Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
We take Frank’s SUV and reach the bar fast, since it’s just down the street. I jump out as soon as he comes to a halt and head for the entrance. His door slams behind me, and then he’s on my heels.
I spot Ember at the bar right away, deep in conversation with some asshole. A quick scan of the room shows me Griffin in the back, already up and heading our way. The three of us reach her at the same time.
She notices, of course, and turns to us with an expression somewhere between surprise and irritation. “What are you doing here?”
“Time to leave,” I say.
Her other emotions are swamped by fury. “Time for you to leave, you mean. To leave me alone.”
The asshole is looking askance at the three of us. “You know these guys?”
“She lives with us,” Griffin supplies.
“Not like that,” Ember adds quickly. The look she sends Griffin’s way I translate as, You are never touching me again, if you had any hope.
“Look,” the guy says. “I don’t want to get in the middle of anything.”
“Yeah?” Griffin says. I didn’t even notice his hand snaking into the guy’s pocket, but now he holds up what looks for all the world like a wedding ring. “You were happy to let Ember get in the middle of your marriage, though.”
Ember looks at the man like green slime has started dripping from his face. “You’re married?”
He shrugs, only a little embarrassed. “Separated. Almost.”
“I can’t imagine why,” she retorts. Sliding off her stool, she shoves past us and heads for the door.
Griffin tosses the ring onto the bar and we head out after her, catching up with her just before she passes Frank’s SUV. He holds the passenger door open, and Griffin tries to urge her in that direction, which works about as well as trying to herd an angry cat.
She whirls on him. “All three of you are so far out of line, you’re in another country.”
He’s unfazed, which I have to give him credit for. “If you walk home,” he says calmly, “we’ll just follow you in the car to make sure you’re safe. That’ll hold up traffic, and all the drivers will be honking, and everyone will be staring at you.”
Ember jabs him in the chest. “You. Are. Infuriating.”
“Remember how it ended the last time you were mad at me?”
She looks ready to punch him. I’m ready to hold him while she does. “Look,” I say. “That guy was nobody, right? You were just scratching an itch.”
Folding her arms, she glares at me. “So?”
I take a step closer. “An itch because of us?”
“Yes, and?” Her foot taps a lightning-fast staccato beat on the asphalt.
One step closer. Griffin, for once in his life, has gotten a clue and is being very quiet.
“You’re never going to get us out of your system with another guy,” I say. “If that’s your goal, you should work it out with us.”
Ember goes still. “You mean have sex with all of you?”
“That’s right.”
An expression I can’t quite read crosses her face, but it’s not disgust, and it’s not anger. My cock jerks, and I order it to back off until it’s time.
When she doesn’t immediately say no, I press my advantage. “We’d take good care of you. Isn’t that right, Frank?”
He steps up to join us, serious as always, but he’s looking at her like he wants to chain her to his bed for the next year. “You’d be in control,” he says. “Start to finish. Your rules, your comfort zones, your yes or no. The whole time.”
She stares at him a moment, then covers her face with her hand. “I can’t believe I’m even thinking about this,” she mutters. We wait, knowing Frank’s right, that this has to be her call all the way. But inside, I’m willing her to say yes.
“Fine,” she says at last. “But only because you’re all driving me crazy. One time, what I say goes, and then we never talk about it again. Agreed?”
“As our lady commands,” Griffin says, and there’s not a trace of humor in his eyes, his face, his voice. It feels like a solemn vow, binding us all to see this through.
The drive home is filled with the tensest silence I’ve ever experienced.
EMBER
This has got to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. But I don’t care.
I fully admit that I’m in thrall to my hormones right now, but Zeb has convinced me: I need to stop fantasizing about these men and screw their brains out. Hopefully, that will get them out of my system, at least long enough for me to find another place to live.
When we arrive home, Griffin offers me a drink, but I decline. Though I ordered a strong cocktail at the bar, I only drank half of it. I’m feeling a soft buzz, which could be the alcohol, or the desire that’s coursing through my veins.