Chapter 18

Ariana

18

The awkwardness fizzles away quickly as Raylan's capable tongue has my mind spinning in infinite circles. Kendric and Sky begin by kissing my hands first. Slowly, they work their way up my arms. Our clothes are gone, scattered across the floor.

Now, my body is theirs to do with as they please, and I'm reveling in the purest unbridled pleasure I've ever experienced. It is strange, but it is also complete abandonment.

Raylan keeps my mouth busy, his tongue dancing tight circles with mine while Kendric and Sky whisper sweet things in my ears. "You smell like fucking heaven," Sky says. "I'm going to eat you whole tonight," Kendric growls playfully before he starts dropping wet kisses down the side of my neck.

"Oh, Raylan," I moan as he nibbles, then sucks my lower lip.

At the same time, Sky's hand slides downward, cupping one breast. He squeezes, then uses his thumb and index to pinch my nipple as Kendric moves Raylan aside so he can sit on the floor between my spread legs.

I'm panting, wet with desire and aching to be filled, but we are only just getting started. The world outside is gradually disappearing as I leave myself in their care, as I let them devour me from head to toe. I'll worry about everything tomorrow. The pregnancy. My father. The Black Hand. Masterson. Murders and conspiracies and a whole city in dire need of saving. It can all wait while I unravel in the arms of my men.

My men.

They're mine, and I am theirs.

"I thought I'd never get to taste you again," Kendric whispers as his wide tongue slides between my slick folds. I'm dripping with hot desire, my pussy clenching around his fingers as he begins his slow yet determined exploration. His lips close around my clit, and I cry out.

"Don't stop, don't ever fucking stop," I manage, my body about to snap like a bamboo stick as he brings me closer to the edge of the universe.

Tension gathers in my core, electricity filling every atom in my body as Sky and Raylan get up on the sofa and offer me their cocks. Hungry and desperate, I take both in lazy yet determined turns, gripping each by the base with one hand. Sky goes down and deep while I've learned to relax the back of my throat and loosen my jaw so I can take as much of him in as possible. His salty, delicious taste is familiar, but Raylan is something else entirely.

He's big and juicy, the shaft longer and driven by throbbing veins. My tongue registers every ridge as I lick him from top to bottom before I suck on his tip, swallowing the precum with ravenous anticipation. They love it when I stroke and lick the heads at the same time, and I enjoy the mindless sounds they make, the gruff growls and gasps as they come closer to the edge with me.

"Come for me, baby," Kendric commands as his fingers pump in and out of me in a determined rhythm.

I cry out while he sucks my clit hard, harder. Ecstasy flows through me like liquid sunshine, and I'm melting into a puddle, rippling outward as Kendric squeezes every drop out of me.

I am primed and ready for what comes next.

Raylan's turn. He turns me over, and I lean into the back of the couch while Kendric takes his place. I'm on my knees and firmly held by my men. "I've been dreaming about this moment for so long," Raylan says, then thrusts deep, losing himself inside me.

"Oh, God!" I gasp, feeling every single ridge of his fantastic, rock-hard cock. Instinctively, I clench myself tightly to feel even more while his left hand moves around to cup my swollen nub, my tender center of erotic gravity. He keeps his right hand on my hip, fingers digging into my flesh as he starts fucking me.

It's slow at first.

I continue my loving service of Sky, welcoming his engorged member down my throat, then struggle with Kendric's thick cock, my lips stretching in order to take him in. All of him. For the climax he's just given me, my rough, blue-eyed warrior deserves everything that I am able to give him, body and soul.

"Fucking hell, Ariana. You're perfect," Raylan says, his thrusts intensifying.

Soon enough, my core bucks, bracing for another explosion. He pounds into me, faster and deeper, stretching me and filling me and flicking my clit until I come again. Liquid heat drips down my thighs as Raylan takes me harder. I scream with a mouthful of Kendric as I feel Raylan nearing an explosive finish line.

He spills his seed inside me and gives me everything he's got.

"Sky, please," I beg him. "I want you next." I pause to look at Kendric; his blue eyes turned into the darkest tourmaline pools, sizzling with desire.

"What do you want from me, baby?" he asks, but he already knows the answer.

Raylan sits next to me, his gaze filled with stars and his bare, muscular chest covered in sweat as he gradually recovers his breath. The smile he gives me is the fuel I need to say it out loud without a single speck of shame.

"I want you to come in my mouth, Kendric."

He gives me a sexy, satisfied grin, then cups my head so he can keep me still as he slides back down my throat.

At the same time, Sky takes me from behind and slaps my ass. I am absolutely reveling in the shameless sting that burns through my buttocks.

I am still rippling and slippery wet as he goes deeper and harder.

I can barely breathe, tears and sweat dripping down my chin as I service Kendric into the abyss.

I can hear them. Panting. Growling. Moaning. I can feel them deep inside me. The two of them claiming me at once. I know it'll be the three of them soon enough. I can almost see it. I can almost feel that wonderful stretch, my body making room for all three, one way or another. The thought alone is enough to make me climax again, just as Sky starts fucking me so hard I'm practically shoved into the couch.

Kendric cries out for the heavens as he shoots his seed down my throat. I swallow every drop as Sky releases himself as well. In this singular moment, there is only love. The simplest, most intense form of love. I see it in Raylan's hazel, hooded eyes. I see it in the steel pools of Kendric's hazy gaze. And as I glance back, I see it in Sky's dark gaze.

I fall apart at the seams, utterly exhausted and beyond elated. I welcome their arms around me, their sweaty skin on mine, their hot lips all over my body.

Tomorrow, we go to war. We have demons to vanquish. But there are still a few hours left of tonight. As tired as I am, I have no intention of sleeping now that I have discovered how incredible it feels to be claimed by not one, not two, but three men. Three savage spirits who live on the open road and dance along the blade of danger, their tattoos, piercings, and scars reminding me of the ugly world they've hidden me from.

A few hours left to make the most of this.

It's late morning when I wake up, almost noon, judging by the light outside.

My body is jelly, but I love the feeling. My muscles are soft, every nerve ending shamelessly relaxed. A smile blooms on my face as I stretch my limbs and glance around, but my humor fades when I realize I am alone. The anguish is short-lived, however. I hear them talking in the living room while the coffee machine brews espresso, gurgling for thirty seconds while a teaspoon falls into the sink and a cupboard door is opened and shut.

We moved into the bedroom somewhere around dawn, but only to continue what we started, what we needed so much more of. It was fascinating. I never imagined I'd feel so whole, so happy. But the sweetness of last night slowly begins to fade as reality comes back to haunt me.

"There is still so much she doesn't know," I hear Kendric say as I get out of bed and stop by the door for some good old-fashioned eavesdropping. "We have to tell her everything. She trusts us. We have to trust in her ability to see the truth, no matter how hard it hits."

"Telling and showing are two different things," Raylan says. "And after what happened last night, we'd be insane to take her into the city again."

"She needs to know," Kendric insists.

I move away from the door and put some clothes on. One of the prospects brought my stuff over from the clubhouse sometime during the night, and one of my guys must've brought it into the bedroom while I was still asleep. Once I'm dressed, I pull my red hair back into a tight bun, ballcap ready if I need to cover it at a moment's notice, then join my men in the living room.

As soon as they see me, however, the atmosphere changes.

It becomes tense, loaded with secrets yearning to be revealed. But their soft smiles and warm gazes confuse me. What did I just walk into?

"Hey," I mumble, suddenly shy.

Sky crosses the living room and comes over to kiss me. He takes his sweet time, wrapping his arms around me. He holds me tightly for a while as I breathe him in, deepening the kiss and finding comfort and reassurance in his embrace. "Everything okay?" he asks me.

"I could ask you the same thing," I reply. "You're the ones who left me in there, having a little pow-wow out here."

"Sorry," Kendric rushes over to kiss me as well.

Raylan isn't far behind. "Good morning, darling. We had to be up early. There are things we set in motion last night, and we have to get back out on the road."

"Oh. I see. But they know you have me; they know you took me," I blurt out, alarm bells ringing everywhere in my head.

As if summoned, Sky returns with a cup of hot coffee, sweetened with sugar and a splash of milk, just the way I like it. "Relax, honey," he says, half-smiling. "We know how to dodge BOLOs in this town. We're losing the club gear and the bikes. We can blend in."

Only now do I notice that my men no longer look like the ruggedly handsome bikers who kidnapped me and took my heart along for the ride. They're still handsome and then some, but they're wearing plain slacks and dark grey long-sleeved tee shirts, black boots, and trucker ballcaps.

"Your piercings," I whisper, staring at Sky and Kendric, in particular. Raylan opted to hold on to his ear stud for a while longer. "They're gone."

"Safely put away," Sky says. "We've got a couple of pickup trucks and a sedan waiting for us at the base of the mountain. Ariana, we need to move quickly and see what's going on in the city."

I nod slowly. "I get that. I just … What happened at the clubhouse?"

"A full-on raid," Sky replies, his brow slightly furrowed. "They went in hard and picked everybody up. They smashed through Shiloh's door. It wasn't pretty, but everyone's okay. In lockup. Not saying a word until our lawyers get there."

"Wait, they arrested the whole club?"

"No, just the few we left behind. The others know how to keep a low profile. We all ditched the bikes and the insignia for the rest of this mission," Sky says. "Instructions were sent to each member and prospect, each partner and collaborator. Everyone's on board. The pieces are all in place; we're the only ones missing."

I nod slowly and take a long sip from my coffee, wishing I could just disappear in their arms again. Maybe then the world would vanish for good, and it would simply be the four of us making love through the night and sleeping through the day. Granted, I'm emotionally and physically exhausted. A complete shutdown sounds good right now, but I know I'd be up and running again in three days, tops, eager to go back to work and to keep building my own dream.

"I overheard you earlier," I say as we settle around the coffee table. I'm on the sofa with Raylan's loving arm around my shoulder while Kendric and Sky take the opposing armchairs. "What is it that you need to tell me?"

"You won't like it," Sky warns me.

"Try me. I might surprise you," I promptly reply, but there is already a thick knot tightening in the pit of my stomach. Deep down, I know what this is about and I'm not sure I'm ready to face it.

Sky runs his fingers through his black hair, the subtle curls at the top quick to rebel against his hand, then gives me a steady, apologetic look. "Ariana, your father has knowing ties to the Black Hand. He's not some ignorant patsy in this whole thing. He may not agree with what Masterson wants to do, but he doesn't have much of a choice, either."

"No," I promptly reply. "No way. He's my dad, Sky. I'm his daughter. He wouldn't let anybody hurt me."

"He doesn't get to decide anymore," Sky insists. "It's why we took you away from him. We wanted him open and desperate enough to reach out to the Black Hand. And he did precisely that weeks ago. Masterson, like you said, has been watching the club for a while already. He was waiting for an opportunity to secretly snatch you away from us, with no intention of ever taking you back to your father."

My blood runs cold. "Are you saying my father wants me dead?"

"I'm saying your father brought the Black Hand out of the shadows, well aware of the consequences," he replies.

"We do not question his love for his only daughter," Raylan chimes in. "But we have irrefutable proof that he's so deeply involved with the Black Hand that he has lost all control. We've been mounting evidence against him for months now, but we needed him to reach out to them, to bring them out of the shadows. With Masterson, he did precisely that."

"You used me as bait," I mutter.

Kendric shakes his head. "No. As leverage. We didn't imagine the Black Hand would have so little regard for your life. Normally, with your dad as a member, they would protect someone like you in such circumstances. They could've sent in their mercenaries, of which they have plenty, to simply barge into the clubhouse and take you back to your father."

"But they didn't do that," a heavy sigh leaves my chest.

"No, they did not. What does that tell you?" Sky asks me.

"That they don't want me talking, especially now that they know I know about your fight against them," I reply. "Oh, God, I think I'm going to be sick."

Raylan holds me close, pressing his warm lips against my temple. "We won't let them get close enough to take you. They'll never be able to hurt you," he says.

"And my father? I'm sorry, I can't accept that he's this deep with the Black Hand. What for? What did they give him to make him care so little about what happens to me?"

"I think he cares, but he had a difficult choice to make, and with Masterson in the picture, he clearly made the wrong one," Sky says. "We could show you documents. Screenshots. Surveillance footage. Paper trails. We've got enough to put him away for a long time, Ariana, but we can't do that unless we find a way to uncover the Black Hand as well, with undeniable evidence. Otherwise, we will fail, and all this will have been for nothing."

I try to wrap my head around what they're telling me. The suspicion is there, but it's one thing to suspect that my father is in cahoots with a secret, corrupt, and murderous cabal and another thing entirely to accept that as reality. The danger he put me in because of his choices is starting to make him look as bad as the monster who tried to kill me.

"We can show you something else," Kendric says. "But we'll need to be careful. The Black Hand and their cronies are going to be everywhere."

Part of me wants to say no. I should stay here in this cabin where I'm safe, at least for a while. Once again, my curiosity gets the better of me. Yet I cannot deny the truth, either. Whatever comes next has the guys and me smack in the middle of it. We're building a relationship in the eye of this storm, and I'd like to survive what's coming so we can explore it further. I need the truth in order to do that, regardless of how ugly it may be. I have to put on my big girl boots forthis.

"Show me," I reply.

Sky checks his phone. "You're not going to like it."

"Yeah, you keep saying that. Show me anyway."

An hour later, we're back in Everton. The four of us are huddled in one of the pickup trucks, parked on the side of the street in between a minivan and a Volvo. There's plenty of traffic, plenty of movement up and down the sidewalk. It's a busy hour, particularly in this blue-collar district.

"I don't understand what we're doing here," I mutter from the passenger seat.

Sky keeps checking his phone. "We've got eyes all over the city, and one of our IT kids managed to hack into the City Hall servers last night. From there, he was able to get into one of your father's personal email inboxes, of which he has five."

"Five?" I sound understandably surprised. My dad was always a bit of a technophobe. To hear that he's working five personal emails along with his work inbox is mind-boggling, to say the least. There is clearly so much about him that I have yet to discover.

"Yeah, it will take a while to scour them all since there's a lot of code used in the email bodies, but we'll get the intel we need soon enough," Sky replies. "Point is, there's a meeting happening here in just a bit, and I have CCTV access from the public system that confirms it. They're coming," he says to Kendric and Raylan, who sit quietly in the back.

We had a relatively safe and uneventful ride down here. Whenever we passed by a police car, I turned my face away from the window, but our plain looks and ballcaps have kept us under the radar thus far. I just hope we stay undetected while we do this. It's insanely dangerous.

"There they are," Kendric nods, looking somewhere ahead.

I follow his gaze and hold my breath, recognizing Thierry Estes as he comes out of a white Lexus that just pulled over outside a local diner. It's not the kind of place I expected to see someone like my boss. Thierry Estes spins billions of dollars every month, moving diamonds and high-end jewelry across the elite fashion sector. The man has caviar for breakfast and a bottle of champagne, always on ice at each of his stores in case he gets thirsty. He's dressed to the nines, as usual.

"Oh, God," I hear myself groan as I see my father coming down the street.

Unlike Thierry, the mayor of Everton City is dressed down, opting for a black tracksuit and sunglasses, trying to remain incognito. But I would recognize him anywhere. He meets with Thierry just outside the diner, though myfather keeps looking around, clearly suspicious and wary. They shake hands and go in.

Sky hands me his surveillance binoculars. "Tell me what you see."

"Okay," I whisper, my stomach already churning.

Through the binoculars, I see my father taking a seat at one of the corner booths. Thierry joins him, and a waitress brings over coffee and a couple of menus. But they're not alone. A third man leans forward, and when I see him, I almost faint.

"Holy shit," I hear myself say.

"What?" Raylan asks.

"My dad, Thierry Estes, and Eric Masterson of the fucking FBI are meeting at a diner on the wrong side of town, mere hours after Masterson tried to kill me," I reply, my voice trembling with rage. "I have a mind to go in there and confront them all."

"You will do no such thing," Sky replies bluntly. "We only watch and observe, Ariana. It's all we can dofor now." He pauses and glances back at Kendric. "Is your camera ready?"

Only now do I hear the incessant clicking from a DSLR. I look over my shoulder and find Kendric snapping photo after photo, using a long-range Canon with zoom lenses that are likely providing him with clear-cut images of my father, Estes, and Masterson.

"Ican't believe this," I mutter to myself and go back to peeping through the binoculars while trying to take deep, measured breaths. "I can't fucking believe this. What are they doing with Masterson? Does my father know that bastard tried to kill me? I need to know."

"What did I just say?" Sky shoots back and firmly grips my knee to stop it from jittering. I'm anxious. Furious. Disappointed. Terrified. Sickened. This can't be real. "Ariana, this is the truth. You now see it for yourself. Don't think for a second that Henry isn't aware of the Black Hand's operations. I'm not saying he sanctioned the hit they probably put out on you, but he's not backing away from them, either."

"No, clearly not. They're ordering lunch," I mumble.

Tears sting my eyes. That's my father. He loved and cherished me, raised me, protected me. Sure, my dad and I never got along in certain aspects of my life, but a father's love should be endless and fierce.

What is he doing at that table?

You know what he's doing, Ariana. He's proving Sky, Kendric, and Raylan right.

I really am safer with my kidnappers than I am with my father. I can't believe this.

"How are you feeling?" Kendric asks me while snapping more photos, then hands the camera over to Raylan. "Here, you take over."

"I don't know how I feel. Sick, to be honest," I sigh.

"What are you doing?" Raylan asks Kendric as he opens the truck door.

"I'm taking Ariana somewhere. You two stay here and keep an eye on those three," he says.

I look at all of them in confusion while Kendric pushes the door open and steps out.

"Wait, where are you taking me?"

"There's someone you need to meet," he replies.

I give Sky a curious look, but he responds with a single, decisive nod. "Go."