“You wouldn’t roll over. Sorry, buddy, I love you, but I don’t want your woody pressing against my ass.”
“Yeah, well, this woody isn’t going away anytime soon on its own.”
“Go rub one out in the bathroom. Just don’t wake her up. She needs the sleep.” Ellis settled on Spaceballs and put the remote down. “I’ll be taking a turn of my own later anyway.”
Brad carefully extricated himself from the bed and headed to the bathroom.
* * * *
Ellis somehow managed to stifle his laugh at the pout on Brad’s face as he left the bedroom. No, this wasn’t how he’d hoped to spend the evening, but it wasn’t the worst-case scenario, either.
Worst-case, he’d worried they’d spend the evening with her crying on their shoulders after completing the emotional task of sorting through her friend’s belongings.
Not that he would have minded doing it, but it ripped him apart that he couldn’t make her happy, couldn’t take the pain away for her.
Couldn’t make love to her to distract her and bring some joy to her life.
He’d even picked up a couple of boxes of condoms and a bottle of lube at the store, just in case.
Not like they’ll go bad.
After the incident with Carl, he could understand why she was nervous about getting into another relationship. Especially since he’d been an ass to her.
And he knew Brad was right, that it was time to ease up. He just wasn’t very good at not taking charge, of not feeling responsible.
Maybe together the two of them could help him learn how to relax.
He tipped his head to the side, so his cheek rested against Mandaline’s hair, and closed his eyes to listen to the sound of her slow and steady breathing.
One step closer. I promise I won’t hurt you again. And I damn sure won’t let anything else hurt you if I have anything to say about it.
Chapter Twenty
Mandaline opened her eyes to clear, blue sky. The warm sun soaked into her skin. She knew she lay in soft grass because she could feel it against her arms, smell the fresh scent.
“Beautiful day, isn’t it?”
She sat up. Julie smiled at her from where she also lay in the grass, just a few feet away.
Mandaline truly didn’t know what to say.
Julie cocked her head to look at her, but didn’t sit up. “How long will you keep putting off the inevitable?”
“Are you a dream, or are you really here with me?”
Julie shrugged. “Does it matter? All you have to do is believe. It’s as easy as that.”
“I love you, sister.”
Sadness washed across Julie’s features. “I love you, too. That’s why you need to quit stalling.”
Mandaline didn’t need signal flares to know what she meant. “How am I supposed to do that?”
Julie finally sat up. “You are entrenched in this false belief that following your heart with them is somehow disrespectful to my memory. That’s just bullshit you’re using to allow your fears to rule you.”
“How am I supposed to do this without you?” Hot tears slid down her face. She hugged her knees to her chest and slowly rocked in place. “If I fuck up, I’m all alone.”
“No, you’re not alone. You have Ellis and Brad, and Sachi, and Libbie, and all the rest. They will be there for you. You won’t fuck things up.”
“I’ve never run a business before.”
“This isn’t about the shop. And let’s face it, you were doing far more of the daily paperwork than I was there at the end.” She cocked her head at her again. “Here’s the thing. It’s not your grief keeping me here. It’s your fear. I’m stuck here, unable to move on, until you finally move on.”
Mandaline looked around for the first time. They were sitting outside a house she didn’t recognize. The old house looked to be in dire need of TLC. An old Victorian-style wooden home, in the middle of several acres. “Where are we?”
Julie raised an eyebrow at her. “I think you know.”
“Sami’s house?”
Julie nodded. She leaned over and rested her hand on Mandaline’s arm. Her touch felt solid, corporeal. “I’m not in any pain. I’m actually eager to see what lies ahead. But I can’t. You’ve bound yourself to me too strongly.”
“Why did you talk to Brad and not me for so long?”
She smiled. “I needed you to know you couldn’t give up on them. If I hadn’t, you would have blown Ellis out of the water, slammed the door on the possibility of loving them, and walked away to be miserable for the rest of your life. Besides, Ellis and Brad need you. And you need them.”
The scene changed again and they were in the store. It was nighttime outside, and only some of the lights were on inside.
“She will need them, too.” Sachi appeared in the hallway, running, an expression of terror on her face. “Not the way you do.”
Before Mandaline could ask about that, the scene shifted once more. Now they were staring at a TV screen. The images flashing quickly across it were of news stories about Julie’s murder, shots of the store, including her and Sachi and Mina working behind the counter, Sachi getting into it with a paparazzi film crew who wanted into the shop and she flipped them off, even more footage Mandaline wasn’t even aware had been taken, followed by images from the tree memorial.
“Lots of people are watching right now. People you don’t even know about.”
“Why did Carl really show up yesterday?”
Julie looked away. Without a word she waved her arm in a wide arc. The scene changed. They stood on the sidewalk outside a McDonald’s in Dade City. Inside, at a booth by a window, sat Carl and the reporter that had showed up at the store earlier that day.
“That motherfucker!” Mandaline screamed.
Julie turned to her and placed both her arms on Mandaline’s shoulders. Now they stood outside of Ellis and Brad’s house. “This is your home. With them. Their hearts are yours. All you have to do is quit fighting yourself, get out of your own way, and let yourself feel pleasure and joy.” She sadly smiled. “It’s only disrespecting my memory if you continue martyring yourself for no good reason.”
She pulled Mandaline in for a hug. Mandaline could even smell the scent of Julie’s strawberry shampoo, a bottle of which stood, half used, in the bathtub because Mandaline couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it.
“Please let me go,” Julie whispered. “Love me and remember me, but let me go. I’ll always be around in your heart and soul when you truly need me. But right now, you need them. And they need you. Especially Ellis. Just…believe.”
Mandaline’s eyes popped open to find the first edges of morning’s grey light trying to work their way through the bedroom window. On her left, Brad slept, his head tucked against her shoulder, his handsome lips slightly parted.
To her right, Ellis lay on his left side, his fingers laced through hers. His eyes opened and met her gaze.
“Good morning,” he whispered.
She rolled on top of him and kissed him, hard, before she could lose her nerve and talk herself out of it. She didn’t give a shit about morning breath or grabbing a shower. She wanted him. Them.
And she wanted them now.
He briefly resisted before his hands settled on her hips and he returned her kiss. She felt his cock harden between them and she wanted it inside her, right then.
His hands traveled up her back, pushing her T-shirt up, until she had to sit up and pull it off. She dropped it on the floor and bent down to kiss him again, but he grabbed her wrists and stared up at her.
“I’m not looking for a quick romance,” he said. “I’m looking for life. For him and for me.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
His eyes searched her face. “We can work out all the legal details later,” he said. “I’ll sign whatever Grover puts in front of us to protect you and your assets.”
She shook her head. “I don’t need or want that. I trust you. Both of you.”
; “But you’re worth a lot of money.”
“Are you going to ask for a disclaimer every time we make love? Because if you are, that’s going to get really old really fast.”
“Oh my god, dude, shut up and scrump her already,” Brad mumbled from beside them.
They both looked over at him. He peeled open one sweet brown eye. “If you don’t hurry up, I’m going to take her away from you and you’ll have to wait until tonight when you get back from work.”
Mandaline and Ellis looked at each other and laughed. Ellis reached up, grabbed her hair, and pulled her mouth down to his.
Her nipples rubbed against the dusting of hair on his chest as he kissed her, adding erotic friction to the sizzle already rippling through her body. His cock pressed between her legs, against her clit, through the fabric of her underwear and his shorts.
She lifted her head. “Both,” she whispered. “I want both of you. Now.”
Brad, apparently now wide awake, threw back the covers and dove for the side table. He grabbed condoms and a bottle of lube they’d apparently stashed there. He leaned in and kissed her. “Get those panties off now,” he ordered.
His commanding tone sent yet another wave of heat through her, stealing her breath. He jumped out of bed and rushed from the room, returning seconds later with a towel and minus his shorts. She rose up to push her panties down her thighs, but Brad pushed her off Ellis, onto her side, and yanked them off her.
“I want to do something first,” he said, his tone growly with desire. He pushed her thighs apart and dove between them, unerringly finding her clit with his tongue.
When she opened her mouth to let out a moan of pleasure, Ellis covered her mouth with his and swallowed her cries. There was nothing slow or gentle about Brad’s motions as he eagerly flicked at her clit with his tongue, relentlessly, determined.
Ellis grabbed her hands and raised them over her head, gently pinning her in place and setting something inside her heart and soul free as her need took over. She rocked her pussy against Brad’s mouth, wanting and needing even more.
Reading her body, he slowly worked two fingers inside her pussy, filling her and driving her close to the edge. Just as her orgasm was ready to break, he stopped.
She let out a desperate cry.
“Don’t worry,” he said with a laugh as he grabbed something. “I just want you ready for the fucking you are about to receive.” She tried to lift her head but Ellis kept her pinned, distracting her with his kisses, his tongue fucking her the way she wished their cocks were fucking her.
She felt something cool against her ass and realized what Brad was doing. Tendrils of worry started to fill her when she realized she was about to fuck both of them at the same time and didn’t know if her body could handle the fantasy. Then his mouth returned to her clit, rendering her unable to think coherently. He slowly pressed one finger into her ass, the delicious things he was doing with his mouth distracting her from the strange sensation of her rim being stretched. She’d had anal play before, mostly with toys, but it’d been a long time.
And both these men were bigger than the toys she’d ever used back there.
He kept her coasting, surfing the edge of release, refusing to let her fall over as he added a second finger to her ass. She whined, at first uncomfortable with the intrusion until his mouth on her clit once again distracted her.
Ellis switched her wrists to one hand and used the other to begin gently rolling first one nipple, then the other, between his fingers, back and forth and adding to the erotic torment.
She wanted release. Right then. But Brad wasn’t about to grant it yet. He backed off again as he worked a third finger into her tight ring of muscle. This time she froze, trying to breathe through her kiss with Ellis as the pinching burn overrode the pleasure center of her brain.
Brad began flicking at her clit again with his tongue, waiting until her body relaxed and she started moaning again to make more progress in her ass. It wasn’t until she felt him pick up speed with his hand that she realized he was fucking her ass with it, loosening her body. Then he added his thumb into her pussy and lightly bit down on her clit.
She screamed into Ellis’ mouth as her release hit, molten pleasure surging through her. His hand clamped down on her wrists as her body arched against them. She was vaguely aware of Brad’s hand fucking her, hard, slamming against her even as she tried to fuck herself more deeply onto it.
He finally lifted his head from her pussy, but kept fucking her with his hand, her body refusing to stop coming. “Good girl,” he whispered. “That’s going to be our cocks here in a minute.”
Ellis lifted his mouth from hers and stared down at her with his sweet blue eyes. “You’re ours,” he said. “All ours. I promise you, we’ll love you and take care of you.”
She let out another cry as, somehow, Brad’s hand hit all the right spots and triggered another, smaller orgasm.
Ellis smiled down at her. “That’s right. Let him make you come for us. Let go to us.”
Mandaline didn’t know if she could survive it. Even with a vibrator she’d never come this long or this hard before. And though she rationally knew she could demand they stop and let her up, it was the last thing she wanted them to do.
Then Brad moved, his hand disappearing. She gasped, startled as the sensation ceased. She tried to look down her body at him. Ellis moved in again, this time taking one nipple between his lips as he pinched the other one. She threw her head back and let out another moan.
She felt the bed moving and heard a soft noise, like plastic tearing. Then Ellis released her. Before she could process that, Brad had grabbed her by the waist, flipped her over, and pulled her up to her hands and knees.
“Hold still, baby,” Brad ordered, his voice still tinged with the commanding tone that apparently drilled right through to her clit. She felt him spread more lube between her ass cheeks, and then the sheathed head of his cock pressed against her rim.
He grabbed her hips. “Take it slow, baby. Fuck yourself back on me.”
She did, letting out a soft whine as his cock stretched her ass even more than his fingers had. Ellis reached beneath her and took both her nipples between his fingers again, turning the pinch in her ass into pleasure.
“That’s it,” Brad encouraged as she slowly started rocking back and forth, impaling herself deeper on his shaft. “Take it slow. Enjoy it.”
She closed her eyes, head drooping as she imagined how she must look and not caring. Wanting to feel his entire length buried inside her, she slammed back against him, gasping as the stretching once again turned to pleasure. When she tried to move, he dug his fingers into her hips and held her still with his thighs pressed against hers. “No,” he said, his voice now sounding tense. “Stop moving or I’ll blow. Ellis, get in there.”
She opened her eyes to see him yanking off his shorts and rolling a condom onto his own huge shaft. As Brad pulled her up to a kneeling position with her body pressed against his, he spread his legs, forcing hers farther apart. Ellis slid his legs under them until she was positioned over his cock. Working together, with Ellis grabbing her waist and Brad still holding her hips, they lowered her onto his cock, sinking it deep inside her ready cunt.
She let out another soft cry as his shaft filled her, stretching her pussy almost beyond her limits. Brad pushed her down onto Ellis and took a long, slow stroke out and in her ass. Her body shivered involuntarily at the pleasure, the feel of both their cocks buried inside her.
“More,” she whispered. “Please!”
“Ellis,” Brad said.
Ellis took several strokes of his own, slow, Mandaline unable to rock her body against them because of their firm grip on her. They were totally in control.
Brad folded his body over hers and bit down, hard, on the back of her shoulder, the delicious pain only adding to the pleasure. “Baby,” he hoarsely said, “we’ve never done this together with a woman. This is the first time, and you’re the only one we ever
will do this with for the rest of our lives. You’re ours.”
“Ours,” Ellis echoed from below her.
She didn’t want to talk, she wanted to fuck! “Please,” she whined.
“Say it,” Brad said. “Tell us what you want.”
“Please fuck me,” she begged. “Please!”
“That’s not what we want to hear,” Ellis said.
She forced her eyes open to look down at him, then glanced over her shoulder at Brad. “I love you,” she whispered. “Both of you. I want both of you.”
“Forever?” Brad asked.
She nodded, her eyes falling closed again. Overwhelming need overrode everything else, her fear, her worries, her doubt. “Forever.”
Ellis reached up and cupped her cheeks. “Open your eyes, baby.”
She forced her lids to obey, barely.
“I’m not perfect, and I can’t promise I won’t fuck up again. But I love you and I promise I’ll try to be everything you need me to be. Can you trust me?”
She nodded. “I know. And I do.” She tried squirming against them, but Brad’s fingers dug in even more, holding her still.
“I promise I’ll never ask you to change for me,” Ellis swore. “Ever. I love you the way you are.”
“And I’m a fairly broken toy,” Brad murmured in her ear. “You okay with that?”
She looked over her shoulder at him, meeting his brown gaze. “I love you. Both of you. Just the way you are.”
Brad released her hips and reached around her. One hand found her clit, the other a nipple. “Fuck us, baby,” he muttered in her ear. “Come for us like this.”
She braced her hands on Ellis. He reached up and steadied her, his hands warm and secure and cupping around her sides. She closed her eyes and began rocking against them, unsure of the tempo at first and gasping as Ellis bottomed out inside her cunt. As she grew more sure of herself, her juices flowed and soon she was slamming her body against them.
“Do it, baby,” Ellis encouraged. “Make the vision come true.”
It felt like the seams of her soul ripped apart. Her pussy and ass both clamped down on their cocks as her orgasm swept through her, strengthening it. Brad’s fingers quickly stroked her clit which only intensified the sensation.