Lilac

by B.B. Reid

“Give us what we want, and it stops.” He kissed me again, and it was gentle. A complete mockery of everything Jericho was doing to me below. “I promise, baby.” I felt my head being turned, and then Houston was kissing me. His kiss was rough and demanding, a warning that there was only more to come. “Otherwise, you’ll keep coming, but he’ll go all night,” he said when he was done. “Why do you think Rich is the nicest?” Loren taunted. “He’s always had the most restraint. The most discipline. The most self-control. He won’t let himself come until he’s gotten what he wants, and even if he does lose control…” Loren smiled. “There are two more cocks waiting to service you.”

As if he knew I was standing on a precipice, his strokes slowed, becoming deeper, longer. And then he lifted his head to stare into my eyes. The genuine need for me in his own is what captured me in the end. I was lost in his silver gaze and the scent of berries when I heard myself say it. I leapt off the cliff, but I didn’t fall. I flew. “Yes.” My voice was lower than a whisper, but it rang loud in my heart.

The bunk door slid open again just as Braxton was standing. I noticed how she moved a little gingerly and smirked. I’d never fucked anyone as hard as I had her last night and was already eager to do it again. I knew she’d let me despite the fight she put up.

When she was close enough, I pushed away from the wall I’d been leaning against and nodded for her to follow me. She did. All the way to the secluded spot I’d scoped out almost immediately upon our arrival at the arena. Because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get through the concert without touching her. I fucking knew.

“All we get is you?” he echoed. I could see the hurt in her eyes when she misunderstood him, but she kept her gaze steady as she looked into his eyes. “Yes.” Loren’s hand fell to her thigh, drawing Braxton’s attention back to him. “Do you see us turning into stage four clingers for anyone else, baby fawn?” I could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke. “Only stage four?” The bassist smirked as he held her gaze. “I haven’t asked you to marry me yet.” I knew her smile had fallen long before she turned to look at Rich and then me. “If this becomes serious—” “It’s serious,” the three of us stated at the same time. The only one still fighting this was her. “Then I can’t marry any of you,” she said, keeping her serious expression. “It wouldn’t be right for me to marry one of you and not all of you. I’m sorry.”

“Are you implying you’ll tie me up if I try to leave?” Braxton asked for clarity. I always liked the push she gave no matter how hard we pulled. “No implication necessary, baby. I’m sure I made myself pretty fucking clear.”

“I care because Houston’s in there fucking the shit out of Braxton, and while I’m sure he’s having a jolly good time, I’m also positive that it’s for your benefit. That makes him an accomplice. I am too since I knew about Emily and chose not to say shit…for you. That means when this blows up in your face, it blows up in all our faces, and I’m not letting you fuck this up for me.” Braxton was my first and only girlfriend. If she broke up with me, mark my words, I would never have another.

“You said it yourself, man. If one of us doesn’t deserve her, none of us do. Houston and I risk losing her too because we don’t want to do this without you.” Eyeing Rich suspiciously, I added, “It’s starting to feel awfully one-sided.”

It came just as Houston made a sharp turn around a bend I didn’t know to brace for because I’d twisted in my seat to watch our opponents. Slipping off the side of the Sea-Doo, my scream was cut short when I fell into the cold water and plunged beneath the surface. Fear of drowning had me grappling to reach the top again, even as my life jacket brought me back up. I broke the water with a gasp, and then I looked around for my rescue.

Houston accepted a bottle from Loren while Rich worked to wet my hair. I didn’t realize their intention until I felt Houston’s fingers in my hair, massaging my scalp with shampoo and making me moan as I tilted my head back. I hadn’t expected this when I said yes to them. Any of it. But I couldn’t say I wasn’t pleased.

Canceling a show mere hours before the start without demanding a reason why was a pretty accurate measure of how far I’d fallen. We were currently back on the private jet and headed to some town I’d never heard of called Faithful. I watched Braxton’s knee bounce rapidly before giving Loren and Rich the same quizzical look we’d been sharing since she told us she had to return to California. We tried to get answers, but she hadn’t been willing to give them. Our only option had been to watch her grab her shit, leaving us no choice but to grab ours the moment she darted out the door without an explanation.

Feeling someone’s gaze, I looked away from the window I was staring through and found Loren watching me. The look in his raven eyes as he sat across from me was intense yet worried. Elbows braced on his strong thighs and hands clasped together at the set line of his mouth, he subtly shook his head. He’d read my mind and was telling me it wasn’t worth it. There would be other shows, but our chances with Braxton were limited. She was more important. Making sure she continued standing whenever life knocked her around was more important. Our mutual agreement to put her first always and never look back had been instinctual, so I knew my decision to keep moving forward well before I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.

The look he gave me said he didn’t approve of me touching his daughter and the look I returned dared him and his mustache to do something about it.

Rich never answered because his attention had been stolen by Braxton coming down the hall. She was alone as she walked with her head down like she was deep in thought as she stared at the freshly waxed floors. Pick your head up. Give me your eyes. As if she heard me, that’s precisely what she did. I just wasn’t prepared for the utter look of failure in them. Braxton looked defeated, something I once thought impossible even when I relentlessly pursued it for my own satisfaction. I didn’t know what to do as she came toward us. How could I when I didn’t know what put that look in her eyes? Loren and Rich were frozen like me when she finally stood before us.

“I know you’re mad,” I blurted when he shoved his sweats off his hips. He then reached over Loren, still sleeping deeply next to us, to flip open the wallet he’d left on the nightstand. I knew already what Houston would grab from inside. “Mad? No.” Plucking a condom free from Loren’s wallet, Houston tore it open with his teeth before I watched him roll it down his long, thick dick. “I’m livid, baby.”

“Loren.” I forced a smile as I held out my hand, which she eagerly shook as she jumped up and down. She didn’t appear to be someone who’d spent the night in the hospital, though I still didn’t know the reason why. “I can’t believe it’s really you! Braxton talks about you all the time, except she mostly calls you names I can’t repeat, or I’ll be grounded until I’m thirty.” Jesus.

“You were absolutely right,” Braxton told her sister. “I could never and will never hate you. I’m disappointed, and I feel responsible, but that’s my burden to bear, not yours. Take it off your shoulders because it doesn’t belong there. I told you to make the decision that was best for you, and that’s what you did. You didn’t make the one you wanted, but you made the one you thought you could live with. I get it.” Braxton took Rosalie’s drenched face in her hands and lifted her head from her chest to make their eyes meet. “And know this…no matter what, no matter when, every time you look in your corner, I’ll be right there, babe. Gloves up.”

Did I love Braxton? I felt my heart lurch in answer.

Preoccupied by the need in his voice, I stared down into Jericho’s eyes. Those silver pools were like quicksand. You don’t know you’re screwed until you’re already in too deep.

“We’re going to fuck you now, okay?” he whispered after he pulled away slightly. He shoved his jeans down his legs while Houston undid his own, and I paused as I caught on to his meaning. “Both of you…a-at the same time?” Teeth sinking into his bottom lip, gaze hooded, Jericho nodded. I quickly sat up as my heart began thundering in my chest. There were too many smells, too many tastes. We hadn’t tried that yet.

Houston was as voracious and relentless as Jericho. I was already on edge, so I came even faster this time while Jericho swallowed my cries. “I don’t think we’re going to need the lube,” I heard Houston mutter. “She’s wet as fuck.”

It was instinct that persuaded me to open my eyes. I wasn’t prepared for the look in Houston’s as he stroked his lubed cock while watching Jericho thrust lazily in and out of me from below. Because it was then that I realized what they meant when they said the two of them would fuck me together.

He was still kissing me when I felt his cock at my entrance. Jericho must have felt him too because he stopped moving. It was only then that I realized the full implication of their cocks being inside of me at the same time. There would be no barrier to separate them. No waiting their turn. It would just be me…and them.

Before Houston could even begin to push inside of me, I was coming again from the anticipation alone. Jericho groaned like he was being tortured at the feel of my walls tightening around him, making Houston chuckle when he realized what was happening.

The moment he pressed forward, my stomach muscles contracted, and I tensed when my vagina immediately began to reject him. It hurt. The pressure from taking them both was extraordinary. Neither of them were small, so “tight fit” would be the understatement of the century. However, with one look in Houston’s eyes and hearing the desperate sounds Rich made, I knew. I’ll give them whatever pain they required for their pleasure.

Reaching behind me, I slipped my fingers through Jericho’s black hair. I need something to hold on to, an anchor to keep myself tethered to reality. His eyes are closed, and he’s completely still, lost to the feeling of his best friend’s cock rubbing against his own. It was a taboo line my gut told me the two of them had never crossed before.

“I-I don’t know if I can do this,” I told him honestly. It was hard just to breath. “I feel so full.”

“He’s going to move now,” he warned me as his hand caressed my thighs. “It’s going to feel like you can’t handle it, but you’re going to take it anyway, aren’t you?” Deciding I liked this forceful side of Jericho as much as the sweet side, I eagerly nodded. “Yes.” “Good girl.”

I kept my legs spread and my cunt upright as an offering to the immortal rock god. My reward was another soul-shattering, back-arching orgasm that made the two of them gasp and moan as I strangle their cocks together, making an impossibly tight fit even tighter. “Fuck, I’m going to come,” Rich barked, and I could feel his dick begin to swell inside me. “Come for me,” Houston tells him as he picked up his pace. Because the truth was he was fucking his best friend as much as he was fucking me. There were no degrees of separation, with the two of them stuffed together inside my pussy.

Houston showed his appreciation with a hand wrapped around my throat as he lifted my upper body. He hammered my pussy, keeping me in place as he stared down at Rich, who still hadn’t come yet. “Fucking give it to me, Noble.” I felt Rich grip my hair from behind, arching my neck, and no longer still as he joined in and fucked me from below. I’m caught between the two of them as they try to dominate one another.

“Want us to remove them?” Loren offered as casually as Braxton pretended to be. The only difference was that he wasn’t putting on a show. He’d knock this entire house down with a wrecking ball if she asked him too. Peeking over her shoulder, probably to gauge if he was serious, she laughed and shook her head when she saw that he was. “No.” There was a twinkle in her eye when she turned to face us with her elbows propped on top of the ledge now. “I also read that they ward off evil spirits. I wouldn’t want you boys getting spooked all alone in these woods. Los Angeles is too far away for me to come and check under your beds.” As soon as she finished speaking, she was gazing off again as her expression fell. Fuck. I could tell that it hadn’t dawned on her until now that we lived a thousand miles apart. Eventually, she’d have to go back. Ultimately, we’d have to do without her and try to make an already complicated relationship work long-distance. The only solution was if she stayed here…with us.

“So that’s what your little history lesson was really about,” he teased her. “You want to move in.” Her eyes bucked as she stood up straight. “What? No, that’s not what I was saying.” “It’s cool, baby fawn. We’ve got the room.” She frowned at him before rolling her eyes when she realized that it was him leading her into a trap and not the other way around. “I’m not moving in with you, Loren.” He frowned deeply, confirming what I already knew. Loren hadn’t been just teasing. “Why not?” “Because we’ve been dating for two seconds?” “You plan on going anywhere?” he asked her quietly, his tone curious but his gaze blank.

I’m sure we were beyond that now since it started to feel like we worshiped the ground she walked on. Either she couldn’t see that because she was stubborn, or we were still shit at this boyfriend thing.

“Damn,” Loren mumbled after he’d turned to face us. “She’s been here less than a day, and we’re already getting doors slammed in our faces.” There was a loud thump on Braxton’s door that came from the inside, telling us that she’d heard him, and I sighed. It was only noon, and I was weary.

“If I don’t get laid tonight, I’m making you suck my dick,” Rich spat as he turned and walked away. Loren snorted but didn’t say more about it before he went off in a different direction.

“Would you prefer a keyboard?” She continued to gape. “You want me to write the melody?” “No, this is a guitar, and that’s my song in your lap,” I answered sarcastically. “I thought we’d knit.”

Loren might have forgotten how long it took him to stand on his own feet confidently, but I hadn’t. Five years and he was still waiting for me to apologize for talking them into signing that deal, but I couldn’t. I just…couldn’t. As much as I regretted Savant, it wasn’t even close to how much I would have missed my best friend. I wouldn’t give him up then, and I wouldn’t give him up now.

“Thank you,” I heard myself say to him. Rich finally looked up from the floor, his gaze shocked by my fervent tone and the sincerity in those two words that made his lips tilt at the corner and his silver eyes kindle. “Fuck off, Houston,” he spat, making me laugh too. “We crossed swords once. Don’t make shit weird.”

“Desire tastes like cherries, shame smells like olives, happiness tastes like chocolate, sorrow smells like roses…should I keep going, or do you get the point?”

My phone had only just confirmed the text was delivered when it started ringing immediately after. I stared at Rich’s name on the screen before turning it off completely and shoving my phone in my crossbody. I didn’t want to talk anymore. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to do both while murdering Rich for making me feel this way. And then I wondered how long before Houston and Loren did the same. How long before they slowly and torturously broke my heart into little pieces too? I felt heavy arms circle my waist, but I fought them. They tightened just before the point when breathing would have been impossible, and finally, I relaxed. “It’s not what you think,” Houston whispered when he felt my surrender. “He’s not having second thoughts.”

It counted because I knew despite the secrets they kept that they were trying. Houston, Loren, and Rich were letting me in. They were stumbling through the dark, but they were determined to find their way. For that promise, as the scent of vanilla and morning dew mixed, I would be patient.

I wasn’t so sure I could do this three-amigos shit anymore. Jericho had been right about one thing, at least. If one of us lost her, we all did, which meant the chances of us fucking up were greater with three. I wasn’t sure if I could go through losing Braxton a fourth or fifth time. I guess it depended on who was counting.

“Can you please just give her a message?” Rich inquired politely. The way Greta skewered him with her gaze despite his pleasant tone, I knew Braxton had given her friend at least the gist of what he—we’d done. “Sure. The approved words for your message are—piece, shit, married, lying, a, of, I’m.” Giving Rich an accommodating smile, she cocked her head to the side, making her blonde hair fall in waves over her shoulder. “Feel free to use them in any order you’d like.” Stepping back, Groot promptly slammed the door in our faces. “She’s so not invited to the wedding,”

“Don’t tell me,” she cut in when he tried to speak. “Tell them.” My brows dipped when she nodded toward Houston and me. “Tell them the reason why you still hesitated to leave your estranged wife even after you drew up the papers and decided to be with me.” Rich let her go, and her dead gaze followed him as she watched him back away with no emotion. His legs seemed to give out, so he sank onto the arm of the couch with his gaze fixed on the floor. The four of us waited in the heavy silence that followed, and I wondered if they could hear my heart beating out of control. “I wasn’t going to leave her,” he eventually whispered so low I almost didn’t catch it. As I sat up, my confused gaze flew to Houston, who gave no obvious reaction. He was pissed, but he didn’t seem surprised. What the hell had I missed? “Come again?”

I can’t explain why I suddenly smiled when nothing was funny about what he said. Houston moved away from the window as soon as I stood because he knew what was on my mind. Jericho knew it too, but he didn’t move to try to defend himself if it came to that. He’d let me beat him. Jericho deserved every broken bone and ounce of blood lost after what he just admitted to, so he’d allow me the pound of flesh. “Let me make sure I heard you correctly. While Houston and I were risking everything, you were plotting behind our backs to leave us and ride off into the sunset with Emily?” “Yes.” I stood there in the wake of his confession, waiting to hear him explain or make excuses. He didn’t.

“Fuck you.” I didn’t allow myself to say more. I didn’t allow myself to look at Braxton, Houston, or even Rich. When I stormed through the door, I didn’t just walk out on our fight. I knew in my heart that I’d just walked out on us. On Bound.

I hope he got the chance because I wasn’t leaving here without him. It had been three goddamn weeks. I thought the last six years had been rough, but it was nothing compared to the feeling of actually being without your best friends and losing your girl all in one week.

“Come home.” “I am home.” It took everything I hoped to be one day not to storm across the room and wring his goddamn neck. He didn’t get to say that shit to me. When Loren’s father threw him out for finally getting his mother to leave him, he had no one else but us. We were his family, and it had been that way ever since.

“I’m sorry, Lo.” It seemed like I waited an eternity before his eyes slowly opened, and his black gaze met mine. “I’m sorry for breaking your trust in me, I’m sorry for not letting you choose your own path, I’m sorry for making you think we didn’t need you, and I’m sorry for not being sorry sooner.” He made me wait. Loren made the silence stretch as long as he possibly could before he simply said, “Thanks.”

“You can go now.” I narrowed my gaze on him as if he could see the warning in them. “Don’t test me, Lo.” “Or what?” I casually crossed the room without saying a word. When I reached him, I gripped his collar in my fists and yanked him from the bed until there was no space left between us. He let me. “Or I do everyone a favor, and I make you a bottom.”