Chapter 43

FORTY-THREE

AELLA

W eeks pass, and snow builds surrounding the shop as we nurse Miles back to health. His stitches have come out, and he's getting around better now. The only thing we're working on is keeping him in the house. As soon as he could stand, he wanted to beat the shit out of the world because of how angry he was. That won't do.

"You're not supposed to do that alone! You still need to move slowly, Miles! You've been in bed for weeks. Your body needs to get used to being back in motion. You never listen to the doctors!"

Miles grumbles something incoherent under his breath while stripping his clothes off and stepping into the shower. "Well, come on then, if you're going to micro-manage my shower, stick in the mud!"

Half of me wonders how I went from princess to stick in the mud in such a short period, but I guess that's the cost of caring for such a headstrong man.

I strip out of my clothes and enter the massive shower, shutting the glass door behind me. Miles looks up at me from beneath the shower spray, droplets plummeting off his long lashes. His grin says he thinks he's won.

"Don't gloat; it doesn't become you," I tell him, setting my lips into a hard line as I grab the shampoo to help him wash. He's supposed to be resting. His back is still healing, and he has been having trouble straightening his body the last few days. Today, though, he looks excellent, which is probably why he's acting so spitefully.

Once I have the shampoo, Miles reaches over and knocks it out of my hands, and it skitters across the shower floor.

"Hey! What's the matter with you?!" I move to bend over to grab the bottle.

Miles comes behind me, gripping my hair and straightening it back up. My back hits his chest, the water pouring down on both our heads. His lips skim my ear. "What's the matter with me is that I've watched you go from free spirit to stickler for the rules. You're wound too tight, princess. I don't like it."

"I had to take care of you." I swallow through the lust building in my body.

"I appreciate you, I do. But I need my Aella back. The one who lets my brother fuck her on the roof of a car beneath the sparkling stars above."

His hand skims over my stomach, and I lean into him, unable to help myself.

"I need her back, too. But I don't know if I'll be the same after everything, Miles."

My admittance hangs between us, floating amongst the steam glossing over the shower's glass doors.

He turns me, his hands winding around me, fingers skipping the flesh of my back.

I'm wetter than the shower floor, just from the small touches he's placing all over me. I've kept my distance since I last was in the bedroom. I wanted them to process what happened. We've become closer in the previous few weeks, all while developing a plan to meet with our respective parents. Brax has been investigating Jackal's involvement with my father and how deeply entangled they are. So we don't go into a meeting blind.

Kylo has been on the trail of a string of overdoses they think linked to dirty drugs circulating through Portland, trying to determine if either my father or the Jackals are involved.

All while the three of us have been building bonds so deep, I'm honestly afraid of how attached I've become to the two of them. If I thought this news would change us, I was right. But it wasn't for the worse.

"Get out of your head," Miles says, cupping my face in his hands and looking deep into them, unwavering.

"It's hard. There's so much to think about…" He cuts me off with his mouth on mine, and I let the shampoo bottle hit the tile again.

He growls as he backs me into the tiled wall behind us, lifting one of my legs to rest my foot on the built-in seat to the right of us.

"You've been holding out on us. Keeping this body to yourself," he says, his fingers skimming up my inner thigh to my sex, and I can't hold still as he nears it.

"You were hurt, and Brax has been processing," I whimper, eager to see what he will do next.

"Neither are reasons to deprive us of nutrients we desperately need, princess."

I swallow a moan. "It didn't seem like the time to be shacked up, fucking all day."

He laughs a little dark. "That's the perfect time to shack up princess. What the fuck are you talking about?"

Before the moment goes too far, I drop my leg. "Let me wash you so you can take your meds and lie down."

He eyes me, dropping his hand away and taking me in. "You're alright, right? I know you've been through it since Braxton kidnapped you, but these last few weeks have been tough. We don't do very well at taking care of others sometimes. It's a fatal flaw, I'll admit."

"I'm fine," I say, brushing him off.

The truth is, I don't know if I'm fine. Part of me feels walled off, even from myself. Like a veil has dropped surrounding me and my heart, one that'll protect me. But it'll also push those around me away.

I don't know how to push through it.

But I know I need time.

He looks at me as if he doesn't believe me, but he doesn't say another word, so he lets me finish helping him wash and towel off. Once we've had lunch and he's fallen asleep, I slip out to breathe alone.

Even though it's the middle of a hard winter, I find solace in the cold air as it burns my lungs.

Closing my eyes, I take stock of my feelings. I'm stronger than when I met Brax and Miles, but also a bit more broken. My world, as I know it, is over, and I have to find myself in this new one.

Clanking has my head swinging toward the shop. The bay doors are open, the winter snow spilling inside as I step off the porch and walk over the hard-packed snow toward the sound of music.

Braxton is sitting on a small rolling chair next to his now-reassembled bike. He's growling as he throws tools this way and that, looking for something Kylo's likely stolen and put in his toolbox. Over the last few weeks, I've learned that Kylo and Braxton repeatedly go back and forth about tools.

Kylo refuses to buy new tools because it gives him something to razz Braxton over. If he had his own, the fun would end.

"You know it's probably in Kylo's stuff, right?" I ask, approaching the other side of the lifted bike.

Braxton meets my eyes over the machine, smirking. "I know. I don't know why he fucks with me all the damned time. I swear to God I'm going to murder his ass one of these days."

No, he won't. He loves and admires each one of his fellow Cobras. They're his family. But I know he has to rage through his emotions outwardly. It's how he deals.

He pats his lap, rolling backward on the seat to give me room.

"What's the matter?" he asks as I sit on his lap and bury my face in his neck, letting his scent wash over me. He's become my safe space. The space I can just be.

Where Miles will hound me to know what's wrong, usually Brax is happy just letting me deal with myself internally because he knows how it feels to need to keep to himself.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" I ask, pulling back and looking into his blue eyes.

His brows furrow. "Because your vibe is off. Has been for some time. I knew you needed time to find your place in this new life. But it's getting worrisome, Aella."

I sigh. "I'm fine. I think once this is over, once we've confronted them and I have answers, I'll be on the path to figuring out my place here. Right now, it feels as if I'm missing closure."

He nods. "Makes sense."

"Nothing makes sense," Miles says as he strides into the shop, closing it up, bay by bay. He's upset, and I can feel it as if it's a palpable entity in the room.

"Strip her down," Miles says.

I look between them, confusion marring my face as I get off Braxton's lap. "If this is about earlier…"

"Earlier?" Braxton asks, smirking as he looks between us. But he reaches for me and tugs me towards him. My shirt gets tugged off after he's got my jacket thrown across the room. "What did you do earlier, Bambi?"

"No—Nothing…"

"Exactly. You are ours, and this melancholy version of you isn't alright. You aren't alright. Though it won't fix everything, we will give you something you need. We're going to show you how much we need you."

I rub my hand over the tattoo placed on me pretty early in our relationship. "Is this brand not enough?"

"Brax, strip down and get on my bike, back facing the handles," Miles orders, crossing his arms over his chest.

He means business. His green eyes take in every scrap of clothing Brax removes. I feel as if I'm caught in a moment I'm not supposed to be looking at.

I think of their kiss and how it had made me feel often.

Brax moves to throw his leg over Miles's bike, which is parked right next to where he'd been working on his own, but Miles says, "Stop."

Brax freezes, looking to his president for further instruction. I'm holding my breath to find out what it'll be.

Miles stalks nearer, his massive boots making echoes of noise against the shop walls. He drops to his knees, and I nearly faint.

"Go on then, don't toy with me, suck," Brax says, and I let go of my breath. My body thrums as I skim my hand over my hardening nipples.

Miles lowers his mouth onto Braxton's cock, and I nearly scream from the build-up and how my pussy dampens between my thighs.

"Mmm, just how I like it. Deeper," Brax growls, looking up and finding my eyes. He crooks a finger in my direction and beckons me closer.

I come to his side, and he tugs me to them, kissing me with urgency. I'm lost to the feel of his lips on mine, the heat of his tongue grazing mine. So lost I don't realize what's happening until Miles slips fingers over my clit.

He still sucks Braxton, all the while swirling soft touches over my clit, taunting me and teasing me higher and higher.

"That's enough," Brax says, breaking our kiss.

He finally heeds Miles's demand and gets onto the bike, back facing the handles. His cock juts up against his stomach, and I can almost see the heartbeat inside it.

"Well," Miles says, looking at me as he wipes his mouth and gets off his knees. "Your chariot awaits. What are you waiting for?"

The wall keeping me prisoner is long gone, and I move across the cold concrete towards Brax, who helps me onto the bike, facing him.

"Use my thighs and shoulders," he tells me, showing me what I can use for leverage.

I do so, lowering myself onto his cock as he holds straight for me to do so. The feel of the stretch is so good. So fucking good after weeks of telling myself I needed space. It was time to heal and work out what was next for us.

Miles strips his clothes to our left, watching us on his bike. Once he's nude, he strokes himself, turning his head and taking us in.

"Both of you," I say. Both men, both brothers, hear my whispered command.

"Lift, princess, but don't let his cock fall out of you. I want to feel both of you," Miles says as he gets onto the bike. We're cramped, pushed against the handlebars, but Braxton makes no protests.

I push up to the tip of Braxton, panting as it's a chore not to drop back down and fuck out this building tension.

Fingers find my asshole and work their way inside. It's something they've done before, so it's not foreign.

"I'm going to get you ready, princess. Think you can be patient for me?" Miles asks.

I look down at Braxton, who is equally needy as I am, and he grins. "It'll be worth the wait, Bambi. Be a good girl and do as he says."

I nod, not having words.

I hear the opening of a bottle of some kind and then feel cold liquid enter with the next thrust of Miles's fingers.

"This is going to numb you a bit. So we can enjoy. So you can enjoy," Miles says. "Wouldn't want this pretty ass in pain, now would we?"

I moan as he pumps in and out of my ass; the lubricant is making a symphony of noises. My body moves of its own volition on Braxton's cock, and he whimpers and leans back.

"Bambi, Jesus…" he hisses, arms stretching out on the handlebars as if at my complete mercy.

"I can't help it. I need more," I breathe.

"Than more, you shall have," Miles says, gripping my hips in his hands to guide my ass to his cock.

One hand leaves my hip to guide his dick to my entrance, and when he finds it, I hold my breath.

Brax's hand rubs over my clit, building a new storm in me that'll drown me with its waters. "Don't hold your breath. Don't tighten up. Let him in, Bambi. Let us both fuck you. Let us have what's ours!" The last part is snarled at me, and it heats my fucking blood.

Once Miles finally worked his way into my ass and I was seated fully on both their cocks, they still gave me a moment to get used to the whole feeling.

"I can't breathe," I admit, trying to capture breath that keeps alluding to me.

"We don't need you to breathe, princess. We need you to scream!" Miles says, and that's all the warning I get before he and Brax both grab hold of me and begin lifting and dropping me on them.

The stretch, the feeling of them both inside me, is too much and right all at the same time. I feel as though I'm going to combust soon, too soon.

"I knew you were the right one for us. From the moment I saw you outside your house, Bambi. I knew you'd be ours," Braxton says, and Miles moans in answer when I try to help them, using Braxton's shoulders as leverage to ride them both now that it feels so fucking good.

"Fuck, look how good you take us, princess. You like how good our big dicks feel inside you?" Miles groans out, and all I can do is nod, mouth wide open.

"Oh, she's going to come, aren't you, Bambi?" Brax teases, finding my clit again and edging me nearer to the cliff.

"It might kill me," I admit breathlessly, all of us moving a little quicker toward our collective ends.

"We'll bring you back, princess. Because you're ours!" Miles says as I feel heat shoot through my ass when his cock erupts first.

My eyes roll back, the two of them taking over as I lose rhythm when my orgasm slams into my body, stealing my ability to move.

"Fuck!"

Brax comes last, jutting off the bike and slamming inside me to fill me with his cum, the last part of their internal brand locking into place.

Miles wraps around me from behind, and Brax does the same from the front. I feel…secure. Loved. Coveted. Beautiful.

"We love you, Aella. Whatever happens in the future, we're in this shit life together; you got that?" Brax asks me, and a tear makes its way down my cheek.

I swipe it away as he pecks me.

Miles's head comes next to mine, inching closer to Braxton's right before their lips meet, and they share a kiss that makes me shift on Braxton's hardening cock that's still inside me.

"Bambi… Don't do that, or we'll never leave this shop," he moans, pulling away from Miles's lips. Miles nips my ear, licking the shell as his tickling breath excites me even more.

"Don't stop, princess. Make him scream!" Miles whispers in my ear, hand coming down to rub my clit as I fuck up and down Braxton's length again, another storm brewing over the vast oceans of us all over again.

Hours later, when we've all finally had our fill, we're in front of the television in the living room. I'm on Miles's lap, and my feet are in Braxton's. We've had pizza and beer and discussed sharing one bedroom instead of me going between the rooms each night. Now, a peaceful silence has come down over the room as the television plays the last of a movie none of us are watching.

"I set a meeting with our parents two days from now. I haven't found the right time to tell you guys with all that's been…" Miles's smile lifts, and one answers his on my face.

"We'll get through it," I say, "together."