Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Broderick

The drive back to the compound happens in a blur. I keep waiting for Monroe or Shiloh to put a stop to this, to knock us all back to reality. They don’t. If anything, they ramp up the tension between us as I drive. Monroe has one hand on my leg and the other pressed to the juncture of Shiloh’s thighs through her jeans. She and Shiloh don’t stop kissing the entire time. The lust is so thick, I can taste it on my tongue.

It’s not the only thing I want to taste.

My cock is so fucking hard, and Monroe rhythmically dragging the heel of her hand up and down the length imprisoned in my jeans isn’t doing anything for my control. I nearly crash the fucking truck into the curb trying to park. Monroe’s laugh only spurs me on. I twist and shove my hand between her legs. “Is it funny taunting me, you witch?”

“Yes.” She spreads her legs wider. “It really is.”

I stroke her a few times, until she’s gone pliant against me. And then I take my hand back. “Our room. Right now. Both of you.”

“Sir, yes, sir.” Monroe doesn’t quite manage the mocking lilt she normally accomplishes. We’re too busy piling out of the truck and heading for the main building in a tangle of need and desire.

I can’t stop touching them, running my hand down Shiloh’s spine, digging my other hand into the mass of Monroe’s hair. Our bedroom is too fucking far away, but there’s nowhere else we can do this properly. “Hurry.”

For once, neither of them argues with me. As we hit the top of the stairs, I catch sight of Abel and Eli down the hallway. My older brother raises his brows, but I have no time to answer the unspoken question on his face. I flip him the bird and practically shove Monroe through the door into our room. She laughs. She always seems to fucking laugh when I’m losing control. I should hate it. I used to hate it.

But…

Okay, fuck, fine. It turns me on, too. It doesn’t matter how shaken I am by losing control, she’s always there to egg me on, to take me farther into the dark. She never looks at me with horror. There’s only challenge and need in those green eyes.

I slam the door shut behind us and flip the lock. The click sounds freakishly loud in the sudden quiet of the room. I speak before the silence can become awkward and filled with doubt. “Take off her dress, Shiloh. I put on a show for you. Give me the same courtesy.”

She gives me a faint smile. “Turnabout is fair play?”

“You have no idea.”

Monroe turns her back to Shiloh and pulls her hair over her shoulder, exactly the way she did in the bar for me. For all her victorious grin, I can see her shivering from here as Shiloh works the zipper down and slides the green dress off Monroe’s body.

And what a fucking body.

It feels like I’ve spent so long fighting my attraction to her, I haven’t let myself appreciate how devastating Monroe is, both in and out of clothing. She’s built lean and muscular, and I’ve seen her in the gym in the compound enough to know she works hard to keep in fighting shape—literally. Her breasts are high and round and capped with dark-pink nipples. She looks good enough to eat.

Not yet.

“Now do Shiloh.”

The grin Monroe gives me is wide and without a shred of artifice. “Gladly.” She turns to Shiloh and skims off her black tank top. Monroe cups her breasts through the black bra she wears, teasing all of us for a long moment before she slides the straps down and reaches behind Shiloh to unhook it.

Greedy bastard that I am, I devour the sight of each bit of her revealed. Small breasts, pale-pink nipples. What feels like miles and miles of skin I want to kiss every inch of. Monroe hooks her fingers into the waistband of Shiloh’s jeans. “More?”

“More,” she whispers.

I hold my breath as Monroe works the top button and drags down the zipper. She eases Shiloh’s jeans off, moving to kneel as she does. Shiloh carefully steps out of her pants, and Monroe wastes no time skimming off her black panties and then she’s naked and…

Fuck.

Monroe stands, and it’s impossible not to compare the two women, not to notice how Shiloh is taller but built leaner, how Monroe’s curves are a bit more pronounced, as if whatever creator made her decided to balance the shorter height with more everywhere else. Shiloh has scars covering her legs, but she’s obviously self-conscious about them, so while I look my fill, I don’t linger longer there than I do anywhere else. Hips and stomach and breasts and her heart-breakingly beautiful face.

I’m one lucky son of a bitch.

Shiloh gulps in a breath. “You’re staring.”

“I’m enjoying the view.” My voice has gone deep and rumbling, but I can’t help it. “It’s like a buffet, and it’s all for me.”

“It’s all for us.” Monroe arches a brow and cups one of Shiloh’s breasts. “This isn’t some male power fantasy.”

“Honestly, that makes it better.” Their bond is so unexpected, but without it, we wouldn’t be in this position. Shiloh has friends within our group, of course, but even after all this time, she holds part of herself back with everyone but me.

Now Monroe has joined that exception. I don’t understand it, but I’m not about to question it. Especially when she obviously feels something for Shiloh; she wouldn’t be so protective otherwise.

Monroe tugs Shiloh’s hair tie out and sifts her fingers through her long dark hair. “Here’s how this is going to go. I’ve been thinking about your pussy all day, so I’m going to lay you down and fuck you with my tongue.” She glances at me, mischief alighting in her green eyes. “I think Broderick is famished for you, too, so I’m going to be nice and share—a little.”

“Kind of you,” I grind out.

“I’m a giver like that.” She turns back to Shiloh. “You have a problem with that plan?”

“No…” She swallows hard. “But, I want to, ah, return the favor.”

“So shy now that we’ve got you naked.” Monroe laughs. “You were just talking about how you want Broderick to come inside me so you can taste it later.” She pauses. “On that note, do we need to use protection? That ship has kind of already sailed for us, but if you’d feel more comfortable—”

Shiloh looks away, not meeting either of our gazes. “It’s a non-issue for me. I haven’t been with anyone but you in…a very long time, and I can’t have.”

Monroe blinks and then narrows her eyes. “Tell me your parents didn’t do that to you.”

It takes me a beat longer to connect the dots. Shiloh hasn’t had any procedures since she joined up with us, especially something that would lay her out for a bit like that. Which meant it happened before, but she was only on her own for a little bit between us and…

Her parents did this to her.

Cold fury hits me in a wave. I open my mouth to demand confirmation that her parents truly took that choice from her, but she gives me a pleading look, stopping me short. “They didn’t do it to me. I bribed a doctor to tie my tubes when I was nineteen. I didn’t want…” She hesitates. “I would rather not talk about it.”

Maybe that should make me feel better, that she chose it for herself, but I can’t stop thinking about a nineteen-year-old version of my best friend going through that procedure alone, without any support, because she was so scared of continuing the legacy her parents forced on her. “Shiloh—”

“We don’t have to talk about it, love. You don’t have to justify your choice to either of us.” Monroe brushes Shiloh’s hair back from her face tenderly. She kisses her, soft and sweet, and gives her a nudge toward the bed. “Now lie down and spread your legs for me.”

As Shiloh moves on unsteady legs to obey, Monroe stalks to me and grabs a fistful of my shirt. “Get your head in the game,” she snarls, so low, I can barely hear her. “She doesn’t need either of our anger right now. Snap out of it.”

“Maybe it’s that easy for you, but it’s not for me.” I stare down at her. I have to look at Monroe, because if I look at Shiloh, I might fucking snap. “I can’t just shake off the knowledge that—”

“Shut. Up.” She gives me a shake. “Either take off your clothes and get ready to fuck us properly, or leave right now and I’ll do it alone.”

I want to yell that it’s not a fair choice to make, but… It is. It’s more than fair. Shiloh has made her needs very clear, and stopping everything to talk about something she obviously doesn’t want to talk about is the height of selfishness. Right now, all she wants is pleasure with none of the pain.

I can give her that.

I will happily work with the woman at my side to give her that. The woman who seems to see parts of Shiloh so much clearer than I do, who will happily fight to give her what she needs. In this moment, seeing the vicious look on Monroe’s face, the last of my lingering anger at her drains away, leaving something both soft and fierce in its wake.

I take a slow breath and exhale the tension out of my shoulders as best I can. I carefully remove Monroe’s fists from the front of my shirt and give them a squeeze. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

One look at the bed, at Shiloh lying there with her legs spread, shaking a little, and I can barely get my next words out. I lift my voice a little. “We both want a taste. I think we can be polite and take turns.”

“Take turns.”

I shoot her a look. “Are you going to parrot everything I say back to me, or are you going to get on that bed and worship Shiloh’s pussy the way she deserves?”

Monroe chokes out a laugh. “Is that a trick question?” The smile she gives me lights up her eyes, and something in my chest thumps uncomfortably. “I knew you’d see things my way,” she murmurs.

“Hard not to when you draw your line in the sand so clearly. Who wouldn’t want to be on the same side as you?”

“Took you long enough to figure it out.” She heads for the bed, calling softly over her shoulder. “Get naked, Broderick. Let’s have some fun.”

Fun.

Right.

I drag my shirt over my head as Monroe crawls onto the bed. The sight of her and Shiloh… Sweet fuck, I don’t even know how to put it into words. Shiloh’s always been important to me, but sometime in the last twenty-four hours, I started to see Monroe as something other than an enemy to avoid or conquer. I don’t know if it’s how things went last night or seeing her interact with the woman I love, see her start to fall for Shiloh, though I doubt she realizes it’s happening.

She cares.

If she cares for her people half as well as she does for Shiloh, she’s going to be one hell of a queen. A formidable enemy, yes, but an even stronger ally.

But only if we can find a path forward.

I don’t know what that looks like. The concept is still too fresh to examine closely. I’ll deal with it later. I have a year, after all. By next Lammas, we’ll have this figured out, one way or another.

Shiloh moans and digs her hands into Monroe’s hair as the Amazon settles between her thighs. They’re really too beautiful for words, and the obvious way they care for each other only ramps up that beauty.

I fumble at the front of my pants, as rushed and awkward as a teenager. It takes a few deep, slow breaths before I get myself under control. My hands still shake a bit as I ease off my pants, but I manage to approach the bed at a leisurely pace, as if I’m not dying to take these women up on what we offered each other back at the bar.

Monroe shifts to the side a little as I climb onto the bed, making some space for me. Not nearly enough, though, and I take great pleasure in wedging myself down beside her, lifting one of Shiloh’s thighs over my shoulder to make room. My hand slides over the smoother stripes of her scars, but I don’t linger. I don’t want her to feel self-conscious, and I also can’t afford to get distracted by a murderous rage right now.

Monroe’s mouth is glossy from Shiloh’s pussy, and I kiss her. There’s no artifice in it. No strategy. I kiss her because I want to, because I crave the combination of these two women on my tongue.

I only lift my head when I can taste Monroe alone. She blinks at me, her lips curving in a surprisingly sweet smile. “I see your head is back in the game.”

Shiloh props herself up on her elbows. “Can we—”

“Hush.” Monroe turns her head and kisses Shiloh’s inner thigh.

Shiloh blinks. “Um.”

“We’re discussing strategy.” Monroe skates a hand over her lower stomach and parts Shiloh’s pussy. “Isn’t she pretty?”

My throat goes dry. “Yeah.” Pretty and pink and already wet from what Monroe was doing with her tongue. I’ve felt Shiloh, had her coming around my fingers, but something about seeing her in the fading light of the day makes this a thousand times realer. “She’s fucking perfect.”

“Look at that, we can agree on something.” Monroe shifts, nuzzling Shiloh’s thigh a little higher. “Why don’t you have a taste, husband? You’ve been so patient. I’d say you earned it.”

I glance at Shiloh’s face, trying to gauge if she’s still on board with this. She worries her bottom lip, her eyes seemingly huge on her face. Maybe this really is a mistake. Maybe I’m damning all three of us for indulging my selfish desires. Maybe—

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Monroe says it almost fondly. She drags her fingers through Shiloh’s folds and presses them to my lip. “Taste.”

I suck her fingers into my mouth. I could pretend it’s a reflexive move, but the truth is that I’m dying for a taste, no matter what method is available to me. A guttural groan slips free as I play my tongue over Monroe’s fingers.

“That’s right,” she whispers. “She’s so sweet, I could eat her for hours. Tastes even better from the source.” She slips her fingers from my mouth and traces them along my jaw to the nape of my neck.

I don’t fight her as she guides me closer to Shiloh, as she positions my mouth right over Shiloh’s clit. I don’t even think to resist, not when this is what I’ve wanted for so fucking long.

At the first slow swipe of my tongue, Shiloh lets out a keening noise that goes straight to my cock. It’s agony and perfection, and when I settle between her thighs and kiss her pussy properly, I nearly lose my fucking mind. Monroe’s right; she’s sweet and soft and everything I’ve ever wanted.

If I don’t come all over the bed just from the taste of her, it’s going to be a fucking miracle.