Текст книги "Beautifully Loyal"

Автор книги: Nicole Edwards

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Текущая страница: 24 (всего у книги 25 страниц)

Chapter Fifty-Six

Good-bye has never been this hard.

Present day

Friday, November 20 th

When the procession had arrived at the gravesite nearly forty-five minutes ago, Ashlynn had done her best to keep it together. During the funeral, she’d sobbed uncontrollably, mourning the loss of two men she’d considered family, and when they’d lowered those caskets into the ground, it’d taken every ounce of her control not to fall apart in front of all those people.

For the past few days, she’d been preparing, trying to convince herself she needed closure, needed to make peace with Derrick and Sal so she could move on, so they could move on with their lives. Unfortunately, she didn’t think their lives would ever be the same without them.

Max had been the one to claim both bodies, doing whatever it was he did, calling in favors and getting everything handled without Jase having to lift a finger. It’d been hard enough for Jase when he’d called his mother. Ashlynn had been witness to that horrific event, heard the woman blame Jase for every bad thing that’d ever happened to their family. Never once had the woman accepted that she was a failure as a parent; instead, she’d torn Jase down until Ashlynn had been forced to take the phone from him.

Of course, she hadn’t been able to simply hang up on the woman. Instead, she’d given Amy Malone a piece of her mind. Not that it’d helped, but at least Ashlynn had felt somewhat better. At that point, Leyton had made the call to Max, and her brother had taken it from there, calling Jase’s mother and paying her off to keep her away from the funeral. They hadn’t been willing to risk her causing a scene and making Jase feel worse than he already did. Still, it hadn’t changed a thing, as they’d learned with everything that had happened in the past week. Derrick and Sal were still dead, never coming back.

With Sal, there hadn’t been anyone to call. His parents were both deceased, and he had no siblings, no wife, no children. They’d been the only family he had.

Saying good-bye had never been so painful.

Not even when her father had died had Ashlynn felt such an overwhelming loss. No, when Samuel had died, she’d felt somewhat relieved.

There was no relief at the moment, only pain.

Perhaps that was because Derrick was Jase’s brother and because she loved Jase, watching him suffer was weighing on her. She wanted to comfort him, but it seemed he was the one comforting her. The three of them had consoled one another, or tried to for the past few days, but they all knew that until this day was behind them, they couldn’t move forward.

And here they were, watching as the dirt was being tossed into the holes where the two men’s bodies would forever rest while their souls moved on.

“We’ll stay as long as you need,” Leyton told Jase, standing beside him while Ashlynn stood on Jase’s other side, a death grip on his arm.

There were more enforcers there than she’d ever seen, but most of them weren’t there for the funeral. They were there as protection. With all of them there, the entire Adorite family, they knew shit could go bad in a minute. So Max had been prepared. They wouldn’t leave until everyone was safely where they were supposed to be.

“I’m good,” Jase finally said after several minutes.

“You sure?” Leyton asked.

The only response was a nod, and then Jase placed his arm around Ashlynn’s shoulder, pulling her against him and kissing her forehead. Again, he seemed to be the one consoling her, but she hoped, simply by being there, that he knew how much she loved him, how much he meant to her.

Several more minutes passed before Jase began backing away. Ashlynn moved with him, keeping her arm around his waist. And when they were in the limo, she didn’t let go.

“I love you,” Jase whispered, his breath fanning her hair as he rested his cheek against her head. “Both of you.”

“I love you, too,” Leyton said softly at the same time Ashlynn did.

“Thank you,” Jase muttered. “For being there.”

No thanks were needed, but Ashlynn didn’t say as much. The three of them would forever be there for one another, that she was sure of. Through good and bad…

Though she prayed like hell that the bad shit was behind them.

Because it was time they got their shit together and moved forward.

It was definitely time.

Chapter Fifty-Seven

This.

Jase rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. Ashlynn and Leyton were in the bed beside him, sleeping while he couldn’t seem to close his eyes.

He’d tried. Numerous times, in fact, to no avail. For whatever reason, he couldn’t get his brain to shut off. It wasn’t simply the events of the day that were keeping him awake. More that he was thinking about everything that had happened over the last few weeks. How much his life had changed in so many ways.

Maybe that was guilt eating at him once more because he knew he should still be mourning his brother. It seemed as though everyone expected him to be thinking about Derrick every single minute. But the truth was, sure, it pained him that his brother was gone, but Jase couldn’t help but be thankful that he had Ashlynn and Leyton. As devastating as it was to have lost Derrick, Jase knew his world would’ve been shattered beyond repair had something happened to Ashlynn.

“Hey.” Ashlynn pressed her lips against his chest. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Shouldn’t you?” he whispered, turning his head and brushing his lips across her forehead.

“Can’t,” she replied.

Jase smiled into the darkness. Possibly the first smile all week. “Horny?”

Ashlynn chuckled. “How’d you know?”

“I know everything there is to know about you,” he told her.

“Is that right? Then what am I thinkin’ right now?”

Jase rolled to his side, forcing her onto her back. Glancing over, he noticed that Leyton was watching them. So clearly no one was sleeping tonight.

Turning his attention back to Ashlynn, Jase crawled over her, pressing his cock against her thigh as he kissed her gently. Her soft fingers brushed his cheeks, and he lifted his mouth from hers, staring down at her. He hadn’t expected her to be quite so gentle. Although he’d made love to her numerous times over the past year, she’d never reciprocated, always attempting to keep a certain level of tension between them.

But tonight, something was different.

Staring down at her, he smiled again. “Make love to me, Ash.”

Her nod nearly leveled him, but before he could consider what it all meant, she pulled his head back down and brushed her lips against his. She didn’t release him, and Jase kissed her, exploring her mouth languidly, enjoying the slow, easy sweetness of it all. And when Leyton’s hand slid over his back, his body tightened, his cock thickening.

Their touch alone could unravel him, and they seemed to realize that, because for the next few minutes, the two of them ganged up on him. Never once did they rush. There weren’t any demands, no instructions, merely three bodies moving together.

After a while, it took no effort for Jase to push inside Ashlynn, his dick sliding through her slick heat, her body enveloping him as she held him close, her mouth still sliding against his. As he’d done many times before, Jase made love to her, rolling his hips forward, burying himself as deep as her body would take him. Unlike those times, though, she was making love to him as well. Not just with her body but with her heart. But there was still something missing, something he wouldn’t have recognized until Leyton was above him, his lips trailing over Jase’s shoulder blades while his cock slid in the crack of his ass.

He wanted to feel Leyton inside him while he was filling Ashlynn. He could only imagine it was likely the greatest feeling in the world.

Ashlynn began rocking her hips, her hands sliding down his back to grip his ass as she held him to her. Or so he’d thought that was what she’d been doing. It wasn’t until he felt the head of Leyton’s cock against his asshole that he realized what was going on. She was assisting while Leyton’s lubed cock slipped inside, filling him.

An electrical current of sensation surged through him when Leyton filled him completely, not moving, while Jase was buried inside Ashlynn. He’d never felt anything quite like it, and he wasn’t sure there was anything as great as being one with the two people he loved most in the world.

Leyton began rolling his hips, retreating slowly. Using his momentum, Jase continued to rock forward into Ashlynn while she moaned sweetly against his mouth.

Jase had to break the kiss as his body surrendered to the pleasure. It was too much. Too much sensation, too much emotion, too much … everything. But he wasn’t trying to run from it; he was trying to memorize it.

“Oh, God,” he groaned when Leyton impaled him again and again, their slow and easy pace gaining momentum. “It feels so damn good.”

“Perfect,” Leyton groaned. “It’s fucking perfect.”

Ashlynn’s hands disappeared from his back, and he realized that Leyton had taken them, linked their fingers together as he covered Jase’s body with his own, still rocking inside him while they sandwiched him between them. Unable to move, using Leyton’s thrusts to propel him in and out of Ashlynn, Jase relished the ability to let go, to lose himself to the sensation. The two of them were focusing solely on him, and it was the most exquisite thing he’d ever experienced.

“Harder,” Jase pleaded. “I need more.”

Leyton gave him more, driving into him, pushing him deeper into Ashlynn while she rocked her hips forward and back, increasing the friction of her sweet pussy on his dick. That numbness he’d felt before disappeared completely, and he felt only warmth. It radiated from deep within him.

Leyton’s grunts increased as he fucked him harder and harder until Ashlynn cried out their names over and over, her pussy milking Jase’s release from his body at the same time Leyton filled him. The release that tore through him was unlike anything he’d ever felt before, and he knew that the only way he’d ever feel it again was with these two people.

Love.

That complete, soul-quenching warmth… That was what love felt like.

While the three of them tried to catch their breaths, falling to the bed, Jase peered over at the two of them and smiled.

Leyton met his gaze and Ashlynn smiled, staring up at the ceiling.

“That was fucking incredible,” Ashlynn mumbled.

“Yeah,” Leyton said, still breathing hard. “Fucking incredible.”

The three of them were silent for a moment, but then, almost at the exact same time, they each said, “I love you” into the darkness.

And for Jase, it was the most unbelievable feeling in the world.

Well, except for a few minutes ago when he’d been pinned between the two of them. That had been the most unbelievable feeling in the world.

But not by much.

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Beautifully loyal.

When Leyton and Jase finally gave in to sleep, Ashlynn remained between them, her head resting on Leyton’s chest, Jase’s warm body spooned up against her. She didn’t move, didn’t speak, but her mind was whirling.

So much had happened over the course of three short weeks. More than she’d ever imagined possible. Some good, some devastating, but all in all, it had shaped the world as they now knew it.

And no, she wasn’t simply referring to the love she felt for the two men who completed her in ways she hadn’t expected. There was no doubt about it; she loved them. But that wasn’t actually a surprise. She’d loved Jase for a long time; she simply hadn’t realized that was what the amazing feeling he gave her was. But yes, she’d loved him for years.

As for Leyton, Ashlynn was fairly certain she’d fallen in love with him long ago, back when she’d been young and naïve. Although she’d always given her brother credit for saving her, she had to give Leyton some of that credit, as well. He’d saved her, though she doubted he’d even realized it. He’d given her something to fight for, something to want. It’d always been about Leyton. Ever since that fateful day when he’d come to her parents’ house, beaten and broken. That first sweet kiss they’d shared. The night Max had killed Leyton’s father and finally freed Leyton from the nightmare that had been his life.

But love was weird. It wasn’t something she’d ever recognized, and in fact, she’d thought all along it was loyalty. It made her wonder why she’d questioned Leyton’s loyalty to Max. She’d never questioned Jase’s loyalty to her, but she’d questioned Leyton’s. The fact of the matter was, it was love all along. Leyton had needed them as much as they’d needed him. He was family, always had been, always would be. The same went for Jase; he’d only come into their lives at a much later time, but the impact he’d made hadn’t been any less.

Ashlynn loved them both, would always love them both.

They offered her the safety and security she’d always sought, the love and passion she’d always needed. And she knew without a doubt, they’d always be loyal. Beautifully loyal.

As she closed her eyes, listening to Leyton’s heart beat beneath her ear and the sound of Jase’s steady, deep breaths behind her, Ashlynn was grateful for that loyalty. It had brought them all together. And in the long run, it would keep them together.

And as she drifted off, she accepted that it was love.

Epilogue

Not sure who thought this was a good idea.

Present day

Thursday, November 26 th

Thanksgiving

Leyton sat back and watched the chaos that ensued. He fought the urge to laugh his ass off at the sights and sounds before him. He wasn’t sure who’d thought this was a good idea, bringing together all these people who were so different from one another, but it was providing him with endless entertainment.

“Something funny?” Jase asked, dropping onto the sofa beside Leyton, a drink in his hand.

Leyton chuckled. “I’m surprised the house is still standing.”

“This was Courtney’s idea, right?”

Leyton nodded.

“I’m guessin’ Max’ll make the plans for next Thanksgiving.”

“Probably,” Leyton said, laughing as Max’s cousin Dani stormed through the room, lips pursed, forehead creased. She clearly wasn’t happy that Hunter Kogan was there. He didn’t know the story behind that one, but he sure as hell hoped he got to hear it sometime. It was beyond evident that those two had it bad for one another, but neither of them was happy about that.

And then there was Genevieve and Casper. Even before dinner had started, Casper’s wife, Elizabeth, had taken to Ashlynn’s mother, and the two of them had been talking nonstop. From where he sat on the other side of the room, it was evident Casper wasn’t sure what to think about that.

“Where’d Rock disappear to?” Ashlynn asked when she perched on the arm of the sofa beside him.

Leyton glanced up at her. “He was stalkin’ that nurse, I think.”

“Aidan’s nurse?”

“That’d be the one,” Jase offered.

Leyton smiled. He’d been with Rock when that woman—Brooklyn, he thought her name was—had come into the house. The guy’s eyes had widened so big Leyton had thought for a moment they’d fall right out of his head. Turned out that Max had convinced the nurse—and by convinced, he meant paid off—to nurture Aidan back to health. The undisclosed location where Aidan had been stashed had been local, so she’d agreed, and in turn, she’d become quite attached to Aidan. As friends. But clearly, her arrival had been a total shock to Rock.

“They’re out by the pool,” Ashlynn said.

They all turned to glance out the windows overlooking the pool. Rock had given Brooklyn his jacket, and it swamped the woman, but she seemed content and so did he. Never in all the time Leyton had known Rock had he seen the man quite so infatuated with someone.

“Anyone seen RT and Z?” Bryce Trexler, one of the owners of Sniper 1 Security, asked when he stepped into the living room, his wife, Emily, at his side.

“They’re in the game room,” Jase offered. “Playin’ some dance game.” Jase chuckled and turned to look at Leyton. “That big guy can move.”

“Who’s Victor talkin’ to?” Leyton asked as he slid his hand up to Ashlynn’s back.

“That’s Z’s sister, Jensyn.”

“Is it just me, or are those two gettin’ cozy?”

“Don’t know about that,” Jase noted. “But I damn sure wouldn’t wanna have a conversation with those two. A lawyer and a psychologist. They’d rip me a new one, I’m sure.”

Leyton laughed, placing his hand on Jase’s thigh. “They’d rip all of us a new one.”

“What’s cute,” Ashlynn said, “is that Walter’s in the kitchen with the Trexlers’ housekeeper, Lilah. They’re swappin’ recipes.”

“Where’s Aidan?” Jase asked.

“Eating. I don’t think the boy has stopped since he got here,” Ashlynn told him.

Not surprising. His jaw was still wired shut, but it seemed there wasn’t enough food to satisfy him considering he was starving. According to him, taking his meals through a straw was the worst form of punishment.

The huge dining room table hadn’t been big enough to fit everyone, so they’d fanned out. Some were at the smaller kitchen table, others at the breakfast bar. Hell, some had taken their food into the game room upstairs to watch Brent and Courtney’s niece Shelby battle it out on the Xbox. Apparently the fourteen-year-old was making mincemeat of Brent on some shooting game.

“Since everyone’s preoccupied…” Ashlynn began.

Leyton peered up at her and saw the naughty gleam in her beautiful eyes.

“I like the way your mind works,” Jase said, getting to his feet and taking Leyton’s hand, pulling him up from the sofa.

Without argument, Leyton allowed the pair to lead him upstairs. He half expected Ashlynn to want to get busy in the hallway, but with so many people around, he knew that wasn’t an option. As much as he didn’t mind her public exhibitionism, there was a time and a place for everything. And here, tonight, wasn’t the time or place for a public rendezvous.

So, when she went straight for the bedroom he’d previously used when he’d lived with Max, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Not that that lasted long once she closed and locked the door behind him. He could tell his dirty little girl was about to give him a run for his money.

And he knew it was going to be worth every fucking penny.

Ashlynn had been waiting for this moment. Waiting for an opportunity to slip away with Jase and Leyton ever since they’d arrived two hours ago. Granted, the dinner Walter and Courtney had prepared had been phenomenal, but there was something else she wanted to feast on.

Two men in particular.

“Strip,” she ordered, smiling as she said the word.

One thing she’d learned over the course of the last few months was that her control was shit when it came to Leyton. It was a give-and-take with him, but more often than not, she wasn’t the one taking.

And she was okay with that.

“I think you’ve got that all wrong, little girl,” Leyton stated, staring down at her. “You’re not the one who gives orders these days.”

Her smile widened as she waited for him to take over. Little did he know, but he always played right into her hands. Giving up control to him was far easier than she’d ever thought it would be. And Jase … he’d started taking cues from Leyton, allowing her less and less control.

Which she loved.

“Have a seat,” Leyton commanded, nodding toward the single upholstered chair near the window.

Ashlynn walked over to it, turned to face them, and slowly lowered herself into the chair.

“It’s a good thing you wore a skirt,” Jase mumbled, dropping to his knees directly in front of her.

“Why’s tha—”

Before she could get the sentence out, Jase shouldered her thighs apart, then propped them up on the cushioned arms of the chair, forcing her to lean back.

She hissed in a breath when his fingers tugged her panties to the side as he stared between her legs.

“Wet already, baby?” he asked, those crystal-blue eyes lifting to meet hers briefly.

“Always,” she whispered.

“Was it because we were fingering you at the dinner table?” he asked.

They’d both teamed up on her at dinner. It’d taken everything in her not to cry out as the pleasure of their fingers had assaulted her. While she’d sat there, trying to have a civil conversation with Marissa and Trace, talking about what, she couldn’t even remember, both Leyton and Jase had fingered her beneath the table, driving her absolutely crazy.

“I assume you’re gonna finish what you started?” she asked, watching as his finger slid through her slit, grazing her clit.

“That’s the plan,” he whispered, leaning forward and blowing his warm breath against her sensitive folds.

He adjusted her position, forcing her to lean back more as he pulled her ass to the edge of the cushion before his mouth met her pussy.

“Oh, fuck,” she cried out.

“Don’t want anyone to hear you,” Leyton said, coming to stand beside her, his thick cock in his hand. “Suck me, little girl.”

Ashlynn loved when he got forceful with her. They seemed to be upping the ante every time they were together, double-teaming her until she wasn’t sure she’d survive it.

Not that she wouldn’t try, because the pleasure they brought her was immense, more than she’d ever expected.

Leyton brushed the head of his cock against her lips, one hand sliding into her hair as he pushed past her lips. She opened for him, licking him briefly, then taking him into her mouth.

“Ah, fuck that’s good,” Leyton groaned, his fingers tightening in her hair. “Such a beautiful mouth.”

It wasn’t easy focusing on Leyton when Jase was doing delicious things to her with his tongue, but she tried. It didn’t take long before she was hovering on the brink of climax, begging and pleading for them to make her come while she continued to blow Leyton, doing her best to focus.

“Not yet,” Leyton commanded, and Jase pulled back almost instantly.

Ashlynn’s chest was heaving, her blood pressure soaring as she ached for release. When she tried to reach down between her legs to finish the job, Leyton grabbed her wrist.

“On the bed,” he commanded. “Both of you. Naked.”

Jase got to his feet, shed his clothes in record time, and then helped Ashlynn up. She didn’t even get the chance to undress before Jase had her naked and on top of him, sideways across the bed. She didn’t get to question the reason when she realized what their plan was.

Leyton came to stand at the side of the bed, his cock still in his hand, still wet from her mouth. With Jase on his back, Leyton held his dick above Jase’s face and instructed him to move over so that his head was hanging over the side. From there, he demanded that Jase lick him.

Ashlynn watched but took advantage of their distraction, gripping Jase’s rock-hard dick and guiding him inside her.

“Fuck,” Jase groaned, his tongue laving Leyton’s shaft.

“That’s it, Ash. Fuck him while he sucks my dick.”

Ashlynn rode Jase, her hands on his stomach as his abs flexed beneath her palms. She watched as Leyton continued to use Jase’s mouth, gliding his dick over Jase’s lips, his cheek, then straddling Jase’s head and forcing him to take his balls into his mouth.

“Damn that’s good,” Leyton growled.

Ashlynn didn’t relent, using her thigh muscles to lift and lower herself on Jase, taking him as deep as her body could. She reached forward, pinching his nipples as she tightened her muscles around him.

Jase growled and she knew he was close.

Impaling herself on him, she loved every minute of it, but she knew she would need more to send her over. Her men knew it, too.

“Turn over,” Leyton commanded, pulling his cock from Jase’s mouth.

Ashlynn squealed when Jase instantly flipped them so that she was on her back in the same position he’d been, him hovering above her. He entered her immediately, bending her knees up to her body as he slammed into her, but she couldn’t see him because her head was hanging over the side of the bed.

“Oh, God!” she yelled, but then Leyton fed his dick into her mouth, and she wrapped her lips around it.

“I’m gonna come in your mouth while Jase comes in your pretty pussy,” Leyton told her, his thighs bracketing her head.

She allowed him to fuck her mouth while Jase fucked her pussy. Her body burst into flame, the sensation too much for her to take. Her first orgasm had her gripping the comforter. Her second orgasm had her groaning around the huge cock filling her mouth. And her third… It sent her into a blissful oblivion as Leyton filled her mouth and Jase filled her pussy as promised.

After they cleaned up and dressed, Jase took Ashlynn’s hand and led her back downstairs, with Leyton right behind them. As much as he wanted to hide out in the guestroom for the rest of the evening, he knew someone would eventually come looking for them.

Not to mention, he’d much rather hang out and get the socializing over with so they could go back to Leyton’s house and resume their activities there. They were still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, although he got the feeling with Ashlynn, that phase would be never ending. And since they’d be moving soon, Ashlynn was insistent that they christen every room in Leyton’s house before they put it on the market.

Jase damn sure wasn’t complaining.

“When’s the new house gonna be finished?” Madison asked when she joined them in the living room a short while later.

“It’s gonna take a little longer than expected,” Leyton said with a chuckle.

For now, the three of them had been staying at Leyton’s, but they’d decided to build their own house, one that would accommodate all their needs. Not that Leyton’s wasn’t impressive; it simply didn’t have all the rooms they needed, so they’d found an architect and were designing it the way they wanted it.

Madison glanced over at Ashlynn, her eyebrows lifting in question.

“What? It’s not me who has all the requests,” Ashlynn said defensively.

“Oh, I think I can come up with a few things you asked for,” Leyton noted, pulling her up against him.

Ashlynn was insistent that they have a home theater because movie night had been something they were penciling in on a monthly basis, possibly more often if she got her way. They’d agreed they needed rooms for Cowboy, Leo, and Teddy, along with a game room to rival all, because that shit was just cool. Leyton had insisted on a Jacuzzi tub big enough for the three of them, along with an impressive outside hot tub and pool.

Apparently their sexual creativity had no limits, so they’d agreed that building something together was the only way to do it right. In all honesty, though, Jase was happy to have a home. And wherever Ashlynn and Leyton were, that was good enough for him.

Not that he hadn’t asked for a few things. Including a virtual shooting range.

And a hell of a lot of soundproofing.