Page 41 of Give Me Three

Jaxon chuckled and pressed a kiss to my forehead. I closed my eyes for a moment, letting warmth slide through my veins. “Eh, I don’t think he’s mean enough for that.”

I snorted. “Eros knows the worst ways to torture me,” I told him honestly. “So yeah, he’ll make me regret this.” Honestly though, it was worth it to have Jaxon in my throat.

Jaxon hummed and closed his eyes as I began shampooing his hair. His hands came up to rest on my hips, his fingertips just grazing the curve of my ass. Fuck, I loved his big hands. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy whatever he has planned anyway.”

Yeah… he was probably right. So long as I had their attention, I didn’t care about much else, even if it did mean my husband might edge me later.

CHAPTER 30

Eros

For the next week, I kept waiting for Zeppelin to spiral like he normally did after his therapy appointments. But when he had another appointment with no aggressive fucking, no extreme gym workouts, and no shouting or holing himself up in our room, I began relaxing. Maybe he’d finally had a break through or maybe seeing Dr. Clarke more than twice a month was helping him.

I didn’t know which it was, but I was happysome kindof progress was being made.

I let myself into Jaxon’s house using the key he’d given me a few days ago, taking immediate notice of how quiet it was. Ash was curled up on the top of her cat tower asleep, and only the sound of the television playing a rerun ofNaked and Afraidcould be heard. Zeppelin had another appointment with Dr. Clarke today, so I’d expected some kind of noise from the two of them by the time I got here. Maybe he and Jaxon talking about mundane things to keep Zep’s mind out of the dark pit he had a habitof getting dragged into. Jaxon was damn good at keeping Zep distracted.

I set the takeout bag on the kitchen counter before heading into the living room, a small smile tilting my lips when I saw my men. They were on the couch, Zeppelin on his back, one leg thrown over the back of the couch, the other hanging off, his foot resting on the floor, soft snores leaving his slightly parted lips. Jaxon was on his stomach between Zeppelin’s thighs, his head resting on Zeppelin’s chest with Zeppelin’s arms wrapped around him. Both of them were asleep, and they looked so fuckingperfecttogether.

This—this right here was everything I’d ever wanted when I told Zeppelin I wanted to add a third man to our marriage. I wanted someone for Zeppelin, too. Someone who could quiet the darkness in his mind in a way I couldn’t.

Pulling my phone out of my scrub pockets, I quickly took a picture of them, setting it as my phone background before setting my phone on the coffee table. Grabbing the blanket draped over the back of the recliner, I unfolded it and gently draped it over them, pressing a kiss to Jaxon’s hair before I slipped out of the living room, heading to Jaxon’s room, which was slowly becoming ours, to shower and dress in something a little more comfortable and get the smell of animals off of me.

When I emerged into the kitchen, Jaxon was awake, the microwave was on, and he was lifting a mug of coffee to his lips. “Hey,” he rasped, reaching out to grip the band of my sweats to tug me closer. I easily went, slipping into the curve of his armwhen he wrapped it around me. Leaning down, he pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. “How was work?”

“Tiring,” I admitted. “Had a dog come in for emergency surgery. It was… graphic,” I admitted. Nothing quite like a dog eating something he shouldn’t. “But the dog is on the mend and will be just fine.”

Jaxon grimaced. “How graphic?”

I winced, shrugging a shoulder. “You probably don’t want to know.”

The microwave beeped, so I stepped away from him, pulling the food out and checking to make sure it was all warmed up. Jaxon passed me three plates, and I dished the food onto it. Zeppelin stepped into the kitchen, his shirt missing and his jeans riding low on his hips to reveal the V of his hips. His eyes were still coated with sleep.

“I smelled food,” he grumbled. I snorted. Gripping my chin, Zep pressed a kiss to my lips, deepening it for a moment because he just couldn’t resist. Then, he dropped his hand and grabbed a plate without a word, heading straight for the dining room table. I shook my head at his one-track mind and grabbed my own plate and a bottle of water, following him. I saw Ash stand up and eye us before deciding we weren’t worth her time and laid back down, curling back up again.

“Work was okay?” Zeppelin asked me as he dug into the Chinese food I’d brought home.

“Stressful, but yeah. Saved a dog’s life today. Had some internal bleeding from something he swallowed.”

Zeppelin grimaced much as Jaxon had. Leaning back in his chair, he looked at Ash. “Ash,” he called, making her peek one eye open at him, “don’t go around swallowing shit you don’t have any business swallowing, yeah?”

Jaxon snickered into his coffee. I rolled my eyes at him. Ash just stood up, turned, and laid back down, giving us her back. I snorted. She was such a grumpy cutie. I adored that cat.

And I adored Jaxon even more for rescuing her and taking her in instead of dropping her at a shelter, where she more than likely wouldn’t be adopted and would eventually be euthanized.

“Eat your food,” I told him. “Leave Ash alone. She’s not amused by you.” I forked a piece of shrimp from my shrimp fried rice and chewed it before looking back at my husband, who was busy slurping Lo Mein noodles into his mouth noisily. “How’d therapy go?”

He shrugged. “Tiring. She keeps bringing random things in to see if we can uncover more of my past.”

“Did you?” I asked him, noticing that Jaxon was quiet—focused on eating his food. No doubt, he’d already coaxed all of this out of Zeppelin. I didn’t like making Zeppelin talk about it twice, but talking about it was healthier than him keeping it all bottled up inside.

He nodded. “It was a small memory. Nothing super traumatic. It was from the night of when Mom sold me. I’d been thrown into a room with other guys—all around my age. I’d forgotten about that. Or, well, my mind suppressed it, I guess.”

My heart hurt for him. When he’d been rescued, the ring had been torn down, and Zep had known there were other boys thathad suffered. But I still ached for all of them. None of them had deserved the hell they’d gone through.

Reaching across the table, I covered his hand with mine. He looked up at me, his dark eyes swirling with barely suppressed pain. “I’m proud of you,” I quietly told him. He swallowed thickly, his eyes softening at my words, some of the pain leaving them. “You have no fucking clue how proud I am of how far you’ve come, Zep.”

He flipped his hand over to clasp mine before digging back into his food. He didn’t need to say anything. I just needed him to know how proud I was of him. He’d gone through hell and back and had come out on the other side. And instead of letting his trauma rule his life, he was determined to mold himself around it—to become one with it.

---