35. Mark

35

MARK

I mpatiently drumming my fingers against the top of the desk, I repeat the beat of the song we’ve been working on, humming here and there while I bounce my knee and visualize each of our separate parts.

The heavy bass line, how it bounces off of Luck’s bass drum and the way he punishes the double pedals and drills the toms, how they accentuate each other and fill out the beginning of the song almost ominously. I can see Pete’s rhythm, I can feel how the notes are thick and weighted, the eerie and lovely vibe emanating from those strings until Norm starts to join in, the guitars practically singing to each other while slowly building to this chaotic and beautiful explosion that smacks you right in the face. It’s like a long fuse with a tiny blue flame, one that grows and builds, sparking into something white hot and fierce until that bomb immediately drops into one of the dirtiest breakdowns we’ve ever written with some of the most guttural sounds I’ve ever heard come from our girl, powering over the top of all of that to bring it together.

With a small smile, I close my eyes and picture her, how alive Leonor looked while we worked out the pieces we’d already written and stitched them together with what we wrote on the fly. It’s always so goddamn magical when we play together, how we just know what’s supposed to happen without having to explain it but when Leo is in the space she’s been in lately, the shit that we end up creating is downright otherworldly.

She sounded so fucking good.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never heard Leo sound anything less than what we deem is perfect but there was something else in her voice last night and fuck all if it wasn’t from another plane of existence.

Leonor’s vocal range, what she can do with those golden pipes… She’ll growl in your fucking ear and hit you with the nastiest blegh you’ve ever heard, making you feel the vibration right down to your very soul then Leo turns around and belts out her words in fucking cursive, dropping notes so goddamn gorgeous, so fucking haunting they make angels fucking weep and the saints sing her praises.

I swear to god, Leonor was celestial last night.

When I said something to her about it, pointing out how incredible she’s sounded lately our girl just shrugged and blamed it on all the orgasms, but that’s not it. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a day that went by during our first decade where Leo didn’t orgasm at some point and while she sounded phenomenal then, something is different now and climaxing has nothing to do with it.

At least, I don’t think so.

I’m coming more than I have since I popped my first boner and couldn’t keep my hands off the thing but I sound the same.

So do the guys.

We all sound good, real good actually but I just… Something is fucking different with Leonor and while I love it, it also worries me.

Essentially because everything with Leo worries me right along with everyone else who’s in love with her.

Am I glad that she seemingly has a new lease on life and has gone balls out, as she put it, with bringing normalcy back into the game? Hell yes, I’m thrilled and even though I trust that she knows herself, that Leo knows what’s best for her and where she needs to set limits or boundaries, I’m still wondering if maybe this is all too fast.

Scrubbing a hand over my face and beard, I open my eyes and look around at the photos displayed all over the room.

We’re featured in quite a few of them, us and The Horsemen, Static White, Bleak December and Razor Thin Ledge. Rory Black is one of the most talented fucking photographers out there and she definitely found her niche when she started touring with her brother’s band.

Stage shots, pit shots, the crowd and the bands. I think Rory got photos from every angle imaginable during the shows while she was the photographer for Vintage, and no one handled backstage shit the way she did.

Groupies ran scared, roadies didn’t try shit unless they were given the okay. She wore fuck around and find out the same way Leonor does. Rory is a tough cookie, and I think that’s why we’ve always gotten along, and why we won’t ever let anyone else photograph us.

“Sorry, Marky Mark,” the woman of the hour says as she blows in from the back of her studio like a fucking hurricane. “The new chick must have thought she was supposed to file them under Poe, even though I told her y’all have your own cabinet labeled The Ravens .”

“It’s cool.”

Rory arches a brow as she hands over the envelope. “You look like you have a crowbar shoved up your ass right now.”

“Excuse me?” What the hell is that supposed to mean?

“Tense, Mark.” She pops her hip against her desk then folds her arms across her tits. “It might have been a while but I know what a tense musician looks like and you, my friend, are so tense you might pop.”

I rub my hand over my hair with a sigh then continue dragging it down my face and through my beard. “Long flight.”

It wasn’t, it was only an hour and a half but it felt like an eternity because this is the first time I’ve been away from the guys and Leonor since our life tried to implode either time, and yeah, I guess I’m a little stressed out by it.

“Wanna fuck in the back?”

My eyes snap to hers and before I can remind Rory of the way too many details about our polyamorous bubble she asked for a few weeks ago, her pale blue eyes shine with mischief.

“I’m only kidding,” she says as she nudges my leg. “I saw the way y’all were looking at each other before you told me about the inner workings of things. Just trying to lighten the mood a little so you don’t burst a blood vessel.”

She’s joking now, but that’s not the first time Rory’s asked me that exact question and if things were different, I would have taken her up on it. All five of us have slept with her and we all agreed that she’s a great lay, I doubt time has changed things but that kind of shit isn’t on the table anymore.

“You guys are good, though, right?”

I nod and try like hell—and fail—to keep the goofy fucking smile off my face. “Real good.”

Rory nods, smiling as she chews the barbell in her lip. “Beautiful. I love that y’all are in love, it gives me hope for my crazy ass to find it one day. So if you sat here and told me any of you broke up in a matter of weeks, I’d be devastated.”

“No.” You and me both. “I’m just the only one stable enough to fly right now.”

“Markus,” she scolds with a grin as we shoot the shit for a few more minutes.

Her studio, the band, the tour we want her to come with us on once we have it planned.

It feels like the old days, talking about this shit and the longevity it’s always had.

It’s a breath of goddamn fresh air, honestly, and I suppose that’s all the more reason for me to be a tension filled motherfucker right now.

I have no idea if there’s still longevity in anything we’re doing, and that terrifies me.

“I’ll let you take a look without me crowding your space.” Rory pushes off the desk and starts walking to the back. “If you don’t like anything, if you need anything else, let me know. You know the drill.”

Then she disappears behind the door as chaotic as she entered, leaving me with the envelope I immediately open so I can begin going through our shoot.

I was tasked with being the one to pick out the promo photos we’re going to use for the new album, our comeback show, and tour to follow.

It’s always been my job and I’ve always really enjoyed it but this shoot was so goddamn different from the ones we’ve had before, so much more intense, and that’s probably another factor in looking like I have a crowbar up my ass.

Leo wasn’t fucking kidding when she said she wasn’t going to let anything dictate how she lived her life anymore and with that came the very first mention of Resurrection: The Life and Death of Leonor Poe and The Ravens.

It’s a long fucking album title but it’s perfect and as soon as the words left her lips, I could see every single track we were going to lay, starting with Nevermore.

The floodgates opened right along with Leo’s pretty little mouth and we knocked out the first ten songs in two fucking weeks, got promo shots done, and Luck managed to squeeze us into SummerFest as a headliner.

It’s a local show full of local bands but it’s a good way to get our feet wet again, especially if we can get Vintage to back the ridiculously long tour Leonor seems to think we need.

Not that I’m complaining, not much, because our girl is fucking back and that’s all that matters.

Carefully spreading the prints over the top of the glossy wood, that goofy smile is back and I immediately know which photos we’re using for what.

The first is perfect for the back of the album.

All five of us in nothing but black jeans and combat boots, backs to the camera and our fucking big cat tattoos are loud as fuck on full display, probably for the first time ever together.

Our girl is dead center between me and Norman with Luck and Pete on the ends and the three of them with long locks have their hair pulled over their left shoulders to keep the shot clean.

The lighting is dim, the brick wall in front of us is ominous as fuck and the concrete we’re sitting on is super uninviting but there’s something about this that is so perfect, so fucking simple, and it’s going to be the back of the physical album for sure.

Scanning the other photos more or less to be a good sport because I already know what else we’re going to use, I shake my head with a grin.

How the fuck did we get here?

I don’t actually want that question answered, not when it could very well jinx this whole entire shitshow, but it’s very surreal to be doing this again.

Amazing, but surreal.

My eyes bounce around the desk, noting small differences in each set of shots, making sure I have the ones that won’t drive Lucky crazy because of some minute detail that’s out of whack and once I’ve settled, I put the one’s we’ll keep in our file back in the manilla envelope then spread out the finals.

The crucifixion.

That’s what Leonor said when we were deciding on something that would make a statement, a pose or whatever that would have people shitting their drawers with excitement over this new chapter.

Our girl wanted to emulate the crucifixion and my god, the results from that could not be more spot on.

The four of us played the cross; Lucky was the top, Norm and Pete were the sides, and I was at Leo’s feet. Our positions came courtesy of Luck’s OCD but now that I’m seeing the final result, it couldn’t have been any other way.

Our girl is naked as the day she was born, the four of us holding her up in the shape of a cross, arms wide and legs crossed at the ankles. Her head is tilted back on Lucky’s shoulder, black eyes toward the sky, cherry waves draped behind him while he keeps her suspended. Peter and Norm are holding her in a way that they each have a handful of tit so they’re covered but keep her stretched out with her arms across their chests. Leo’s calves are on my shoulder while I’m basically kneeling at her feet, one hand over her pussy while the other helps support her body to maintain the shape she wanted.

We’re all looking at her, I don’t think anyone told us to but we are and the feral kind of possession on each of our faces by accident is almost as intense as what my sugar did to finish off the shot.

Leonor is stripped raw and displayed bare, nothing to hide, every inch of her and her demons on display for all to see but that’s not even the kicker.

At every cluster of scars, the ones on her ribs, that wrap around her waist, the ones on her chest and just above the base of her throat, are stitches.

Bleeding stitches that symbolize everything she’s been through, everything she overcame and every second she fought to do it, and right in the middle of all of that, sitting under a goddamn spotlight, is the very permanent see me that Leonor had Tori of Morbid Ink brand into her skin.

My girl burned that fuckers warning deeper into her flesh then she flaunted the fuck out of it on the cover of our new album because Leonor Allan doesn’t do anything half assed, and she sure as hell went all in when it came to telling her ghosts to fuck off.

If this shit doesn’t embody the title of our album I don’t know what will, and I cannot fucking wait to get home and tell my girl how goddamn proud of her I am.

“You guys are not going to believe how fucking perfect these pictures turned out.” Making sure the door shuts and locks behind me, I kick my boots off and toss my backpack onto the dining table as I head right for the master bedroom. “Seriously, this is fucking gold, it’s so goddamn…”

Every word I was about to say evaporates into thin air as I push open the double doors and catch a glimpse of naked Leo before Lucky’s hands are on my cheeks and his lips are pressed to mine.

Jesus.

Am I ever going to get used to that?

Honestly, I hope not because the fact that kissing any of these four gives me hella butterflies still is both embarrassing and exhilarating and I don’t think I want it to go away.

“Perfect timing,” Luck says in between kisses, smiling as he licks the seam of my lips and leads me further into the room. “We were hoping you’d be back soon so we started pregaming.”

“That’s what we’re calling it now?” I ask as Lucius moves behind me, one arm around my neck that he’s biting and sucking on, the other around my waist so his hand can work open my fly. “Pregaming?”

“Mhm. Getting everyone in their gear and ready to play.”

I roll my eyes then grunt as he slides his hand into my jeans, teasing my cock as I finally really see what’s going on.

Everyone is naked as fuck and just as aroused.

Norman is on his back, blindfolded, he has a ball gag in his mouth, a spreader bar attached at the wrists keeping his arms above his head and wide apart. His cock is hard as stone, leaking precum and all pretty as it points toward Leonor’s mouth, and my god, these guys are creative as fuck.

My sugar is standing at the edge of the bed, bent in half and leaning toward our sweet boy’s dick, her hands free but she can’t really move. Leo is also blindfolded and has a collar on, one that has a chain leading to Norm’s bar and in this position, neither of them can move without moving the other, but that’s not all. No, the two of them are sharing a second spreader—Pete definitely has an affinity for them—that has both of them spread eagle.

In this position, no one can fuck Norman, not really but I can see a dildo on the bed next to them so I’m sure our girl will handle that.

“Fuck,” I hiss as Lucky pushes my jeans down the floor, my dick springing free as he comes back around into view. He drops to his knees in front of me, those stormy eyes raging as they hold my stare while he leans forward and runs his tongue along the underside of my shaft.

My hand immediately goes to his hair, Lucky wasting no time with teasing me, sucking my cock so hard and fast that he gags a bit when my piercing hits the back of his throat.

I don’t know where to look.

I want to watch Lucius suck me off, watch his lips as they stretch around my girth, as he tugs the silver hoop in the head with his teeth but when I hear the crack of skin on skin, I can’t help but look up to see Pete pop Leo’s ass in the air and smack the left cheek to match the red on the right.

“What do you want, Markus?” he grunts as those sable eyes connect with mine. “You want our sweet boy’s mouth, or do you want one of the princess’s holes?”

I arch a brow, keeping eye contact as I grip Lucky’s hair and widen my stance, my hips moving in time with his mouth while he sucks. “You’re off the table?”

Peter visibly shudders as a grin spreads across his full lips. “For now.”

“Pity.”

I don’t think any of them were ready for me.

I know they definitely weren’t expecting me to be the way I am in bed but even the dominant and stoic Peter Lagrave has been surprised once or twice since we’ve all been having sex.

The power struggle is a bit much at times but it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

“Later.” He fists his cock and strokes it hard, watching Lucky work my dick for a moment before he cracks the flogger against Leonor’s pussy. “Much later if Lucius makes you come before I get to touch you at all.”

With a low rumble in my chest, I pull my dick out of his mouth, squeezing it at the base before I paint Luck’s lips with my precum. “I don’t remember telling you that you could touch me, did I, love?”

Pete’s eyes flare and his grip on his cock tightens but he doesn’t say anything else.

He’s letting me win this time.

Same as I’ll let him next, but he’s been primed for a while judging by the way he’s holding his dick so I don’t think anyone is going to put up much of a fight.

But, since I love that man with every bit of who I am, I walk over, wrap a few of his dreadlocks around my fist and give them a tug until his mouth is level with mine. “You’re almost as big of a brat as Leonor.”

Peter barely fights his smile as I kiss him, immediately turning to fully face me, quicker still, grabbing my erection and closing his fist around mine and his together.

“You’ll pay for that later,” he hisses as I roll my hips into his hand, our cocks sliding against each other thanks to Lucky’s spit.

“I’m counting on it.”

Kissing him deeply, I cover Pete’s hand with mine, applying more pressure to our dicks while I pull his hair harder and once again, I feel like I could come at any second but my attention is pulled elsewhere.

I look over in time to see Lucky finish adjusting the spreader bar attached to Leonor’s ankles, the thing open as wide as it goes while he scoots her up the bed. He maneuvers the three of them around, scooting and pulling until he has the two of them right where he wants them before he looks up at me and wags his eyebrows. “I figure, this way everyone can get into one of Leonor’s holes.”

She snorts but stays silent while Pete and I get closer to Lucky’s handy work.

Thank God he’s a big fucker because he managed to position himself underneath Norm and Leo, his ass propped on Lucky’s thigh, hers in the air but hovering above Luck’s dick. He’s leaning back just enough to make it work with one of his feet on the ground for leverage and as he rolls just a bit, the tip of his cock slips into Leo’s pussy while he pushes her mouth down onto Norm’s.

“See?” Lucius groans as he bites his lip. “Markus can stand here”—he points closer to him— “while Pete puts one foot on the bed and leans that way.”

Stroking my cock, I look at the mechanics, so fucking turned on I don’t really care if it’ll work or not because all I can think about is that man’s Jacob’s ladder rubbing against my dick while we’re both inside Leo and I will make that happen one way or another.

“You like this,” Pete grunts as he gets into position over Leonor. “And it will work. As long as the princess wants my cock in her asshole while she takes the two of you in her tight little pussy.”

My sugar moans around Norman’s dick, her consent muffled but eager.

Grabbing the lube since I’m the only one who can, I coat Pete’s dick and Leonor’s ass, circling that tight ring of muscle once before I slip two fingers inside. I work the water based product in and out a few times then switch hands to make sure Norman’s asshole and dildo are just as covered.

But just as I grab Pete’s hip for leverage and line my erection up with Lucky’s the best I can, he stops me.

“Honey,” he says with a soft smile. “Please take your shirt off.”

Instead of shutting this entire thing down or arguing, instead of letting my insecurities kill the mood and ruin how in tune and in love we all are, I take a deep breath, nod my head then reach behind it to pull my t-shirt off one handed.

I’ve been doing it more and more since the first time we had sex as a group but I’m still not entirely used to it.

Not yet anyway, but I’m getting there, and as soon as the fabric hits the floor, I’m right back in the zone.

Lucky and I fist our cocks together, groaning low in my throat as I push both slowly inside Leonor. She moans and pushes back against us, slipping the dildo into Norman’s ass as she starts bobbing faster on his dick. I watch our sweet boy’s back arch just a bit, his hips rolling a touch while she reaches up and pinches his nipple, twisting in time with the way she fucks his ass.

Our pace stays languid, Lucius pushing us both into Leo’s core before slowly pulling almost all the way out. Then Pete’s pressing the head of his cock to her asshole, sliding it in inch by inch until he’s nearly seated and after we give our girl a chance to adjust to being so goddamn full she might burst, the gloves come off and that feral side takes over.

I almost instantly lose my composure, the way I can feel both of their dicks pressing on either side of mine, how hot and slick Leonor’s pussy is, the three of us moving together inside of her while I watch her go down on Norman. My vantage point means I can see everything, I can touch everyone, and I don’t take that for granted.

Kissing Pete’s shoulder, I suck on his beautiful dark skin, grinning when he groans as my beard brushes against it. My fingers dig into his hip as we all start moving faster, my balls tightening with each glide of the barbells along Lucky’s shaft, how Leo moans every time my apadravya moves along her walls. I smack her ass and watch the red bloom against her porcelain skin then do it again as Lucius grabs my beard and tugs me toward him for a kiss. With a growl, I bite that full lower lip and move my hand to his throat groaning as I watch him smile and close his eyes while I squeeze for a few moments before allowing him to breathe.

Fuck, I’m going to come.

All of us moving together, thrusting and writhing, pumping our bodies in unison, working each other closer and closer to the edge.

The warmth of my impending release takes hold as Leonor gushes around us, whimpering and moaning around Norman’s cock, furiously working it in her fist while fucking his ass with the dildo just as quickly. Lucius hisses a fuck me as Norm starts to come all over Leo’s mouth and chin, our girl quickly sucking him dry as his back arches as high as it can go, fucking her mouth the best he can.

My balls go painfully tight as Luck grabs onto my thigh, squeezing as I feel his cock pulse against mine, triggering my orgasm to race down my spine before the first jet of cum fires inside Leo’s pussy. Pete follows quickly, the incredible sensation of all three of us swelling inside our girl, of the four of us filling her so fucking full. So goddamn full I can see our cum running out of her until the last of my climax explodes, my hips jerking with the last few thrusts and when every last drop is seemingly wrung from all of us, I can’t help the full body shiver that hits me.

“I love that that happens when you come,” Leo pants with a smile as she rests her cheeks against Norman’s stomach, her face covered in sweat and cum. “I feel that shiver all the way to my clit every time.”

I chuckle as I slap her ass, bracing myself against Pete while leaning against Lucky. “It wasn’t a thing until you, sugar. Your pussy’s just that fucking good.”

“Damn straight it is,” she says with a giggle as she reaches up and removes Norm’s blindfold and ball gag. “Now you all better get to unchaining me or else cleanup is going to consist of the four of you licking your own cum off of every inch of my body.”

Smirking because that’s not even close to a threat, I raise an eyebrow at our sweet boy as he tries to catch his breath and says, “I’m game, let me lose.”

“Give me fifteen to rebound,” I groan as Luck and I pull out of Leo. “Then I will happily cover you in my spunk so we can make that happen anyway.”

The most satisfying, most comforting and peaceful feeling comes over me as I watch my people smile and laugh, as they love each other and me with everything they’ve got, all of us collapsing into the too small hotel bed together while that feeling surrounds all five of us.

But even as we cozy up for a while, holding each other and making sure everyone is touching in some way before we drift off to sleep, I can’t shake the tiny shred of fear that’s still lingering in the back of my mind.

I’m not sure if it’s personal insecurities and low self esteem, or if it’s a real feeling of dread but I can’t shake it, not completely. Things were great like this before, right before the other times our entire world was flipped upside down, and I don’t know why I should think this would be any different.

We’re owed that, that’s fucking why, but the universe doesn’t work that way.

And neither do my fucking instincts.