Page 22 of Climbing Everest

Everest

L ike he promised – or threatened – Brix wrung orgasm after orgasm from my body.

Now, we’re lying in a huge garden tub in a bathroom bigger than my apartment in Georgia.

Leaning my head against his shoulder, I roll it and look into his face. “I don’t really care about any of the crap back at my apartment, but there’s a lot of money—”

“Kato sent someone after it,” Brix answers, his eyes closed, his head resting against the side of the tub.

His tone is no longer the sweet one he’d been using.

“What?” I ask, sitting up and putting a little space between us.

When he opens his eyes, that hard look is back, and my heart stutters.

No way was this an act to fuck me. He could have done that any time he wanted.

If they really planned to make me Kato’s wife, planned to keep me locked away in the estate, it isn’t like they had any intentions of asking what I wanted.

“I don’t like the way you earned the money,” he admits after a few seconds, and relief nearly steals my breath.

“Not all that cash was earned…that way.”

“The bulk of it was earned by dancing for one of our guards.”

I frown at him and chew on my bottom lip.

“What?” He sits up and reaches for me, trying to drag me back against his chest, but I’m not willing to let this conversation go.

“What do you mean, one of your guards?” The dude who paid me all that cash to dance with my clothes on while recording me. “Did you send someone to spy on me?”

“Not spy. Confirm. We found out where you might be working, but we needed proof it was you.”

His eyes stay glued to my face and the hardness is still in his eyes, but he hasn’t released his hold on my wrist, as though refusing to allow me to put any more space between us.

“Then how did you know where I lived?” Because at no point had I ever revealed where my apartment was to anyone, not my coworkers, not my employers. No one.

He snorts a sound and makes a face like it should be obvious. “We waited in the parking lot for you to get off then followed you home. That place was way too easy to break into…you’re lucky it was us who let ourselves in.”

I don’t bother telling him they were far from the first people to break into my apartment, but I usually wasn’t there and the people who either kicked in the door or picked the locks weren’t after my body, but anything they might be able to pawn or sell for drugs.

“I need that money, B.”

His brows slam together. “And why would you need the money?” His jaw works and his frown deepens. “If you’re thinking of disappearing again, it won’t happen. I won’t let it happen.”

“Fuck you, Brix. Do you think I was blowing smoke up your ass when I said I never stopped loving you? Have you become so fucking jaded you think every word out of my mouth is a lie? Or have you hardened so much that I just became yet another person you brought to your secret apartment to fuck like all the others.”

I regret the words the moment they leave my mouth. None of them were fair. I’m lashing out, and it’s all from fear.

I don’t technically need the money. Kato and the other two can more than provide me with anything I could ever want or need.

But…well, damn. I sold my dignity for that cash. It’s mine. I will forever carry the shame of what I did to earn any and every penny for the rest of my life. So the least they can do is let me keep it, even if I simply stash it under the mattress for the rest of my life.

He releases his grip on me and stands so quickly I flinch away instinctively.

Yet another fun thing I learned while on my own – some men hit women. Yeah. Sure. My father had been slap-happy with my mom growing up, but considering that my only relationships had been with Brix, Madd, and Kato, I had never had a man raise a hand to me before arriving in Georgia.

Brix either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care, because he steps out of the tub and grabs a towel, keeping his back to me as he wraps it around his hips without bothering to hide it.

This is the first time I’ve seen his back since, well, four years ago. It’s covered in ink, just like his chest, abs, and arms, but that’s not what has me gaping.

Spread from shoulder to shoulder and taking up nearly the entirety of his back is Mount Everest.

He permanently etched a memorial of me into his flesh. It’s far more than the barely visible raised E that is now covered with tattoos, though that ink is fairly faded because of the scar tissue.

“B,” I whisper, leaning against the side of the tub, my wide eyes roaming across the intricate shading.

He glances at me over his shoulder but says nothing.

“You…” I don’t know what to say. I don’t have any words.

Yes. I do.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…I’m sorry. I know I’m not just another fuck. Another random lover. And, of all people, I have no right to throw that shit in your face. You were trying to survive. Just like I was.”

No. He wasn’t fucking people for money. He wasn’t dancing naked to buy food.

He was trying to find a way to chase away the same wretched ache I have carried in my heart and soul all this time.

Climbing from the tub, I ignore the towel sitting folded on the ledge and carefully cross the space between us. The fact his back is still to me, that he refuses to look at me makes the space feel more like miles instead of mere feet.

Running my fingers along the lines of the beautiful design of one of the most – if not the most – famous mountains in the world, fresh tears start to burn my eyes.

I’ve cried more today than I have in years. Once I decided I had to push forward, forget the life I planned with my husbands, and accept they would move on, I refused to shed another tear.

That all went right out the window when I was forced to open my chest and give Brixton a peek inside, revealing all the ugly details of the one night that changed our lives and our future together.

He releases a shuddering breath and his muscles tense under my touch.

“You never let me go,” I whisper.

“No.” Just the one word. And then, “I couldn’t. Even when we were told you ran off, I always thought…but when you didn’t come back, I forced myself to accept it. Then I had Nico do that, so I could still have a piece of you with me.”

Tears begin to stream down my cheeks. I try to turn him with a hand on his bicep, but I might have better luck turning a goddamn boulder for how immovable he is.

Fine.

I round his side until I’m standing directly in front of him and crane my neck to look up into his face. He’s over a foot taller than me. Then again, he’s taller than everyone I know. And now that he’s so big everywhere, he’s so…

He just emits power and dominance. Oozes it from his fucking pores.

“Please look at me,” I beg.

He lowers his eyes so he’s looking down his nose at me.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I said. I’m sorry for the time we lost. I’m just…

” Tears choke me, and I have to swallow twice before I can say, “I’m just so fucking sorry, Brix.

I wish I could take that night back. I wish I’d have fought harder, or maybe I should have just run off with the three of you as soon as Maddox brought it up instead of going back to the house. ”

Again with the stupid what ifs, as though they can change anything.

His jaw is tight, a muscle jumping, but his eyes are glassy, as though he’s fighting his own tears.

“I love you, B. I always have.” I don’t know how else to convince him of that other than fully committing myself to him, to Madd, to Kato.

Of course, that will mean Kato needs to keep his hand off my throat long enough for me to actually speak, and I am really not looking forward to reliving everything all over again, but I will if that’s what it takes.

Brix promised he would protect me. He promised they would be safe, they would be okay once the news of my reappearance got out. That we would be okay.

I have to have faith in him, in his words. I have to trust that he’ll take every measure to ensure the four of us are never separated again.

His hand snatches out and wraps around the back of my neck, dragging me to his damp chest. His other arm snakes around my back and he rests his chin on top of my head.

“Don’t doubt me, E. Never doubt me. Never doubt every single second you were gone felt like someone was taking a battering ram to my fucking heart. I felt like my soul was ripped to shreds that day at the gate of your parents’ estate. Please don’t ever make me feel that way again.”

“Never,” I promise, listening to the rapid thud of his heart as I rest my head against his warm, muscled chest.

The money is all but forgotten. Fuck the money. Brix said Kato sent someone, but there’s a chance one of my tweaker neighbors already made their way inside and stole it.

What would it matter, anyway? I’m not going anywhere.

I’m fucking terrified. Terrified of what will happen when my father finds out I’m alive, and the fear isn’t just for me and my husbands but for Viktor as well, since he was the one who was supposed to kill me and bury me in the woods.

What will happen to the guard when word of my survival makes it back to my father?

Depending on how many people Kato has already told, he might very well already know.

He might have people out there looking for me, might have had someone tailing Brix and me the moment Brix pulled the SUV through the front gates.

“My legs aren’t jelly anymore,” I mutter against his chest.

In response, I swear his dick instantly hardens against my stomach, straining against his towel.

“Is that a dare?” he says, his voice deep but playful.

Instead of giving him the chance to rip the towel away, plop my ass on the vanity and fuck me senseless, I tilt my face up to him then slowly lower to my knees, my nails scraping along his skin, causing his muscles to twitch below my touch.

His hand instantly goes to my hair, his fingers tangling in the damp tresses as I pull the towel away to reveal him to me.

He’s so tall I have to strain up a little to reach him, but reach him I do.

I run my tongue along the underside, the feeling of the bars through his shaft heightening my own arousal, then run it around the tip like the most delicious lollipop.

He huffs a breath through his nose, his grip on my hair tightening just this side of pain, but pleasure and pain have always been separated by the finest line when it came to the four of us.

“You want me to fuck your face? Or do you want control?”

I cup his sac and run my tongue along his length again, closing my lips over the head and sucking before pulling back.

“Own me, B. Claim me. Fuck my face. Fuck any part of me you want. Own every fucking inch of me.”

Both his hands tangle in my hair and I open my mouth wide, relaxing my jaw in anticipation.

Brix isn’t gentle or slow as he thrusts his hips forward, filling my mouth with his thick length.

The tip continuously hits the back of my throat, causing me to gag, but I love every second of it.

They were rarely gentle with me when we were younger; I didn’t need gentle.

I loved the passion, the way they seemed to lose control.

But this…I’m seconds away from coming without anything even brushing over my clit merely from the grunts leaving his full lips, the look of lust and awe in his brown eyes, and the feeling of those piercings rubbing along my tongue and periodically clicking against my bottom teeth.

“You’re going to swallow my cum, E. Every fucking drop.”

His voice is growly, deep and demanding. I try to nod in agreement, but his hands don’t let up as he thrusts forward a few more times before pulling my head toward him at the same time he pushes to the back of my throat and groans out my name.

Hot jets hit the back of my throat and I swallow them down as fast as I can, but some still leaks past my lips.

When he finishes, he pulls from me and uses his thumb to swipe up the little bit I missed, pushing it into my mouth and smirking when I suck his thumb clean.

I was so close to coming but I didn’t, and now my pussy is throbbing while my jaw aches from taking Brix’s size.

Pushing to my feet, I press my thighs together to add a little friction, not that it’ll help. I reach for a towel, but he grabs me and spins me toward the sink so fast that I yelp in surprise.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

And then he lowers to his knees behind me and feasts on my asshole and pussy until I scream out his name, my knuckles white as I grip the sides of the vanity to keep from collapsing.

As my knees threaten to buckle, he straightens, grips my hips and slams into me from behind. I raise my head and look at him in the mirror with wide eyes. I literally just sucked him off and he’s ready to go again?

Fuck, I missed him. I missed this. I missed the feeling of being so safe and loved and cared for, I missed the feeling of being so desired that he can’t get enough of me.

And as long as we all stay alive, I’ll never have to go without this, or him, again.