Page 38 of Claimed By Rage

“It’s been three,” I point out, tapping my fingertips on my thigh. “You left the party at three AM. It’s six.”

“Two,” he insists, “because the clock didn’t start until later.” He rolls onto his other side, facing Celia, and unabashedly palms her tit. “We made a deal.”

“Wemade a deal, or have you already forgotten?” Rebel wraps an arm around Celia’s waist and pulls her closer to him. My brothers glare at each other over her naked chest. “You can’t hog her all to yourself.”

“The fuck I can’t. She’s inmybed.”

“You locked her in here! If she had a choice, she sure as hell wouldn’t be sleeping next toyou.”

“What, you think she’d choose you?” Rage’s laugh is bitter. “Because you kiss her on the mouth instead of her pussy?” He growls. “I know what she needs, and it sure as hell isn’t some high school boyfriend bullshit.”

“The fuck did you just say?”

Celia’s eyes snap open. “Will you bothshut the fuck up?” She smacks Rage’s hand off her boob and tears Rebel’s arm from around her waist. Snagging the bundle of blankets, she pulls them as high up as she can, huffing when they get stuck under Rage’s muscled thighs. She manhandles him until she can tug them free, wrapping the bedsheet, then the comforter, securely around her body.

It’s wrapped tight enough to rival a straightjacket.

The two men by her sides look like they want to murder each other on top of it.

“Boys,” she snaps, “I’mtired.I don’t know what godforsaken time it is, but you’ve stolen enough of my night. Either go to sleep, or get the hell out so I can get mine.”

Rage grabs her chin and turns her face toward him. “Our deal was eight hours.” Brushing his lips over hers, he rumbles, “I never promised sleep.”

“I never promised anything,” Rebel murmurs, purring into her ear.

“You’re not a part of this!” She blindly reaches behind her and smacks Rebel across the hip, eliciting the faintest chuckle past his lips.

Their banter shows familiarity with each other, a certain degree of comfort. Rebel blows air across the back of Celia’s neck, and shebarelyseems annoyed.

Rage notices this, too. Any lingering serenity from waking up beside his woman disintegrates in an instant. “Rebel, get the fuck out of my bed.”

Rebel stretches languidly, humming softly in the back of his throat. “I don’t think I will.”

I cross to the floor lamp near the bench press and pull the chain. Harsh LED light floods the room, but Celia’s the only one who flinches. Rage is glaring daggers at our brother while Rebel simply flexes his thighs, poking Celia in the hip with his cock.

She freezes, eyes widening a single notch. Her lips part in this pretty littleOand her breath hitches.

Then she surprises all of us by wrapping her arms around Rage’s shoulders and pulling herself closer. “Youpromised,” she murmurs, wide eyes pleading with him.

Though I’m not surefor what.

A muscle in his jaw tics, his eyes pinging between her and Rebel. He cups the back of her head and kisses her slowly, coaxing her to relax. Once she releases the breath she’s holding, he brushes his knuckles across her jawline and stares into her eyes.

I feel it then—that something has changed. There’s a missing piece between what I knew when I found them lying in the dark together and what I know now from seeing them lying together in the light.

There are hints. The hole in the door. The clothes on the floor. The way Rage’s hair is still damp—but hers is bone dry.

The way they look at each other, the weight of this unknown promise settling between them.

Separating the two of them from the two of us.

The three short hours between when they left the party until now should have been as insignificant as the last twenty-four spent without her, but it’s clear that something has changed. It’s small, like a single drop of rain falling into the vast expanse ofa turbulent ocean. It won’t ripple or cause a surge when there is already chaos erupting around it.

And yet.

Rage and Celia’s chaos has shifted from a roar to a rumble in those three, short, inconsequential hours.

I don’t want to leave them alone anymore.

---