“Honey, we’re home.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“PLAY WITH FIRE (ALTERNATE VERSION)” BYSAM TIMMESZ, RULLE, VIOLENTS
KNOX
“You’re back!” our Little Bird yells, launching herself off the back of the couch. Luckily, being part of the Tailors taught me to expect the unexpected, so I dart forward, catching her in my arms. My face splits into a wide grin as she giggles up at me and wraps her arms around my neck. My smile grows when I see the empty whisky bottle she’s left on the couch, one of Aeron’s favorites and costs a pretty penny too. “You were gone so long and I was soooo bored,” she whines, and I chuckle as Aeron comes up next to us, scowling when he catches sight of the bottle.
“So you decided to finish my twenty-five-year-old single malt whiskey imported from the Isle of Skye, did you, Dove?”
My nostrils flare at the way her nipples poke through the soft fabric of her borrowed shirt. Clearly, she likes being told off by our fearless leader.
“Finish? I didn’t—” She looks over at the empty bottle, her brows dipping. “Oops.”
“Good evening, Nightingale,” Jude says, kissing her on the head softly, his lips twitching as he fails to hold in his smirk. “And good work on the office door.”
“I thought so,” she preens, sticking out her tits which are becoming too distracting as I stand here holding her bridal style in our living room. My mouth waters at the thought of sucking them, my tongue darting out to lick my lips.
“What did you do, naughty Little Bird?” I ask, dipping my head and kissing her smiling lips instead.
“She broke into the fucking study, using two paper clips by the looks of it,” Aeron growls, storming back towards us from the direction of the office. “Find anything interesting, Dove?” His tone might be hard, but his eyes are sparkling. He loves when she challenges us.
“No,” she huffs, her bottom lip sticking out in a pout. Fuck me, I need to bite it, like now.
“But you found my shirt?” Tarl interrupts, his lips also tugging upwards in an indulgent smile.
“Oh!” she exclaims, wriggling out of my arms and stumbling into Tarl. He studies her, and she giggles again, a sound that goes straight to my rapidly-hardening cock. “Your room is definitely my favorite. Can I sleep in there tonight? Pretty please with a pussy on top?”
“Of course,Koshgelam,” he says, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her soundly. She melts into him, and a flare of white-hot jealousy sparks in my center, just for a moment. She suddenly breaks away, spinning to look at me.
“Where are your parents?”
I can feel the color drain from my face and my cock deflating as dark memories of the time before Adam Taylor took me intries to rush to the surface. I tamp them down, as I always do, and answer her, my voice monotone.
“I never knew them. I was in foster care until Adam adopted me when I was eight.”
Aeron catches my eye, his own eyes swirling and lips pulled into a tight line. He knew me when I was just a mess of rage and hurt, lashing out at everyone and everything around me.
Her mouth parts and she wobbles her way over to me, stumbling into my arms and placing her hands on my cheeks.
“Why do you look so sad? So haunted?”
All I can see are her bright blue eyes, drilling into my very fucking soul as if to drag out all my darkest secrets and fears.
“I don’t like to think about the time before I joined the Tailors. It was…unhappy.” Inwardly I scoff. Unhappy doesn’t even begin to cover the shit I went through before Adam saved me. Shit that not even the guys know. She considers me, a frown making her eyebrows dip. She leans in, encasing me in her arms.
“Why do I feel like we share a similar pain, Daddy?” she whispers into my ear and my breath stutters in my chest.
“Like recognizes like, I guess,” I answer, my voice thick, pulling her closer and breathing in her sweet summer and cherry blossom scent mixed with Tarl’s spicy fragrance. It’s a heady combination and one that I take in deeply.
“I’m here if you need to talk.” She pulls back, placing a soft kiss on my cheek before grabbing my hand and tugging me towards the couches. “Let's play a game!”
“Ohhh! I love games!” Jude exclaims, following us as Tarl fixes us all some drinks at the bar. “How about spin the bottle?” He brandishes the bottle that Lark drank from, and she looks at the couch as if wondering how it disappeared. Still drunk then.
“As long as I don’t have to kiss or fuck my brother or any of you, I’m in,” Aeron states, and I chuckle, pulling our Little Bird into my lap as I take a seat. I need her close as the darkmemories of my past still swirl around me. Aeron takes up his usual armchair, Jude snuggles up next to us, and Tarl hands me a beer and then takes his place on the other couch.
“I’ll go first!” Jude cries out before reaching over and placing the bottle on the metal and glass coffee table, then spinning it. I watch as it spins, arching a brow when it lands in my direction. “Yes!” Jude fist bumps and then turns to Lark. “How do you want to do this, Nightingale?”
