“Tell me,” Laurel said.
Looking up at the ceiling, Jordy clenched his jaw. “It wasn’t mine. The shop clerk pulled it on me when he caught me stealing an energy drink. We wrestled for it, and it went off once. It was pure luck nobody got hurt. When the police arrived, way too fast, the clerk said I’d brought the gun. He didn’t have a license, so he claimed it was mine, that I must have stolen it somewhere. Later, the judge believed him.”
“Fuck, Jordy. I’m so sorry,” Laurel whispered, reaching out to touch Jordy’s arm.
Jordy leaned back, avoiding the touch. But he didn’t let go of Laurel’s feet in his lap. “I was there to steal,” he said, his tone ice cold.
“You should have been arrested for shoplifting,” I said. “Instead, you had illegal possession and armed robbery pinned on you.”
“What about a lawyer?” Laurel asked.
“The pro bono guy I got was actually good, but shifters always get harsher sentences. I get it. We’re more dangerous.”
Laurel moved his feet from Jordy’s grip and set them on the carpet. For all his hard-ass talk, Jordy looked like a kicked puppy.
But then Laurel used my thigh for leverage and stood. He took the two steps separating him from Jordy and straddled his lap. His fingers scraped through Jordy’s dark beard, and he lifted Jordy’s face until he could make eye contact.
“I’ve always had a thing for bad boys,” he said lightly.
Jordy snorted, shaking his head. He stroked Laurel’s waist and up his bare back.
“You spent more than two years in prison?” Laurel’s voice was gentle, barely audible.
Jordy hung his head. “Yeah.”
“I’m so sorry,” Laurel murmured. His eyes were glistening.
With a loud exhale, Jordy rested his forehead on our omega’s shoulder, and Laurel stroked his back up and down. He glanced at me, his mouth curved downward in sheer sadness.
I’d always been attuned to Jordy somehow. I used to be able to tell from across the room whether he was pissed, sad, content, or horny. Finally, I knew why. It was what bonded mates could do, right? Sense each other’s emotions.
And now, I felt the tension melt from my own gut as Laurel comforted Jordy. Laurel’s care and tender sadness blended with Jordy’s relief, and it flowed through me like a river. Seeing them together, embracing each other, I was flattened by longing just as I was floating on clouds. I itched to touch them, to melt together with them, but I also sensed that they needed one more minute, just the two of them.
I had a lifetime of opportunities stretching in front of me when I could have them to myself—my omega, my alpha, and both of them together.
Laurel pressed a kiss to Jordy’s messy hair. “One day, when we’re all lying in bed after marathon sex, you’ll tell me stories from prison, okay? I want to know how it changed you. And after that, Monty and I could kiss it all better, hold you…and suck you until you’re shaking. Maybe if we do that a few times, it’ll hurt less?”
Jordy nodded, rubbing his face against Laurel’s neck.
He had never let himself be so vulnerable with me. Somehow, with Laurel in his lap, Jordy let go of some of his iron self-control, and it was beautiful to see.
“I don’t care,” Laurel said firmly, combing through the short hair on Jordy’s neck. “I really don’t. I’m sorry it happened to you, and I can’t imagine what you’ve been through over the years, but beyond that, I don’t give a shit.”
“Thanks,” Jordy murmured against his skin, barely audible.
I shuffled over and wrapped my arms around them both. Jordy found my hand on Laurel’s back and gripped my fingers. He squeezed hard and let out a deep breath.
Laurel’s bed was huge, and thank fuck for that.
When Laurel’s second heat wave arrived that afternoon, I could feel my self-control slipping. I wanted to maul him like an animal.
Jordy held back, his jaw clenched and eyes wild. I almost felt sorry for him, but while growing a knot outside of Laurel’s body had been a special kind of torture, having them both take care of it afterward was hot as fuck. Jordy would love it too.
I was inside our omega to the root, spooning him on the bed, and he moaned for me as if my dick was making him euphoric.
Fucking finally.
“I knew it,” I growled, my head muddled with lust. “I knew you were going to be mine in the end. Knew it from the start.”
