Page 78 of Use Me Up

Kane shrugs. “Just trying to keep the party going here.”

Gatlin shakes his head. “We don’t know anything about Ellis’s boundaries with his girlfriend. He may not want anyone else to touch her. We need to respect that before we start moving on in his territory.”

“Well, she’s here,” says Kane. “She can tell us about his boundaries. What do you two think about sharing?”

Wow, everything that’s just happened, including walking in on Ellis with Calliope, and now this… “We have not ever talked about that,” I say. “I’m not really his girlfriend. I’m just a girl he’s fucking to make someone jealous.”

Gatlin raises his eyebrows.

Kane lets out a long, low laugh. “Oh, fuck, if it was anyone but Ellis, I’d think that was insane, but I believe that.” He bends down and kisses the top of Ellis’s head. “You’re a little hellion, aren’t you, pretty boy?”

Ellis snuggles into Kane in his sleep, sighing.

“Um? Is it… the heat… it’s not broken, right?” I don’t know a lot about heat, but I think it usually takes a while to break, four or five hours at least, sometimes days.

“He’s through the initial burst,” says Gatlin. “A lot of times, that’s the most intense, but not always. He’ll wake up and it’ll be my turn to get stuck in him.” He sounds pleased at the prospect.

“If you’re not his girlfriend, you don’t have to stay,” says Kane. “I know we told you to before, but maybe we weren’t thinking real clearly. It’s hard to think around Ellis, actually. If you feel coerced or uncomfortable or—”

“No,” I say.

“Well, you think about that,” says Gatlin. “If you feel differently later, that’s valid.”

“Don’t talk her into pressing charges against us, Gatlin, for fuck’s sake,” mutters Kane.

“It’s nothing like that,” I assure them both. I rub my forehead. I think about leaving. I think about not leaving. I think about getting up on all fours and crawling over to Gatlin and putting my mouth on his cock, and I wonder if he also tastes like baked goods? I let out a wild giggle.

Gatlin scoots towards me. “Hey, this might be entirely the wrong thing, but you seem like you need a little grounding. Can I touch you?”

I let out a shaky breath. “Yeah,” I say. “Actually, yeah.”

His hand finds my shoulder. His hand is enormous and warm and the smell of him is vanilla and bourbon and it invades my nostrils and twirls down into the center of me and makes me feel loose and good and incredibly safe. I moan, unable to stop myself, and lean into him.

He rubs my shoulder, tentative.

I shut my eyes and turn my head towards his scent, sighing.

Gatlin’s large hand slides down my bare back.

I sigh again, turning into that delicious scent and my cheek makes contact with his chest. I open my eyes.

He’s looking down at me with questions in his eyes.

“I’m feeling very grounded right now,” I inform him, and my voice is heavy. My whole body is throbbing. I realize I’ve been turned on for a long, long time now, what with all the fucking with Ellis before they showed up and all the fucking afterwards, and I haven’t had any release.

He chuckles, low and deep in his throat. “I think you’re a little scent-struck, beta. You might not be thinking clearly.”

I groan. “I just want…” I slide my cheek over his dark chest hair, and the scent of him is overpowering. My pussy quivers.

“I think she wants to take your cock for a spin, Gatlin,” comes the rumble of Kane’s voice from the corner. “I think I want to watch her do that.”

“Mmm,” I say. “Maybe I do.” Am I scent-struck, whatever that means? Does it matter? “I do not belong to Ellis in any actual way. I am allowed to do whatever I want. It’s my body.”

“It is absolutely your body,” agrees Gatlin. “And I’m in a rut and you smell like my omega, and I don’t know if I have it in me to talk you out of whatever you want to do, but I want to go on record that I think I should.”

“No,” counters Kane. “You should not.”

I push up on my knees and I’m eye-level with Gatlin. “Should we kiss first?” I murmur.