For the Warmth (A Beyond Blood Short) (MFM Romance) (5 page)

Could I really have that on my conscience?

Shivering, I hugged myself tight. The path was obvious, yet it left me... empty. But this was what I'd wanted! I had enough now to do this on my own!
And all thanks to them.

Shutting my eyes, I realized if I did this, I couldn't even say goodbye. Not because it'd be sad... but because of the risk.

Once they had the letter, all bets were off. I had to do it without them knowing until it was too late to find me or catch me.

I'd be on the run, but only if they chased.

Would
they chase me?

Nearby, the backdoor of the Corner Velvet peeled open. “Here you are,” Kite said, sounding... relieved? Stepping out, he looked side to side, then shut the door. “You okay?”

“Just getting some air,” I lied, making myself smile. Would he read the guilt that was etched over my face?

His eyes were clean, thoughtful. Nothing deeper bloomed under their onyx surfaces. Turning, he slid down to sit beside me. Our shoulders almost touched, and I was too aware of the distance. “Jacob is closing up, we'll leave soon.”

Nodding, I tucked some hair behind my ear. “Alright.” Hesitating, I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. “Hey. Thanks for earlier.”

Flashing his teeth, Kite shrugged. “What, chucking that guy out? Nah, he was being a giant dick. It was nothing.”

A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “Still, thanks anyway. I—” Stopping myself, I gathered my thoughts. “It was nice of you to step in, is all.”

Turning towards me, his eyes glinted like black diamonds. “I'll always do that.”

My heart took a dive. “What?”

“I'll always step in.” I didn't see his hand until it was on my cheek. “Anytime another man tries to take you from me—from us,” he added, clearly thinking of Jacob, “I'll step in. No one else can have you. I couldn't handle it.”

His sincerity threw me for a loop. I thought about everything he'd done, everything
I
had done. My earlier decision about the letter tugged at me. Fuck it, I almost gave up the ruse and told him my plan.

Leaning forward, desperate to keep myself quiet, I tasted his lips and felt his head slide on the rough bricks. My body twisted, his arms moving automatically to my shoulders.

His warm tongue, warmer with the coolness around us, caressed the roof of my mouth. When I shivered, he sucked in air, too. “Damn,” he murmured, eyes burning with unspoken hunger. There was an inch between us, it filled with our heavy breaths. “Every time we kiss, it's like the first all over again.”

“Were you always such a romantic?” I asked, fighting down my surge of fluff and sugar.

Kite's lips parted, but something stopped him. He sensed it before I did. After all, there'd been no noise—not to my ears. I was observant, but this...

Jacob stood in the open door, eyes glowing with their own moonlight. His poise was casual, one leg crossed at the knee so the toe of a shiny shoe touched the gravel. He saw he had our attention. “It's the same for me.” His voice was a baritone, coming from deep in the valley of his heart. “When we kiss... it's as fierce as the very first time.”

Kite didn't loosen his hold on me, but he did stand, bringing me with him. The two men shared a look, saying things without twitching their tongues.

On long legs, Jacob approached. His heels left nothing, not a peep, as he crossed broken glass to meet us in the near darkness. “Is it the same for you?” he asked me softly, forming the tip of our triangle.

I was trapped, Jacob in front and Kite to my left. You'd think I could have run off to the right, but no. Tonight, there would be no running.

Not from them.

“The same?” I repeated, understanding what he was asking. They waited, eager but pretending not to be. Kite's brows knotted, revealing his need for me to speak. Jacob wanted an answer just as badly. He had to. Didn't he?

Shivering in the air, I tucked my arm into Kite's, then reached for Jacob with my other. The skin of his hand was like polished stone in my grip. “Yes. When we kiss... when we do anything...” My stomach fluttered. “It's brand new. It never loses its strength.” Unlike me, who was losing it by the second as I spilled my guts.

What was I thinking? Who made themselves vulnerable like this?

Smiling so that it touched his eyes, Jacob sank his fingers into my hair. He held my jaw, and though I saw the kiss coming this time, it didn't matter. It just proved what we'd all admitted.

Static, whiskey, shadows and gluttony... that was what we were made from. Our lips touched and relearned the curves, old friends or new friends or both. No matter how much we did any of this, I was convinced it'd never lose its shine. How could something so perfect exist between two people, never mind three?

“Is everything cleaned up inside?” Kite asked, breaking into my reverie.

Jacob released me, but kept his hand cupping the back of my skull. “Completely done, everyone is gone, too.”

“Then maybe we should go where it's warmer.”

Blinking, I looked between them and realized that I... wasn't actually cold. Not with them cloistering me, their bodies so near, heating me inside and out.

With Kite and Jacob, there existed a warmth within my core—within my soul. It was raw and wild and it fed off of this strange, insistent passion we all indulged in. I had a moment of delirium, convinced a heat like this could keep me safe even if we stood in the middle of the god damn Arctic.

For this warmth was special.

Magical.

Was this love?

Again, I thought about that damn letter—about my mission. My world had been somehow simpler when all that existed was the threat of my own death balanced against my desire for revenge.

It wasn't long ago that I hadn't cared if I died.

Now... I didn't want just myself to live, but these men, as well. Could I manage that, keep all of us safe, and still spill the blood I'd hunted so long for?

Hands tugged at me, leading me to the door. “Where are we going?” I asked, stirring from my cloudy thoughts.

“Inside,” Jacob said, one arm coiling around my waist. Kite joined in, a palm on my lower back. Together they led me into the bar, a place that had been so loud, but was now eerily silent. I felt like I was walking to the ends of the Earth.

I scanned the room, amazed that Jacob had straightened it out as much as he had. He worked fast and efficient, had he needed us at all earlier?

The idea prickled me.
Wait. What if...

Carefully, I pried out of their arms. “Jacob, did you use this place as an “emergency” when you didn't even
need
us?”

His eyebrows went up, and so did Kite's. “Why would you ask that?” Jacob said, as ambivalent as ever.

I wasn't so easily tricked. “Look how fast you cleaned this whole place!” I gestured, then narrowed my eyes, voice going hot on the edges. “You lied to interrupt us. I'm right, aren't I?” I didn't let him say anything, my volume going higher. “Why? Why the hell would you lie like that?”

Kite bristled, facing his friend with disbelief. “Is she right? What were you thinking, man?”

Tension rolled over Jacob’s shoulders. I spotted it, saw how it made the contours of his jaw turn jagged. In those icy blues, he judged us, debated on what to say. Finally, he tucked his hands into his pockets and sighed. “Fine. Yes. I said it was an emergency because this place
did
need to be fixed up, but I didn't need to stop you both.”

A lump formed in my throat. The puzzle clicked into place. “If you cared about us doing things without you, why not just admit it sooner?”

“I don't care.” The words fell out, and he considered them in the air. “Not the way you're thinking. It wasn't seeing you with him.” When he locked his gaze on me, I sensed the intensity and nearly backed up. “It was seeing you at all. I wanted
you,
Marina. Just the smell of you, the way you slipped into my ears.” He inhaled sharply. “I itched for you, and couldn't have you then. If I had left you both there, not had you near me for tonight to soften the desire, I might have gone insane.”

Too much blood pounded in my ears, it made thinking—anything—a chore. Jacob always had new surprises for me. I thought I knew the rules, but then he would change the entire game.

Kite itched his nose, watching us both. “Fuck, man. Next time, just tell me. I'd have come here to start stuff while you got it out of your system.”

“That's just it,” he said, a murmur I hardly heard. “I'm not sure that would have sated me. All the time in the world might not be enough.”

My mouth fell open. He moved with a purpose, locking his lips on mine. Jacob didn't stop there; he shoved me into a nearby booth, the large, curved cushion becoming my landing strip.

Everything was ringing.
What does he mean?
I felt detached, and swept up, all at once. Hot and cold warred within me, and it seemed impossible to make a choice on how to feel.

Jacob... is he that obsessed with me?

I tried to think back, to find more proof. I became lost, pulled to clarity by his hands on my hips, one squeezing my thigh. “Wait,” I breathed out, muffled by his teeth.

Sitting up, he arched my throat and dove in to suck at my skin. Over my moan, he whispered, “No. I promised you I'd reward you for your patience. And Marina, god, have you ever been patient.”

So have you,
I thought, shutting my eyes.
So have you.

Kite

––––––––

I
watched them both, digesting the situation. Jacob had revealed something important to Marina, but she couldn't understand what it really meant. Not the way I did.

Jacob had been friends with me since we were just kids. I knew him, knew what it took for him to care about someone so much. I wanted this to be a sign. I was eager to dive into the hope and take it even further.

If Jacob was falling for Marina, the way
I
was falling for her... maybe this was it. His need to have her prove herself, to show we could trust her to choose us over anything else, to show the level of loyalty we did for each other...

He believed she could do it.

How else could he risk such awful wounds on his psyche, aching for her as he did, if he expected her to fail?

All I was sure of, was that I believed in Marina. It was impossible not to. This woman, this fucking amazing woman, she'd make it clear she was on our side. Then, we could all live on together.

It was the future I dreamed of.

Not one of blood, but one of joy.

Stepping forward, I knelt on the opposite side of Marina in the booth. Jacob was kissing her furiously, turning her lips redder than berries. She made a sound of pleasure, wriggling her hips. My view let me see the swell of her breasts, hard tips cutting through the fabric, even with my friend bending over her.

Reaching down, I adjusted my growing erection. My cock was thickening fast, reacting to the excitement in this astounding girl. We hadn't finished earlier today, and I wasn't even mad at Jacob over it. I was just throbbing with a wanton need that had gone on for too many hours.

Marina blinked as Jacob pulled away. Looking up, she spotted me. The centers of her coffee eyes dilated; she was losing herself already. “Come here,” she told me, stretching out in the giant booth.

Well. That was an easy request to fill.

Inching closer, I knelt over her face. She shifted onto her side, fingers stroking the front of my obvious bulge. I hissed through my teeth, and she copied me, caught up in how she'd made me react.

Suddenly she was jostled. We both looked; Jacob had undone her jeans and was peeling them down her juicy thighs. In the harsh lights, her panties were a rosy peach. “Keep going,” he said to me, not even glancing up. I didn't blame him, it was hard to look away from the shape of her sweet pussy.

Taking his cue, I grabbed her wrist and guided her hand back. My eyes fluttered, her palm jerking me through my jeans. “I need to get these off,” I groaned, popping the brass button. “The zipper teeth are going to shred me.”

She chuckled, then shuddered with a gasp. She was distracted by Jacob, he'd spread her knees wide, crouching between to nuzzle her cunt.

Catching her by the cheeks, I turned her to me. My eyes burned, as heated as my lower belly. “Stay focused,” I demanded.

Licking her lips, Marina inhaled. One quick movement, and my jeans came down, cock bouncing into the air. The tip was shiny, precome already dripping. It was no shock; my balls were heavy with my delayed release.

Curling around my base, she stroked experimentally. “Holy hell,” I grunted. Leaning into her, I wrapped my fingers in her silky hair. Some of it tickled over my cock, tingles coursing over the back of my neck.

Marina worked with patient, determined pumps. Her fist closed on the swollen head, then rolled back down, over and over. Gazing down at her with sweltering desire, I tried to be calm—to hold back. I fucking failed.

Catching her by those thick curls of hair, I forced her lips over my cock and groaned. I heard her mirror me, and then she choked, wriggling from something Jacob had done. I wasn't watching, my world existed here; the edge between pleasure and delirium. Nothing but wet suction and a swirling tongue mattered.

Torquing, she put one elbow down for leverage. Her other hand swung, coaxing me forward by the middle of my back. I was eager to be guided, hammering my length down her throat as I hunched over her. My breathing was ragged, torn from me in great, heated waves.

Something bounced off my chest. Blinking, I stared down at the foil packet—a condom—where it now lay by my knee in the booth. Jacob sat up, wiping his drenched mouth. “Go ahead,” he said, eyes as mysterious as the bottom of the ocean. “Take her. She's more than ready.”

Lifting an eyebrow, I started to ask him why he'd let me have the honor. Marina's lips gliding down so far that her nose buried in my curls of hair stole my voice. Gritting my teeth, I pulled her free. Drool spilled down her chin, wide eyes sparkling and making my cock stiffen even more. I didn't think it was fucking possible.