“Nothing,” I barked coldly, flexing my fingers into my arms at the way my cutting words struck Ilyas.
My inner turmoil was not his fault, nor was it Lex’s.
I exhaled forcefully and let my arms relax to my sides.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, eyes firmly fixed on my group as they ran through the exercises I prescribed.
Ilyas hummed, a rumbling sound that vibrated my skin where our arms pressed together.
“Do you know why I call youayaba?” he asked. I raised my eyebrows, surprised at the sharp change of subject, but shook my head.
“I know the word is from home, but I was taken so young and so long ago that I’ve forgotten what some of the words mean,” I admitted quietly, sheepishly.
Ilyas didn’t admonish me, though I could feel his eyes on the side of my head.
“It means ‘queen.’ Or, if you take the literal translation of both parts of the word, ‘wife to the king.’ Though I prefer the first interpretation when speaking of you.” His strong, calloused palms came to cup my face, drawing my attention to him. I sucked in a breath at the intensity I found in his stare. “You, Folami, are a queen—ourqueen. Lex and I”—Ilyas shook his head ruefully—“We’re too similar, too soft. We’ve always been part of the whole, unable to fully guide each other because neither of us is willing to hurt the other.”
I bristled for a moment at his insinuation, but Ilyas silenced me with a finger to my lips.
“You are our pivot point, the axis we will spin around, our queen. Just as we need stability in strength, you need vulnerability and softness. We need a reason to rise each morning, while you need a soft place to rest. We are just as damaged, just as broken, as you. But our pieces will come together to make the most beautiful whole—like one of those cracked glass windows. We are balance incarnate, Folami, myayaba, and without you, our kingdom crumbles to dust.”
His poetic words cut me to the core, warming some part of me that I didn’t think existed; some part that longed for what he just described, that knew Ineededthat. Neededthem.
“But what if I come with another?” I whispered, not daring to fully believe that these two beautiful, powerful, devoted men desired me for everything I was, for all my faults and brokenness.
He smiled softly as I felt another presence at my back. The sounds of the training field fell away, and I was unaware, nor did I care, if my group was still training. All that mattered was the ocean eyes staring at me like I held the world in my palms and the heat at my back that banished the cold from my bones.
“He is yours and part of you,” Lex said simply, goosebumps erupting as his words ghosted over the skin of my neck. “Peytor is a part of us just as we are of him. He just hasn’t seen it yet.”
A burning sensation built behind my eyes, my emotions threatening to spill down my cheeks. Lex placed soft kisses on my neck, as if to assure me through physical touch. Ilyas’ fingers brushed against my lips before he replaced them with his own, his kiss both blowing my parts asunder and pulling me back together.
Lex and Ilyas suddenly replaced positions, neither away from me long enough for the cold, briny air to nip at my skin.
Instantly, Lex’s lips replaced Ilyas’, and I immediately softened into his kiss. There was something so relaxing about the two of them, like Icouldsimply rest, could just exist. Our tongues moved together, and I caught Lex’s groan with my mouth, replacing it with my own sounds of desire.
Ilyas tucked me tightly against his chest, and I gasped at his growing hardness pressing firmly against my ass. Lex broke our kiss with a fevered exhale, inadvertently rubbing his own erection against my throbbing pussy.
“Do you see what you do to me, Folami? How every part of me desires every part of you?” he whispered on a pained groan.
Words evaded me as I studied his groin, eyebrows rising in appreciation as Ilyas continued to thicken to an impossible size.
“Say you want this too,” Ilyas mumbled into my neck.
I nodded mutely, prepared to say the words everyone wanted to hear.
“Folami? Are you okay?” Peytor’s voice cut through the haze of lust that settled over the three of us. Ilyas and Lex sprang away as if burned, their touches still lingering on my body. I was hurt by their quick escape, but relaxed from a quick squeeze of Lex’s hand and an understanding look from Ilyas. They didn’t pull away from me because they were embarrassed—they ended our lust-filled tryst in an effort not to isolate Peytor.
My heart burst with affection at their obvious desire to include Peytor, despite the latter’s desire to firmly separate himself.
I think I love them—or could, at the very least, grow to love them.After all, what was love without mutual respect and appreciation, with a healthy dose of trust and lust?
“I’m fine, Peytor,” I called once I was certain my voice was steady.
He grunted something that was pulled away by the sea breeze.
“We were just talking,” Lex said as both he and Ilyas surreptitiously adjusted themselves. My cheeks heated as my eyes were drawn to the movement, and Ilyas shot me a lascivious wink when I couldn’t pull my eyes from the enormous erection in his pants.
“Sure looked like it,” Peytor groused. He traversed across the empty training grounds, arms tightly crossed and mouth in a hard line, before coming to a sudden halt across from me. Something flashed in his eyes as Lex accidentally brushed his shoulder before he tensed and moved away once more, cheeks pinking and eyes darting.
