Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

LAYLAH

“ L aylah, baby?”

I groaned at being pulled from such a good sleep.

“I know, I’m sorry, babygirl,” Micah apologized. The side of the bed dipped down and a second later, his hands ran through my hair. “We need you to eat something, though. You need to take your antibiotics.”

I nodded and sat up slowly. He supported me until I was steady. My back was so sore. It had taken the most damage since I’d curled in a ball, trying to protect my head from my father’s angry blows.

“We ordered chinese with extra duck sauce just for you.”

Sliding across the bed, I stood and took his hand. “That sounds good.” My stomach rumbled at the thought of fried rice.

Micah held my hand until we got to the couch, then he helped me settle into the deep cushions.

“There’s our girl,” Aiden said before handing me a greasy takeout box.

I was so damn thankful for them.

“How are you feeling, little love?” Justin asked.

“Better. I’m really hurting, though.”

Aiden’s brow arched. “Yeah? On a scale from one to ten?”

“Hmmm, about a six.”

“Which really means about an eight,” Micah said.

“How about after dinner, we’ll give you some pain medicine and you can take a bath?” Aiden suggested.

“That sounds amazing.” The idea of a long soak was almost enough to make me cry.

“Can she take a bath after taking the medication? Won’t it make her drowsy?” Micah asked.

Micah was so wonderful. He was the more quiet, thoughtful one. He was the type of man that would take you to a new restaurant, just because he heard you say you might like it. He was harder to read than the others. He was softer, gentler than Aiden and Justin. He’d be such a thorough Daddy Dom. I smiled at him and he winked at me. It was silly, but it made me happy.

“We’ll just have to keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn’t get to sleep and fall under the water,” Aiden answered.

“Oh no. We might risk seeing Laylah naked? The horror!” Justin teased, probably because he saw my face flush. Justin was the mischievous one, flirty, hot, walking sex on a stick. He made at least one innuendo to me daily.

Aiden chuckled into his noodle dish. Micah raised his hand. “I volunteer as tribute.” Micah never teased me sexually. That was new.

Heat rushed from my face down my chest at the idea of he and Justin actually wanting me.

Justin put his drink down and leaned forward, his forearms resting on his knees, I dropped my gaze to my rice, embarrassment prickling my skin. “That’s a new response. Normally I get an eye roll, but I think she likes the idea, yeah?”

His intense gaze made my nipples pebble.

“Answer me, little love,” he demanded.

“Y-yes.” I took a breath. Time to be brave. “Actually, I like that idea a lot. I have liked it for a long time.”

Aiden put his hand out before Micah could say anything. “You’ve liked what idea for a long time?”

I hesitated. I thought Aiden would be the most excited about my feelings so I was surprised by his response. He must have seen the panic on my face because he set his food down and came to kneel in front of me. “I’m not upset at all, baby. I just want to make sure we fully understand what you mean.”

“I know you guys have shared girlfriends in the past.”

“We have. It’s important to us to share with each other. Our bond is strong and we feel like we could offer a woman the world if we worked together.”

I nodded. “And I really have deep feelings for you all. I have for a long time and sometimes just the thought of you being with someone else guts me, but I didn’t want to say anything about my feelings because I was worried it would mess up what we had, but when I was tied up, praying you all would find me, I just kept thinking about how much I regretted not taking the risk and telling you all how much I love you… more than platonically.”

It took less than five seconds for anyone to respond but it felt like hours.

Micah Bradley

Ignoring Aiden, I reached over him and picked Laylah off the couch. “Oh, sweet girl, you have no idea how much we wanted to hear that.” I pressed a kiss to her temple. “We have such strong feelings for you. We just haven’t wanted you to feel pressured and were hoping you’d show interest in having us as more than just friends. It was a terrible miscommunication on all of our parts. No more hiding things from each other, okay? We want you. In our lives, hearts, beds, forever.”

She looked over her shoulder, probably to study Aiden and Justin’s responses. “I would like all those things,” she said.

Aiden was the next to stand. “Oh, baby. You have no clue how happy that makes us. We’ve wanted that for a very long time.”

“I’m so glad to hear that. It’s kinda hard to believe, but I’m so glad,” she said.

“Why is it hard to believe?” I asked.

“Because you guys are so… hot and sexy and I’m just Laylah.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Just Laylah?”

“Well, you know what I mean,” she argued.

“No, we don’t. How about you explain what you mean?” Aiden asked, looking as angry as I felt.

“Judging by the looks on your faces, I don’t think I should. Aiden’s eyes are all twitchy.”

“No, you shouldn’t, unless the next words out of your mouth are Laylah is sweet, thoughtful, loyal, considerate, and so fucking beautiful,” Justin said.

She looked down and played with the hem of her shirt. “You really think that about me?”

“We know that about you,” I said.

“Thank you. T-that’s really nice.”

I kissed her cheek and she rested her head on my shoulder.

“So...” she trailed off.

Fondness spread through my chest. She was so damn cute.

“So…” Justin teased.

“Yes then?”

This time, I laughed.

“Yes what, baby?”

“Could we try it? A relationship? Us being together?”

“I think we could absolutely do that,” Aiden spoke up.

“I agree,” Justin added, rubbing his sharp jaw.

“I’m with you,” I replied. I was so damn excited

A silly grin filled her face. “This went really well. Good talk.”

I snorted at her sarcasm. There wasn’t a handbook on what to do in situations like this one, though. And honestly, not much would change. We’d always taken care of Laylah and we always would.

“You need to eat some, baby,” Aiden said, snapping back into his role as leader. When Justin and I had arrived at the foster home, on the same day from different families, Aiden had already been there for two years and in the system for far longer than we had. We’d been so lost and he took us under his wing. When Laylah had come in several years later, we’d all stepped in, but Aiden had continued to be our leader.

“Okay,” she agreed with a small pout. “And then I can have a bath. It sounds so good.”

“What part sounded good? The bath or us seeing you naked?” I asked her with a wink.

“Both.”

“Oh, I definitely think it’s seeing that sweet body of hers without barriers,” Aiden argued.

“It is the sweetest body. I can sometimes see the curves of her soft breasts under her shirt and I just want to feel the weight of them in my hands and pinch her nipples. Are your nipples the same shade as your lips or lighter?” Justin asked. Damn him and his pillow-talking abilities.

Laylah’s chest rose a bit faster and her cheeks took on a pink hue.

“Hmm? Answer me, little love. Do your nipples match your lips?” Justin asked.

“Justin, she needs to eat.”

Protector Aiden was definitely back in full force.

“How about we find out after dinner?” I suggested. “I’d love to know if her sweet pussy is bare.”

Her eyes widened at my words. I wasn’t really suave like Justin or confident like Aiden, but I took damn good care of my women and I wouldn’t stop until I’d wrung out every delicious bit of pleasure from her body.

“Damn, Micah,” Justin said, laughing. I looked down and laughed too. I was already hard and tenting my pants.