Chapter 24

I’m still shaking, my feet soaking in the cool water as I sit on the pool’s edge. The house is quiet. Darkness settles over the sky with its sparkling shades of navy and grey, stars splashing across in white dots. It looks so quiet and peaceful up there, unlike the storm brewing in my heart.

All I want is to see Eric, Chase, and Wyatt. In this precise moment, as I’m still gathering my nerve and working through each conflicting emotion, I just want to see them, to be around them, to forget that the world itself exists if only for a moment.

As if summoned, the Danson brothers come onto the patio. Slowly, I turn my head to greet them. “Hey,” I manage, my voice trembling.

“How are you feeling?” Eric asks. He’s the first to reach me, already out of his boots and workwear as he sits next to me. “We spoke to the officers outside.”

“You didn’t call or text,” Chase says, frowning as he comes closer, measuring me from head to toe. The flimsy yellow summer dress I’m wearing feels even flimsier under his cool, blue gaze. “Are you hurt?”

“No, he never got the chance to hurt me,” I say, clearing my throat. “I fought him off.”

“Attagirl,” Wyatt sighs and sits to my right. I am flanked by two Danson brothers while the third slowly prowls around the pool, watching me intently, analyzing my expression, searching my face for any clue of how I’m truly feeling. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Wyatt adds, giving me a half-smile. “I’m sorry we weren’t there to protect you.”

“You can’t be my shadows twenty-four-seven,” I scoff, shaking my head. “It’s absurd. I should’ve taken the car, especially since I was by myself.”

“It would’ve been wiser though you should have waited for one of us,” Eric says. “But I can’t blame you for wanting to take a walk once in a while. It’s not fair for you to live in constant fear hiding from that bastard. That’s not living.”

Tears prick my eyes. “I’m okay. I got away from him. The officers know to be on the lookout. It’s all we can do.”

As I look around, as I take each of them in, I notice an underlying shadow in their eyes. Tension in their expressions. They’re on edge. Exhausted, but on edge.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, increasingly aware that there’s something else. “What happened?”

“You’re not the only one who was attacked today,” Chase says, a muscle ticking furiously in his square jaw. “Colby’s henchmen came after us during the fire.”

“What?” I croak, suddenly out of air. “What do you mean?

”

Eric explains the events as they unfolded, from the minute they walked onto the premises until Charlie identified the dead guy as a Nash goon. The more I hear, the colder my body gets as I understand precisely how close of a call this was. “Obviously, the Feds want to get involved, now,” Eric concludes. “It’s gonna get messy soon enough. At least we know Colby’s angle. He’s coming for us—all of us.”

“I am so sorry,” I manage, fighting off another round of tears. “I shouldn’t have come here. I’ve put you all in danger.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Eric insists, putting an arm around my shoulders. He pulls me close and gently kisses my temple, while Wyatt brushes a strand of hair behind my ear. “Please, stop apologizing. We knew what we were getting into the minute we learned the truth and decided to be with you, Halle.”

“Even so, this is too much,” I say. “I have to leave. I really have to leave. He’ll keep trying, he’ll keep coming at all of you one way or another. I can’t keep putting you in harm’s way like this.”

Chase chuckles bitterly, closing the distance between us. He pulls me up and away from the pool’s edge in a slightly unceremonious manner. “When are you going to get it through that beautiful, thick head of yours, Halle, that you’re stuck with us, huh?” he growls and captures my mouth in an angry, devastating kiss.

I lose my footing and lean into him, my breasts damn near crushed against his muscular chest. Moaning softly, I welcome his tongue, I surrender to him without the slightest hesitation. It’s almost shameful how easy it is for any of them to completely dismantle me, to shatter my defenses and effortlessly claim me .

“You’re not going anywhere,” Eric declares as he gets up. “And frankly, I’m tired of us having the same conversation, over and over again. We get it, you’re a strong, independent woman, and nobody is looking to take that away from you.”

“But this is way beyond you. You can’t do this on your own, you need help,” Wyatt adds, casually watching as Eric gets behind me while Chase unbuttons my summer dress. I am helpless between them, soft flesh in their firm, unyielding hands. “We all need a little help, sometimes, Halle. It’s okay.”

“This isn’t just your run-of-the-mill help,” I reply, struggling to keep my thoughts straight as Eric plants kisses along the line of my neck.

At the same time, Chase’s fingers work through each of my buttons until my dress falls to the ground, leaving me naked and wanting, practically sandwiched between them. Wyatt exhales sharply and stands up, losing his shirt and jeans along the way as he comes closer.

“What you’re going to do, given the circumstances, is be even more cautious,” he says, his green eyes never leaving mine. “You’ll ride with us to work and one of us will bring you home. Always. No exceptions. No more afternoon walks by yourself until Colby is caught. And I can promise you one thing, sweetheart. We are gonna get that bastard long before he gets any closer.”

His confidence makes my blood sizzle, liquid heat trickling down the inside of my thighs. I feel Eric’s bare chest and rippling abs as he embraces me from behind, and I have no choice but to turn my head and welcome his devouring kiss.

Chase fondles my breasts. They feel fuller and way more sensitive than before—another symptom of my pregnancy, which I’ve yet to announce. I still don’t know how I’m going to do that. I know I need to, but… “Oh, fuck,” I gasp as Chase pinches my nipples until I squirm in Eric’s hold. “Oh, fuck.”

“Come here,” Wyatt purrs as he beckons me to kiss him, now standing beside us, as gloriously naked as his brothers.

We’re more or less out in the open, star-kissed as we linger by the pool, the underwater lights causing the waves to dance across our faces. Suddenly, I feel the soft, cool grass beneath my feet, Wyatt’s hand tracing the line of my hip before it slips between my legs and cups my wet pussy.

“There she is,” he says, half-smiling with hooded eyes, then suckles on my lower lip while Chase teases my nipples with his mouth. Eric grinds his hardened manhood against me, his giant, rock-like cock sliding between my buttocks. I could die here, right now, and it would be akin to eternal bliss.

I feel so safe with them. I feel like the woman that I was always meant to be. The woman I’ve always been, for that matter. Pure and feminine, wanting and giving, blossoming in their arms like a rose in midsummer. That’s what this is supposed to be about—unconditional love—shameless and uninhibited, sincere and everlasting.

“You’re going to speak to our lawyer tomorrow,” Eric says, his lips tickling my left ear. “We need to nip the whole Harriet Nash thing in the bud. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” I whisper. I can’t argue with him, not anymore. Not while the tip of his cock is probing my entrance, teasing and spreading my juices around, glazing my inner thighs as Wyatt works my clit into a swollen frenzy. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want?” Eric asks, and I hear the dirty amusement in his tone .

“Yes, sir,” I moan as Wyatt strokes my clit harder and harder until I come undone.

I shudder in his hold, my body rippling as I listen to Wyatt’s ragged breath. He plunges his fingers inside of me and strokes me even harder, finger-fucking me until I ride every ridge of this devastating wave while his mouth makes love to mine.

“I’ve been dying to hear you say those words for a while,” Chase says, gently clasping my chin to beckon my attention. “Come down here,” he adds, both of us getting down on the ground. The grass is soft, my knees pressed into it as I straddle him. “Eric, it’s time.”

“It’s time for what?” I ask.

“Now, now, you’ll find out soon enough.” Wyatt chuckles, then moves to stand in front of me, feet spread wide.

Chase helps me settle, his thick, throbbing cock stretching and filling me beyond my wildest dreams. As I gasp from this incredibly addictive sensation, Wyatt slides his long, strong erection into my mouth. I loosen my jaw and relax my muscles to welcome every delicious inch, while Eric lowers himself behind me and joins Chase deep inside of me.

It’s almost too much to handle as the pleasure races through me. I instinctively clench my pussy around their throbbing shafts and nearly go blind from the ecstasy.

Soon enough, a rhythm is established. Chase and Eric’s cocks have got me in the throes of sheer ecstasy as I grip the base of Wyatt’s giant member and suck him most ardently. I lick the tip, tasting the precum before I take him deep down my throat .

“That’s it, baby,” Chase grunts as he plants his heels into the ground and drives himself harder inside of me.

Eric slaps my ass, the delicious sting quick to launch a second orgasm coursing through my body as he fucks me harder, faster, deeper. My screams are muffled by Wyatt’s cock, but they are screams of raw pleasure as I come all over both of them while the Danson twins pound into me like savages.

“Give me everything,” Eric growls and brings his hand down again.

Every slap makes me tighten my core, and I feel the veins twitching along their shafts as they go deeper. Harder. I lose my breath as I stroke Wyatt with ferocious hand movements. He shoves his fingers through my hair, keeping me still as he fucks my mouth. “That’s it, darlin’, this is fucking perfect. You’re fucking perfect.”

He spills his seed down my throat and I drink and swallow every salty drop, my gaze locked on his as I press my tongue just under the tip, squeezing him dry. I love the way he pulsates in my mouth, his eyes hazy and his lips quivering with delight.

Eric’s final slap stings, but it tears another orgasm out of me, just in time to meet him and his brother on the peak of complete and total abandonment. They fill me to the brim, their cum shooting deep within me. Hot and life-giving, as it has already turned out. I welcome them both in the sweetest, purest, most wonderful kind of pain, their hands grabbing and squeezing, fingers brushing and caressing every inch of my skin.

“Oh, God, I don’t want this to ever stop,” I gasp as Wyatt pulls back, clearly sated and drifting into a golden afterglow .

Chase grabs me by the head and kisses me. Profoundly. There’s something different about this kiss. There’s a sense of devotion, something that wasn’t there before. I lay on top of him for what feels like forever, while Eric gently kisses my spine.

“It doesn’t have to stop,” he says. “All you have to do is give us a little more credit.”

“We are not letting you go, Halle,” Chase adds. “We can’t.”

“I can’t let you go, either” I sigh, no longer able to lie to myself.

All these thoughts of running away are futile. I don’t have the strength or the want to leave this incredible thing behind.

These three men have swept me off my feet, given me the space I need to become the best version of myself. My kids adore them, and they deserve everything that is good and peaceful in this world. It may be an odd arrangement to most folks, but for us it works. It works so well, in fact, that I can no longer aspire to a world or a life without them in it. I just can’t. I don’t want to.

“Then don’t let us go,” Wyatt says, looking deep in my eyes. “Stay, Halle. Stay, and let us be what we’re clearly meant to be.”