Page 40 of Samhain

He opened the door and nodded. “They’ve been expecting you.”

“I fucking bet,” I murmured as I entered, my shoulders relaxing, my cock stiffening. Every molecule in my body trembled with the anticipation of seeing them again. The whole house reeked with the tang of sex and the spicy aroma of weed. They had dimmed the lights in the main corridor, which I was thankful for because my eyes burned and ached for sleep. Footsteps raced somewhere on the other side of the wall to my left, followed by a girlish giggle.

Miri.

Another set of footsteps ran after her, this laugh louder and more commanding.

Ivy.

When I turned the corner, I froze.

What a sight.

Miri sprinted through the far side of the house wearing mountains of peach-colored fabric, looking like a Renaissance painting come to life. Ivy chased after her, wearing a pair of trousers, black suspenders, and a fedora.

Lex sat on the couch facing me, his naked feet outstretched in front of him, legs parted in an inviting V that begged for me to drop down between them. He, too, wore trousers and suspenders, but where Ivy ran around bare-breasted, Lex had on a white tank top covering his amazing tattooed chest. One of his arms stretched along the back of the couch and the other bent at the elbow to bring a lit blunt to those perfect pink lips. His head tilted to the side, making the top hat on his crown lilt off balance.

“Welcome home,” he said, inhaling deep, the orange cherry illuminating his chiseled features. Smoke curled around him in tendrils, warping reality as dozens of misty arms stretched out to me, grabbing me, luring me in. He was the king of the circus, and I’d just become his new favorite act.

God, it was so good to see him.

I took a deep breath and clenched my fists at my sides. Desperation poured off me in thick, suffocating waves. I could smell it. Could he?

They’d had each other for the last seventy-two hours. And I…well, strung out didn’t begin to cover it. I hadn’t slept. I hadn’t eaten. I stank to fucking high holy heaven. I could barely stand. The last time I looked in the mirror, my bloodshot eyes had big, dark circles under them and my skin had turned pale and clammy.

Lex looked totaled, but not as bad as me.

I expected him to rip me a new asshole for taking so long to get here. Lex never had any problem being accurately cruel. But he took mercy on me instead.

He held up a finger and waved me closer.

Like the action had complete control over me, I dropped my bags in the middle of the entryway and took a step, shoving my hands in my pockets so I could pretend to be nonchalant about the whole thing. Inside, I was cracking at the fucking seams.

“Where are the girls?” My voice sounded gravelly and raw, and my cock throbbed, but I ached to see Ivy. I didn’t know where I stood with Lex, especially given what I’d done with Miri in Malibu, so I reached for the one person I knew would want me no matter what, the one who still wore the sign of my devotion on her finger.

“Around.” Lex gestured vaguely toward the dining room off to the left and lifted the blunt to me.

I took it, my hands shaking as I brought it to my lips and relished the buzz. This thing, this lust, whatever it was, had made me jittery and frustrated and hell, I needed to come.

“Look at you. You’re trembling.” He reached up to grip the back of my neck. “My poor Chicago. Come here.”

I tensed at his touch, at once so familiar and foreign, but I bent when he pulled me down so he could kiss me.

I melted. Immediately. I buckled at the knees and dropped to that vacant space between his legs. His body felt exactly the same. His muscles were firmer, his jaw wider, but his mouth hadn’t lost that mystical quality that drew me to it in the first place. I dropped my palms to his thighs, blowing smoke into his mouth, unable to hold it in anymore. He inhaled it like he could inhale me with him. Maybe he could. Maybe he did.

Lord help me, I still wanted him, after all these years.

I took what I needed, and when I trailed my free hand down his chest, quivering with the weight of being away from them during the grips of this terrible thing, he groaned and tugged me closer. Scrambling for the waistband of his trousers, I tried to undo the button, but he broke the kiss and shook his head.

“No, no, no.” He took the blunt so he could inhale another puff and put it in the ashtray. “I can’t stick my dick in anything else.”

I laughed and hung my head. “Things I never thought I’d hear you say.”

He cupped my jaw and tilted my face back up to him, resting his forehead against mine. “What do you need?”

“Please get me off,” I whispered. “Please. For the love of God. Make this end.”

Lex pushed me flat on the living room floor and straddled my legs, tugging at my jeans so he could get my dick out.

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