Page 17

Chapter 17

Levi

Heart hammering, I scramble to my feet like I’ve been caught committing a crime.

“Hey, man. We thought you were asleep.” I swipe at the slick evidence coating my lips and chin. Not that it matters. My T-shirt is fucking soaked from the way Hunter just squirted all over me.

“I was.” He narrows his focus on our girl, who is still propped on the vanity. “But I woke to the sound of screaming and jumped out of bed in a panic.”

“Oh.” Hunter slides off the vanity and quickly adjusts her robe. “I’m so sorry we woke you.” She hurries to him, but before she can touch him, she freezes, like she’s not sure what to do.

He takes her in, glare softening, and opens his arms.

I deftly sneak forward and snatch my hat from the floor in front of him and pull it on backward. With one more swipe at my mouth, I smile, but the expression I get in return is hard and surly.

“Did you lick all my cum out of her?”

I snort, shocked by the crudeness of his question. If he wants to banter, I’m game.

“Sure did.” I preen, assaulted by the memories of the way our woman just unraveled under my tongue. Fuck. She came so hard. She came twice. And she squirted all over me. I doubt there’s a single drop of him left inside her pretty little cunt. “Jealous, G?”

Instantly, his face is a mask of rage.

Shit. Clearly, we’re not bantering. My heart sinks and my mind spins in confusion as I try to think of what to say or do to recover.

“Of course I’m fucking jealous.” He grips Hunter’s arms possessively, shooting daggers my way.

Fucking hell.

He’s legitimately upset? I thought we were joking around. My cheeks heat. Dammit, how the hell did I misread the situation so badly?

“ You got to be there for her when she found out about the baby. You were fucking there, and I was fucking clueless. I don’t know if I’ll ever fucking forgive myself for not being what she needed. Of course I’m jealous. I jolt awake and come in here, only to find you eating her out, after I filled her up—”

“Whoa. G. Hold up.” I raise both hands. He’s talking about that summer after high school, I think, but also about what he just walked in on, I guess?

“Don’t tell me to hold up. Maybe you should have fucking held up and thought about your actions before you went down on her while I was asleep in the other room.”

“Greedy—” Hunter spins out of his arms and grasps his hands, her lips turned down and her eyes pleading.

I straighten to my full height. “You’re not the orgasm police.”

Eyes flaring with indignation, he sidesteps Hunter and charges toward me. Now I’ve gone and done it. I always did have a knack for earning myself a beating.

I’m braced for a solid punch in the gut, but Hunter utters, “ Stop it ,” and Greedy freezes, his hands still balled into fists at his sides.

With a huff, she slinks between us and puts a palm on each of our chests. “We can’t do this.”

“We can’t do what ?” Greedy snaps.

My hackles rise in response to his tone. He can give me whatever shit he wants to dish out, but if he thinks he’s going to talk to her like that—

Hunter sighs and drops her hands, looking first at me, then at G. “This.” She waves a hand between us. “We can’t bicker. We can’t let jealousy get the best of us or allow a simple misunderstanding to steal what little joy we have these days.”

Greedy huffs indignantly, his shoulders rising and falling.

She turns to him, brows raised, and shakes her head. “I’m sorry we woke you. I’m especially sorry that we made you think something was wrong. But Levi and I are allowed to be together without you, just like you and I were together without him earlier. Just like the two of you are allowed to be together without me.”

His whole being deflates. “I didn’t mean you two can’t be together—”

“I know.” She steps closer and hugs his bicep, resting her head on his shoulder. “But Levi doesn’t know what happened earlier, so he’s not at fault for the, uh, mess we made just now.”

G hangs his head, his defenses finally lowering.

“Let’s go to bed,” Hunter encourages.

We haven’t technically resolved anything, but it’s probably for the best. It’s late. Everyone’s on edge, our emotions too raw. A good night’s sleep will make a difference. I hope.

We reach a silent agreement. Without a word, I let Greedy exit first, then we both follow our girl back to the bedroom.

The next blow doesn’t even hurt. I’m beyond the point of no return.

Dark spots dance in my vision.

Good thing I’m already lying down.

Upstairs, Mama’s praying.

She never sticks around to witness what he does.

She flees and she prays.

She prays and she prays, yelling to the heavens, adding to the chaos without partaking in the physical blows.

There’s more darkness than light in front of me now.

I lift my hand. At least I think I do. I can’t see the fingers in front of my face.

My wrist snaps back. Bones crush to dust, grated into the ground by the heel of a heavy boot.

Throat gargling, I open my mouth in a scream. No sound comes out. No one comes. I count backward from ten, and I pray, too. I beg and I plead and I pray that the darkness will eventually come.

“Levi!”

The sharp sound of my name cuts through the nightmare. My eyes fly open, and the first thing I do is lift my hand to my face.

Panting, I squint at the digits of my right hand. They’re slightly crooked from the way they healed, but in the dark, it looks as if they’re all there.

“Leev, you okay?”

It takes a few more blinks to remember where I am.

When I shove up to sitting, it finally comes to me. Crusade Mansion. Decker’s enormous bed. I’m sandwiched between Greedy and Hunter. Both, I realize, are awake and staring.

“Yeah, sorry,” I croak. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“We don’t care about that.” Greedy gently rests a hand on my forearm. “Are you okay?”

Hunter sniffles, wrapping herself around my bicep in a suffocatingly tight hug. “You were screaming, Duke. We couldn’t wake you.”

Fucking hell.

Sometimes, the nightmares trap me in my own head. It sucks, but honestly, I don’t stress about them anymore. They’re just a fact of life for me. Memories I’ll always have to endure, made worse by how deeply I sleep.

I’ve always been a heavy sleeper. It started young, probably as a way for my body to protect me after a really bad night. As a kid, I passed out on the floor more times than I can count—from pain and exhaustion, mostly. It’s how I coped. The only way my brain could truly rest.

Once I passed out, he would stop. Once I gave up, he’d leave me be. Deep, uninterrupted sleep was my only guaranteed reprieve, like a reward at the end of it all.

“It was just a nightmare,” I force out. “Just a nightmare.” I keep my tone even. I need them to know I’m fine. I don’t want them worrying about me. That version of my life no longer exists. I’m safe. Loved. Even if we hit a rough patch like we did tonight, this group is solid. I think.

Greedy rolls until he’s sprawled out with half his body on top of me, pressing his pelvis into mine and pinning me to the mattress. On a broken whisper, he says, “You said my name just now.”

My heart splinters at the brokenness of his tone.

“I’m sorry, man.” I slip both hands under my head and tilt my chin up.

“Sorry? Why are you fucking sorry?” G rolls his hips against mine.

I don’t think he means to do it. It’s likely a product of the way his body has tensed up. Even so, my dick twitches with interest.

I push down those thoughts and rack my brain for an explanation. “I—” I struggle to reply.

Hunter snuggles closer, and instinctively, I lower an arm and stroke her hair.

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” I finally admit.

Greedy is silent, his presence foreboding, looming over us like he’s the king of the fucking world. He is in my book. At least one of them.

“Don’t apologize,” he grits out. “I’m the one who should be apologizing to you.” He bends low, causing our bare chests to brush together.

The sensation of his skin against mine sends shivers dancing along my spine.

“I’m sorry I reacted so poorly earlier,” he rasps. “I’m especially sorry if my reaction triggered your nightmare. Leev, I love you. I swear I’ll always try to do right by you.”

His nose brushes mine, his still minty breath warm on my face. His tongue darts out to wet his lips, but he doesn’t kiss me. He waits for me to close the distance between us.

“I love you, too.” I leave it at that. It’s hard for me to accept apologies, even when I’ve been wronged. Probably because I was rarely shown true remorse growing up.

Now, though, I deserve his apology, and Greedy deserves to give it. So I make myself take it. Craning up slightly, I press my mouth to his and glide my tongue along the seam of his lips until he opens for me with a satisfied groan.

After a moment, I break away and turn my head to kiss Hunter, too. Her kiss is softer. Sweet and tentative. Like she wants to provide what I need but doesn’t want to take away from what Greedy has just given me.

“What can we do for you?” G implores.

“Stay just like this.”

He’s still practically on top of me, and Hunter is curled up against my side.

“Stay like this and don’t let me go.”

It’s the last thing I remember before drifting back to sleep.