CHAPTER FOURTEEN

SEBASTIAN

This is the longest we've ever been naked and not been fucking. The fear of losing all this has killed the mood. Gage and Stella were insistent that we let Mav and Lucy figure their shit out, but it's pissing me off, because it's not only about them. This affects all of us. It's like building a tower with Jenga pieces, if you remove one, then it'll all come crashing down.

"Do you think this is about what I did to her?" Stella asks with a sad expression. Nobody feels guilt for shit they didn't even do quite like her. Every choice she makes in life is met with overthinking. It's how her brain is wired.

"No, baby," Gage says as he runs his hand through her hair, "You girls tend to get into your heads a lot. I think it's probably more about that."

He pulls her into his arms as he lies back on the bed. I stand in front of the mattress, watching them, marveling at how normal this feels. There was a time, not too long ago, that seeing Gage touch either of my women made me go crazy. So why then does it bother me so much if Mav and Gage do anything? I don't know, I don't understand it. Maybe it was unexpected because he has always shown no interest in being with a man. That's probably what terrifies me the most, because neither did I. Prior to the day Gage forcefully sucked my cock in that bathroom, I never had a single thought about being with another man.

It still bothers me to some degree because, while Gage says labels aren't necessary for me, I'm still trying to figure it out. I'm definitely not gay because I fucking love my women. Does that make me bi-sexual? I don't think that's true either, because if Gage weren't in the picture for whatever reason, I'd never touch another man.

"Sebastian," Stella whines, "I need you too."

I climb onto the bed on the other side of her and wrap my arm around her waist, my hand resting on Gage's side. "Gage, do you love me?" She asks.

He clears his throat, "Yes, baby."

She places a kiss on his chest and giggles. "Then you should give me anything I want."

Gage chuckles loudly. "I don't think not getting what you want means I don't love you, but what do you want?"

Stella jumps up excitedly. "I want to go to Paris."

"Fucking Paris," Gage groans but he doesn't say no. She pushes him onto his back, and straddles his lap, holding his wrists over his head, her pretty tits dangling over him. "We could write another filthy book while we're there and try out everything we write."

I laugh because suddenly I know we're going to Paris, because Gage cannot refuse an offer like that.

Mav storms into the room. "Get dressed. We need to talk."

That's all he says before he leaves, and then I hear his footsteps go toward the living room.

GAGE

The expression on Stella's face tells me she's panicking. She's in her head, and probably thinking worst case scenarios long before we get there.

"Breathe, baby."

She swallows hard. "Do you think she's leaving?"

I chuckle as I grab her face and kiss her quickly on the lips. "No, baby. Might she be tied up somewhere? Yeah, that's a possibility, but there's no way Mav would let her leave. And neither would I."

Sebastian and I pull on matching sweatpants, and Stella grabs a pair of tiny black shorts and a white t-shirt that says Taken on it. Yeah, we're possessive assholes like that, if our women are ever out in public, we want other men to know they are fucking off limits. I stare at the shirt as I think about Mav saying he'd marry Lucy. The thought of it pisses me off, because that would make her his, not ours. And I don't like it.

When we make it to the living room, I don't miss the way Mav has one arm around Lucy's back, and the other around her front, as if trying to prevent her from running. The three of us sit on the other end of the couch as I question Mav, "What's up?"

He rolls his eyes at me and focuses his attention on Stella. "What do you want?"

She doesn't respond because she's too busy fidgeting with her shorts.

"Stella," he barks, making her jump. "What?"

Mav runs a hand through his hair, I've never seen him like this, he looks like he's been through something traumatic.

"What do you want?"

She shakes her head in confusion. "I don't know what you mean."

He groans in annoyance, like we're supposed to know where his fucking head is. "Out of life, Stella. What do you want? Marriage? Babies? What do you fucking want?"

She glances between Sebastian and me, as Pretty Boy grabs her hand. "It's okay, baby girl, just answer the question. There isn't a wrong answer."

"Well, I always imagined a future with a husband and children, but there are five of us so I don't see it happening with us. Maybe one day still, but I don't know."

I look over to Sebastian and he's thinking the same thing I am. Neither one of our women see this as permanent.

Mav speaks up, "I'll marry Lucy, and one of you can marry Stella, problem solved."

I jump out of my seat. "Fuck you, asshole. That's not happening."

Arching an eyebrow, he says, "Like hell it isn't."

"There are five of us, dickwad. You get what you want and then what? Sebastian or I are the odd man out, with fucking nothing?"

He shrugs and I storm over to him and get in his face. "Fuck you. You aren't taking her from us. You're talking out your ass cause your head knows better. She's ours, not yours."

SEBASTIAN

What a fucking betrayal. I've known, pretty much since everything went down at that book show, that Mav had a fascination with Lucy, obsession really. Taking her virginity didn't help matters, but I thought we were all good with the way things were, happy even. But now he wants to take Lucy from us, and that thought alone makes it hard to breathe. That's the funny thing when you are in a group of five people, you know how you feel about things but sometimes you're so stuck in what you want, you never consider anybody else's feelings. That's what Mav is doing right now.

Stella rises from her seat and stares at him, with tears running down her face. "Well, it's always been about Lucy, right, Maverick? She's the only one that ever meant anything to you. Well, you know what. She can have you. Fuck you, Maverick. FUCK YOU!"

She storms off upstairs and I swear I see a trail of fire behind her. I've never seen Stella like this. Of course, she appears angry, but I don't think she is. She's hurt. And pain causes people to lash out far worse than anger.

I glance over to Mav, shaking my head. "You're an asshole."

He gets up from the sofa. "Yeah, I know I am."

Without a word, he heads to the bedroom where Stella went, trying to fix yet another fucking fire that he created.

STELLA

We ended up here under bizarre circumstances for sure. Had you asked me the day they took us, if I'd fall in love with my three psycho stalkers, the answer would be no. Because how the hell does that even happen? Call it Stockholm Syndrome, I suppose that probably fits, but I did fall for all three of them. And to find out I never meant anything to Maverick after all this time? Fuck, it hurts. Of course, there are different levels of pain. From ouch this hurts, I better get a Band-Aid, to, the blood is oozing out of me and I'm probably going to die. This feels like the latter. My heart is broken, and after my last boyfriend, I swore that'd never happen again. If you never give a man your heart, they can't break it. That worked well until three psychos kidnapped us and made me feel things I vowed to never feel.

The door to the bedroom opens and I'm face to face with the heartbreaker himself, but he won't hurt me again because I've built a fortress around my heart. And he's not getting in.

"Get the fuck out, Mav," I bite, "I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to listen to you, and I sure as hell don't want to look at you."

His expression is pained before he quickly returns to his normal stoic one. "Stel, you've got to listen to me."

I hold up my hand, telling him to stop. "Talk to the hand, because-"

Maverick smirks. "Baby, people don't say that anymore."

Placing my hands on my hips, I glare at him. "I'm a person, and I say it."

Ignoring the fact that I said I don't want to be near him, he steps further into the room, and I stand ready to attack, but when he gets close enough to touch me, I don't, and I have no idea why. It's the eyes, I think to myself, the ones that draw you into a near trance like state.

He drags his thumb down my cheek. "Baby, I didn't mean to hurt you. My feelings for Lucy don't diminish mine for you. Fuck, if it were legal, I'd want to marry both of you."

I close my eyes tight. "Whatever I felt for you is done."

Leaning in, his lips ghost over mine, and I can feel the wave of his breath brush over my skin. "You fucking beautiful liar."

My eyes pop open and I arch an eyebrow at him silently.

He grins like he knows something I don't. "The thing is, baby, you can't turn your feelings off like that. You'll never be over me, and I'll never be over you. This isn't temporary. Marriage or not, this is fucking forever."

He wraps my hair around both his fists and tilts my head back. "I'm going to kiss you and you're going to let me, because you want me as much as I want you."

I try to shake my head, but his grip is too firm. "Cocky asshole."

Mav takes full advantage of my open mouth and plunges his tongue inside my mouth aggressively. His tongue swirls around mine before he sucks on it, then moving to my neck, he licks and nips at my skin, making me moan. "Fuck, Stella, how could you even think I'd choose to live without you? Never tasting you again? That will never be an option."