Page 28 of Climbing Everest

Everest

A California king is a big bed. Huge. The length is perfect for giants like Brix.

But it doesn’t feel so big with three huge men surrounding me on both sides.

I giggled and writhed as they wrestled each other, trying to be the one to touch me. Only two could be pressed against me with the one in the back able to fully spoon me.

Poor Kato got pushed to the outer edges, but that didn’t stop him from reaching over Maddox’s head to tangle his fingers in my hair while he slept.

The problem now is my bladder is screaming for relief and there are arms and legs tangled in mine, weighing me down. There is literally no way for me to extricate myself without waking one or all of them and we were up late last night… not talking.

Which, of course, we definitely need to do. There’s a lot of explaining, a lot of groveling – on their parts, not mine – and plans to make.

For instance, Kato’s original plan of a huge public display, of announcing our engagement and a big Greek wedding might not be the best plan. In fact, it very well could turn into a bloodbath if we’re not careful.

We . Holy shit. This is only the third day I’ve had my guys back, and I’m already comfortable thinking of myself as part of the family again.

On one hand, it feels as though barely a single minute has passed between us but on the other, I realize we have all changed in so many ways.

Kato and Brix are far more serious than they were when we were kids and Madd has this edge to him, like he’s constantly walking a tight wire and the slightest breeze can send him spiraling into violence.

Is it bad that I’m a little turned on over the thought that Maddox first attacked Brix when he thought the giant had hurt me, then was prepared to race to my family’s estate to commit murder on my behalf?

I’ve never been one to be turned on by violence, but something about my guys has always kept my body primed, made me warm and ready at the drop of a dime.

Okay, yeah. I’m still a little pissed about how they treated me at first, and I can foresee a buttload of required groveling before I’m willing to completely lower my guard.

But like I did when we were kids, I feel as though we can take on the world as long as we’re together.

Groans and grumbles of protest erupt as I wiggle and maneuver my way from between Brix and Maddox, then crawl to the end of the bed.

“Any chance I can convince you to stay just like that for about ten minutes?” Madd asks, his voice rough and sleepy.

“Not unless you’re suddenly into golden showers,” I tease as I finally make my way off the end and hurry to the bathroom.

“Shit. I’m willing to try just about anything with you,” Madd’s voice follows me into the bathroom.

“Not while I’m in bed,” Kato grumbles.

I don’t bother to close the door so I can listen to their banter. I chuckle softly, a smile tugging on my lips. Yet another moment where it feels like hardly any time has passed between us.

We could’ve kept you safe.

The smile fades as Madd’s words replay in my head.

I know he believes those words. I know he really thinks the three of them could have taken care of me, but there was also a very strong chance my father would have sent every ally he has after the Antonious’.

Especially after Kato killed his father, putting a nineteen-year-old in charge of the syndicate.

Now? It seems Kato has the Family under control. It seems as though he’s built an army of loyal men. Or at least I assume so considering the guards who’d been positioned outside my door refused to so much as look at me for fear of Kato going all possessive psycho on them.

After flushing the toilet, I wash my hands and stare at my reflection in the mirror. It’s the same girl from four years ago looking back at me…but not. My eyes are harder, more wary. There’s a tightness in the lines to my face from years of expecting danger around every corner.

How fucked up is it that even though I’m no longer dancing naked or fucking strangers, I still have to anticipate danger?

I want to talk Kato out of this whole public display, but I know there’s no way I can stay hidden away in this estate for the rest of my life. Eventually, word will get out about my presence here.

And, once again, my father could use it to attack or somehow rally other Families against the Antonious.

If we’re doing this, it needs to be planned out well, and I won’t sit on the sidelines and let my men or anyone else dictate my life. Never again.

There’s a moment where I’m tempted to drive right up to the gate at my family’s estate and announce my presence.

That’s not enough .

I want the whole city, the whole state to know I’m not only alive, but back home. That I have aligned myself with the Antoniou Family, that I’m willingly beside the men I love.

Fuck my father and anyone else who has a problem with it.

Maybe Kato was right – a public display is exactly what we need, and I mean literally public. As in plenty of witnesses so my father can’t have assassins waiting in the wings to take each of us out like a hunter hiding in a tree.

Pushing away from the vanity, I dry my hands and step out of the bathroom. Kato and Madd are missing, but Brix is lying face down on the bed, his face turned away from me, his long hair fanned out on the mattress…

That large Mount Everest tattoo on full display.

I tiptoe closer, wanting to spend a few seconds memorizing it before he wakes and rolls onto his back.

Although, I wouldn’t mind him rolling onto his back if I can straddle his hips and lower onto his cock.

If things are still the way they used to be, he’ll be hard as stone when he wakes.

Brix has always given a whole new definition to morning wood.

His should be labeled morning granite, for fuck’s sake.

My eyes rake over the intricate design, the shadows and highlights, the stunning detail of the mountain.

He might have hated me all these years. He might have blamed me.

But he still loved me through it all.

Just as I carried them in my heart every moment of every day, Brix made sure he carried some kind of symbol of me etched into his beautiful flesh.

I can’t help myself; I raise my hand and drag my fingertips over the lines leading to the peak.

His skin twitches as though I’m tickling him. A few seconds later, his breathing changes, his muscles tense, and he slowly rolls his head toward me, his hair obscuring his face.

Brushing the mass away, I stare down into his pretty brown eyes. “Good morning,” I whisper.

Although it’s closing in on early afternoon, since we all slept past ten this morning.

“Hey,” he croaks, his eyes closing again before he reaches for me.

I let him drag me back into bed and nuzzle my face into the crook of his neck, breathing in his warm scent.

Fuck, I missed this. I missed every single second away from them. It’s amazing how, even with the time apart, I’d remembered every tiny detail about each of them, including their individual smells.

"What happened when you went to the gate?” I ask softly, pulling back to look at his face.

He opens one eye to look at me, his dark brows pulling together. “I told you what happened.”

“I mean…what exactly did my dad say to you? What did he tell you? Did he give you a name of someone specific? A doctor I supposedly went to for the abortion? Did he threaten you in any way?”

Because the more I think about it, Maddox was right. There was no way my father saw those initials still red and bloody on my chest and didn’t figure it out. Although, I suppose he might have thought it was the first, middle, and last initial of someone.

But considering how many times the four of us were around each other at various functions, and as much as Dima Sidorov hated Christos Antoniou, he had to have put two and two together.

It was rare to see Kato without Brixton and Maddox since they were being raised and trained to one day be guards to the only son of Christos.

Brix fully rolls onto his back and looks up at the ceiling, his brows furrowed as though deep in thought. I push to sit and cross my legs so I can look at him.

“I…shit. I can’t remember any specific names. I was a little fucked up at the time.”

Grief and guilt squeeze my heart, but I need to push the second away, because I have nothing to feel guilty about. It wasn’t my fault. Nothing that happened to the four of us was my fault.

Although, I suppose I could have reached out to them, sent a message to let them know I was alive and missed them.

But then they might have come sooner, and since I was keeping my distance for their safety…

Endless fucking cycle. It feels as though the same thoughts are constantly chasing each other like a dog chasing its tail.

“Why?”

“What?” I ask, pulled out of my thoughts by his question.

“Why do you want to know whether he gave any specific names or whatever?”

I shrug up my shoulders. “I guess part of it is sheer curiosity. Like, did he throw some poor asshole under the bus thinking you three would chase after him to find me? Or did he make something up to throw you off the trail? Or…shit. I don’t know.”

I don’t know, but there are plans brewing in my mind, plans I know all three men will probably be against. But if they want to be a part of my life, if they want us to go back to the life we were trying to build before my father ruined everything, then they’ll have to trust me.

My eyes have gone unfocused, no longer seeing Brix, but future plans and ideas of how exactly I can step back into society that will cause enough of a ripple to knock my father off his throne a bit.

“What’s going through that pretty head of yours?” Brix asks.

I look down at him and smirk. “You were an asshole to me for two days. Don’t think some good dick and compliments will get you off the hook that easily.”

I’m teasing. Sort of. But there are a lot of things we need to work through together before we can let the rest of the world know I’m here, before I let Kato parade me around in public.

Because I refuse to take the chance of losing any of my men after finally getting them back after so long apart.