Chapter 13

Thirteen

Aster

I don't know how long I've been asleep, but when I peel back my eyelids, it's pitch-black. A storm rumbles overhead and slivers of white light flash along the edges of the blackout curtains. My gaze falls to the signed contracts on the table. Or at least where I left them.

After signing the leather book for Magnolia, she left. Instead of waiting to hear what they thought about me agreeing to sign and stay, I headed for the shower. An hour later there was dinner waiting for me, a clean T-shirt and a pair of silk black panties in a lingerie box with white tissue paper and a pretty gold seal. A nice touch they probably thought would earn them lots of brownie points. Viper, no doubt, foresaw me swinging the door open like some damsel in lust, falling into his waiting arms and kissing him madly.

The only falling I did was into my pillow and now I have a major case of bed head. That will teach me to face plant with wet hair, but I didn't care at the time. I didn't even bother with the steak and salad dinner. I couldn't. The idea my father is out there hunting me down with the help of Joseph and his merry band of fuck ups has me nauseous.

I have no job, little money and no escape plan now. I can't contact Harlon. I know without a doubt my father is waiting for me to do just that.

I brush at the tangles of my hair with little hope. Abandoning the idea of fixing my mistake without a real brush, I reach for the light. When a bulb springs to life from the other side of the room, I jump. Gold instantly spills in all directions. I move my feet to hear the shuffle of cotton beneath the large comforter. I swear you can fit ten people shoulder to shoulder on this bed.

I swallow a gasp and try not to show just how freaky it is to find all three men around a table opposite the bed.

These men are cloaked in an aura of danger. It follows them everywhere they go and here, alone with them it seems to only grow. Yet I feel no danger, only protective energy, I realize.

I push back until the headboard is at my back.

"There's nowhere to run, baby girl," Mirsha warns seductively.

The rich sound of his masculine voice reaches for me. Caresses my senses.

I murmur a soft laugh. "Oh, I'm not running from you." I'm making sure I have something solid behind me for when these beasts pounce.

I'm not a fortune teller, but I can read body language.

Mirsha has lost his shirt and settles his weight on his elbows when he sits forward. With his substantial weight pitched forward, it will not take much for him to be across the room and be on me.

Thick forearms lead to thicker biceps and well-defined shoulders. Scars serve as signs of a dangerous life. Some are thin, white lines while others are thicker. A few I recognize, others are new.

I can't make out too much detail, but I can see he's gotten new ink, too. His age has always been a factor that drew me to him since way before it should have. Tonight all of his forty-nine years show. Not in aged lines or gray hair. But in the world-weary look in his eyes. He's experienced nightmares and those fine lines around his eyes say as much. He learned to mask his emotions long before I could walk. I know this about him. The same is true for Luther and Viper. But tonight, I sense no shields, walls or facades to decipher.

For the first time, I witness each of them in this newly exposed and unbound state.

And it hurts my heart. Not only can I see raw intensity practically shimmering around them. But I can feel it too. Emotions that are not mine dig into the fabric of my being.

Looking between them, each hardened criminal has their hearts on their proverbial sleeves for me to witness.

It's beautiful and humbling. But leaves my insides trembling for all the wrong reasons.

Go to them , my heart cries. But my common sense says stay where I am.

It's a hard game of tug of war I don't want to play. If I could have my way, I would fall between their knees, but if I do they win. All three of them will know they can hurt me, yet always have a way back in. So no. If I don't stand up for myself now, then there will be no hope for something more with them. Given I can untangle myself from my father's crushing grip. There's still that can of rot to deal with.

" Sei bella come una stella cadente e come intoccabile ."

I used to love it when Mirsha spoke his family's language to me. Even after all this time, the roll of Italian off his tongue sends my pulse racing.

Sitting up fully, I tuck my bare legs close to my chest and wrap my arms around my knees. "You have a beautiful voice. What does it mean?"

"He said you are as beautiful as a shooting star. And just as untouchable."

Luther's shirt hangs open when he moves from the sitting area toward me. Graceful movements reveal a nice view of all those dark dips and contours of a well-maintained physique.

Fucking. Lickable.

Finely tailored pants move with his steps and cling in just the right spots to tease me with what is underneath the expensive material. He's elegant in a word. But it's the way his belt buckle hangs free that has my fingers balling into the duvet. If he comes closer, I don't trust myself to keep my hands where they belong.

Viper and Mirsha's eyes don't leave me as I slowly reach for Luther's outstretched hand.

So much for keeping my hands to myself.

He pulls me to my knees. Warm skin glides beneath my palms as I slip my hands beneath the lapels of his open shirt.

Smooth. Warm. I want to run my tongue over every inch of him and then scream, MINE .

"Mm, I've missed your touch," he groans. It's a sexy sound so deep and rugged I want the world to melt away until it is just him and me. For a while. And then the other two can join.

Like honey over sun-kissed skin, I pour into his arms. My curves easily mold against him and it feels like we've been lovers forever.

"I've always loved you." I've been dying to tell them all those words. Circumstances and luck have Luther being the first to hear them.

My godfather tucks a finger beneath my chin. A little pressure and he has my gaze on his.

Taking my hands in his, he kisses the backs reverently. Almost like he is ashamed of what is about to happen. "And I've known for a long time this moment is inevitable."

"It's been nearly a decade since I first confessed my desire for the three of you."

"Yes," Luther murmurs. "Time that should have never been stolen from us."

His frustration is palpable.

"I signed the book," I confess before I can stop what is happening between us and run for the nearest door. "I guess that makes me not as untouchable as before." I hold Magnolia's words of wisdom with both hands and hope they don't reject me again.

"I saw your signature."

"Luther, I'm scared." God, please help me survive tonight. If they walk again, I will become a shell.

"The only thing to fear is living another day without tasting you." His lips turn hungry against mine. Nipping, licking, and taking the plump flesh between his teeth.

Unrelenting fingers sink into my hair as my godfather takes what he needs from me.

And I do the same to him. Our tongues clash, fight and then caress.

"Mm," I groan into his mouth.

"Jesus fucking Christ, woman." I hear him, but I am too busy with the rest of him to pay much attention to his rumble of words.

Solid heat meets my palms when I dip my hands back into the open sides of his shirt. His hard pecs and smooth skin are irresistible, so I don't try.

A fusion of hunger and desire mixes in the icy depths of Luther's blue eyes. Viper is bold and takes, but Luther has you wanting him so badly that the sensation lingers for days after his touch.

Mirsha comes to the foot of the bed and holds a hand out. I fall to all fours and crawl across the bed to him. I don't breathe in until his arms are around me and his heartbeat is in my ear. Large, calloused hands roam the expanse of my back. He holds me to him and for the first time in a very long time, I don't hurt.

"Thousands of dollars in therapy wasted," I murmur against his chest. Skin on skin. Body heat against body heat. They are my cure.

Viper takes me from his friend. "Didn't I tell you a long time ago to let the energy of our connection pull us back together? Did I not?" His hand comes around the back of my neck. Our long hair spills around us. Tucked behind the curtains of black he kisses me. Slow and like it's our first time.

"I told you," he whispers and then moves his lips to my neck.

"Yes, you did. And I always thought those words were a lie so that I would let you walk away with less tears."

"They were never lies." We pull apart. Those amber eyes show me he believes this was meant to be.

I can't find it in me to argue. It's nice to pretend.

I settle back on my knees. "Let me see." Fierce longing to encapsulate this moment in my memory won't go away until I satisfy the urge. I reach for another lamp and flick it on.

Mirsha's twisted smirk tells me he knows what I want. While Luther and Viper both lose their shirts, my other godfather pulls his belt loose. The crack of leather popping free of the loops is like lashes against my libido.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

Fuck.

I shudder at the foot of the bed where I remain, enjoying the show. With their pants and shirts out of the way, I'm left with a large swath of territory to drink in. The ink, the rippling muscle.

My eyes dip over hard abs and those sexy V's a man has at their hips. And then I allow myself the most forbidden. My gaze falls another inch.

"Goddamn, you are perfect." Okay, Jesus. I didn't mean to say it like that, but every hard inch of their dripping cocks is perfection in the flesh.

Mirsha grunts first, appreciative of my bluntness, no doubt. The tug of humor at the edges of his mouth is the only hint he's clearly happy I approve.

Luther and Viper emit low growls of their own. One minute they are my godfathers in compromising positions around me. Next all I see are three gorgeous men holding their engorged cocks and pre-cum glistening on the tips like candy for me to lick.

Angular bodies, rippling muscles and new ink. I don't know where to let my eyes roam next. Viper's namesake has some new color to it. The sapphire eyes are a lovely addition and match the shade of mine. I trail my finger over the inked details and follow the intricate scales all the way over his collarbone until my finger reaches the tip of the tail lazily dangling over the curve of his shoulder.

I continue to follow the tattoo. "Oh!" It curves to…I gasp lightly. To caress the underside of my breast. One his skin. I lean back for a better view.

Oh. Damn, that's sexy. "Viper?"

"Do you like her?" he asks gruffly and the way his tone dips caresses my libido in just the right way.

Warmth spills into my veins as I look at me intricately displayed over his right arm in a flurry of delicate lines and shades of warm skin tones. Roses in every color artfully hide the V of my legs, but my breasts and hard, rosy peaks are on full display.

"She's beautiful. Me. I'm beautiful," I stutter and lose the fight to keep the blush from overtaking my cheeks. I haul in another breath. "I am at a loss for words. I did not know you had such an excellent memory."

"I couldn't have you with me physically, so I made other arrangements. We all did, in our own way."

He tips my chin toward Luther, who turns to show me a beautiful flourish of my name stretching across the expanse of his well-defined back. Swirls of black intertwine with the white flowers of jasmine.

Luther takes Mirsha's left arm in hand and shows me a set of Roman numerals in black ink spanning the space between his elbow and wrist.

I reach out and trace each of the bold numerals.

"My birthday date." My gaze climbs to find his.

"Show her the other."

Mirsha holds up his other arm to reveal another date, but I don't recognize the meaning. "What date is that?"

"The day we walked away, baby girl. The day we had to put our hearts on the ground and bury the love we have for you."

Mirsha puts his hands around the back of my neck and pulls me in until our foreheads connect. He caresses the pulse point on either side, the languid motions slow and settling. Like he is grounding me to the here and now while his words throw me back to that night.

"Why did you leave me? I offered you everything I had to give, and it wasn't enough to make you want me. I would have run away with you."

His chest expands and collapses several times before he answers and when he does, his words are rough. Like he has sandpaper for vocal cords.

"Your father. We are powerful. Our army of men is deep. But so is his, and the bloodshed would be catastrophic. You're the youngest princess of the Constantine empire. And we are the outsiders. You don't think he would go to the ends of the world to protect your honor?"

War. He's talking about the innocent people my father would murder until he got his way.

"You were his friends, not outsiders."

"We were not blood and to your father, that meant a certain boundary line was set from the day we met. And there are some friendships that come with silent stipulations. One accepted worldwide is ‘don't touch the daughters'."

Fair point. "I couldn't live with myself if others died just so I could be with the men I love."

Luther pushes my hair to the side on my left and Viper mimics the move on my right.

"We couldn't risk you becoming a pawn in your father's game to always come out on top," Viper adds.

"We bid our time and now you are ours. As unplanned as it is, we are not giving you back. You left, he can't blame us for that." Luther takes my hand and places my open palm over his heart. "I hope your husband tries to take you from us."

I clear my throat. "Umm…forced fiancé, and the courtship lasted about ten minutes. It took me that long to get past all his thugs and be shuffled off to here. Now I'm scared I've messed up again."

"We have amassed a larger army. Powerful allies. He can come. But the war he will start will be short-lived."

Viper's lips pull into a predatory grin. Holding my gaze, he catches a falling tear on the tip of his tongue.

"No tears, baby girl. Not unless they are from the pleasure we are about to give you."

Even though I know I need to give us a chance, I am still scared.

"I waited for you," I blurt out in a hushed rush. "I never trusted another man with my heart and body. I couldn't. Maybe deep down I knew I would be with you all one day and I wanted to know I gave my virginity to the men I love." I pause, take a deep breath. "The bond we share wouldn't let it be anyone else but you."

"Our sweet baby girl. Our blood is yours as much as yours is ours. Our bodies, our hearts. All of us belong to you."