Page 178 of The Ache That Stayed

A year ago, every touch between us tasted like conflict. Somehow, now, it felt like home. I thought loving her would eventually destroy all of us. Instead, it built something.

Her fingers slid into my hair, tugging just enough to make my cock twitch painfully as I pulled her closer, the silk of her nightgown riding over her hips beneath my hands while the fire cracked behind us. I squeezed her ass hard, kneading, dragging her against my cock shamelessly until she whimpered into my mouth because self-control stopped existing around her a long time ago.

Marcello watched us over the rim of his glass, calm as ever, though I caught the slight tightening in his jaw when Roxanne melted further into me.

Jealousy still existed between us sometimes. It no longer felt sharp enough to destroy what we had built, outweighing her happiness.

Marcello still looked at me sometimes like he was imagining all the ways he could bury my body. The difference was—now he handed me whiskey after.

Roxanne pulled back slightly, breath uneven, eyes darker now as her gaze flicked between us. There was no fear in her anymore when she looked at us like that. No shame either.

Just trust. And want.

And fuck—that might’ve been the most dangerous thing of all. Because trusting us this much should’ve terrified her. Instead she melted into it.

Marcello moved behind her slowly, one hand settling at her waist before he pulled her back against his chest. His mouth found the pulse beneath her ear, slow enough to make her shiver. The air changed with it. The kind of charged stillness that made all three of us aware there was no going back.

I watched her eyes flutter shut. Watched her finally stop bracing against wanting. And maybe that was the thing none of us understood in the beginning.

This was never about destruction or competition. It was about finally finding a place where none of us had to divide ourselves to be loved.

Marcello’s fingers curled lightly around her jaw, guiding her gaze toward him.

“Are you sure?” Marcello asked carefully.

That more than anything almost undid me. Because even now—even here—he was still making sure she wanted this.

Roxanne turned slightly toward him, her fingers sliding slowly along his wrist before she nodded once.

“I’m sure.”

The room seemed to hold its breath around the words. As though something irreversible had finally settled between us.

Most nights, she still slept in Marcello’s bed. Some nights, she crawled into mine instead. And every single time it still felt like I’d stolen something sacred.

But this was different. This was the first time none of us were pretending this thing between us existed separately. The first time we were choosing it together.

Roxanne looked at Marcello again then, softer this time.

“Are you okay with this?”

Marcello went still for half a second before his hand slipped beneath the silk at her thigh, fingers dragging slowly higher, until they settled on the mound of her pussy.

“For you?” he murmured against her skin. “Always.”

Fuck.

That shouldn’t have hit me as hard as it did. A sharp pang lodged itself behind my ribs at that. Not jealousy. A far more dangerous ruin: love.

I guided Roxanne toward the bed. She shivered between us before climbing onto the mattress in front of me. Her fingers found the back of my neck, pulling me close before her mouth found mine again—deeper this time, slower, like she wanted to memorise every reaction she pulled from me. My hand cupped her breast and squeezed lightly as she moaned into my mouth.

Marcello moved behind her a second later. One hand settled possessively at her waist while his mouth brushed the curve of her shoulder. And for one suspended second, she leaned into both of us without hesitation, trusting us completely.

And I think that was the moment it finally hit me. We weren’t surviving this anymore. We’d built a life out of it.

“On your fours,” Marcello ordered. Roxanne obeyed instantly.

The second she dropped between my legs, my brain damn near stopped functioning. She slowly tugged at the waistband of my sweatpants, slipping them down before flinging them to the floor. My cock jerked hard at the sight of her, on her knees between my legs, leaking for her before she even touched me.