“Okay, yeah, you’re right, but shit, man, I expected your skin to start smoking or something.” Riku chuckles as he drinks his coffee and steps out onto the balcony.
“Ha-ha.” Ash’s sarcasm is thick, but he gets up and follows Riku, grabbing his sunglasses and pack of smokes on the way. He doesn’t smoke often, but he still has one occasionally. He says he needs it to relax. I almost feel sorry for him, but then he adds that a morning blow job would do the same job just as nicely, but he isn’t getting that anytime soon. All guilt disappears after that.
Before I can join them, there’s a knock on the door. I peer through the peephole and feel a tingle inside my stomach when I see it’s two of my… boyfriends? Can I call them that? I desperately want to call them that.
Shaking my head, I open the door. “Hi, come on in. We’re just having coffee and deciding what we’re doing today.” I close the door behind them, and before I can lead them outside, they surround me, one to my front and one at my back.
“Are you okay?” Alex lifts my chin so he can see my eyes. I guess he’s looking for the honesty in them.
I shrug. “Mostly. I know in my mind that none of it was my fault. I never led him on or anything. I could barely stand the guy. So yeah, I will be just fine as long as none of you treat me any differently. I’m not fragile or scared of intimacy or anything like that. Promise me?” It’s my turn to look at his reaction now.
I can see the doubt in his eyes, but he nods. “Of course.” I turn my head to look back at Shane. “And you? You’re not still blaming yourself. You weren’t even there, for fuck’s sake.”
Alex snorts in the wake of Shane’s silence. “Oh no, but he’s been through the gauntlet of whom to blame. Riku for not being there, Ash for getting you the drink, Cole for coming up with the stupid plan of you being seen as a party girl princess, us for not being there... Everyone but the actual person responsible. Jace and I finally managed to calm him down after turning the tables on him and giving a bit of his famous punishment. We firmly straightened him out.”
Color me intrigued. I raise an eyebrow. “Oh?”
Alex’s sexy lips turn up in a wicked grin. “Yup, and we filmed it. I’ll show you later,” he promises before giving me a kiss. I moan as his hands come up to cup my ass, pulling me against his hard dick. Shane still hasn’t said a word, so I reluctantly break away.
“Are we good?”
He sighs. “Yeah, we’re good. I’m sorry I’m making this about me.”
“No, you’re not. I completely get it. I feel the same way about what happened to Jax and Harlow. You don’t have to explain yourself to me at all. Anyway, I do have to tell you something. I was hoping to get the three of you together, but I’ll have to tell Jace later. I didn’t share one of the details with my family.” I drag them over to my bed and pull them down so that they are lying on it. I’m perched between them, facing them. The low rumble of Riku’s and Ash’s voices can be heard from outside, and the acrid smell of cigarette smoke occasionally drifts through the open door.
“Is he still smoking?” Alex grimaces, but his attention doesn’t drift from me.
I clear my throat. “Look, this is uncomfortable for me to admit, and it’s probably going to hurt you, but I need to be honest.” Both men’s muscles coil in tension. They suddenly have a wary light in their eyes, and I feel like such a massive bitch. “Matthew stacked the deck in his favor, or he tried to, anyway. Along with the Rohypnol, he dosed me with Molly. I was hurting big time, and, well, Riku told Ash to help me out.”
They both frown, and I get the feeling they are not quite understanding what I’m telling them. I’m trying to figure out how to explain it better when I hear a sound behind me.
“Basically, what Jazzy is trying to tell you is she needed an orgasm, and I helped her out.” Ash’s voice is light, but when I turn to look at him, I can see he’s braced for the fallout.
Comprehension fills Shane’s face. “Yeah, okay. Thanks, man. That couldn’t have been an easy decision.”
Ash shrugs. “Riku made me. He wasn’t there, otherwise I would have let him do it.”
Alex has been quiet, and I can see him working through it in his mind. When he suddenly figures it all out, he leaps off the bed and throws himself at Ash, fists clenched, knocking me over in the process. I tumble to the floor as Shane leaps after him. Having rolled off the side of the bed, I can’t see what happens, but when I get up, Shane has hold of Alex, and Riku is standing between them and Ash with his hands held up.
“Hey, man, think about it. She was in pain, and he helped her. Don’t make a liar of me. He was worried about you and wasn’t going to do it. I told him you would be fine when you stopped and really thought about it.”
Alex relaxes in Shane’s grip, and Ash heaves a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry, Alex. I hated not having her consent, but it was awful seeing her like that, so I won’t apologize for helping her.”
Alex nods, his jaw clenched with tension, and I feel so bad for him. This can’t be easy. All of us can see he’s still half in love with Ash, and I would say the feeling is very much mutual if the way Ash looks at him when he thinks no one is watching has anything to say. But Ash, for all of his other faults, seems to respect Alex’s relationship with Shane and Jace and is no homewrecker. He told me he never ever wants to be anything like his father, a womanizing piece of crap who didn’t care who he hurt in the process.
“Okay, well, now that that’s settled, shall we finish our coffee and decide what we’re doing today?” I push up off the floor, and Alex gasps, pulling himself out of Shane’s arms. “I’m sorry. I’m such an ass.” He fusses over me while the other three discreetly take themselves out to the balcony.
“Are you okay?” I ask him once we’re alone, and he sighs and dramatically throws himself back on the bed, draping a hand over his eyes.
“No... Yes… No. Aghh!” Alex screams quietly.
I climb onto the bed and sit down on him, my legs on either side of his waist, then pull his hand away. “Talk to me.”
“I was jealous, but I don’t know who I was jealous of, and now I feel like a complete asshole.” He looks miserable as he admits this, and I grin. “No, don’t grin at me, bitch! Poor Shane and Jace. I’m completely happy with them, but Ash was my first love, the one who got away, and now that I know it was for a noble reason and not because of something materialistic, I feel like such an asshole for giving him an ultimatum.”
“Have you talked to them about it?” I ask him, and he shrugs.
“Yeah, extensively, and they completely understand. Both of them have said if he ends up in your harem, they won’t be upset if something happens between us.”
