened to you?”

“Do we have—” A wet sounding slap against his shoulder interrupted him.

“Yes, Marshall,” Lexi said as she stepped around him and wormed her way into his arms. “We have to.”

“Alright,” he said reluctantly. “The first girl I ever slept with… Gina David, senior year. She said she was fine, but there were tears in her eyes, she was bleeding. I wanted to stop, but she insisted it was just… that it was just because it was her first time, too. She told me to keep going, I shouldn’t have, but she kept pushing me… and I—” His voice trailed off.

“You felt guilty,” Lexi filled in, and when she looked up, she was surprised to be met with Marshall, shaking his head.

“Not just that,” he said softly, “I felt violated.” He cleared his throat before speaking again: “I don’t care if we never do anything other than hand jobs and oral, Lexi. But I refuse to hurt you, and you can’t make me.”

“Marshall, I’m really sorry that happened to you. And I’m sorry for pushing you back there,” Lexis said softly.

Marshall shrugged and tucked a wet strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s alright, you didn’t know. I’m sorry that pain has always been so normal for you.”

She nodded, and then her face slowly began to show a smile. “Is it always that difficult?”

“No,” Marshall admitted, a small smile breaking through the sadness on his face, but his eyes weren’t playing along just yet. “You saw what happened when you relaxed, right?” He shrugged.

“We’ll get there,” she sighed as she leaned her head against his chest.

“Yeah, we will.”

“August, I didn’t… I’m so sorry! I can—” She covered her face with her hands, but August pulled them away again. Anjelica looked at him in shock. Was he smiling?

“Angel, it’s okay. I won’t mind the explanation, but there’s no need to get this worked up about it.” He was, indeed, smiling — after all, this had nothing to do with him. He knew Anjelica, he knew their relationship, and they were solid. “Why him?”

Despite his unbelievably relaxed attitude, Anjelica was less than excited about answering the question. “Well, eh…” She took a deep breath, while August pulled her into his arms. “I had this conversation with Sol a while ago. And being on this trip reminded me of… That thing that happened that one time…”

“Mike called it ‘the great fuck-off’,” August sighed.

“Mike knows?” Anjelica shrieked, looking at August in sheer terror.

“Oh, like you didn’t tell everyone at your little ‘girls night’,” he sneered, rolling his eyes. “It’s not like we were planning to tell them—”

“’Them’, as in ‘they all know’?” she sighed.

“Angel, please,” August snapped. “Like I said: It’s not like we set out to tell them, but we were drunk, the others were offering up some stories, they caught our mutual death-stares at each other, Mike and Sy came up with some theories that were all way worse than what had actually happened, so we told them the truth. I think they were fairly disappointed.” August shot a sideways glance at Ange. “Especially after the revelation that Dani isn’t as exclusively attached to Mike as we thought.”

“Oh, I think that was—” Anjelica started, but August raised a hand to… well, to shut her up.

“Ange, I honest to God don’t need to know. Back to your little Geralt-mishap from before.” “There’s really not that much more to tell. Are you upset?”

Her question prompted August to laugh. “Not really. I trust you, and I know nothing happened between the two of you. In part because I suspect Sol would have murdered you by now.”

“What makes you think she’d ever find out?”

“She’s you, but tall.” August deadpanned, and Anjelica couldn’t argue against his solid logic.  

“Do you ever…” Ange started, but August shook his head.

“Nice try, Angel. I wasn’t the one caught red-handed, I’m not incriminating myself.”

Mike snuggled closer to Dani and looked up at her. God, he was adorable.

“What’s wrong, babe?” she asked, stroking a curl away from his face.

“Dani, what are we?” On the list of all the things she thought he might say or ask her, that question was firmly at the bottom. In fact, she wasn’t even sure it was on that list. What she was sure of, though, was that she’d expected to have to ask him that herself — bit she hadn’t planned on doing that for another few weeks.

Confused, she looked at him. “You want to DTR?” It didn’t even seem like his style…

“Yeah,” he said, clearly uneasy — possibly because of her lack of an answer. “I mean… We’ve been going out, and I really like that. I really like you. And I’ve been calling you my girlfriend, but we never really talked about it and…” He looked away shyly. “I can’t even really tell you how I feel about you without saying something that’s just way too much, way too soon, but… yeah.” He shrugged — which was fairly difficult, because he was still lying on his side, snuggled up to Dani.

“Mike, I’d be super stoked to officially be your girlfriend,” she said, her smile stretching from ear to ear.

“You didn’t have to snap at me when all I tried to do was stop you from feeling uncomfortable,” she muttered.

“You’re right,” he admitted, “I didn’t mean to sound annoyed. I wasn’t annoyed. I’m sorry I made you feel that I was.”

Now, it was Elena who had nothing to say.

“Would you care to confirm my theory that telling you I thought you were being unreasonable really didn’t—”

“Oh, that was probably the dumbest fucking thing you’ve ever said,” she interrupted with a slight chuckle to her voice. “You were right, of course.”

“I’ve been told it’s not always wise to point that out,” Sherlock replied. “Are we… okay?”

Suddenly, Elena laughed, although Sherlock could have sworn he heard something of a sob in her voice as she did. “If you can accept my apology,” she said softly. “I—” She hesitated. “Oh god, alright. I’m afraid I’m a few days away from my period and my stomach hurts and I’m just… really sorry. It’s no excuse.”

“But it is an explanation,” Sherlock said as he pushed at her shoulder until she moved over, giving him enough room to climb into bed with her. “And a reasonable explanation at that. Come here.”

“I can’t believe our first fight happened because of my PMS,” she groaned as she snuggled into Sherlock’s side.

“Oh, I’m having no trouble believing it at all,” Sherlock chuckled in reply.

Immediately, Elena slammed a hand into his shoulder. “Sherlock Holmes, I swear I will make you sleep on the floor!”

“Easy, darling, I was only joking.”

[twelve-kinds-of-trouble]

AAPI Heritage Month Book Recs!

As some of you may or may not know, this May is AAPI Heritage Month. To celebrate it, I wanted to make a short list of books written by AAPI authors or with AAPI characters in them. This includes poetries, comics, and graphic novels! Special thanks to @introvertedscarecrow @silver-war @aheartfullofquestions and @waywardpudding who gave me some of these recommendations! If there is anything incorrect or offensive, please let me know! Also, feel free to reblog this with your own recommendations. Remember to check trigger warning before purchasing a book!

Young Adult Books

A Pho Love Story— Loan Lee (Contemporary) Legend— Marie Lu (Dystopian) Warcross— Marie Lu (Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Thriller) Wildcard— Marie Lu (Dystopian) Girls of Paper and Fire— Natasha Ngan (Fantasy) Girls of Storm and Shadow— Natasha Ngan (Fantasy) Gearbreakers— Zoe Hana Mikuta (Fantasy/ Sci-Fi) The Ones We’re Meant to Find— Joan He (Sci-Fi) Namesake— Jhumpa Lahiri (Contemporary) Last Night at The Telegraph Club— Malinda Lo (Historical) Counting By Sevens— Holly Goldberg Sloan (Contemporary) Cinder— Marissa Meyer (Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Dystopia)

Biographies

Good Talk— Mira Jacob (Is also a graphic novel!) Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls— T Kira Madden Minor Feelings— Cathy Park Hong Woman Warrior— Maxine Hong Kingston

Poetry

Milk and Honey— Rupi Kaur Soft Science— Franny Choi World of Wonders— Aimee Nezhukumatathil Foreign Bodies— Kimiko Hahn Inside Out and Back Again— Thanha Lai (Autobiographical)

Graphic Novels and Comics

Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)— Kelly Puckett and Damion Scott Monstrous— Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Fantasy, Steampunk) Demon— Jason Shiga (Sci-Fi) Forget Sorrow— Belle Yang The Best We Could Do— Thi Bui (Autobiographical) They Called Us the Enemy— George Takei (Autobiographical) Mooncakes— Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu (Witches! Sapphic Witches! And Sapphic Werewolves! HOLY SHIT!! Young Adult)

Adult Fiction

The Poppy War— R. F. Kuang (Fantasy) Arsenic and Adobo— Mia P. Manansala (Mystery, Cozy) Everything I Never Told You— Celeste Ng (Mystery, Historical) If I Had Your Face— Frances Cha (Contemporary) A Little Life— Hanya Yanagihara (Contemporary) Severance— Ling Ma (Sci-Fi/ Dystopian) The Inheritance of Loss— Kiran Desai (Historical/ Contemporary) Here and Now and Then— Mike Chen (Sci-Fi/ Fantasy) The Night Tiger— Yangsze Choo (Mystery/ Historical) On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous— Ocean Vuong (Contemporary)

I'm pleased to say that some of these novels are LGBTQ+ which is just the best news I’ve heard in all my days, so please come to me with your reviews for them, as a lot of these books are on my to read list! Thanks!

This is also a good time to say that the rising violent hate crimes against the Asian community are not excusable. They are disgusting, and anyone who condones them can get off my blog right now, before I tear out their kneecaps through their gut.

@the-fridge-is-on-fire @peachy-saladlover @neonified (just thought you might like to be tagged!) Please reblog this, I spent way too much time on it.

[catierambles]

Alternate Instincts Ch.10

Pairing: The Rogue’s Gallery (Geralt, Syverson, Mike, August Walker, Walter Marshall) x Stephanie Daniels (OFC)

WC 1634

Wanring: Uh..none?

Geralt held her as she slept, his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace. She didn't have the stamina of a wolf, so there was only much she could physically handle before her nerve endings called it quits and it became painful rather than pleasurable. They hadn't used protection, and he hadn't pulled out when he came, so they needed to watch it carefully in case she got pregnant. Then again, he doubted she and August had been careful either, so even if she did become with child, the father could be either of them. Or both, in rare circumstances.

Brushing her hair away from her face, he pressed his lips to her forehead, hearing her wake.

"Hey." She said and he gave her a soft smile.

"Hello." He said and tugged her up into a kiss. "Any regrets?"

"No." She said, shaking her head. "You?"

"None." He said, "You're my Mate, and I will never regret taking care of my Mate." She suddenly gave a quiet huff of a laugh that in no way sounded amused. "What?"

"Nothing." She said, "It's just that...my mom would have an aneurysm if she found out."

"Don't think I'm mother approved?"

"You're not my mother approved." She said and he gave her a questioning look. "You're a wolf."

"Oh."

"And I can promise you she would have a few choice words about me sleeping with two different men in two days, as well as both of them being wolves." She said and pulled away from him with a sigh, sitting on the edge of the bed and stretching. "I need to eat something." His hand laid on her back, running along her skin and he felt the shiver that ran through her. "Is it supposed to be this...intense?"

"Yes." He said, "We're Mates."

"And if I was a wolf? Would it be even more intense?"

"Couldn't say." He said honestly.

"There's just this feeling inside me, like...there's supposed to be something there. I want you, and August, and Walter, and Sy, and Mike. One at a time, at the same time, it doesn't matter. Being with you and August, it...I don't know."

"I understand."

"Do you?"

"You want your Mates."

"I'm not a wolf."

"I know." He said and there was a brief knock on the door before it pushed open. Anything Sy may have said died as he saw her sitting there, his eyes moving over her nude form.

“Goddamnit.” He said and crossed the room, holding the side of her jaw and kissing her, her fingers wrapping around his wrist as her eyes closed.

“No.” She said, pulling away from his lips, catching his confused look, “No, no, no. I need food. If I burn anymore calories without replacing them I'm going to poof out of existence.” He gave a soft chuckle, pressing a softer kiss to her lips before straightening.

“What do you need, Sy?” Geralt asked.

“Just lookin' for Steph, actually.” He said, “Figured she'd be in here as you left and didn't come back and she didn't make an appearance either.” His thumb moved back and forth over her cheek as he spoke.

“We mated.” Geralt said simply.

“Figured.” Sy said.

“Are you...okay with that?” Stephanie asked and he looked down at her in question.

“She's under the impression we'd be angry at her.” Geralt said, “She thought I would have been angry at her for sleeping with August.”

“She's August's Mate.”

“Mine too, and yours.” Geralt said and he looked down at her.

“Steph, baby, you ain't cheatin' on us.” Sy said, “Nah, doll, you matin' with August and Geralt don't bother me none. You're their Mate. Wantin' you all to myself would be tryin' to fight nature and that's never worked out.”

“Okay.” She said, her hands coming up to hold his thighs through his jeans.

“Now let's get some food in ya before we give Geralt a show.” He said and stooped down, throwing her over his shoulder.

“Clothes!” She exclaimed as he headed for the door.

“They're all gonna see it eventually!”

“Markus!” She snapped and he sighed, setting her down again and leaving by himself, coming back with some of her clothes that she had brought camping. “You forgot underwear.” He just shrugged unapologetically and she sighed with a roll of her eyes, getting dressed. “I'm going to need to get more of my things if I'm going to be on lock-down here.”

“Put together a list and Mikey and I will head over to your place.” Sy said.

“You're not going through my things.” She said, pulling the shirt on sans bra.

“Then the three of us will head over after you eat.” He conceded and Geralt flopped over onto his back after they left, picking up the pillow next to him and holding it to his face, breathing in deep the smell of her hair.

The drive over to her apartment after she ate her weight in pasta was made in silence, Sy driving, Stephanie sitting in the passenger seat with Mike sitting in the back.

“Oh my god, Mike, stop bouncing your leg. You're making the truck shake and it's making me nauseous.” She said while they were at a red light and he stopped.

“Sorry, babe, nervous habit.” He said and she reached back without looking, feeling his fingers wrap around hers. At her instruction, Sy parked in a slanted spot on the street and they got out, him and Mike pulling her camping gear from the back as she didn't need it at the cabin.

“I'll stay out front, make sure everythin' stays kosher while you two pack up some of her essentials.” Sy said as they climbed the stairs with Stephanie in the lead.

“Want me to bring any perishable foods back to the cabin?” She asked, “As we really don't know how long I'm going to be there.”

“If ya want.” Sy said with a shrug as she unlocked the front door, “Whoa, doll, hold up.”

“Jordan never had a key.” She said but he still put his hand over hers on the doorknob.

“Still coulda broken in, let me take a peek first.” He said and she stepped back, her hands up in surrender. He pushed open the door, heading into the apartment and it was quiet for a moment. “It's good.” She and Mike walked in as he came up from the back of the apartment, Mike setting the camping equipment down on the floor. “Don't take hours.” He said, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before leaving, keeping the door open a crack.

“Mike.” Stephanie said.

“Yeah?”

“Are you lactose intolerant?”

“Nope.”

“Kill this half gallon of milk, I don't want it going bad.”

“Why do you have so many eggs?”

“I like eggs.”

“We'll take them with us, Sy goes though a shit load of them.” He stopped listening in after that, taking his phone out to scroll idly through various social media that he lurked, but didn't post much, on. Mainly to keep in contact with his Army buddies. Aika retired and was adopted by her handler's wife. Good for her, she was a good dog.

"Hey." He heard and looked up, seeing the man standing there. He was large in a strength build, a bushy beard on his face with his long hair tied back behind his head. He was also an Alpha wolf.

"Hey." Sy said, putting his phone away.

"You know someone in the building?"

"Stephanie Daniels." Sy said, moving his head at the door. "You are?"

"Frank Carter, her landlord." He said, "I also run the pack of this building and the one next door."

"Well, don't worry man, I ain't lookin' to challenge you on territory." He said, sliding his hands in the pockets of his jeans, "I got a few acres up north in the mountains that I control. Happy with that."

"How do you know Stephanie?" Frank asked, "You her boyfriend she thinks I don't know about?"

"Yes and no." Sy said, "That jackass is out of the picture, I'm in it now."

"Oh." Frank said, "Well I might have to raise her rent if you stay over a lot."

"She's gonna be spending some time up at my place. Council shoulda notified you of the situation, so you don't think I'm movin' in on your pack."

"Haven't heard anything yet." Frank said with a shrug. "If you infect her, she's mine."

"Pardon?" Sy asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"If you turn her wolf and she's still living here, she'll be a part of my pack, not yours."

"Not how that works, bud."

"I won't have someone else's bitch living among my pack." Frank said and Sy's shoulders tightened, "So either move her into your territory, or keep your claws to yourself."

"You don't tell me what to do."

"You're in my territory, you follow my rules." Frank said and Sy reached behind him, pushing the door open a little.

"How's it goin'?"

"Mike, put that back, I'm not taking that with me!"

"Aw come on, sweetcheeks!"

"Put. The bikini. Back."

"Hey!" Sy called out again.

"Almost done!" Stephanie replied, "Just having a disagreement over the meaning of the word "essential"!"

"Someone else in there?" Frank asked and tried to head into the apartment, but Sy stepped in front of him.

"My brother, Mike." Sy said and Frank's eyes hardened.

"Get the fuck out of my territory."

"Will as soon as she's done packin'." Almost on cue, the door swung open further, Mike carrying a duffel bag and a decently sized cooler, a backpack slung over Stephanie's shoulder.

"Frank?" She asked, seeing him past Sy's shoulder and there was a pause.

"Rent's due in a week." He said and stomped off down the stairs.

[sillyrabbit81]

The Fallen Wolves Brotherhood - Part Four

Series Summary: Lori "Babycakes" Tate swore she would never date a biker but when her life is in danger, she is put under the protection of a small club known as The Fallen Wolves Brotherhood. She suddenly finds herself attracted to not one, but five bikers.

A reverse harem, biker AU.

Part Three Summary: Syverson and Lori get through the night as tension between them mounts. Sy, discusses the situation with the Brothers.

Pairing: Captain Syverson x OFC, Walter Marshall x OFC, Mike x OFC, Geralt x OFC, August Walker x OFC

Word Count: Approx. 3.6k

Warnings:

Series Warnings: Reverse harem, age gap (OFC 23, ages range from 23 to mid 40s), oral sex (male and female receiving), unprotected p in v sex, anal sex, group sex, masturbation, praise kink, mentions of body fluids, drug use, recreational drinking, sex work, criminal activities, mention of death, violence, use of weapons, mentions of war, mentions of abuse, angst, fluff, probably a lot more that I will add as they come up.

Part Three Warnings: Flirting, smutty thoughts, angst, fluff.

Authors Note: I need to apologise for not having replied to the comments on the last chapter. I will get to them soon I promise. I have had a lot going on in my personal life. I've been offline a bit, trying to deal with it all. Things will get better, I'm just going through a low point (my hormones are NOT helping). As a result, I'm not sure if this chapter is my best work, but here it is and I hope you enjoy.

Divider made by me. Edited by me, there will be errors.

Masterlist

Parts Masterlist

Part Three Part Five

Syverson

When Lori came out of the bathroom I kept my eyes on the window. 

I had only just managed to calm my raging boner and seeing her in those little pj shorts and tank top was not conducive to keeping my cool.

What was I thinking coming onto her like that? It was reckless, unprofessional, stupid and overstepped the agreement the Brothers and I made. Yeah I wanted her, yeah I flirted with her back at her apartment, but the ride had made me see sense. She wasn’t mine to have.

A muffled sound came from the bed. At first I ignored it. Then I heard it again and realised what it was. Lori was crying.

I glanced in her direction. She was facing away from me with the blankets pulled up over her head which was probably why I couldn’t hear her at first. Her shoulders jerked sometimes, like she was trying to hold back and she probably was.

My first instinct was to comfort her, wrap her in my arms so she didn’t have to cry alone. But after my bullheaded pass she’d probably take it the wrong way. And she wouldn’t be completely wrong. Of course I wanted to feel her body against mine again, but I wouldn’t take advantage of her in this state.

Besides, she probably didn’t want me to know she was crying. She was doing everything she could to hide herself from me. I felt like an asshole, especially after earlier, but invading privacy in cases like this was par for the course.

She wasn’t the first woman we protected to cry at night. Hell, even a few of the men had. And God knows she had cause to. Not only had she just been taken from her home by five strange men, she was in fear of, not just her life but that of her brother’s too. Of course she’d be scared, if she had any sense. On top of all of that, she had buried her parents earlier in the day. Who wouldn’t be at least tempted to shed a few tears in her situation?

I had every intention of ignoring her and letting her cry herself out and hopefully sleep through the night. Then I heard her again and I couldn’t stand by and let her go through it alone.

Sighing, I went closer and standing over the bed I could hear her clearly. Poor girl sounded awful. 

I squatted down to her level beside the bed and asked softly, “You okay, Babycakes?” 

All movement stopped and I heard a soft sniffle.

“I’m okay,” came her warbled and muffled reply.

”Ya sure?”

Lori slowly lowered the covers and peeked out. My chest felt tight as I stared into her glossy and bloodshot eyes. God, she was a pretty little thing, even all red faced and teary.

I smiled. “Hey.”

She just looked at me. Staring hard back at me almost as if she hated me for seeing her vulnerable.

Keeping my smile soft, I reached out and laid my hand on her cheek. 

The corners of her lips raised briefly, then she lowered eyes. I rubbed her cheek, ignoring the fat tear that spilled from the corner of her eye and ran down the edge of her nose and rested on her lip. Her little hand came out and wiped it away with a jerk, as if she were angry.

“You can cry if ya wanna, no shame in it. ‘Specially after what you've been through. You don’t gotta hide.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

My brows drew together. “You're cryin’. What else would I do?”

“So this isn’t part of the contract?”

My lip twitched. Sassy bitch.

“Another freebie, just for you, sugar,” I said. I licked my lips and added, “Hey, about earlier. I didn't see anythin’. I wasn't— I was only gonna close the door and— Well, I didn't see anything. Okay?”

She smiled through her tears and nodded. Then she opened her mouth to say something and her chin wobbled.

“Hey, Baby. C’mere.” I held my arms out and hers flew from the covers, encircling my neck and she pressed her face into my chest.

Without breaking her surprisingly strong grip on my neck, I pulled her close to me and got onto the bed, resting my back against the headboard. She surprised me again, climbed onto me, drawing her legs up until she was a small ball sitting across my lap. Thank God, she had put a tshirt on, her bare thighs were distracting enough.

She cried again, soft as before and I don’t know if it makes me an asshole, but it felt good holding her. I dropped my head into the crook of her neck, just to surround myself with her. She smelled so good, not like the scent I caught in the elevator, this was even better, this was her. Being with her like this made me realise how much I missed this; it had been years since a woman had let me comfort them. Most of the women I’d interacted with were too scared of me and the Brothers to allow us close to them. Or they liked us a little too much, thinking we were like other MCs and were bitterly disappointed by the quiet lifestyle we all led.

“You’re okay,” I whispered, “You cry all you want to, alright Lori?”

“You do know my name,” she said through her tears and I chuckled.

“Try not to use real names with clients when we’re travelling, baby.”

“You always call your clients baby?”

“No baby, just you.” 

She laughed softly and soon her tears stopped and her breathing became steady.

I don’t know how long we stayed like that, but it must have been a while because my gun started to dig painfully in my side. But I didn’t want to move, fearing that any slight movement would shatter this moment.

I put it off as long as I could, until my spine couldn’t take holding the position a moment longer and I shifted. My manoeuvre made Lori lift her head and she watched me as I pulled my gun out of my holster and placed it within reach on the nightstand.

When I settled back into a comfortable position, her bright grey eyes caught mine. Her cheeks (and my shirt) were wet, though she seemed to have stopped crying. She stared at me, she looked with such open vulnerability it made my chest ache a little and stirred something deep within me. In that moment, I would have done anything to take her pain away, shouldered any burden to see her happy.

I lifted my hands to her cheeks, letting my thumbs wipe away the remnants of her tears. She let me, closing her eyes slowly and her lips parted slightly as if she enjoyed my touch, which only led to something else stirring.

My breath started coming in hard, like I’d just been for a run and couldn’t get enough oxygen. God, those lips… I wanted to feel them again. Although this time my thumb wouldn’t be enough; I wanted to know what they felt like on mine.

I tore my hands and eyes away from her, wrapped my arms around her, guiding her gently back to my chest. I had to get a handle on this situation before shit went sideways and I made a move on her again.

“Sy…” she spoke softly, resisting my movements.

Steeling myself I looked at her, my eyes widening as I realised she was nervous. I’d not noticed her being nervous before.

“Can I… you…” she said hesitantly.

“What you want, baby?”

“I don't want you to go,” she said in a rush. “Can’t you stay with me instead of Walk–” she stopped herself and continued, “the others?”

Fuck. This is not good.

“I gotta get some sleep, sugar,” I said gently, letting her down as best I could without straight up rejecting her. Because fuck, I really didn’t want to say no. And if I was honest with myself, I didn’t like the idea of her being alone with Walker either. Not that he’d do anything. Well, he wouldn’t force himself on her, but I’d seen him with women before, that man was persuasive.

“Sleep here with me?” she asked.

Oh fuck me.

Her cheeks reddened and she looked away as if she were embarrassed by her request.

God I wanted to say yes. I wanted to wrap myself around her and never let go. But I cleared my throat, swallowing down my urges and said, “My brothers ain’t bad. You’re safe with us. With all of us.”

“Can you just hold me then? Just ‘till I fall asleep?”

I  knew I should say no. I knew that, but… Oh, fuck me.

“Scooch on over,” I said. 

I was going to hell.

Lori climbed off my lap. I stood up, toed my boots off and reached for my belt buckle. My eyes caught hers and saw her unsure look.

“I can leave ‘em on if ya want,”

She turned away as her blush deepened. Then she raised her eyes back to mine.

“Are you wearing underwear?”

I pressed my lips together. “Yeah, I am.”

“Okay then.”

Lori didn’t look away, instead she stared at me, expectantly. I hesitated.

Ah fuck.

Don’t think about sex, don’t think about sex, don’t think about sex.

I bit my lip and slowly dropped my pants and stepped out of them. The damn girl’s eyes never left mine and her look made my heart thunder and I felt a familiar and warm rush of blood. 

Jesus, give me strength.

I thought about leaving my shirt on, but then I thought, fuck it, I’d come this far, may as well go the whole hog. I tugged at my shirt and raised my eyebrows. She licked her lips, nodding slowly. 

Quick as I could, I pulled my shirt off and lifted the blanket to slide in beside her before I started to harden up. She finally looked away from me and rolled over. I sidled up to her back and my body melded behind hers. It felt so natural, like we’d laid like this a million times.

“You’re going to stay here with me, right? Don't go when I fall asleep?” she asked.

“Alright, sugar,” I said, “Ya twisted my arm.”

“Will you get in trouble?” My eyebrows drew together in confusion. She rolled over until she was facing me. “From Walker,” she clarified.

I smiled reassuringly and tucked her head under my chin. I probably would, not trouble exactly, more like Walker will make it his mission to keep us apart. Even if I did, it’d be worth it. I kissed the top of her head. 

“Go to sleep, baby. We got a lot of miles tomorrow.”

“I’ll ride with you again, right?”

“You ride with whoever you want. You just go to sleep, baby. We’re gonna take good care of you alright?”

I felt her nod and I held her close, stroking her hair until her breath became slow and steady. 

About an hour later there was a knock on the door. Three triple raps followed by two slow ones indicated it was Marshall.

I slipped out of bed, grabbed my gun and flicked the safety off. I stood beside the door and waited a moment before quickly checking the peephole and moving away again. It was Marshall, so I unlocked the door and stood back.

“’S open,” I said.

Marshall came in walking straight past me. I checked behind him, making sure no one else was going to follow and I shut the door.

“Bloody hell, Sy,” Marshall mumbled. He took in her sleeping form and my state of undress. “You didn’t waste any time.”

“We got a problem?” I asked. I flicked the safety back on and put the gun back beside the bed. 

Shaking his head, he went to the bed and looked down at her. He reached out, tucked some loose hair behind her ear and sighed. 

“We didn’t fuck, alright?” I grunted.

Marshall crossed his arms across his chest and looked over my lack of clothes again.

“I made a pass at her and she said no.”

Marshall kept staring.

“She wants me to stay the night with her,” I shrugged and shook my head, “Says she feels safe with me. I don’t know.”

Marshall sighed. “That’s good. At least she feels safe with one of us. We’ve got no problem, brother.”

I nodded. Marshall sat at the table pulling his gun out of its holster and resting it on the table. I got back in bed, and she stirred a little, eyes fluttering.

“Shh,” I whispered. “’S only me.”

“Sy,” she mumbled.

She snuggled into my chest, and smiling I waited until she was settled before I laid an arm over her. I was quiet, waiting for her to sleep again then I looked at Marshall. He turned his head, and I felt guilty. I knew he wanted her as much as I did. We all fell for her in our own way as we watched her for the past week.

“Just dumb luck,” I said to him. “Coulda been you she met first.”

“You think she feels safe with you just because she met you first?” Marshall asked. “You hate yourself that much?”

My fist clenched and looked away.

He sniffed and shifted in his chair. “Get some rest, Sy. I’ll wake you when Mike comes.”

“You know I don’t sleep much,” I reminded him.

“When was the last time you slept with a woman in your arms?” Marshall asked. 

I looked at him blankly, annoyed that his comment mirrored my own thoughts. I didn’t think I was that easy to read.

“You tryna get a rise outta me?”

“No.” Marshall shook his head. “I’m trying to remind you that it helps.” 

I woke at another set of raps on the door. Marshall looked at me and nodded. He checked the door as I had, but unlike Marshall, Mike had a way of being an idiot.

“Let me in Marshall,” he cried, “I’m freezing my nuts off.”

Marshall and I looked at each other, “So help me,” I growled. “If he wakes her up…”

Throwing the door wide, Marshall dragged Mike in by the scruff of the neck. “She’s sleeping you bastard.”

Mike grunted. “Smells like sex in here.”

I snorted. That boy was damn lucky he made us laugh or God knows what we would have done to him by now.

“Shit,” Mike said, his attention drawn to me, “I thought I had a chance. She giggled and everything.”

I snickered and Marshall shook his head. “Go back to sleep, Sy,” Marshall said as he left the room. “Good night.”

“Night,” I said.

Mike locked the door behind him and took up his seat, laying his gun on the table like we all had. She stirred at the noise and rolled over, shimmying back until we were spooning. Her mass of hair was in my face, and I smoothed it away before laying my head on the pillow. 

“Does she know?” Mike asked, blessedly keeping his voice low. “About what we agreed?”

“No.”

“Think we should tell her?”

“Why? We said she’d be free to choose and that we wouldn’t let it come between us.”

Mike grumbled. “You didn’t give the rest of us much of a chance to make our case.”

I grunted. He had a point, but I’d never tell the little shit that. “I ain’t stoppin’ you from tryin’.”

“Sure, Sy,” Mike said petulantly. “I’m sure you wouldn’t kill me.”

I chuffed. “You’re my brother, Mike. I wouldn’t kill ya.” He grinned and I continued. “I’d beat the shit outta ya, but I wouldn’t kill ya.”

“Dick,” Mike said.

“Nothing happened, alright? She’s just scared. Now, shut up and lemme sleep will ya?” I closed my eyes and Mike was thankfully silent. But I had to admit, sleep didn’t come as easy this time.

His objections had me thinking things I didn’t want to think, and I struggled shutting off my mind. Not all the thoughts were unpleasant and being awake with her in my arms wasn’t like being awake alone. She was so soft, all curves, few hard edges, except where her hip bone jutted slightly out. I liked putting my hand there, slipping my fingers under her a little. Eventually, the rhythm of the breathing was a good enough lullaby to help me doze through Mike’s shift.

When Geralt knocked I was already awake and Mike opened the door, having enough sense to check the peephole at least.

Geralt’s eyes went straight to me, and I heard him hum.

“My thoughts exactly dude,” Mike said.

“Do not presume to know what I think, boy.”

I grinned. Geralt had a way of putting all of us in our place on occasion. Including Walker, remarkably. Geralt nodded at me, removing his knives and pistol from his belt, and laying them on the table. He approached her in a similar way to Marshall, but he didn’t touch her.

“She sleeps like a babe,” he murmured, looking at her curled fists.

“Everyone’s a baby to you, old man,” Mike commented from across the room.

“You’re still here?” Geralt retorted without looking at him. But I could see the small smile on his lips, and I chuckled.

“Fine, I’m out,” Mike pointed at me as he left. “We aren’t done talking about this by the way. We need a new agreement.”

“Mike,” Geralt’s gravelly voice warned. He waited until Mike left before addressing me. “He’s wrong. We don’t need a new agreement.” Geralt walked back to the table, taking his seat with a soft groan. “We never said she could only choose one of us. Only that we agreed her choice wouldn’t come between us.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Thought you were smarter than that.”

Geralt shrugged again. “It would solve a lot of problems.”

“Or create them.” I sighed, resigned, “She hasn’t chosen me. Not yet anyway. Nothin’ happened.”

“Does this,” Geralt waved his hand towards the bed, “feel like nothing, Syverson?”

I grunted. He was right. Having her in my arms like this wasn’t nothing. It felt like everything.

Geralt was quiet for a while, but I could feel the weight of unspoken words in his stare. Eventually it got the best of me.

“Say it.”

“Walker was on the phone tonight…”

“Fuck.”

“There’s a logistics job coming up.”

“Fuck.” 

Logistics. Always my job. I knew the fucker would send me away first damn opportunity. 

“She doesn’t like him.”

“Is that what you think?” Geralt asked, I could hear the amusement in his voice.

“I think she’s scared of him.”

Geralt grunted, “Not the same thing.”

I had no reply to that.

“Get some sleep,” Geralt said, taking up a position by the window, “I’ll wake you when Walker arrives.”

Birds were waking when Walker made his way into the room. Unlike the others, he strolled in like he owned the place, his ego entering the room only seconds behind his cock.

“You’re still here,” he observed in a tight voice.

“Where you wanna be I suppose?” I replied, my voice as tight as his.

He huffed and shrugged, appearing completely unbothered. 

“Was she good?” he asked flippantly.

“Fuck you.” 

My voice was louder than I thought it would be and she whimpered, rolling over facing me, and burying her head into my chest. I didn’t bother correcting Walker's assumption. Let him think what he wants.

“Walker,” Geralt said with a hint of warning.

Walker shrugged and took the seat, staring at me with his cold eyes. I knew I’d slept enough for the night, no way was I going to sleep with his ass in the room. Geralt left with a nod in my direction and pained look. He’d stay if he thought it’d help, but we both knew it would only serve to aggravate Walker further.

It took half an hour for the asshole to start talking.

“We got a job,” his voice didn’t hide his smugness. “Logistics.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“I hate to break up this burgeoning relationship…” I scoffed but August continued, “But you’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow, soon as we get her back..”

“For how long?”

“Could be a day or two, could be a week.”

I scowled. 

“It’s not personal Syverson. It’s the job.”

“You coulda said no. We have a job.”

He hummed. “I could have,” he admitted, “But the offer was too good, and I only needed to send you. The four of us can take care of her.”

I didn’t say anything. He was right, but it stung. 

But as I laid there I formulated a plan. I thought of Geralt’s words; she could choose more than one. My brothers cared for her as much as I did, they would take care of her, and I think she’d be happy with any of them. Maybe if I guided her choice, set her towards Marshall or Geralt, I wouldn’t worry so much on my job. 

Plus, it’d piss Walker off real good.

Not bothering to cover my smirk, I settled into the pillows, gently lifting her chin to look at her a bit. God, I wanted to kiss her, wake her softly with my lips on hers, or her neck, or breasts.

If my brothers make her happy, I’ll share her, but I’ll fuck each and every last one up if they hurt her.