Page 65 of Four Times Saved

"You complaining?" He kissed the top of my head before hooking his finger under my chin and tipping my head back to look up at him.

His gaze made me blush and I caressed his stubble, raising my lips up to his. "Of course not."

Our kiss didn't break until I was hot and panting again, swinging my legs over his hips, grinding against his lap and enjoying a sexy make-out session with my man.

"Be careful, or you might start round two." He smiled, whispering into my lips and kneading my back.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." I grinned against his lips.

"If he's not up for the challenge, I am." Ethan's voice behind us made my pussy tighten and I looked over my shoulder to see him standing in the doorway. Before I could say anything, though, Matt turned my head back to him and pressed his forehead against mine.

"Promise that no matter what, you'll never leave me." He whispered.

"Of course not." I lowered my lips to his cheek, nuzzling his beard. Someone was in need of a little extra attention today. I wasn't mad at it. "I said I wouldn't, didn't I?" I reassured him with cuddles and kisses, until Ethan joined us on the bed. "I'll never leave any of you." I moved to the center, settling between them, my last thought being on Eric and Ryan's whereabouts as I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 31

Matt

She snored into my chest, comforted by our lies. Despite the clamminess of our spent bodies rubbing up against each other, I cuddled her close, tight, unwilling to let her go. I hated that, together, without prior discussion, all four of us men had decided that Ethan and I would have to fuck Lily senseless, in order to keep her from asking questions. I looked at him now, over her head. He had that same storm in his eyes. We hadn't discussed what Tyler said or how we felt about it.

Let's put it like this. Lily was the first home I'd ever lived in. Her heart was where I belonged and I'd do anything not to be kicked out of it. Her presence was wealth, the kind of wealth I hadn't been exposed to. As a man, my primitive instincts insisted that I guard and protect this home of mine from intruders. Lily had been fighting off intruders on her own for a long time, putting those walls up to keep them out.

But Terry and his silly partner broke in, just as she was letting her walls down to let us in, and caught us off guard. He had to face some consequences for that. I'd protect my home, you get what I'm saying?

Honestly, if all he'd wanted was money, I'd prefer if he just came right out and asked. He wouldn't get fifty million, but I doubted that he and his partner even knew what fifty million dollars looked like. They were just aiming high and taking advantage, trying to get as much as they could get. But if there's one thing I got from my parents, and growing up with wealth, it's the ability to negotiate. I would have reasoned with him, gotten him to accept a couple million, along with his friend, paid them off and sent them on their way with the promise that they wouldn't try to contact Lily or her mother again. My parents aren't outright criminals or anything, but they haven't gotten to where they're at without knowing how to play the game, which threats to make or who to call to make things happen. It wouldn't be easy for Terry Thornbread to come back, demanding more.

Instead, he chose to leave Lily with more scars. He'd been a plague in her life for too long and as I stroked my fingers through her hair, tensing at the rough ridges of stitches in her head, heat sliced through me, and I was more convinced that he was a plague that needed to be wiped out. A jail sentence could do the trick, teach him a lesson.

As far as I knew, Lily hadn't seen her father pay for a single one of his crimes. He always got away with beating on women, almost killing them and who knows what else the slimy bastard had done in his lifetime. Of course he decided to up his game and kidnap his own fucking daughter without a thought for consequences.

If he's held accountable for his actions, locked away in a jail cell with people who can make him look harmless in comparison, he'll learn a thing or two about fucking with his daughter and ex-wife again.

But that option was no longer on the table, was it? Tyler had them and he had no intention of letting them go. He was going to kill them anyway, so why should that be our problem? Because we're the ones who got involved with Tyler. Their death would be on our hands if we did nothing to stop it. What kind of monsters would that make us? Monsters under Lily's bed? Lurking in her closet. And when she found out...She won't find out.

Oh, yeah? And how are you going to manage that? Face it, you're out of options. The question is, are you going to be there?

If I went under the guise that I wanted to be a part of the demise of Terry Thornbread, I could inform the cops, have them hide out while Tyler took us to him, and get Terry and his sidekick arrested. And Tyler along with them too, smartass.

Yeah, there was no telling what he'd do. We'd have to run away, but I was certain there was no part of the world we could run far enough where Tyler couldn't find us. We'd be signing our death warrants, including Lily's. Even if Lily was his wife's best friend, he'd already proven that he was comfortable with lying to her.

Oh, he claimed he got involved because of his wife, but she was just his excuse. He'd have no problem getting to Lily to hurt us. We couldn't put her life in danger again. Besides, the thought of 'rescuing' Terry Thornbread made me dyspeptic. And letting the man who fucking split Lily's head open walk away in one piece, made me wrathful.

So, what? We just play chummy with the former mob boss who holds our secrets and can use it to our advantage whenever?

Ethan let out a heavy sigh next to us. Mouthing, 'What are we going to do?' I released one of those heavy sighs of my own as it hit me that even though the options were out of our hands, I was only going over these justifications in my head to convince myself that my helplessness was the reason why I was okay with Tyler's plan. But the truth was that as soon as I heard it, my heart kicked up its heels in relief at the thought that Terry Thornbread and his companion would soon cease to exist. They'd pay for what they did to Lily and I wanted to be there when it happened.

Again, I asked the question, what kind of person did that make me?

A cold breeze passed through my body, moving over my internal organs, and I shivered, pulling Lily closer still. She murmured in her sleep, rousing slightly to pull away, but I couldn't let her go. I couldn't lose my forever home that I'd found in her.

Ethan

Oh, I had a few words to say to asswipe Thornbread, alright. And I'd been lying here playing the words over and over in my head. I meant that 'round two' comment, because as soon as they left me in that living room, all I could do was replay Tyler's conversation in my head. There were loose ends he was offering to solve for us. Since Lily couldn't be there to say the things she deserved to say to him, I selfishly wanted to go so that I could speak on her behalf. Not that I could speak for her. I knew that annoyed her too.

Man, I was really trying to be the man that Lily wanted me to be. It was simpler when I came here at first, helping her out with her mother around the house, bonding with her on childhood trauma, throwing money at the situation to fix it: buying new furniture, redoing her walls, sorting out her garden, a garden that her mother wouldn't get to enjoy. My eyes stung at the thought of those simpler moments. It was on that same day after working on the garden, where I confessed my love to her and when I decided it was okay to leave her alone. I'd spent the day after yearning for her, waiting for her to tell me when it was okay to come over, focusing only on one thing, how much my body missed hers, how much my heart needed to wake up next to her with the smell of her embedded in my nose. Instead of that call, I learned that it had been hours since she'd been taken from her house and I wasn't there to stop it. I wasn't there to stop that snake.

Those simpler days were so far away now as I thought about how much had changed. I still wanted to be her Prince Charming, but more than that I wanted to be her Knight. Since leaving the dark world of my past behind, I'd chosen peace, the kind of peace money could buy. Because in many of life's chaotic moments, money could afford us peace in the blink of an eye. It was as easy as taking a trip, indulging in new cultures, meeting new people with my best friends by my side, who were...were...I don't know anymore...always ready for a good time.

---