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While he touches me, I direct him backward under the spray, cleaning the remnants of his ordeal from his skin. He won’t be able to forget what happened, but we can start fresh. We can start stronger together.
“I’m so glad you’re here, babe. I don’t know if I’ve said this yet. I don’t know if I’ve said half as much as I feel in my heart, but if you weren’t here, I’d be lost. As soon as you came here, I found the real person I was meant to be.”
I push him against the wall. Carefully, of course. I slant my mouth over his to seal a promise to him. No matter what, I’m getting him out of this. Even if it kills me.
Over the spray of the shower, the door to Johnny’s bathroom creaks open. In walks a copper-haired badass, drowning in an emotion that peaks my nipples until they hurt.
15
Johnny eyes Mag as he shuts the door behind him. The steam inside the room fades Mag out, like it’s possible he could be a figment of my imagination. However, that can’t be true because Johnny has a very real reaction to seeing him.
His muscles clench, and his perusal of my lips slow until they’re not moving. “What are you doing?”
I glance over to find Mag shrugging his shirt off. His chiseled chest muscles are less defined with all the steam, but I know exactly what he’s packing. Mag lifts a brow at him as he pulls his black tactical pants down, revealing a bandage that matches Johnny’s.
Johnny swallows hard. “You’ve never come into my shower before.”
“You see this?” Mag asks, pointing to his matching wound. “One guess who did this to me.”
Johnny darts his tongue out to lick along the seam of his lips. His fragile body breaks even more. Droplets coat his beautiful, marred skin, but underneath there’s a layer of fractured tension. Of boneless resignation. “He shot you?”
Mag nods carefully, keeping his gaze on him. Then, he moves it to me, his thumbs hooking around his boxer briefs, questions dancing in his gaze.
I nod, and Mag lowers his boxers, revealing his cut body.
“So, you think that means I’m okay with sharing her now?”
Mag steps into the shower. “No, I think it means we’re brothers more than we already were, and I think it means you know I not only care for you, I care for her, too. You can’t keep thinking you deserve her more than the rest of us.” Magnum moves up my backside, his thickening cock sliding over the small of my back.
“I never thought I deserved her more than you,” Johnny says. He catches my gaze, his stare burning into my own.
“We’re all in this together,” Mag continues. “Being together—all of us—doesn’t mean you’re missing out on anything. It means you’re gaining something.”
Mag cups my ass, and I bite my lip. Johnny must be able to feel my pebbled nipples against his skin because he peeks down at my heaving chest. I’m trying not to think too hard about being in a Magnum-Johnny sandwich because I need to make sure Johnny is comfortable before moving forward, but I can’t keep the obvious want from my gasp as Mag’s hands settle on my hips, pulling me back against his erection.
He presses kisses to the curve of my neck. “You see this woman? She wants to share herself with us, and I understand maybe more than anyone that you’ve never had a good damn thing in your life, but neither have we.” Mag’s fingers dip between my legs briefly before moving to my stomach, using the palm of his hand to press me back against him. Magnum’s holding me there for Johnny to peruse. He takes his fill, heated gaze and all. “Sharing doesn’t mean losing. Losing will happen if you don’t let us share.”
He moves his hand to press between my breasts. Spreading his fingers wide, the tip of his fingers just barely grazes the swell of my breasts.
“We came after you because of you, J. Not because of the Crew. Not because you’re Rocket. Not because you’re Big Daddy K’s son. We all fanned out, worked hard, made sure we were the ones to get you back from those cocksuckers. Not because of some obligation to the rank you pull, but because we didn’t want anything to happen toyou.”
Johnny’s pulse feathers. He keeps darting his gaze between Mag’s slow perusal of me and his friend’s face.
“This woman right here. I saw her crack when you were gone. I saw her lose a piece of herself, and I don’t want to see that shit again, so I’m imploring you, J. Don’t make her fucking choose.”
Johnny’s lip wobbles before he straightens it out again almost immediately. He heaves in a breath. “I really can’t fucking stand to see you touch her.”
Mag presses his lips against my shoulder. The heat of his touch makes me shiver even under the warm spray. “That’s normal. It’s something we need to work at. When I walked in here and saw her pressed against you, you didn’t think I wanted to rip her from you? You don’t think I wanted to claim her as my own? You don’t own the rights to jealousy, Rocket.” Mag reaches up to completely palm my breast. I close my eyes, my chest heaving naturally into his touch. “Let me ask you a question. Do you think this woman deserves to be loved?”
“Yes,” Johnny breathes.
“Do you think this woman deserves what she wants?”
“Yes,” he practically growls in answer.
“Who are we to keep her from that?”
I open my eyes to slits when Johnny doesn’t respond right away. A tug of war still plays out inside him. It’s as if he thinks agreeing will make him weak, and he’s been taught that being weak is bad. It isn’t. There are times to be tough. There are times when it’s okay to be weak. There are times to just search within yourself and feel whatever it is you want to feel regardless of what you’ve been told your whole life.