Page 52 of Samhain

The conversation drifted to stories about our time in Malibu, and they told us about law school. We laughed, really laughed, and my heart became so light and free.

I could stay here forever. I glanced around that breakfast table with the loves of my life. I could stay with all of them forever, and I’d never regret a thing.

15

Carter

It was like we picked up right where we left off. Except now, we were two years older, and we knew the agony of being separated. I took every opportunity to put my hands on Ivy. In the shower, her face pressed up against the tile. On the couch, buried under throw pillows and blankets. When I caught her alone in her office, bent over her desk with her paperwork crunching under our bodies. Reconnecting with her had made me the happiest and horniest I’d been in a long time.

It wasn’t just her.

Like me, Lex was an early riser. Or perhaps a light sleeper. He usually got up when I did. I liked to work out first thing in the morning, so I hit their gym and put in at least five miles on the treadmill before he made his way down to find me.

I had my headphones in while I was doing pull-ups, pushing my body to stay in shape for the next season. My eyes were closed when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up like someone was watching me. When I opened them, I focused on the mirror in front of me where my gaze connected with the reflection of Lex Fairfax leaning against the doorjamb. Shirtless. Smoking a cigarette. All those tattoos on glorious display. The way he looked at me screamed filthy things…perverse things…things I’d been dreaming about for two long years.

I froze and slowly lowered my feet to the ground.

My heart pounded, and not because of the way I’d pushed myself in the workout. Sweat dripped down my torso and the side of my face, and I wiped it off on a towel before I turned to face him. Grabbing a water bottle, I squirted a mouthful and swallowed, yanking my headphones out of my ears.

“Morning, DC,” I said.

“Good morning, Chicago.” He tilted his head to the other side, eyes running over the length of me. “Or is it good night? The sun’s not up yet either way.”

I’d long ago drenched my shirt. It lay in a crumpled ball on the ground. So I stood there, naked chest heaving, my gym shorts hanging low on my hips, the waistband of my Calvin Kleins peeking out.

“What’s up?” I asked.

He frowned and shook his head, shrugging. “Can’t a guy hang out in his own house?”

“The way you’ve been smoking, I know you’re not down here for cardio.”

He let out a low chuckle and pushed off the wall, stabbing the cigarette out in the crystal ashtray he’d brought with him before setting it on the water cooler next to the door. Such a contrast, Lex and this gym. They’d built it for Ivy. She liked to exercise to keep her mental health in check. But I scoffed to look at this hedonist in such a place—covered in tattoos, reeking of cigarettes and last night’s sex and eternal damnation.

I shifted my shoulders and ignored the strain in my cock.

“Do you remember the last time it was just me and you, Chicago?” he said. “That time in Ireland when you made me swear to take care of your Weeds as long as you promised to come home to us.”

I cleared my throat and took another gulp of water, nodding. “I remember.”

“How would you say I’ve held up my end of the bargain?” He took a slow, lazy step forward.

I understood the heady look in his hazel eyes and the predator’s gate in his step. Lex wanted to play.

“She seems like she’s in one piece,” I said.

He hummed, circling me, his hands linked behind his back. “Pretty damn good, if I say so myself. I take care of her. She takes care of me.”

“I noticed.” I thought of his hand on her wrist in a soothing gesture that meant so much.

He came to stand in front of me. We’d always been almost equal in stature, Lex only an inch taller. He was long and lithe, and I was bigger through the chest, but together, we were formidable.

“And what about you?” he asked.

This was a game. Lex wanted to bat me around for a bit like a toy mouse, and I, ever the slut for him, could never resist playing along.

“What about me?” I asked, sinking into temptation. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

Ohhh, what a thing to say. I’d only come because of the lust and the sickness. If that hadn’t happened, I’d be sipping scotch in Eastern Europe somewhere, daydreaming about what my three spouses were doing on the other side of the world.

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