Page 150 of Seizing Control: Part Two

It’s not the smartest place to be, not when I’m trying to establish new parameters for our relationship. I know I’m giving them mixed signals. My waxing and waning emotions. The support I require to survive each day is allowing them to sneak back in without sufficient grovelling.

Nadia will kill me when she finds out I shared a bed with them both.

“Where do you think you’re sneaking off to?” Lazarus asks in a sleep roughened voice.

I grip his forearm with both hands to move out of his embrace. He doesn’t let me go. When I try again, our movements wake up my husband. Stiffening as the precarious position that I’m caught in quickly becomes embarrassing, I close my eyes to block out reality.

“Answer the man,” Slash rumbles.

“Yippee,” I mumble as I lift my eyelids to discover a ice-blue gaze boring into mine. Slash tightens his hold on my t-shirt in a non-verbal warning that I’m not going anywhere. “Just what every girl wants... unfettered testosterone for breakfast.”

“Nice deflection.”

“Shut up, Lazarus?—”

“Psst, Cherub.”

Falling silent as the door to my bedroom is opened, I watch my friends creep inside with all the grace of a rampaging herds of tipsy elephants. Behind me, my first love chuckles while my husband groans. I count, one woman at a time, as my space is inundated with giggling, obviously drunk members of the Moscato & Monet club.

Turns out the reason they didn’t ambush me last night was because they were out on the town. Serena and Indi are the worst culprits. I can smell the vodka seeping from their livers from the other side of the bed. Although Seraphina and Gabbi seem tipsy, it’s clear they are more amused at the antics of the two blondes rather than equally inebriated.

Bringing up the rear are Ziva and Nadia.

Sombre and freshly showered, the latter makes a beeline for Garrett while Ziva hangs back from the others. She’s agoraphobic at the best times. The disappearance of her boyfriend has set her back a lot, therapy-wise and mentally. Her decision to come to Australia instead of hiding out at the Philadelphia compound of the Black Shamrocks is a testament to the strength of our friendship, and it’s a gesture I will find a way to return as soon as I can.

“Jesus H. Christ,” Serena exclaims. She jams her hands over her eyes. “You fucked them both.” Spinning in a circle, the intoxicated blonde seems to sober up rapidly as she rambles, “No... you couldn’t’ve. Not after giving birth.” Horror invades her expression when she whirls around to face me again. In a whisper-yell, she asks, “Aren’t you bleeding? Tell me you didn’t let them both ride the crimson tide?”

“Far out.” Sera takes hold of Serena’s bicep and steers her toward the door. “You obviously left your filter and your common sense somewhere between that last club and the top of the stairs.”

Indi gags, then she stumbles in a semi-circle with her hand over her mouth. “Think I’m gonna be sick.”

Shaking free of her stupor to intercept our recently turned nineteen-year-old friend before she empties the contents of her stomach onto my carpet, Ziva shepherds the pale beauty out of the room. Although, we’re still left with two interlopers, Lazarus sits up. He easily hefts me over to his side of the bed, pulling me between his legs and propping my back against his chest.

My husband snarls, “Possessive cunt.”

I grimace when I catch sight of the judgement on Nadia’s face. She’s bouncing Garrett, the sleepy boy sucking on his dummy with evident annoyance at being prematurely woken up. The drawn-out look we exchange infuses my spine with steel, and reminds me that I’m supposed to be advocating for my independence and the safety of my children instead of melting into my first love’s warmth.

Underneath the covers, Slash curls his fingers over my thigh.

My best friend remarks, “Thought you were gonna make ’em grovel?”

“I am.”

“Holy fuck.” Gabbi laughs. “Remind me to never ask your advice about grovellin’ if this is what you think it looks like.” Even though she winks at me to soften the censure lacing her words, heat floods my face. Moving her gaze to Lazarus, the tattooed brunette quips, “Guess you were tellin’ the truth about one thing, Venom?”

“Like I said, some things need to be accepted at face value.”

“Sounds like a lie wrapped up in a pretty bow to me.”

“Doesn’t matter what you call it—all you need to do is keep your mouth shut.”

“Fine.”

Garrett ends the quasi-aggressive banter between Lazarus and Gabbi with a shrill cry.

“It’s okay, little man,” Nadia murmurs to him. She plants a kiss on his head after she’s settled him on her hip. “Get rid of the man meat, Anna, and pump those titties before they spout a leak... I’ll feed the G-man.” Next to me, Slash groans at the nickname she just gave his son. “And sober up the drunkards in the meantime.”

“Okay... thank you, Nads.”

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