Dark circles lined her eyes. She didn’t just feel like hell.
She really looked it, too.
Even she couldn’t stand looking at herself.
She took a deep breath. “I did it,” she whispered to herself. She’d done what she could to protect whoever was stupid or unfortunate enough to remain in Santa Clarita.
What they did from this point on, that wasn’t her concern.
The late shift, all eighteen of them, had assembled in the garage and waited for her to get there to give them orders before heading out on patrol. She looked them over, feeling sad. Based on the number of people who’d filed family leave or resignation slips that morning, there were actually more deputies reporting for duty than she’d anticipated. Only a few of the no-shows had not bothered to say they weren’t coming in.
Omega stood close by, and she didn’t even think twice before dragging her chair to his side, bracing her hand on his shoulder, and using him for support to climb up, keeping her hand there to steady herself as she addressed them all.
“Okay. Thanks, everyone. Unless anything radically changes, I’m going to say that tomorrow night will be your last shift. Unofficially. I’ll try to set up payroll so it keeps going as long as the computers, wherever they are located, keep spitting out direct deposits.” She studied their faces. They all looked as exhausted as she felt.
She pulled herself to her full height. “I really appreciate you all showing up tonight. Yes, we’re trying to bail the Titanic with an ice cream scoop. I get it. I’m not an idiot. But we can still look at ourselves in the mirror and say we tried.
“Tonight, your job is to stay alive. You see anyone causing trouble? Protect innocents, yes. But protect yourselves first. Deadly force as necessary. Hopefully with all discretion, but I won’t judge. Let people you find know that if they don’t leave, they’re on their own from here on out.” Her brain faltered, trying to come up with whatever else it was she wanted to say. “That’s it. Stay safe. See you all in the morning.”
They left, and as they were driving out, Papa and the remainder of the Drunk Monkeys returned.
Omega looked up at her. “You going to stand there all day, or you want to get down now?”
When she looked, she spotted the smile on his face. It looked kindly, amused.
She realized she was still standing on the chair.
Echo reached up and took her other hand. “Yeah, I guess I’d better get down,” she said.
It was more a case of they got her down off the chair than she jumped down under her own power. She had no adrenaline left in her system at all. It felt like if she closed her eyes, she would fall asleep standing up.
Then again, maybe that’s exactly what would happen.
She couldn’t even enjoy the thought that it was nice holding both of their hands at the same time.
Papa, followed by the others, rolled into the garage and they got it buttoned up tight. Sharon had appeared from somewhere.
“Holy crap, Gia. Go get some sleep. We got this.”
She nodded. She could barely keep her eyes open. She handed things off to Papa, pointing at him. “Tell everyone he’s in charge for tonight and in the morning. If I don’t get some sleep, I’m going to collapse right where I’m standing. Please pass the word that everyone answers to him until I’m back with the land of the living again.”
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I’m going to…” She thought about it. “I was going to say back to the storage closet, but I’m going to bunk in the office that is temporarily mine, until we get the hell out of here.”
“Omega, Echo, you two help her,” he ordered. “Stay with her. Catch some rack time yourselves. We’ll handle watches. I have a feeling there won’t be much traffic coming this way. Not until later in the day, at least.”
Omega and Echo helped her grab her stuff from the storage closet. “You’ve been living in here?” Omega asked her.
“Well, my place had no power or water, so yeah. It was this or the backseat of a car. No, thank you.”
They spread out in the office and she pulled the blinds shut. At least this window faced west so they wouldn’t have to deal with the sun hitting them in the faces in just a couple of short hours.
“Want us to wake you up at a certain time?” Omega asked.
“If something unintentionally blows up, or you need my access codes, sure. Other than that, I doubt I’ll sleep more than a couple of hours.”
And by the time she’d taken off her gun belt and lain down on the bedroll, tactical boots and all, she was asleep.
* * * *
Echo nudged Omega in the side and tipped his head toward Gia, his brows expectantly raised.
Omega knew it would come to this, sooner or later. “Maybe,” he silently mouthed. “Later.”
He lay down on his bedroll, also fully dressed, and tried to get some sleep.
Feet away, Echo let out a soft snicker.
Omega reached out and jabbed with his finger, hard, getting Echo in the ribs.
“Ow,” Echo muttered. “That was uncalled for.”
Yes, he liked Gia. A lot. Yes, he was attracted to her.
A lot.
Yes, the thought of having her sweet body wedged between the two of them in bed was more than enough to thicken his aching cock in his pants.
This, however, wasn’t exactly the optimal time nor the best place.
Then again, the other triads had all found love in similar tough circumstances.
But they didn’t even know if she was interested in them. Although, point in her favor, she hadn’t freaked out when she learned about the triads that had already formed in their unit.
Omega settled in to grab some shut-eye himself. While he was used to going without sleep, days at a time in some cases, he knew it dulled his senses and reflexes when he did.
He’d just started drifting off to sleep when Echo let out a soft snore next to him. Omega reached out and jabbed him in the ribs again.
“Ow. What the fark, dude?”
“Roll over. You’re snoring.” He rolled onto his other side, away from Echo, while his partner grumbled and shifted position.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Gia’s dreams were plagued by sexy visions of the two hunks doing all sorts of incredibly dirty things to her. When she awoke to the delicious smell of coffee, she found dim light slanting through the mostly drawn blinds. She had to pee, and the two men were sitting on the floor on the other side of the office and looking at something on a tablet.
“Good morning,” she muttered as she sat up.
Then she winced as she caught a whiff of herself.
A shower might not be a bad idea, either.
Echo smiled. “Afternoon, but who’s counting?”
“What time is it?”
“2:18.”
“Holy crap.” Her stomach rumbled, which explained that as well. She couldn’t remember the last time that she’d eaten, only that it was some time the day before.
Or maybe the day before that.
“Don’t worry,” Omega said, “everything’s quiet so far.”
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to find coffee. And a shower.”
“Yeah, by the way, thanks for the showers,” Omega said. “I think we’ve all cycled through them already. And the laundry.”
“Anything we can do to help?’’ Echo asked.
“Yeah, my laundry,” she snarked before realizing what she was saying. “Sorry, I was joking. I’m not human before coffee.”
“No, I’ll do your laundry for you,” Echo said. “Just point the way.”
“I was kidding.” She stood and stretched, muscles aching and joints popping.
“He wasn’t,” Omega said. “I let him do mine. He can fold clothes like nobody’s business.”
Fuck it. Why not? “Well, okay, sure.” She pointed at the garbage bag full of dirty clothes from her apartment, to which she’d added the ones she’d accumulated while a
t the station. “That’s it right there.”
“What about what you’re wearing?” Echo asked.
She realized she had the perfect way of gauging the men’s level of interest in her. Wasn’t like she was bashful. “Sure. That, too. I take it I can trust you guys to keep an eye on my gun belt for me?”
They nodded.
She unlaced and kicked off her tactical boots, peeled off her socks, and added the socks to the bag of dirty clothes. Emptying her pockets onto the desk, she quickly stripped, wrapping a towel from her shower bag around her midsection.
When she looked, she was satisfied to find both men staring at her with slightly gaping jaws.
“See something you like, gentlemen?” she asked.
Both men nodded.
She smiled. Despite the circumstances, and how much her body ached, and how bad her BO was, she felt a sexy thrill of the chase zip through her. “Then maybe we can discuss it after my coffee and shower.” She grabbed fresh jeans, underwear, socks, undershirt, and a pullover uniform shirt and stuck them into her shower bag. She pulled her flip-flops from the shower bag and put them on, then picked up her bulletproof vest.
Shouldering the shower bag, she cocked her head. “Don’t worry about putting starch in anything. I’m sure it’ll be stiff enough when you’re done with it.”
He looked a little stunned, so she winked at him. “I meant the laundry.”
With that, and feeling her own juices starting to flow, she headed out the door and just down the hall to the break room for coffee.
She nearly stopped in her tracks, cursing herself. Jeez, I hope that didn’t come off as stupid. She’d thought it would be funny, and it had sounded funny in her head. Then again, she felt so exhausted now, she didn’t know. Maybe it had sounded lame.
Too late now. She made her feet carry her forward again.
Fortunately, no one was in the break room. These were the end times, as far as she was concerned. She didn’t care if someone saw her wrapped in a fricking towel. They wouldn’t be here more than a day or so longer at any rate. But it might shock someone else.
Gia found she’d drifted well past the give-a-damn stage.
She fixed herself a mug of coffee and took it to the bathroom with her. They had two individual full bathrooms with wheelchair-accessible showers, in addition to the locker rooms for both genders. She opted for one of the individual bathrooms today. After using the toilet, she sipped her mug of delicious coffee as steam filled the bathroom.
Yes, she felt a little guilty about that, because, water conservation.
Fuck it.
She’d had the guts to buy some time for anyone left behind by doing something even Chief Baynes probably wouldn’t have done.
I should have checked on his family.
Now she felt guilty that she hadn’t done that. She hadn’t checked on the families of the other men who hadn’t reported in after heading south to help out, either. Then again, Baynes was the chief. Had been. Surely he had made provisions, gone over contingencies with them. That was the kind of man he was. The kind of men all of them were. Or, had been.
I really should do that, though.
* * * *
When they were alone again, the men stared at each other. “I don’t know about you,” Omega said, “but if she’s serious, I’m good with it.”
Echo nodded. “Me, too.”
“This going to cause us a problem?”
“Has it ever before?”
“Just checking,” Omega said. “You know I like to make sure.”
Echo glanced at the door, where she’d exited. “Could this be leading where I hope it is?”
Omega didn’t want to get his hopes up that far. “For now, I’ll settle for getting laid. If she wants more than that, I’m sure the lady will tell us.
But he damn sure hoped she did.
* * * *
When Gia finished her shower, she thought about getting fully dressed again, then changed her mind.
Screw it. Either they will, or they won’t.
She didn’t meet anyone in the hallway as she marched down the corridor, towel tightly wrapped around her, shower bag over her shoulder, bulletproof vest in one hand and her mug of coffee in the other.
Taking a deep breath, she walked into her office…
And found herself alone.
Well, damn.
She was standing there trying to decide how to process that, fighting off her disappointment and wondering whether it meant they weren’t interested after all and had skedaddled, or what, when the door opened.
She turned. Omega and Echo practically filled the doorway. Omega entered first, Echo on his heels and closing and locking it behind them.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Both men smiled. Omega held up a couple of condom pouches. “You still want to see how stiff you can make something?”
Heart racing, she nodded.
The men walked over. Echo took her vest and dropped it on the floor, and took the mug of coffee from her and set it on the file cabinet next to her while Omega relieved her of the shower bag and set it on the floor.
Gulp.
Omega stood in front of her while Echo stood behind her. “You need to say it. We need to hear you say it.”
She wasn’t sure she could say anything at that point because her damn mouth had gone dry again.
But she tried. “I wouldn’t mind fooling around with you two, if you’re up to it.”
Omega stepped forward, pressing her against Echo. His brown gaze burned down into her eyes. “How’s that feel? That feel like we’re up for it, Gia?”
A soft whine escaped her. She would be in for a world of the good kind of hurt the next morning. Dave had been average in size. These two both felt like they were hung.
She nodded.
Echo’s lips scorched her skin as he nibbled along the nape of her neck. She’d need another shower at this rate, because it felt like her pussy was throbbing already and juices were sliding down the insides of her thighs.
Omega stepped back only so he could take her towel and slowly unwrap it from around her. He took his time, his gaze never leaving hers. “Don’t have a lot of time right now, unfortunately,” he said, “but more than enough time to leave all three of us satisfied at once. You ever been spit-roasted?”
She had to swallow again and shook her head instead of trying to answer.
Her nipples pebbled in the cool air as he dropped the towel. He reached up and cupped her breasts, playing with her nipples, his deep brown flesh in stark contrast to her pale skin. “How would you like to come with his cock down your throat and mine sliding up that sweet pussy of yours?”
She nodded. Yeah, I’m good with that! But the words wouldn’t come.
He smiled and leaned in, dipping his knees so he could kiss her.
He started out gently, but then she realized how damn horny she was, how hot these guys were, and how badly she did not want their fun ruined by someone knocking on the door and needing her.
Quickie now, quality later.
So she wrapped her arms around his neck and locked lips with him, hooking a leg around one of his so he couldn’t move away.
Echo grabbed her hips and ground against her bare ass. The feel of his iron bulge, concealed by the coarse fabric of his trousers, nearly drove her over the edge right there. Her clit throbbed, and how sad was she that she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d masturbated?
Hell, the last time she’d felt like masturbating.
Echo’s hands traveled around to her belly, down, between her thighs. He swiped two fingers between her pussy lips and she let out a loud moan muffled only by Omega’s mouth on hers.
“Oh, yeah,” Echo said. “She’s primed.” He slid one, then two fingers inside her cunt lips and started slowly fucking her with them.
Omega lifted his mouth from hers. “We don’t screw around,” he said. “You want to try this with us, we’re cool with that. But you don?
??t go messing around with anyone else, either. You get tired of us, you tell us, and we part friends first. Then you’re free to go do whatever you want. Deal?”
She nodded, a little sanity breaking through. “I’m clean,” she said, “And have a five-year.”
He smiled. “Well, now that’s good. That means for this round, we don’t need these.” He dropped the condoms onto the floor and then grabbed her hands and put them on the front of his trousers, which looked like they would tear open from the strain. “How about you say hello?”
Echo let go of her so she could drop to her knees in front of Omega. She practically ripped his trousers open and when she had his cock freed from his briefs, she enjoyed the way his fingers tangled in her short brown hair as she went down on him.
Oh, yes, she’d be feeling this tomorrow. Nine inches, at least, and thick.
And she’d enjoy every damn ache and pain.
He let out a soft hiss. “Easy, baby,” he warned. “Don’t suck one out of me yet. Just a hello kiss to get acquainted. Now Echo. Don’t leave him hanging.”
Echo stepped up next to Omega and she also eagerly unwrapped him like a kid at Christmas. She kept one hand circled around the base of Omega’s cock, his hips slowly thrusting against her grip as she devoured Echo’s. He wasn’t quite as long as Omega, but a little thicker.
No complaints from her at all. Both of them put Dave to shame.
After a moment, he, too, pulled her off his cock. “Over the desk, baby,” he hoarsely said. “Right now.”
They shoved Baynes’ desk calendar and other items over to the side and lifted her so she was lying facedown over the desk. Echo stood in front of her while Omega stepped between her legs. Her toes barely touched the floor, but she opened her mouth wide, trying to reach Echo’s cock while Omega swiped the head of his cock through her pussy lips and started pressing the head of it in.
She let out a moan that was only half muffled by Echo’s cock sliding between her lips.
“Hey,” Echo said. “This won’t work logistically. Turn her over.”