Van, Becca - Re-awaken Me (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (11 page)

“I’d rather just lie on the sofa. Maybe I could put a movie on to distract me for a while.”

“Sure thing, darlin’. What do you want to watch?” Randy asked.

“I don’t know really. I just want to lay and vegetate for a while. I don’t want to think about anything. I’m sure once I’m not feeling so tired, my mind is going to inundate me with thoughts on who wants to harm me, but for now, I just want to rest.

“Okay, baby. Come on, I’ll get you settled and put a movie on for you. I need to make a few phone calls after that, but I’ll be back to sit beside you and watch the movie with you,” Mason stated.

“You don’t have to treat me like a child, Mason. I’m safe enough here in your home. If you and your brothers have things to do, don’t let my presence stop you.”

“You mean more to us than anything, baby. You best get used to that right now. You come first. You always have and you always will. Now, come on and let’s pick out a movie,” Mason suggested, helping her from her chair, taking her hand in his, and leading her to the living room.

Mason settled Pip onto the sofa, then took a stack of movies from the cupboard and brought them over to her to choose from. Since Pip wasn’t in the mood for thinking too much, she picked an action-packed, shoot-’em-up guys’ flick. Once the movie was on, Mason leaned down, placed a kiss at her temple, and strolled from the room.

Pip could hear Randy and Chip cleaning up the kitchen, the deep rumble of their low voices comforting over the low volume of the movie playing. She snuggled down into the sofa, pulling the blanket up to her chin, and stared unseeingly at the TV screen. Her eyelids became too heavy to keep open, so she gave up the fight and drifted into sleep.

Pip was running toward the newspaper offices, her breath rasping painfully in and out of her lungs. She could see her mom and dad standing in one of the second-story windows, a small box in her mom’s hand. Her father leaned over and kissed her mom, then stood back and watched her open the box. The sound of the explosion was so loud the whole ground shook as the bomb detonated. The heat from the fire was nearly too much for her to bear. She felt as if her eyelashes and brows were being singed from her face. She screamed loud and long, the pain and grief of seeing her parents die too much to comprehend. She couldn’t cope with the reality of it. Her knees gave out, and she landed on the ground, her agony acute as she sobbed, screamed, and rocked herself. No matter how hard she tried, she was never fast enough. She’d tried time and again to reach her parents before her mom opened the box containing the bomb, but she was never able to prevent the atrocity of losing her parents, over and over again.

The sound of her name being yelled penetrated her subconscious, jerking her into an upright position.

* * * *

“Pippa, wake up, damn it,” Mason yelled. He had run into the living room as soon as he had heard her first scream. He now sat with her on his lap as she screamed and sobbed, calling for her parents. When she jerked up in his arms, hitting his chin with the top of her head, he knew she was finally out of her interminable nightmare. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight against his body as she sobbed into his chest. He ran his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion. Chip and Randy were standing beside them, worry etched into their features.

“Do you want to talk about your nightmare, sugar?” Randy asked, squatting down next to her and rubbing a hand up and down her arm, trying to offer comfort.

Pip shuddered into Mason’s chest one last time then lifted her head and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Mason watched as she noticed Randy and Chip for the first time since she had awoken.

“No. I’m okay. Sorry.”

“Fuck, darlin’. Don’t you dare apologize! You have nothing to be sorry for,” Chip stated.

Mason saw Chip run his fingers through his hair in frustration. He could tell Chip wanted to take Pip out of his arms and hold her tight. But he knew the last thing she needed was for it to seem as if they were fighting over her attention, which was far from the case. He wanted to place her in their bed, with him and his brothers surrounding her, offering her comfort and protection.

“I think you need to talk about your nightmares, sugar. You’ve kept them bottled up inside you for so long. It’s not healthy to keep so much inside. You’ll end up making yourself ill,” Randy stated.

“I don’t know if I can talk about it anymore, Randy. I spent the first year after their deaths doing nothing but talking about it. It didn’t help then, and I don’t see how it could do much good now.”

“Baby, you can’t keep going on like this. You have dark smudges under your eyes. You’re totally exhausted. You’ve got some sick bastard playing with your mind, and it looks like he’s not going to stop until he gets to you. He’s already managed to poison you. You need help, Pip. You need our protection, but you need us, too. Don’t forget we know you, sweetheart. You may have convinced yourself you don’t need or want help, but we know different. You have to let out whatever it is tormenting you, baby,” Mason stated as he pulled her in tighter to his body. He moved along the sofa until he was sitting in the middle, giving Randy and Chip room to sit down on either side of Pip. When they were all comfortable, he maneuvered Pip on his lap until she was straddling his thighs and they could all see her face. “Tell us about your nightmare, baby.” Mason cupped her chin to prevent her from looking away.

Mason stared into Pip’s eyes for an indeterminable amount of time. He heard her take a deep breath, lick her lips, and then she began to talk.

* * * *

Pip told them about her recurring nightmare and how she always saw her parents’ death but could never save them in time.

“Oh God. Why didn’t I die with them? Why did they have to leave me all alone? Why? Tell me why.” Pip sobbed as she beat on Mason’s chest. She had so much pain stored up inside her. The wrenching pain in her chest as she sobbed in the arms of one of the men she had loved since she was a child was almost more than she could stand. Once she started crying, she couldn’t seem to stop. Her whole body shook as she released years of pain. She slumped against Mason’s body, too tired to hold herself up, the sound of her mournful wailing loud to her own ears as her grief was finally expelled after years of suppression. She was aware of nothing around her, nothing except the agony of grief, until she finally fell into a restless sleep as her exhausted body shut down.

Chapter Thirteen

Pip felt as if her body were wrapped in an electric blanket when she woke surrounded by heat. It was dark, and the total silence of the house seemed to echo loudly. She shifted slightly, her body brushing against two warm, hard male forms. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness surrounding her but didn’t really need to see to know Mason and Randy were in bed on either side of her. She stretched her body cautiously and lifted her head from the pillow it was resting on to see Chip at the end of the bed. He was leaning on the palm of his hand, his arm bent at the elbow, resting on the mattress watching her.

“Are you all right, darlin’?” Chip asked, his voice rough from sleep.

“Yeah, just a bit thirsty. What time is it?”

“It’s just past three. Stay where you are, darlin’. I’ll get you a drink,” he said quietly as he climbed from the bed.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll get it. Why don’t you try and go back to sleep. I didn’t want to disturb any of you. And since I feel like I’ve slept for hours, I don’t think I’ll be getting any more sleep tonight.” Pushing the comforter out of her way, she crawled over the top of it and down the length of the bed.

Chip stood, ready for her, his arm outstretched, offering to help her from the bed. She took his hand, and once her feet were on the floor, she slipped a robe on and followed Chip from the room.

Chip indicated for Pip to take a seat as he got her a glass of water then filled the kettle and put it on. Pip watched Chip make their hot drinks then head over to the dining table to sit down next to her. His bare chest was such a distraction. She couldn’t prevent her eyes from wandering over his rippling pectorals and abs as he moved. All of the three Sage brothers were handsome in their own right, and they all had bodies any woman would have trouble not ogling. Pip felt her clit begin to ache and her pussy muscles clench. She slid her eyes up over his lower abdomen, chest, arms, and shoulders until her eyes met his heated stare. She quickly lowered her eyes to her mug and wrapped her hands around it for something to occupy herself with.

“You look better, Pip. Those dark smudges beneath your eyes are beginning to dissipate, the color in your cheeks is better, and you don’t look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders anymore. Do you want to talk about what’s been going on in that hard head of yours?”

“No, thanks anyway. I think I’m all talked out at the moment. But you’re right. I do feel a lot better,” she said and looked up to see Mason entering the kitchen and Randy following.

“You’ve got to stop keeping things bottled up, baby,” Mason stated as he walked into the room. “It’s not good for your health to live like that. I want you to come to one or all of us if you have a problem, Pip. We’re here for you whenever you need us.”

“I know. I don’t mean to keep things inside. It’s just…I didn’t feel I could really talk to my aunt. She had enough on her plate looking after a teenager, let alone trying to help deal with my problems. She did try, though. She sent me to counseling. I think it just became a habit over the years, to keep things to myself.”

“Well, let’s try and change that habit to sharing with people who care about you, sugar,” Randy said as he walked over to the kettle and made himself a cup of coffee. He sat at the table across from Pip, scrutinizing her as he sipped his coffee.

“Look, I know you guys mean well, but I’m not the type of person to air my emotions to all and sundry,” Pip replied.

“That’s not what we’re asking of you, sugar,” Randy replied, giving her a hard stare.

“You have been hiding your true nature from yourself and everyone around you for far too long, baby. We grew up with you, Pip. You are such a passionate woman. Why are you trying to hide that?” Mason asked.

“I am not the same child you knew. I’ve matured, grown up since you knew me. How can you sit there and judge me? I am who I am, and if you don’t like that, too bad. I think I should just get my things and go back home,” Pip shot out. Rising from her seat, she headed down the hall to the master bedroom. She heard the scrape of chairs then footsteps as the three men followed her down the hall.

Pip had just grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt to pull on but ended up giving a squeak of surprise as a warm, steel band wrapped around her waist. She let out an
“oomph”
when she landed on the bed, Mason following her down and pinning her to the mattress with his big, muscular body.

“You can leave if you really want to, Pip, but if you stay here, you abide by our rules. From now on, you will follow all our rules or we’ll punish you. We haven’t started on keeping you to our rules yet, because we didn’t want to hurt you emotionally. All bets are off now, baby. You are being warned. We’re not letting you hide your true nature from yourself or us anymore. We’ve waited years for you, Pip. You’d better get used to having us beside you. We can’t let you go again, baby,” Mason stated, staring into her eyes. Then he leaned forward and took her mouth with his own.

Pip tried to keep her mouth closed against the onslaught of Mason’s lips. She was succeeding until she felt his tongue skim across the seam of her lips, asking, coaxing her into letting herself go and responding. She couldn’t fight them off anymore. She’d loved them for so long, and she didn’t want to fight her feelings a moment longer. She gave a low moan and opened her lips to Mason’s questing, delving tongue as she clung to his hard, muscular, broad shoulders. She was vaguely aware of the bed dipping on either side of her, and she knew Randy and Chip were on the bed with her and Mason.

Pip moaned as Mason tangled his tongue with hers before drawing hers into his mouth so he could suckle on her wayward muscle. She arched her chest up into Mason, wanting, needing to feel the heat of his naked chest against her own. She groaned with frustration as her cloth-covered nipples came into contact with his chest. She wanted to feel her naked skin touching, sliding over his warm flesh. She pulled her tongue from Mason’s mouth, intent on removing her body from against his so she could take off the robe, T-shirt, and panties covering her skin, but Mason wouldn’t release her mouth from his. He grasped a handful of her hair at her nape and moved forward as she moved back, until his whole body was blanketing hers. Then she was drowning in sensation after sensation.

Pippa mewled in the back of her throat as Mason nipped and licked over her lips, only to once again plunge his tongue into the depths of her mouth. Pip felt as if her whole body was about to combust. Fire was licking its way from her mouth down over her chest and torso, where it pooled with liquid heat in her lower abdomen. She couldn’t get close enough to him but was now too intent on the pleasure being bestowed on her to stop. She opened her eyes and moaned with frustration as Mason pulled his mouth then body back away from hers. She nearly climaxed at the sight that met her eyes, and none of her men had even penetrated body yet. Randy and Chip were lying totally naked on either side of her, and what made her shiver even more was the sight of them both stroking their cocks as they looked at her, the heat of their stares making her squirm. She could see drops of clear pre-cum on the tips of Randy’s and Chip’s cocks, making her want to taste their elemental essences. She sat up and maneuvered into a better position so she could take one cock then the other into her mouth but was stopped by two large, gentle hands against her waist.