16. Pete

16

PETE

“ S o, you gonna tell us what’s going on with Franc?”

Leo immediately tenses against me and while her reaction gets to me because I know what a douche Lucky’s brother is, I can’t help but be curious about what the fuck happened last night.

She fell asleep pretty quickly after he left, we all did to be honest, but Leo crashed fast after we tried reassuring her that none of us are going anywhere, and it raised a bit of a red flag. It’s kind of cute how much she wants us around, I just don’t want her to be afraid that’s going to change at the drop of a dime. Especially because of some shit Luck’s brother has to say.

Because it won’t.

“Nothing,” Leonor says, her heart starting to beat hard enough I can feel it against my side.

I don’t want her having a panic attack though, so I lift her hand from my chest and kiss her palm. “Ok, princess. I’ll leave it alone for now.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, her breath warm as it shakily fans over my skin. “I, I just?—"

“It’s fine.” For now . “You’ll tell us when and if you’re ready.”

Francesco is a royal bastard, I know this probably better than most because as soon as I went from Lucky’s best friend to his boyfriend, that weasel lost his cool on an entirely different level. And that was after decades of him still being a dickhead to me because I supported Luck’s dreams of starting a band, making it big, and living his truth every step of the way. But Leo was straight up terrified last night.

She was so fucking scared of him, she was seconds away from a monster panic attack, and I can’t wrap my head around why .

Yeah, she said Franc knows things , most likely about Leo’s past, her childhood, and the trauma we all figured she had from growing up in foster care but so what? It’s not that I don’t care about what Leonor has been through, I do so goddamn much, but we’ve all been through some shit before we were a band, and none of it actually holds any weight over our relationships now, how we look at each other, or the incredible music we make.

Not to mention, whatever the hell Leo is still hiding, it contributed to how fucking amazing she is as an adult. So to think any of us would view her differently or want to leave her because of some secret is ridiculous. If anything, it’ll bring us all closer together and our girl won’t have to worry about us going anywhere for a long fucking time.

“Pete?”

“Yeah, princess?” I turn Leo’s hand over in mine, running my thumb gently across the tattoos on the back of it, looking over the ones down her fingers. “What’s on your mind?”

Leo blows out a breath and shakes her head against me. “Never mind, it’s stupid.”

Vulnerable Leonor is a rarity, and I find this side of her rather endearing, I always have. Even if it makes me want to paddle her ass for still fighting it after well over a decade.

“Leo…”

“I, well, I was going to ask if… have you and Lucky…” she trails off and that small smile I’m sporting grows.

I know exactly what this woman wants to know.

“We haven’t,” I say as I pull her hand down to kiss each fingertip. “We’ve loved you too long to consider being with another woman. You’re the only one for us, princess.” The way Leonor all but goes limp at my side, sighing in what I can only interpret as relief, it has me chuckling. “You really thought we’d be with just anyone when all we’ve ever wanted was you?”

“I don’t know,” she giggles, a little embarrassed. “I wasn’t sure if you’d always been polyamorous, or if I was an exception. I didn’t even know you were together until last night.”

Good point . “Lucky and I made shit official a week before the anniversary show and in the entire time we’ve been together, it’s only been us.”

“I get that. I mean, I am pretty great…”

I bark out a laugh and place her hand back over my heart. This woman. “You’re a gigantic pain in the ass, Leonor, but we’re into that. The rest of them are gluttons for punishment.” I pause and wait for Leo to look up at me, which she does with a small tilt of her head. “I like doling it out and you, my smart mouthed bratty princess, are someone I’ve wanted to punish for years.”

Leo bites her lip with a smile as those cobalt blue eyes shine, her cheeks going a touch pink before her flush creeps down her neck.

Fuck, she’s so beautiful.

I really never thought we’d get here.

Between her disappearance and the fact that I was always a lot more subtle with my feelings, it didn’t seem like this would happen. And laying here now, holding Leo in my arms while she looks up at me with more emotions than I think I’ve ever seen on her face staring back at me… this almost feels too good to be true.

Do we still have to be guarded? Absolutely. Leonor was a ticking time bomb before shit happened and now that’s even more intense, which means all of this could change at any second. So keeping our guard up, even a little, is important because another loss will be devastating. Honestly, I think I’m the only one of us who feels like this, so I’m going to have to protect all four of us. Which is something else that plays into things for me.

“Pete?”

I take Leo’s chin between my thumb and forefinger, tilting her head a little more as I dip my chin. “Leonor?”

She licks her lips as she searches my eyes and just when I’m about to get in on that, kiss those petal soft pillows, Leo has me stopping short. “I love you.”

I pull back slightly, my heart the one now hammering away, and the skeptic in me hesitates.

The words were there last night, I knew that and so did Lucky, but I wasn’t sure where they were coming from. Orgasms can bring on a lot of things but I didn’t want them to bring on something like that. Aside from Lucky, I haven’t told anyone I love them in that way, and not just because I’m a stoic asshole. I haven’t been in love with anyone other than him, than Leo and our fucking band, and those words are ones I don’t throw around freely, or take lightly.

I thought I’d always be skeptical of them.

Right now though? Looking down at Leonor, her chin on my chest, those starry night eyes staring at me, her bright red hair still damp from her shower and fanned over both of us, yeah, I don’t think I can deny what she’s saying.

So, I fight against everything in me trying to.

“Yeah? You mean that, princess?”

Leo nods and gives me an absolutely gorgeous smile. “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t.”

“You’ve said it before…” I arch a brow as Leonor rolls her eyes and swats at my chest.

She has, Leo used to tell us she loved us but it was platonic, like brothers, or so we thought. This is different and I know that, because telling her how I feel last night and today, it isn’t the same for me. It never was but I knew how hung up on her Lucky was and I had no intention of interfering with any of that. Then he showed me that real, genuine, true love didn’t have limitations, it didn’t have rules to be followed, and people can have it with more than just one beautiful soul if that’s how they feel. When you’re in love with someone it isn’t conditional, and it doesn’t have to follow societal norms and expectations.

Soulmates isn’t a singular word .

Lucky said that, and of course I argued because nothing is singular when you make it plural, but the sentiment struck a chord and everything clicked into place.

It isn’t for everyone but we are capable of being in love with more than one person, we have the capacity for it and sometimes it’s the only way things can be explained.

I’ve come a long way over the last three years, can’t fault me for being a slow learner.

“I love you, Pete. I’m in love with you, and it took me a minute to embrace it, but I realized I always have been.” For the first time since I’ve known her, Leo holds eye contact with me for as long as I make it and when she doesn’t waver at all, I can’t help but smile.

“I don’t think you know what you’re getting yourself into, princess.” Gripping her chin tightly, I press a hard kiss to that smart mouth. “We aren’t letting you go now.”

She giggles as I do it again but sighs when I kiss her a little slower. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted, to just be with you guys, living in our own perfect little bubble. I never wanted you to let me go, even when I was the one who pushed you away.”

“Good,” I grunt as Leo shifts around so she’s on top of me. “Remember that when Lucky starts smothering you again.”

With a laugh, Leonor props herself up on my pecs with her forearms, her hair falling in her face as she looks down at me. “I do have another question, though.”

Of course she does.

The closer she gets to feeling one hundred percent, to feeling more like herself and back into our rhythm, the more Leo is going to do the things that used to drive us nuts about her.

Overthinking everything, going all control freak, there weren’t many things about her that did that, but there were a few. And asking endless questions that didn’t really have any relevance was one of mine.

And she knows it.

Sliding my hands up her naked thighs, I lean back into the pillows and settle in. “What’s that?”

“So, you said you and Lucky haven’t been with any other women…” One red eyebrow arches and I know exactly where she’s going with this, too. “But what about any other dudes?”

“Jesus, Leo,” I say as I bark out another laugh, my hands flying to her ass where I smack both bare cheeks hard. “I can’t tell if you’re asking because you’re that jealous, or because you liked what little you saw of the two of us so much you wouldn’t mind adding a third.”

Leonor just shrugs and now I’m rolling my eyes.

Jealousy is something she wears on her sleeve, even if she tried passing it off as protectiveness for a long ass time, but our girl was definitely into watching us last night. Even if we didn’t give her very much to watch.

“In theory,” she says as she lifts a few of my dreads and starts playing with them. “Would you be against adding in other people?”

“Another chick?”

Leo immediately scowls and tugs my hair. “ No .”

“But I’ve seen you?—“

“Yes, I know, I’m not saying it because I don’t enjoy boobs and pussy that don’t belong to me.” And that just woke up my cock that was behaving so well. “I’m saying it because the idea of either of you playing with those things when they don’t belong to me makes me a little ragey.”

“ Ragey ?” I chuckle as I knead her ass, pushing her hips into mine just enough to feel how this conversation is making my dick hard. “That’s not a word, princess.”

“It is for me. So, unless you just want to watch me go down on a girl or something, that’s not happening.”

I’ll be banking that comment for later.

I grin and then grunt as Leo slips a thigh on either side of my hips, my erection now pressed against her cunt and getting harder to control by the second. “Ok, so no permanent female additions, got it. But you’d be down if Luck and I wanted to bring in another dude?”

Leo tilts her head from side to side in thought as she leans down to kiss me. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“As long as I had a say in it.”

Ah. I love how in tune I am with Leonor because I know exactly what that means, too.

It means Leo has someone specific in mind already, and that Luck will be insufferable when he finds out he’s right about a lot more than how she feels about me.

Regardless, all of this makes me happy as hell we’re here now and that Leonor is ours, even if somewhere in the back of my mind I’ll be waiting for the shit to hit the fan at some point.

“You just want all the dick to yourself, don’t you, princess?” I mumble with a smile against her lips as they press against mine.

“Mmhmm,” Leo hums, her body wiggling in all the right places while her arms go around my neck.

She nips and sucks as my hand slides up her back, the other squeezing her ass tightly. Her hips roll against me as Leo kisses me again and again, her tongue tangling with mine the minute I slip it in her mouth. Leonor moans, low and beautiful in her throat when I push down on her ass, her sweet little pussy grinding against my cock.

Fuck .

Fuck, I need her again, her cunt in my face, my dick in her smart mouth. I need to feel Leonor’s pussy strangle my cock, need to watch Lucky push his between her lips. Better yet, I’ll bury myself inside Leo, all the way to the hilt while Lucius fucks me from behind.

Jesus, I really need that to happen. Soon because the thought alone has my dick throbbing and dripping precum.

My hand moves further until my fingers are tangling in Leonor’s hair and pulling. “Goddamnit, I love you.”

She just gasps in response, because when Leo opens her mouth I don’t hear her voice.

“No!” Lucky shouts as he walks into the room. “No, no, no! There are three things wrong here, and I’m about to hit you with them.”

Our girl starts giggling pretty hard as she sits up on my hips, wrapping herself in the sheet and rolling away from me while she does.

“Well, that took care of one.” Luck parks his hands on his bare hips and glares at me. “I just changed those sheets and using them as a condom is not an option. Not to mention, it’s not possible, and it’s pointless because we didn’t use any protection last night.”

If she hadn’t been laughing so hard she snorted, neither of us would have looked at Leo in time to see a very slight flinch at that. And even though we exchange a quick look, I don’t say anything and Lucky keeps listing shit off.

“Secondly, you wouldn’t let either of us in the shower with you for that”—he points at my boner—“very reason.”

Leo giggles with a shrug as she rounds the bed and walks toward the dresser. “We didn’t do anything.”

Lucky scoffs. “ Yet , but I know where that was going. You just have to go to work today, and the three of us showering together will make you late. Because sex .” Then he smirks as he crosses his arms against his chest. “Eyes up here, cakes.”

“Sorry, what?” She blinks a few times and lifts her eyes from his dick. “Right. I have to go to work, and sex will make me late.”

“Which brings me to number three. You’re already late, and Justine called twice because of it.”

“Shit,” Leo hisses as she drops the sheet and starts digging for clothes. “If y’all hadn’t been so naked I wouldn’t be so distracted.”

“You’re naked, too, princess.” I watch our girl race around the room, tucking my hands behind my head as Luck climbs over me to the now empty side of the bed. “And it is very distracting.”

She shoves her feet through a pair of leggings then spins to face us, narrowing her eyes before they ignore our faces for our cocks at varying stages of erect. “I don’t have those.”

“But you have those ,” Lucky says as he motions toward her perfect tits before crossing his legs at the ankle and mirroring my position. “Bet I could fuck ‘em while you rode Pete’s dick.”

“ Stop, ” Leo growls before turning back to the dresser. “I have to go!”

“Alright, alright,” I chuckle as Lucius cracks up. “We’ll figure something else out while you’re gone.”

“Oh great, now I’m just going to think about the two of you having sex without me while I’m at work. With Justine .”

Our girl runs around cursing and bitching at us, looking for all of her shit, and making a huge mess for Lucky to clean up. And we both watch with the stupidest smiles on our faces, because we’ve missed this.

All four of us have missed Leonor and her chaos so goddamn much, and whether we were naked in her bed or not, being here with her makes us happy.

“I’m going to have to get a bigger bed.” Leo frowns as she walks over, throwing her hair up in a bun as she does. “Your feet are hanging off the end.”

“This is true,” I say as she leans down to kiss me goodbye. “But it works for now.”

“I love you.” Leo gives me a less than chaste peck before doing the same to Lucky. “I love you, too. And if you two are going to just lay around my apartment all day, naked with boners, maybe take a few minutes to look up places that’ll custom make mattresses for gigantic men who have the potential of sleeping five deep at times.”

“You got it, cakes.” Lucky gives Leo a salute but nudges me in the elbow repeatedly because of that comment, but I know better.

We have all slept in the same space countless times over the years, and now that she’s feeling more herself, I imagine my princess will reinstate that soon enough.

That comment didn’t mean anything.

After kissing us each one more time, Leonor shouts another couple I love yous before running down the stairs and flying out the door.

I really fucking love her .

“We have to talk.”

I frown as I roll to face Luck. “About what?”

“Mark found another photo in front of Leo’s door.”

“What?” Jesus . This is too fucking weird and I really don’t like it. “When?”

Lucky scrubs a hand over his face before resting it on his chest with a sigh. “This morning. He was bringing beignets and coffee but it was stabbed into the wood with a hunting knife.”

“What the fuck? And you just let her leave?”

I go to jump out of bed and chase our girl but my boyfriend grabs my arm. “Franc has a guy following her to work. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have let her go.”

With a nod, I sit my ass down and try to chill out. “I didn’t think he was going to help after last night.”

“I called him after I talked to Mark.”

“And what’d he have to say?” Because I doubt Francesco was any more thrilled this morning than he was down in the living room at two a.m.

Lucky sighs again. “He was pissed, and reiterated that it’s probably some sick joke, but he sent an unmarked anyway.”

Thank fuck for that. “What was the photo this time?”

“Leo’s solo shot from The Bones You Break . Markus said the knife was right through her eyes.”

“We have to talk to her about this,” I say, my voice barely hiding the rage I’m feeling. “We can’t pussyfoot around anymore, Luck, not when?—“

“I know.” He shifts those stormy eyes my way and I see exactly what I’m feeling reflected in them. “We have to confront her with all of it, and then we need to move in with her.”

That is a tall fucking order.

I can’t imagine what our girl felt, what kind of shit she went through when she started getting the same kind of things left on her doorstep that she was getting four years ago. Black roses, voodoo dolls, destroyed photos, and fucked up notes masquerading as love letters.

That shit went on for a full fucking year before the attack, and it should have ended when we killed that fucker.

Should have being the operative words.

Confronting Leonor with all of that shit, calling her out on hiding it from us, that’s going to be hard enough. Add in a forced invasion from the rest of us, and it’ll be explosive to say the least.

Leo likes her independence.

To a fault at times.

“Mark and Norm need to be here,” I grunt as I start twisting my dreadlocks into a knot. “We need all hands on deck for this.”

“Not Justine and Pierre.”

I turn to Luck with a frown. “Why not?”

He swallows hard and shakes his head. “They didn’t handle it well when… when they found the bastard’s shrine. Justine wouldn’t… I just think we should talk to Leo first.”

“Ok, baby.” I lean down and kiss him. “If that’s what you think, we’ll start with our girl.”

She is going to be fucking pissed when we do .