Page 78

“Feed the beast,” I whisper.

The growl that rumbles in answer feeds my soul.

He pushes into me in one long, slow thrust, and my whole body melts beneath him. Cave drives into me with a deep, rolling force, while Noa voices pornographic commentary on one side. “That’s it, take him. God, you should see how his cock looks going inside you.”

Cipher’s grip is laced through my other hand. He squeezes in time to Cave’s thrusts until I come apart again, and after a few more pumps of his hips, Cave pulls out and flips me over onto my hands and knees. It’s then I realize that right in front of me is the bluff, and all I can see is the ocean extending out to where it blends into the night sky.

He thrusts back inside me, and my fingers curl into the dirt. The world tilts as I feel the wind against my skin and the boom of the waves below, so loud that I can’t believe I didn’t notice them until now. Cave’s huge hands wrap around my hips and drag me back to meet him as his every thrust rocks me forward.

He fucks me hard, one hand leaving my hip and sliding up my spine until his fingers wrap around the back of my neck. I press back into it and into him, relishing the sensation.

“What weighs nothing, and I could not carry on my life without it anymore?”

His riddle wrecks me more than his body does, which is saying a lot because his body is doing some devastating things. My arms give out and I slip down to my elbows, and he follows me, covering me completely and driving in deeper at this new angle. Noa swears under his breath, and as I catch a glimpse of Cipher’s euphoric expression, I come hard, pressing my face into the crook of my arm. Cave changes his rhythm as he lets go, arms caging me in as his roar echoes around us.

After Cave has pulled back, Noa scrambles over and drags me into his arms, and Cipher drapes his jacket over my cooling skin. My phone buzzes from my pile of clothes, so Cipher digs it out and hands it to me.

Leni

Did it work? Did I scare you? Also, your boyfriend’s pizza guy is so nice, he TIPPED me.

Noa laughs. “That was all Cipher. He made them tip her, since he felt bad about what he had convinced her to do.”

“I’m not great in high-pressure situations. I had to get Noa to talk to her, and I felt bad stealing her number from your phone,” Cipher explains, his ears turning red.

“And what part did Cave play in all of this?”

“He is the muscle, you know, in case she didn’t agree. Then we would have used our attack scarecrow,” Noa adds, and Cave flips him off.

I text Leni back, asking her which one of my boyfriends she spoke to. She quickly sends me a reply saying that I’d better call her when I’m not up to my eyeballs in dicks. Now that is not the reaction I was expecting.

Chapter Eleven

Noa

After the Harvest Moon, we sleep until one in the afternoon. I’m the first awake—which never happens—but I stay exactly where I am because moving would be a crime. Valli is asleep on Cave’s chest with her hand curled in Cipher’s shirt, and he is asleep while half-sitting against the headboard. I am lying on the other side of Cipher, and Cave has an arm slung over all of us, even if only the tips of his fingers touch me.

As I lie here, my mom’s words ring through my head, the ones about me loving everybody so hard my chest hurts. I try to focus on anything else: the snoring scarecrow, Cipher drooling, Valli wearing my hoodie. They are all mine. I might love them too hard, but they are all equipped to handle my kind of love.

Valli’s stomach growls, and Cave wakes—so does Cipher. We all stay there in silence for almost five minutes before Valli stirs. Finally, I slip out of bed to get a head start on making breakfast. It might be two in the afternoon, but for us it’s time for breakfast, so I make pancakes. Cipher is next to come out, and he turns on the coffeemaker. We work together until Cave and Valli come out freshly showered, and they set the table.

Once the pancakes are done, I place them in the center of the table. Valli grabs a couple and loads hers with maple syrup.

“So how long have you three been planning my kidnapping?”

“Eleven days,” Cipher answers.

“Twelve,” I correct him. “If you count the day Cave came up with the idea.”

Her eyebrows go up. “It was Cave’s idea?”

“Yup,” I say, shoving a mouthful of pancake in. “He stole your file, put the page with your fears down on the table, and gave us the look.” I mimic Cave’s look, and Valli chokes on her coffee. “And that was it. Cipher said, and I quote, ‘okay,’ and then we started planning.”

“We had rehearsals,” Cipher interjects.

“Sorry, we had rehearsals,” I confirm proudly. “I was you and got kidnapped nine times. Though Cave dropped me twice, which is why the route changed. I also did your scream so we could see how far the sound carried. Everyone agreed it was uncanny.”

“Nobody agreed,” Cipher says, shaking his head.