Page 57 of When We Breathe
“Thank you,” she whispers.
“You don’t have to thank us. For right now, we’re going to hold you. When this storm blows over, we’ll take you home and fuck you into next week.”
She lets out a surprised chuckle.
“We haven’t had our hands on you in fuckingdays,” Adam reminds her, his voice darker, the way it gets when he’s bossing us around in bed.
It makes my cock stir in my jeans.
“Same goes,” she says. “Maybe the worst is over.”
“Want me to check?” I ask her.
“No, I want to get out of this closet.”
“Good girl,” Adam says as I open the door, and I see him kiss her lips softly. “My brave girl.”
“I’m not brave at all.”
I huff out a laugh at that and help her to her feet. “Bravest person I know. Come here.”
I sweep her into my arms and kiss the hell out of her, holding her tight, and then Adam’s there, kissing herneck, sandwiching her between us, and she sighs happily.
“There you are,” she says.
“Can wepleasetake you home now?” Adam asks.
“Yeah, let’s go home.” Alex smiles up at me and then turns so she can face Adam. “I’ve already given my notice here. I belong with the two of you, no matter where that is.”
“Thank Christ.” He crashes his mouth to hers, and then I pick her up and carry her out the front door. “We’ll get your things later.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
ADAM
Ican’t stop touching her.
We got her home, and now all of us are naked and in bed. We’ve been snuggled up for ten minutes, just soaking each other in. I plan to fuck them both, but first, I just want tobe.
“This is really nice,” Alex says with a soft little sigh that hits me right in the heart. “I should have called you guys earlier when I knew I was packing up my stuff, but once I decided, I had tunnel vision and just wanted to get it done and get back here, you know?”
Gabe is spooned up behind her, his arm draped over her and his hand on my ass, and I’m pressed to her front.
“What happened that made you decide to pack up today?” My voice is quiet in the stillness around us.
“The girls came over.” She bites her pillowy lower lip. “Made me shower and become human again, rather than a troll that requires you to solve a riddle to pass over the bridge.”
Gabe snorts and kisses her bare shoulder, and I kiss her nose.
“I guess you could say we had a coming-to-Jesus conversation about the whole thing. I’ve been through a lot of therapy over the past few years. I like to think I know myself pretty well, but I struggle with emotions. I don’t trust easily because I’ve been let down before. I have deep-seated trauma that will never go away, no matter how aware I am or how much therapy I go to. You’ve seen it in action.”
“It doesn’t scare us,” Gabe says. He drifts a fingertip down her arm, making her shiver. “It’s part of who you are, and I love every single gorgeous inch of you.”
Her eyes widen, and I see the fear there. It breaks my heart for her.
“We will be with you, to make sure you’re always safe, in every situation. If you don’t want to be around animals, we’ll make sure you aren’t. When there are storms, we’ll hold you until they pass.”
“When you grow up being told that you’re not lovable, it’s challenging to change that mindset,” she says carefully.
